The metaverse is a new concept that happens to be one of the most exciting and dynamic investment opportunities for 2022. There's plenty of promise and growth potential, especially now that multiple major companies have pledged considerable resources to its expansion and development.
Within this metaverse, tokens and coins are the units of value that allow users to accumulate virtual wealth. However, this wealth won’t just be isolated to the metaverse - it’ll translate to “real-world” value via the conversion of cryptocurrencies to regular, conventional money (also known as fiat currency).
That means that there are some incredibly exciting investment opportunities on the horizon. These metaverse tokens and coins can transform into actual dollars and cents that can change investors’ lives for the better.
In this post, we’ll define the metaverse, discuss investment possibilities, and break down the most exciting metaverse tokens and coins.
What Is The Metaverse?
The metaverse is a set of online spaces or environments that allow users to interact in a more immersive manner when compared to conventional websites. It's a sprawling virtual universe, generally accessible via a computer or virtual reality (VR) headset, that also allows users to work and play in the digital realm.
Essentially, it’s the next evolutionary step for the internet. In the metaverse, peoples’ interactive experiences can be more multi-dimensional and "lifelike", making it a more accurate extension of interactions in real life (IRL).
Think of it this way: the current iteration of the web (version 2.0) is two-dimensional and the metaverse (version 3.0) is three-dimensional. It effectively combines virtual, augmented, and extended reality with our physical world. Plus, the next two years look very promising for the industry, with Bloomberg predicting its market size to grow to over $800 billion by 2024.
Furthermore, there will be ample opportunity for users to generate real-world income and value via metaverse transactions and interactions. In other words, there will be a vibrant digital economy that allows users to create, buy, and sell virtual goods that will have real-world value. Within the growing economy of the metaverse, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have become the essential foundations of worth that keep accumulating real-world value. For instance, NFT sales reached an impressive $24.9 billion in 2021, compared to just $94.9 million in 2020.
Although the metaverse is still relatively small, there’s huge potential for growth and expansion as business opportunities keep appearing. Additionally, the metaverse concept has surged in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic as people have looked for alternative income sources due to widespread lockdowns and decreased incomes. The concept has also become significantly more popular after Facebook announced in July it was creating a product team to work on the metaverse, effectively granting mainstream recognition.
What Are Metaverse Coins Or Tokens?
This is a little bit tricky since metaverse coins and metaverse tokens have very similar definitions. However, there are subtle differences between coins and tokens, although many online sources actually use the terms interchangeably.
Let’s just take a moment to differentiate between the two:
- Metaverse coins. These are similar to conventional currency (or fiat currency) and are used directly for metaverse transactions. In other words, these are like actual money on the blockchain.
- Metaverse tokens. These represent a diverse range of digital and tradable assets, including vouchers, IOUs, and even real-world, tangible objects. Additionally, metaverse tokens are smart contracts that are found on a given blockchain, usually Ethereum (ETH).
Ultimately, the difference is pretty subtle and they're still very similar to one another. In most cases, it likely won’t be necessary for you to differentiate between the two.
For instance, much like regular currency, both metaverse coins and tokens can be bought, sold, or traded, all on the blockchain. They represent value, and that representation of virtual value can translate into real-world value via the conversion of cryptocurrency into fiat currency like dollars, euros, or pounds.
What does that mean? It's simple: assets that are valuable in the metaverse can also be valuable IRL. That's why metaverse tokens and coins can be such great investments.
Finally, there are also governance tokens. These are metaverse tokens that grant certain powers to the holder, including voting abilities on a given blockchain project. This also gives the token holder an effective say in managerial decisions, including blockchain transactions and potential new products, thereby allowing them to shape the future of the blockchain.
How Do I Invest In The Metaverse With Tokens Or Coins?
Investing in the metaverse via tokens or coins is a fantastic opportunity. Over the course of 2021, these virtual commodities gained a considerable amount of value, bringing them to the attention of investors and metaverse enthusiasts.
That being said, there are three basic ways to directly invest in the metaverse:
- Buy metaverse coins or tokens.
- Collect, trade, or buy in-game non-fungible tokens (NFT).
- Purchase virtual land in the metaverse.
It’s important to note that the metaverse is still growing and changing daily - it’s basically the “Wild West” of online investment. There are plenty of money making opportunities, as long as you’re willing to think “outside the box” and be ready to innovate your investment strategies.
NFTs will also play a foundational role in the metaverse, giving people complete ownership of their virtual characters (sometimes called avatars), accrued in-game items, and even virtual land. Believe it or not, there’s currently a boom in metaverse real estate. In fact, an NFT of a 259-parcel virtual estate in Decentraland recently sold for more than $900,000, the largest sale to date.
Considering that there’s real money to be made, the best way to find promising NFTs is via an NFT marketplace. This is where you can buy, sell, and trade NFTs with other users on a given blockchain (most frequently on Ethereum). In some cases, you can actually create your own NFTs to sell on these marketplaces.
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All this means that metaverse coins and tokens are the units of value within the actual metaverse. They effectively act as the bridge between virtual commodities and real-world objects of value, including fiat currencies.
However, metaverse coins and tokens currently have much smaller market caps than established cryptocurrencies, meaning that they can increase in value much faster. For instance, in 2021, metaverse coins and tokens gained 37,000% versus cryptocurrency Bitcoin gains of only 100%.
Finally, you can also invest in the metaverse indirectly by buying what are known as NFT stocks. This just means that you’ll be investing in companies that are entering the NFT space. In many cases, these companies have exhibited impressive growth because of their involvement in NFTs and the metaverse.
How Do I Get Metaverse Tokens?
The process of acquiring metaverse coins or tokens is pretty simple, just follow these steps:
- Find a crypto exchange that has the metaverse coins or tokens you’re interested in buying. Popular options include Binance, Coinbase, FTX, WazirX, Huobi Global, and Bitfinex.
- Create an account with that exchange - you’ll have to include personal details like your name, phone number, email, and banking details.
- Verify your identity and information, usually with a passport or driver’s license.
- Choose a crypto wallet to store the coins or tokens once they’re transferred to your possession - MetaMask is one of the best options. Thankfully, this type of crypto wallet also works with most NFT marketplaces.
- Fund your crypto wallet with fiat currency (like dollars, euros, or pounds) via methods like bank transfers, PayPal, wire transfers, or a credit/debit card.
As you can see, it’s similar to transferring any other kind of currency, except that metaverse tokens or coins are only used within the metaverse.
Of course, as we mentioned above, those tokens or coins can acquire real-world value via the exchange of cryptocurrency to fiat currency. At this point in time, their value ceases to be solely virtual and they become valuable IRL as well.
Top Metaverse Tokens To Watch In 2022
Now that we know what metaverse coins and tokens actually are, let’s take a look at the most exciting and promising metaverse coins to look out for in 2022!
Decentraland (MANA)
By almost all accounts, Decentraland (MANA) is currently the most famous and widely-known metaverse coin or token available.
First of all, Decentraland is not just a virtual reality (VR) game, it’s actually a virtual living platform that’s on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. It allows users to interact with, create, and monetize applications and content in an immersive environment, including a wide variety of virtual assets. You can also set up games, make art galleries, or even work or play in casinos.
Plus, it’s a hotspot for the current hottest commodity in the metaverse: virtual real estate. That’s right, you can buy land in the metaverse with Decentraland tokens! In fact, everything in the Decentraland metaverse is divided into virtual parcels of land, with some of these parcels being further broken down into themed communities or “districts”.
For a long time, Decentraland coins were below $1.00, but the Facebook announcement in 2021 about its pivot to the metaverse has sparked widespread interest in these tokens.
As of January 2022, it has a market cap of nearly $5.3 billion and a price of $2.89 USD.
Axie Infinity (AXS)
Known as Axie Infinity Shards, these are an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain. ERC - which stands for Ethereum request for comment - is a common standard that delineates rules and regulations for creating and issuing smart contracts on the blockchain. Essentially, these standardize the trading and selling of tokens to make sure that property and assets are properly tokenized.
These “shards” are used as part of a blockchain game called Axie Infinity. Launched in 2018, the game uses NFT monsters (known as Axies) that are “bred” by the player and can then be bought, sold, or traded. However, most significantly, these NFTs hold real-world value: they can be exchanged for actual fiat currency.
AXS is one of the top-performing metaverse tokens of 2021, with price gains of over 30,000% over the year. Additionally, the success of Axie Infinity has inspired a wave of similar play-to-earn (P2E) games, meaning that players can earn in-game tokens that translate to real-world financial gains.
This has been an especially appealing aspect of the growing metaverse, since people are looking for alternative ways to make money during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, AXS is a metaverse token that shows a lot of promise for 2022, making it a great potential investment.
Sandbox (SAND)
Sandbox (SAND) is a metaverse token that’s quite similar to Decentraland (MANA): players can buy virtual land as well as create and share experiences, content, and games.
The SAND token is used within the Sandbox metaverse, another play-to-earn (P2E) game that combines blockchain technology, decentralized finance (DeFi), and NFT creation and trading within this immersive metaverse. This virtual world gives users access to free design tools to create and customize in-game assets that can then be monetized as NFTs and sold for SAND tokens on The Sandbox Marketplace.
This means that the Sandbox metaverse allows for a greater degree of customization and an increased emphasis on NFT creation and trading. It’s exceptionally easy for users to create their own content, games, and NFTs which can then be played, sold, or traded. Of course, since the NFT market is booming, these translate to real-world value for cold, hard IRL money.
The SAND token is an ERC-20 token with a total supply of 3 billion - it’s also the native token of the Sandbox metaverse, meaning that it forms the basis of all transactions and interactions within this immersive world. Players can earn SAND tokens by playing games or contests within the metaverse or via crypto exchanges like Binance.
In order to play the game, users need to own SAND tokens, customize their avatars, buy LANDs, and/or trade ASSETS on the Sandbox Marketplace. The SAND token is also a governance token, meaning that SAND holders can propose and vote on changes to the platform through a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) structure.
Finally, SAND was among the top performing cryptos in the year 2021. Plus, it appears as if 2022 should be another banner year for the SAND token.
Vulcan Forged (PYR)
Vulcan Forged is a community-based play-to-earn (P2E) gaming ecosystem and NFT platform that has gained a large, dedicated, and dynamic following over the course of 2021.
Founded in December of 2020, it now includes eight different games that offer users an immersive journey into ancient mythology, with the most popular game being VulcanVerse.
Within the game system, players can earn tokens by battling with other players, exploring the wide open metaverse, and/or upgrading their land and assets. Since this is a P2E gaming system, the players can earn tokens or coins when they sell, trade, or upgrade these in-game assets, turning metaverse assets into real-world dollars. This makes Vulcan Forged similar to other P2E games listed above, including Decentraland, Axie Infinity, and Sandbox.
As of early 2022, this token has a market cap of nearly $226 million. Additionally, it’s been showing strong growth over an extended period of time, making it a pretty solid investment for anyone interested in metaverse tokens or coins.
Finally, this particular platform is built on the Polygon network of Ethereum blockchains. In addition to the eight P2E games, it also includes a decentralized exchange and a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace.
Enjin Coin (ENJ)
Enjin Coin (ENJ) is an ERC-20 token that’s also built on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. Like most of the other metaverse tokens we’ve discussed, it was designed to be an in-game currency to purchase items and increase value for metaverse assets.
The coins or tokens are used via a process known as minting - this creates in-game assets and the ability to improve various characteristics within the game, including hit points (HP), weapons, and character abilities.
However, Enjin tokens are all about NFTs (non-fungible tokens) - that is the primary focus of this platform. That’s great news for investors and enthusiasts, considering that NFTs are currently the primary engines of wealth generation and innovation in the wider metaverse.
That being said, Enjin is a platform that allows users to create, store, list, and trade NFTs all in one place. Essentially, it’s a combination of metaverse token and NFT marketplace under one roof, making it an excellent choice for anyone who’s dealing with NFTs.
Currently, most NFTs use the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. However, it has relatively high gas fees, meaning that transactions can be prohibitively expensive for some users. As a result, Enjin is developing its own blockchain exclusively for NFTs known as Efinity (EFI).
The scope and widening popularity of NFTs has made ENJ one of the more viable investment options when it comes to metaverse tokens in 2022. Plus, it’s exceptionally easy to integrate ENJ with multiple blockchain-gaming platforms, further expanding its investment opportunities.
Solana (SOL)
Solana is an open-source, blockchain platform that was designed specifically to host scalable and decentralized applications. It currently supports 50,000 TPS (transactions per second) and 400 ms Block Times, making it ultra fast while still satisfying all the most important properties of a functioning blockchain: security, decentralization, and scalability.
Additionally, this particular blockchain is a combination of a Proof of Stake (PoS) paradigm and a new, proprietary technology called Proof of History (PoH). Both of these are instrumental in keeping a secure record of ownership that’s needed on a competitive and properly-functioning blockchain.
Plus, Solana is faster than most other blockchains. It generally also has lower transaction fees, making it especially appealing to some crypto and metaverse token investors.
The token that runs on the Solana blockchain - also called Solana - has increased in value by almost 12,000% in 2021, making it the fifth-largest cryptocurrency. It also has a market cap of nearly $30 billion as of early 2022.
Finally, the SOL token is the native currency in the Solana blockchain ecosystem. These SOL tokens can also be used to make micropayments known as lamports. As of early 2022, the circulating supply is nearly 300 billion.
Use Tokens in The HUSL Metaverse
The Huslverse is the HUSL’s upcoming metaverse that includes play-to-earn games. This expansive virtual world also has a healthy in-game economy that’s powered by $HUSL, the metaverse token and currency for all transactions within the metaverse. Players can stake their tokens to earn various rewards or use them to buy virtual land, skins, in-game items, building materials, and NFT collectibles.
Plus, as a governance token, it means that token holders can take an active role in the future of the Huslverse and its play-to-earn game. This includes the ability to make critical decisions, like voting on upcoming NFT drops and determining gameplay. Token holders can also enter exclusive competitions and get access to unique events.
We also value metaverse investors who might be looking for exciting opportunities and who are ready to innovate in this emerging market. If you’re looking at any metaverse tokens or coins on the Ethereum blockchain, then we have plenty of music NFTs that you can use as future investments or collectibles.
Just like the wider metaverse, 2022 will be a banner year for The HUSL. We’re adding a wide variety of new artists to our selection and we’ll be offering some really exciting music NFTs for fans and investors.
Launch the HUSL app today and stay tuned for the upcoming Huslverse!
