What is Metaverse and How is It the Next Big Thing in Crypto?

A few weeks ago, Facebook dropped a bombshell and confirmed a major rebranding project that saw the company’s name changing to Meta. This has brought the meta concept in technology back into mainstream dialogue. But the whole concept of a metaverse isn’t exactly new. In fact, metaverses have been a hot topic in the world of tech for quite a while now. However, Facebook’s seemingly simple decision to change its name could potentially trigger a massive shift in terms of how global industries build themselves around the proposed metaverse.

A metaverse is essentially a virtual world that allows people on the internet to do anything that they do in real life but in a digital space. This kind of setup would allow users to perform normative activities like working, exercising, shopping, and socializing. People would also be allowed to set up companies,make big purchases, and attend large public events within that virtual environment. The way that a metaverse works is that it relies a lot on the technologies that power virtual reality, augmented reality, social media, and blockchain. This is why Facebook’s adoption of the metaverse model has created massive ripples in terms of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.

With the way that a metaverse is designed to function, the virtual environments that make up these metaverses need some kind of virtual currency. This is exactly where cryptocurrency inserts itself as the most ideal form of currency for transactions. Imagine being a user of these metaverses and visiting crypto casinos to place your bets. You could also visit virtual art galleries to buy expensive pieces with cryptocurrency. Essentially, any kind of financial transaction that is executed within this metaverse will require the use of cryptocurrency technology. There are already many existing metaverses that make use of crypto as a valid form of payment for legitimate transactions on the platforms. For example, Decentraland is a popular metaverse that only recognizes the MANA token as its form of currency within the platform. Facebook’s announcement of its move into the metaverse space has also triggered a massive uptick in the performance of cryptocurrencies like Decentraland and Enjin.

There’s also another variable that’s in play here and that’s the emerging trend of non-fungible tokens or NFTs. To put it simply, NFTs are digital forms of art, video game items, memes, sports trading cards, or any kind of virtual asset or commodity that can be attributed a certain value. They are unique digital items that users can claim ownership over the established cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies. NFTs are becoming increasingly popular these days in the gaming industry because it allows gamers to apply a direct value to the items, skills, or characters that they build in their games. For example, a game like Axie Infinity is currently sweeping the world as it allows players to build their cryptocurrency portfolios by actually leveling up and succeeding at the game’s challenges.

Now, since NFTs are already so popular in virtual worlds that are created by video games like NFT, it would be incredibly easy to integrate this kind of system into metaverses as well. By attributing set values to certain digital products and assets, the world is taking a more dramatic shift towards normalcy when it comes to digital interactions.

Granted, the whole concept of a metaverse, while it has been around for a while now, is still in relative infancy as an industry. It may take decades before the world fully adapts metaverses in the same manner that society’s relationship with social media platforms have in the past decade or so. Ultimately, it’s very hard to tell how quickly metaverses are going to rise in popularity. But that hasn’t deterred investors from pouring their funds and assets into the potential of this technology. There’s no denying the sheer potential that a metaverse would be able to provide global tech brands. In terms of practicality, the opportunities are endless. That’s why many forward-looking tech giants and investors aren’t afraid of jumping on the bandwagon despite the concept being in its infancy stages.

The world of cryptocurrency is undertaking new developments every single day. And metaverses have now entered the picture to become one of the major disruptors and changemakers in the industry.