Cryptocurrencies surged in 2021, becoming some of the best-performing assets of the year. This year, though, the story is a little different: Bitcoin, the most popularly held cryptocurrency, is down 11%, while Ether, the runner-up, is down 19%.
Investors are seeking other chances in addition to waiting for the largest cryptocurrencies to recover. Some analysts believe that metaverse tokens, which are used in virtual worlds to buy things like land or in-game commodities like avatar accessories, will be among the top competitors for 2022.
“They have a lot of promise,” said Shehan Chandrasekera, an angel investor and CoinTrackers head of tax strategy.
MANA is a metaverse token that is utilized within the Decentraland metaverse platform, and SAND is the Sandbox metaverse’s land coin. Both coins can be used to purchase land and in-game products in their own metaverse platforms. After Facebook refocused its company on developing a metaverse—to the point of rebranding as Meta—and a flood of fresh money poured into rival metaverse platforms in November, both of them saw a surge in value.
Both metaverse tokens and the broader crypto market have lost value since the start of the year. MANA has lost roughly 7% of its value since the beginning of the year, while SAND has lost more than 36% of its value since early January.
However, many people believe they have potential.
Decentraland’s MANA, according to Chandrasekera, has a lot of potentials. With almost 300,000 monthly users, Decentraland is one of the most popular metaverses. JPMorgan Chase and Samsung are among the Fortune 500 corporations that have set up shop within the service. This includes designing virtual structures that user avatars can walkthrough, as well as virtual casinos, art galleries, and concert halls.
Since the beginning of the year, both metaverse tokens and the broader crypto market have lost value. Since the beginning of the year, MANA has lost almost 7% of its value, while SAND has lost more than 36% of its value since early January.
Many people, on the other hand, believe they have potential.
According to Chandrasekera, Decentraland’s MANA has a lot of potentials. Decentraland is one of the most popular metaverses, with about 300,000 monthly members. Among the Fortune 500 companies that have signed up for the program are JPMorgan Chase and Samsung. This includes designing virtual structures that user avatars can walkthrough, as well as virtual casinos, art galleries, and concert halls.
According to professional services firm Accenture, the gaming sector generates $300 billion in sales globally. Capturing even a little portion of that market would enable metaverses to develop large crypto economies.
Investment institutions expect that metaverses will become major cash cows in the future. According to JPMorgan, the metaverse business opportunity might be worth a trillion dollars each year in the next few years. Morgan Stanley is even more upbeat, predicting that the metaverse may be worth $8 trillion dollars in the future in China alone, despite the fact that adoption will take “a long time” due to technological and regulatory challenges.