Top 3 Metaverse Coins to invest in the crypto market
“How to ride the Metaverse trend: Top 3 Metaverse coins to invest in”
Since Mark Zuckerberg announced on October 28'th that Facebook would change its brand name to Meta, its stock price went up by more than 9%, which is more than Nasdaq in the same period. Moreover, at its Ignite conference, Microsoft unveiled that it was working on a corporate version of a Metaverse based on its Teams chat software.
As a result, the interest in metaverse-focused crypto projects soared. Many crypto enthusiasts believe that the crypto and Blockchain-based metaverse sector will become a multi-billion dollar industry. Honestly, this could be so if you take a look at the current expansion in the space. This expansion is directly proportional to the crypto and gaming industry (two multi-billion-dollar sectors) since most of the metaverse revolve around the two sectors.
Therefore before diving into the three top-tier metaverse projects, let's look at what is metaverse and what makes a project top-tier.
What is the Metaverse?
The term metaverse was first coined by author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 book "Snow Crash." Neal envisioned a 3D world where the user's avatars would meet, interact and engage in all sorts of activities like games and learning.
According to USA Today, the metaverse is simply a combination of multiple technology elements, that is – Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and videos where users reside within a digital universe. While metaverse technology may seem years away from being fully utilized, companies like Meta (previously Facebook) and Microsoft are integrating virtual experience technologies like Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality to enhance the virtual experience.
What is the difference between VR and AR?
Most people tend to confuse the two technologies; therefore, if you are a potential user or investor in the metaverse sector, it's crucial to understand their differences and how they are applied in different projects.
Augmented Reality (AR) – is an interactive 3D experience that overlays visual elements, sounds, and sensory stimuli onto the real world for enhanced customer experience. A good example is the Pokemon Go game App.
Virtual Reality (VR) – is an entirely 3D virtual world that enhances fictional realities so that users can interact with objects in a digital virtual environment. While AR can be accessed using a smartphone and users control their position in the real world, VR is accessed through special glasses, wristbands, and gloves, and it alters the appearance of the environment completely.
What makes a Metaverse project a good investment?
Since Metaverse cryptos are all the rage currently, any company with enough capital can launch a project and package it as the next big thing. However, like any technological revolution, only a few metaverse companies will be able to disrupt the internet potentially.
Here are a few factors to look out for when analyzing a project:
- The team behind the project
When you decide to invest early in a crypto project's airdrop, the chances are that there is usually no working product or service. This means that you are betting on the team behind the project to deliver. If the team is strong, credible, and has an excellent social media status, they are more likely to develop a working product – even if their idea is not groundbreaking.
So, before investing, always do a background check on who is behind the project.
- Project Roadmap
The roadmap is a crucial part of a metaverse project. Here you get to see what the project aims for, what it has done, and what it promises. Beware of new projects with an unclear roadmap and an anonymous team. Projects with a great roadmap are more liquid and easier to sell for profit because there is a promise of future value.
- Market Value
The main factor that measures a project's size is the market value. Calculated by: Market Cap = Current supply * Circulation supply. Since metaverse crypto projects are relatively new, some are offering trillions in tokens to grow their value at low volumes rapidly. This quickly dilutes the tokens (shares) of the long-term investors. Therefore, always value metaverse projects by the value of its products rather than market value or market cap.
- Project Features
There are various kinds of metaverse projects, from gaming, VR experience, corporate-focused, E-sports, video sharing to retail stores, to mention a few. Therefore as an investor, you need to understand the main features and what sets it apart from other projects in the same category.
Top 3 Metaverse coins you should invest in
- Decentraland (MANA)
Decntraland, also known as the virtual social world, is one of the first crypto metaverse projects. It encapsulates almost anything you can think of in a metaverse as it mimics the physical world. Decentraland has been around since 2015, but it wasn't until 2017 that it became popular.
Like other metaverse projects, Decentraland allows players to experience and explore through avatars. Moreover, players can attend virtual events, play games, study at the Decentraland University, trade digital assets in the marketplace, or develop games. Every virtual asset on Decentraland is owned by the users and managed by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization.
The platform operates on three native tokens: LAND, an ERC-20 token used to represent digital land and parcels; MANA, an ERC-20 token user to as the currency and ESTATE, an ERC-721 NFT token used to represent merged land parcels to form estates. To invest in Decentraland, you need to buy MANA, which you can hold or later exchange for land parcels or estates.
The land parcels on Decentraland are divided into a fixed total of 90,000 parcels. This is a crucial aspect of the platform because as the platform becomes more popular, there will be more demand for the land. Therefore, looking at the financial perspective of Decentraland, it is a good investment.
Where to buy:
- Decentral Games (DG)
Decentral Games is the first community-owned NFT-related metaverse Casino. While there have been many other projects like this in the crypto space, Decentral Games is probably one of the few making significant developments to actually make gambling in the metaverse a reality. DG allows players to play poker, blackjack, roulette, and slots, to mention a few.
The platform operates on two tokens, $DG and ICE NFTs. $DG is used to promote community governance and as the medium of exchange between participants on the DG ecosystem. $DG token holders can propose and vote on governance to determine features and parameters of the games. The voting weight is directly proportional to the amount of $DG tokens staked. Moreover, $DG holders earn a percentage of the profit earned by Decentral Games.
ICE NFTs are avatar wearables that enable players to earn ICE by completing daily challenges and playing games. Players can view, buy or delegate their ICE NFT to other skilled players to play on their behalf. Players can also mine ICE which they can sell to other players who require it to mine rarer NFT wearables.
The aspect of play-to-earn is a unique model that makes DG unique. The model is similar to that of DeFi in the summer of 2020. Projects like Axie Infinity have also proven the model's effectiveness in bootstrapping a community around expected-value gameplay. Taking into account the number of gamblers worldwide, Decentral Games may be the next go-to place. With its low market value and supply (1 million $DG tokens), going mainstream will make it a great investment for early adopters.
- StarLink (STARL)
StarLink's recent rise in popularity is just a clear representation of the power of Crypto and Blockchain developers in her community. StarLink was developed by Woof Decentra, a core player in projects such as SHIBA, LEASH, and also recently DOONT BUY.
With StarLink, Woof references what Elon Musk is doing with Starlink and the community around that sector. StarLink is the first community-owned decentralized metaverse space project. It allows users and players to explore space and different galaxies that resemble real-world galaxies. Moreover, players can buy and sell space ships and virtual land in Starl station the same way users purchase land on Decentraland or Sandbox.
StarLink operates on $STARL tokens and SATE NFTs. $STARL tokens are the utility tokens powered by Ethereum, while SATE NFTs represent transferrable digital assets such as satellites, virtual estates, avatar costumes, or starships. Additionally, users who hold $STAR tokens are allocated voting rights within DAO to ensure the platform is completely decentralized and autonomous.
While StarLink may have various competitors like the Star Atlas project developed on Solana, it's the first project to launch its beta version. Therefore, it has an advantage over the other projects, plus it's a popular project since it's attached to the developer of SHIBA. If its support is anything like SHIBA's support, it is set to increase its value over the years.
The Bottom line
In the past two years, most businesses have moved their operation to the digital space. This shift has also been rapid, forcing many companies like Microsoft and Facebook to come with solutions that help transform the corporate sector through Metaverse-based solutions. Therefore, it seems that Metaverse projects are here to say, and there are hundreds to millions of dollars to be earned by the early adopters or investors.