A recent surge in interest around virtual worlds and metaverse topics has everyone asking the same questions. Namely, which tokens should they invest in to make the most of the trend? Whilst giving direct financial advice is never our style, we can certainly point you in the direction of the leading virtual world platforms. The most popular ones include solid roadmaps, deep pockets, and growing user bases. Each virtual world economy is powered by its own tokens, and while some serve little function other than transactions, others are directly tied to the growth of the platform.
On traditional gaming platforms, users generate value that flows to the game developer. Players either purchase entire games, upgrades, customizations and more once in a game’s ecosystem. Typically, players can’t transfer in-game assets or use them outside of a specific game environment. For example, if a player pays to upgrade their armor, unlock a new vehicle, or access new worlds, that value remains locked in the game forever. You can’t wear your armor in your favorite football game, nor can you unlock the asset’s value through trading, or selling on a marketplace. Blockchain-based games and VR metaverses like Somnium Space reverse this flow of value to benefit players through tokenization.
Somnium Space – CUBE
The Somnium Space economy comprises three different types of token assets. However, CUBE is the most important in regards to a potential investment token as it provides utility in the game. Players can tokenize their in-game assets such as land parcels, avatars, collectibles, and wearables using CUBE, which decouples the Somnium Space company from the value generated by players. The CUBE cryptocurrency streamlines in-game transactions between players and is equivalent to buying game tokens at an arcade. With an Ethereum wallet, players can hold ETH, CUBE, and NFTs. CUBE serves as a bridge between these assets to facilitate in-game, e-commerce transactions. As the Somnium metaverse expands, the CUBE token will develop in-world utility.
In the last thirty days, the price of the Somnium Space CUBE has leaped over 567%, from around $2 to over $14 today. Note the sharp price surge around the time of Facebook’s Meta announcement. While many consider Mark Zuckerburg to be the Nolan Solento of our industry, he’s certainly pipped Elon to the pump this time around.
Decentraland – MANA
Decentraland is a virtual reality platform powered by the ?Ethereum blockchain. MANA is its native token and it allows users to create, experience, and monetize content and applications. The platform gained considerable hype of late as it arranged the first-ever metaverse music festival, featuring headline shows from DeadMau5 and Paris Hilton. In this virtual world, otherwise referred to as a ‘metaverse’, users can buy plots of land that they can navigate, build upon and monetize. Like Somnium Space, Decentraland can be considered a metaverse as it comprises many smaller virtual estates, all owned and operated by users.
MANA is an?Ethereum based token used within Decentraland to buy avatars, wearables, names, and more. Also, it is burned to acquire NFTs in the platform’s metaverse, such as land plots. Similar to CUBE, the price of MANA has been shooting up recently. In the last 30 days, the price of the token went from around 70 cents to $2.44 today, representing a surge of over 239%.
The Sandbox – SAND
The Sandbox is a game in which players can buy digital plots of land, called LAND, and create experiences on top of them to share with other users. In a similar way to Minecraft gameplay. In this way, The Sandbox is one model of a blockchain-based metaverse in the same vein as Decentraland. In addition to the NFT LAND token, The Sandbox has two other native tokens that govern the operations in its metaverse: NFT ASSET tokens and SAND. Users can upload their creations into The Sandbox marketplace, where first they are registered as ERC1155 tokens (ASSET) on the Ethereum blockchain. Although, the platform has announced plans to launch on the low fee Polygon network soon. These assets can then be bought and sold using SAND.
SAND is the utility token of The Sandbox’s virtual world ecosystem and can be used for creating asset tokens, buying and selling assets on the marketplace, participating in transactions involving LAND, and interacting with user-generated experiences. SAND is also the governance token of The Sandbox DAO, which means that ownership of SAND tokens grants users voting rights to improve the platform as they wish. Furthermore, the supply of SAND is limited; there will only ever be 3 billion SAND tokens. As a result, SAND is scarce enough to be deflationary.
Just like MANA and CUBE, SAND received a welcome booster in the aftermath of the Meta announcement. In the last 30 days, the token price has increased by over 231%, from around 70 cents to $2.50 today.
MegaCryptoPolis – MEGA
MegaCryptoPolis is a decentralized city builder game running on the Ethereum, Polygon, and Tron blоckсhain smart contracts. You can play in any browser or on a mobile device using special apps. Every building in MegaCryptoPolis is a crypto token that is verified on the blоckсhain, giving owners full rights. MEGA is the native token of the platform. They are created when players lock resources into a smart contract. Things like wood and steel are resources and players receive more MEGA tokens for locking up their assets. Additionally, players can bridge MEGA from the other networks and buy resources in the other world.
A block of land is the minimal requirement to start playing the game. It allows players to construct and upgrade a building to gain influence points and collect their share of taxes in ETH on a daily basis. Further rewards can be collected when people buy land near to yours, and players can sell land plots with nothing on. The platform recently announced it would be changing its name to Mega World, with the core mechanics remaining the same for players on all networks.
The MEGA token displayed irregular patterns over the last 30 days. Having surged up from $12 to $37 by the 2nd of November, it has now dropped back down to $23.34 where it appears to be finding support.
Welcome to the metaverse
While these four tokens represent a small portion of the total number of gaming and metaverse tokens available to explore, they are the current market leaders. These projects have the longest tail, the deepest pockets, and the most promising road maps. October data points to dapp games arguably providing the most user-friendly on-ramp to the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry to date. The metaverse concept is not a new one, but Facebook seems to have given the mainstream the impetus it needed to start thinking more deeply about it.
As investors traverse a completely new landscape of gaming tokens, NFT assets, and more, it’s important to first understand the projects behind the tokens. Additionally, it’s always beneficial to take a step back and look at the bigger macroeconomic picture. Helping savvy investors hedge bets on which platforms may come out swinging and which may have already hit their peak is what DappRadar does.
The above does not constitute investment advice. The information given here is purely for informational purposes only. Please exercise due diligence and do your research. The writer holds positions in ETH, BTC, ADA, MATIC, SAFEMOON, HEX, LINK, GRT, CRO, OMI, USDT, FLOW, ENS, AVASTR, BOSON, GMEE, SAND, MANA, AND OCEAN
