The term metaverse has recently re-emerged on the internet, thanks to Facebook announcing their intention to change their name to Meta, where they will build a VR (Virtual Reality) social platform for their users.
Many metaverse cryptocurrency projects have done very similar things to Meta but more decentralized because a single entity like Meta doesn’t control its metaverses. As a result, a lot of internet and funds have been poured into this sector, as digital cryptocurrencies are paired with the blockchain metaverse. They will have the final say on how things will be governed and overseen in the metaverse sector.
While all blockchain categories were blazing hot in 2021, GameFi and Play-to-earn took the top spot with nearly 13% of all investments.
With the seasons shifting from DeFi to NFT and now to GameFi, massive gaming announcements and figures dominated the second half of the year. For example, on August 6th, Axie Infinity generated $17 million in revenue, outpacing even Honor of Kings, one of Tencent’s top mobile games.
Decentralized Metaverse vs. Meta
One of the reasons people see through Facebook’s name change to Meta is that they will continue to be the entity that governs their social platform, as they have done in the past. This only adds to the public’s growing disdain for these conglomerates, which seek to maintain the chain of command rather than share actual control of the platform with its users.
Meta claiming to be a metaverse, is exploiting the illusion of choice for its users; it claims to be a VR social platform but does not allow its users to choose what they want it to look like or tolerate during the time they spend on the platform.
This speaks to the decentralized metaverse cryptocurrency projects that are doing exactly that, allowing their users to decide the platform’s fate for themselves through a decentralized governance system.
This gives users the actual freedom to make their proposals, which other users then vote on, and the consensus determines whether they are accepted or not. It is not the developer/company who has the final say, and it is a powerful thing to distribute power among a large group of people.
When combined with blockchain technology, this will rewrite the power book for who should hold the platform’s future, and that is the users themselves.
The three options below are our picks for the top up-and-coming metaverses you should consider adding to your portfolio.
No. 1 Decentraland (MANA)
The Decentraland (MANA) cryptocurrency project is one of the most well-known and long-running metaverse initiatives. A VR social platform combines the VR social aspect with blockchain technology to ensure the project’s governance is completely transparent and fair.
They have their currency called MANA within the platform itself, which creates its own economy within the confines of the digital platform and a transition into the real world, providing actual income for its user base.
Users can create their avatars to become whoever they want to be and travel to virtual locations such as casinos, other parts of the world, and even play VR games with other users.
Users can earn real money by using the platform in one of the popular ways, such as buying and selling land that has been designated for auctions. In addition, Decentraland’s digital marketplace MANA allows users to buy and sell NFTs of products.
#2 The Sandbox (SAND)
The Sandbox is a project similar to Decentraland in that it is a virtual world where users can earn money by buying and selling products, land, and real estate. It also allows users to interact while enjoying the virtual world socially.
The Sandbox has an impressive list of partners/sponsors who encourage increased user interaction, including well-known names in the music industry such as Snoop Dogg and Deadmau5. They also have well-known shows like The Walking Dead promoting their game.
When compared to Decentraland (MANA), The Sandbox’s market cap is less than half ($2.3 billion) of MANA’s, which sits at $5 billion, indicating that it has a lot of potential for future growth as it develops its project and matures to the age of Decentraland’s.
#3 JEDSTAR DECO and GameFi
The third is a new kid on the block, a project with the most growth potential compared to Decentraland and The Sandbox.
JEDSTAR is a DeFi (Decentralised Finance) and GameFi (Gaming Finance) project that aims to bridge the cryptocurrency and fiat (the currencies we use every day) financial sectors. Gaming for the team is critical to mass cryptocurrency adoption by the general public.
While their existing token $JED (price: $0.52 USD) is still early with a perfect entry point of 30M USD market cap, their new token $KRED, which is set to launch in a few days, has already confirmed that their currency will be used in over 200 games in 2022.
It will be a mix of in-house produced games like their upcoming flagship CCG (Collectible Card Game), Metaverse MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), and in-game NFT marketplace, as well as on multiple platforms via the world’s first CAAS (Currency as a Service) model.
Their CAAS model will enable much greater adoption of cryptocurrencies without the usual hoops of converting fiat into crypto. JEDSTAR will also integrate KRED into their hyper-casual gaming platform, STARDOME, allowing users of the regular gaming platform to easily buy and sell KRED using the same payment methods they would use in everyday life.
JEDSTAR recently announced promising initial collaborations with Chainlink, FRAG games, Remote Control Productions, and Skill Gaming.
The JEDSTAR team recognizes that cryptocurrency adoption will occur and that with only about 4% of the world’s population currently using cryptocurrencies, it presents a challenge to reach the remaining 96%. Gaming employs approximately 40% of the world’s population, and many of these people are already accustomed to using in-game currencies.
JEDSTAR has recognized an opportunity to easily bridge this gap by using an actual cryptocurrency as the base token for Skill Gaming’s platform. This enables mass crypto adoption and ease of use for gamers, who won’t have to worry about overcoming the challenges of understanding and using cryptocurrencies.
The KRED token has yet to launch, but they are holding a public pre-sale on their website for November/December, during which investors will be able to reserve tokens at a discount compared to the public launch price in the coming days.
