Many people believe that crypto metaverse offers a huge opportunity in the future. So, what is it and what to expect from it?

For many years, the concept of virtual worlds existed only in the pages of science-fiction novels. Today, it's no longer a fictional dream as now we have "the metaverse", which is highly anticipated and probably going to be the next big thing in the digital era. Many software developers across different sectors like crypto and gaming have shown interest in building their own versions of metaverse. It is currently one of the biggest buzzwords in the tech world and a huge phenomenon that you certainly shouldn't miss.

metaverse cryptocurrency

Metaverse is a shared virtual reality in which the players can explore the world, interact with each other, develop almost any skill imaginable, and create in-world objects and landscapes. It is similar to the ones offered by many popular video games like Animal Crossing, Roblox, and Fortnite.

The term was first introduced back in 1992 by Neal Stephenson in his dystopian, science-fiction novel called Snow Crash. He talked about the idea of a digital-physical hybrid world where private entities have power over us including our digital beings. That being said, he envisioned the metaverse to be a literal virtual world, not just some kind of a role-playing game.

Another idea of a futuristic metaverse is shown in "Ready Player One", a sci-fi adventure film that is based on a novel of the same name. While the universe might come in various forms and shapes, it's typically built on a well-functioning economy with its own currencies, so users can buy and sell goods, as well as travel through different "places" with millions of other people, all within the same digital space.

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Introduction to Metaverse

Many people put high hopes on the metaverse and believe that it can fundamentally change how we interact with the digital world. Not only does it provide entertainment, but also a chance to work and generate income. It could become its own trillion-dollar industry, bridging the gap between the physical and digital world, and opening a whole new world on different aspects of our everyday lives.

Last June, the founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg has decided to dive into the metaverse. He and the company have assembled a team to do the project, which includes Instagram Product Head Vishal Shah as well as Facebook Gaming's Vivek Sharma and Jason Rubin.

In one of the interviews, Zuckerberg discussed the idea of virtual workspaces, which he called "infinity offices". He said that Zoom has several significant limitations to it, so if possible he prefers to do his meetings in VR. He argued that VR is better for multitasking and able to increase one's productivity. He also mentioned that metaverse can be a promising solution to social inequities.

Based on the research of Raj Chetty, Zuckerberg stated that one's geographic location is highly correlated to their financial opportunities. He expected the metaverse to eliminate the issue because it allows users to work remotely.

Additionally, other influential companies on cryptocurrencies like Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and Sony have also joined Facebook in the XR Association, which promotes responsible development and adoption of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality.

Now we can see how many people are putting are some serious efforts into developing metaverse to make it more mainstream in the future. This makes metaverse even more worthwhile to pay attention to these days.

 

The Emergence of Crypto Metaverse

As mentioned before, metaverse has existed earlier in the gaming world along with in-game economies where players can buy and sell goods that actually hold no real value outside of the game's own universe. However, when it comes to real-world transactions, there are more things to worry about, so naturally, there's a demand for higher safety, speedier exchange, and better financial services. This is where the technology of cryptocurrency is needed.

A crypto metaverse is a metaverse that integrates blockchain technology and cryptocurrency into the world's built-in economy. Some of the popular examples are Axie Infinity, Decentraland, Alien Worlds, and The Sandbox.

Even though the metaverse-like environments essentially have existed in online games for some time now, the use of blockchain, crypto, and VR is still very new in the industry.

The integration of metaverse and cryptocurrency actually changes a lot of aspects in the game, including the users' interactions, experiences, and the way in-game assets are treated. For example, in Decentraland, the in-game currency is called MANA and it can be purchased on crypto exchanges like Coinbase.

Since it's a world-building game, users can create various types of structures, including theme parks or casinos. Interestingly, with the use of MANA, users can monetize the buildings and actually earn money from them, just like in the real world.

Non-Fungible Token (NFT) also plays a huge role in crypto metaverse. Typically, metaverse crypto assets such as virtual lands, characters, and items are represented in NFTs. So once purchased, the ownership will be officially recorded on the blockchain. Later, the items can be traded with other players or even exchanged for crypto coins like Bitcoin and Ether on certain decentralized exchanges (DEXs).

The idea is that these items will eventually be able to be traded across different games and universes. That means you might be able to sell your virtual land in Decentraland and use the cash to buy Fortnite skins, for example. As a result, the scope is going to be way bigger and it would make you feel like owning a real-life item that can be bought and sold in online marketplaces.

 

Why Metaverse Needs Crypto to Operate

In the real-life, we mostly use fiat currency as a medium of exchange for purchasing and selling anything. Thus, if you want to buy a virtual painting in a virtual world, what's a more fitting option than using virtual currency, right? In fact, cryptocurrency is no longer an option to use in the metaverse, but rather a necessity, because of the following things:

  • Firstly, it's important to make the transactions in the metaverse quick and smooth. Users would make frequent transactions, like selling their items and immediately buying a new one. Therefore, it needs decentralization and transparency, which are both present in blockchain technology.
  • Secondly, online transactions tend to be riskier of scams and thefts, so safety highly matters too. In this case, blockchain technology is known to be able to provide safety for its users since all transactions are recorded on a public ledger. That means, your transactions are irreversible, traceable, and secure, so you can be sure that your money is safe.
  • Lastly, cryptocurrency is able to offer speedy transactions due to its ability to verify a number of higher transactions per second.

 

How to Shop in the Metaverse

In order to participate in the metaverse, you need to have money that you can actually use. That means owning the currency that is applicable on the platform. Since crypto metaverse doesn't use fiat currency to operate, here's what you need to do:

 

1. Own a Crypto Wallet

Most metaverse platforms like Decentraland or Sandbox would ask you to set up a crypto wallet before you can register and open an account on the platform. Similar to regular wallets, crypto wallets are used to store your crypto coins. There are various wallets that you can choose from, including hardware wallets like Ledger or Trezor. Other than that, you can also store your coins in the exchange that supports the currency, such as Coinbase or Binance. The latter option is essentially not recommended because it is less safe, but if you must, make sure to pick an exchange with a long track record of security and has proven to be reliable.

 

2. Exchange Your Funds

In this step, you need to pick an exchange and open an account before you can exchange your funds to the desired currency. Some popular exchanges to buy metaverse currencies are Coinbase and Gemini. These exchanges will let you exchange your fiat currency for the metaverse crypto that you need. Or if you already own cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ether, you can also exchange them for the metaverse currency like MANA. Conversely, you can also withdraw your metaverse currency and convert it back to Bitcoin or Ether.

 

The Bottom Line

Even though crypto metaverses are still in their early development days, but the growth is certainly unquestionable. Crypto metaverses basically open a gateway to a new world with new ways to play, gather and interact with each other. Not only used for mere entertainment but these platforms can also be used as a workspace. Other than that, there are still many areas to explore as metaverse aims to create a fully functioning virtual world rather than just a video game with tasks and missions to accomplish.

In conclusion, by integrating the addictive aspect of video games, the new experience of VR, the convenience of blockchain, and the value proposition of cryptocurrency, it's pretty obvious that we can expect great things from crypto metaverse in the future. 

Since metaverse and blockchain-based products have experienced rapid growth over the last decade, many of them are worth trying. Built on Ethereum, Decentraland is one of those metaverse projects with the blockchain consensus protocols of Proof-of-Work, although it is in the process of transitioning to Proof-of-Stake.