In January, we sent out a newsletter focused on a selection of altcoins and their roles in the larger crypto ecosystem. I did my best to include some promising projects of 2021, but of course there were many exciting topics that didn’t make the cut for brevity’s sake.
It’s increasingly difficult to choose only a handful of tokens outside of Bitcoin to discuss in a conversation that leans toward education rather than opinion or short-term trading value. For this reason, I hope to incrementally post notes about blockchain developments and interesting things happening in the altcoin space as I continue to learn.
Today, we’ll be focusing on blockchains and tokens related to the metaverse: a network of virtual spaces where users, builders and AI can interact. This can include virtual and augmented reality — and can serve as a venue for gaming, socializing and earning.
The Meta-Glossary: What is Extended Reality?
Virtual reality, as we’re used to hearing a lot about, is defined as a “simulated environment that is experienced in the first person and provides a strong sense of presence to the user” (VentureBeat). It may bring to mind classroom learning tools or several brands of headsets that provides realistic depth of vision. There are a couple other terms that you may find helpful in describing the metaverse experience.
Augmented reality is described, somewhat similarly, as “an immersive and interactive environment in which virtual content is spatially registered to the real world…providing a strong sense of presence in a combined real/virtual space” (VentureBeat). Some examples of AR include Snapchat, Pokemon Go, Google Glass and interior design apps.
Another term that’s often thrown around here is basically a combination of both VR and AR spaces: Extended Reality (XR). XR is a term used to “describe the full spectrum of VR and AR capabilities and has become a convenient catch-all for many forms of immersive media.”
This Year’s Trending Metaverse Tokens
Recently, people have been using the term metaverse to imply a new idea. Truthfully, we’ve been spending time in virtual places for years. Gaming, especially, has allowed us these types of escapes — from the Sims to Grand Theft Auto. The only difference is that now we are seeing extensions of this general idea as creators take advantage of all the technology we have today. Companies and developers are making gaming realities interoperable to create an immersive, digital shared space that exists on and across blockchains.
It’s with excitement that I write about these innovations because I’ve been trying to increase my exposure to the metaverse through as decentralized avenues as possible. With that said, I’m going to add the same disclosure as last time: I currently own some of these tokens and have invested in a number of projects mentioned throughout the post. I choose to write about these topics because I am familiar with their potential as well as their shortcomings. Though some of the games and metaverse spaces below offer potential liquidity and staking opportunities, all investments come with risk. This is not financial advice and, as always, DYOR.
Lastly, if you’re just joining us for the first time and entirely new to crypto — I’d love to direct you to one of our Bitcoin posts first, which outline its potential as a global store of value along with the traits that allow it to solve for some of the greatest financial challenges of our time. When you’re done, come on back and learn about these creative tech projects that serve a different (but complementary) purpose.
Avalanche (AVAX)
AVAX is the native token of the Avalanche platform, an open-source blockchain that operates with smart contracts as a DeFi haven of sorts. They are on the more decentralized end of the spectrum and brand themselves as “blazingly fast, low cost, & eco-friendly”. They offer staking opportunities (PoS) to process transfers and help keep the platform secure.
Decentraland (MANA)
Decentraland is a virtual reality platform that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform uses tokens called MANA, which individuals can use to purchase plots of land to sell/trade or build upon (or to buy other virtual goods). At the time of writing this post, Decentraland currently ranks #30 on CoinMarketCap.
Decentral Games (ICE)
Games, games, baby! Decentral Games is a sizzling hot spot for play-to-earn gaming — and the opportunities afforded by its in-game currency (ICE) spark global excitement. ICE poker is one of the games that allows individuals to earn liquidity and participate in their NFT wearable collection. It requires a NFT wearable to play — which can be purchased, traded, or borrowed. Individuals can vote in the Decentral Games DAO with its governance token (DG) to make changes and issue fees, and gilds allow built-in delegation to structure the community.
It’s all about allowing gamers and creators to earn and advocate for their own skills…and this metaverse has allowed some communities to earn in new, surprising ways.
Polygon ($MATIC)
Polygon is a PoS multi-chain scaling platform built by and for Web3 developers. This means it provides infrastructure solutions compatible with Ethereum and other blockchains — benefitting from the network effects of Ethereum and helping dApps improve performance. Their primary aim is to solve for issues like high gas fees and slow speeds. $MATIC is the name of their token.
Institutional and Celebrity Adoption
It has become nearly impossible to avoid the topic of the metaverse in crypto spheres lately. Institutional adoption has seen a rise within the gaming economy and virtual reality — as in the case of Microsoft buying Activision for $69 billion or the Facebook/Meta rebrand and their Oculus products.
With celebrities like Eva Longoria and Paris Hilton developing their own NFT-driven metaverse projects, we’re also seeing tech spaces for women blossom with a little nudge from celeb endorsers. Women-run NFT collections like World of Women and Boss Beauties are forging connections as they prime their communities for XR launches and concepts. In some cases, this even includes 3D avatars.
We’ll have to wait and see whether the rest of 2022 brings more metaverse enthusiasm or if all that end-of-year buzz was mostly a result of corporate buy-in. I am hopeful that the more decentralized projects in this space — ones that that hold respect for the ethos of gaming and our spirited crypto community — will lead in building safe, fun and accessible experiences for all players.
This was a Good in depth article