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7 Best Coins in the Metaverse – Forbes Advisor
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The metaverse is one of the internet’s favorite new buzzwords.
If you’re new to the party, the Metaverse is the latest iteration of virtual reality, or worlds accessible by people using virtual reality headsets. From shopping and entertainment to learning and gaming, some tech companies see the metaverse as a new frontier that could be as transformative as the World Wide Web was a generation ago.
This largely futuristic concept became a household word after Facebook renamed itself Meta Platforms last year.
Cryptocurrency is starting to play a key role in certain areas of this brave new world. However, its role in shaping the metaverse has been complicated by the crypto winter’s steep declines throughout 2022.
Here’s a look at the top metaverse coins – cryptocurrencies that play a role in facilitating commerce and exchange within the metaverse – that have a market cap above $500 million.
1. Internet Computer (ICP)
Internet Computer was developed by the Swiss non-profit organization Dfinity Foundation. ICP’s goal is ambitious: to replace the centralized Internet we all know today with a decentralized alternative.
The idea is that today’s Internet is primarily built by centralized companies like Alphabet-which owns the Google product family-or Amazon.com.
Launched in May 2021, Internet Computer seeks to change this order, striving to give users the opportunity to move to a more inclusive open source Internet. It aims to realize this vision with smart contracts, delivering improved speeds with reduced computational costs.
Backed by big names like venture capital (Capital risk) Andreesen Horowitz, his performance was brief but eventful. Initially, ICP had gathered a towering market capitalization of over $45 billion when the token was trading for around $700.
Although it is still one of the most important cryptocurrencies on the market, enthusiasm has waned. ICP price is significantly below its initial highs.
2. Batteries (STX)
Bitcoin (BTC) may be the granddaddy of all blockchains, but its role in the metaverse was somewhat unclear until Stacks launched on it.
Stacks is a layer one blockchain that connects to the Bitcoin blockchain via STX’s proof of transfer (PoX) mechanism. Using this technology, Bitcoin miners can pay to create new STX tokens. Additionally, Stack holders can stack (unlike Stacks) staking) their own STX coins to earn BTC rewards.
The main goal of Stacks is to integrate decentralized applications (dApps) and Web3 smart contracts to the world’s oldest and most secure blockchain, Bitcoin. It was founded by a multitude of venture capital funds, including those of Winklevoss Capital, Y Combinator and Digital Currency Group.
The first cryptocurrency to receive approval for sale by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Stacks 2.0 launched its mainnet in January 2021.
3. Axie Infinite (AXS)
Axie Infinity took the crypto world by storm during the Covid-19 pandemic, becoming the biggest play-to-earn game, paving the way for companies like Sandbox and Decentraland.
Axie Infinity takes inspiration from popular games like Pokémon and Tamagotchi, and in many ways it is similar. Players pit cute monsters against each other to earn tokens in the game.
Unlike its centralized cousins, Axie Infinity is domiciled on the blockchain, the monsters are purchased in the form of NFTs and the tokens earned – AXS – are a cryptocurrency that is actively traded on the market.
AXS was very popular during the pandemic as a way for people to make money while cooped up at home. However, as the play-to-earn model has developed, there has been criticism of its hierarchical nature.
Wealthier investors, called academics, could buy the expensive NFT monsters before renting them to actors, called workers, in low-income countries. Axie Infinity is extremely popular in the Philippines, Venezuela, United States, Thailand, and Brazil, in that respective order.
Players only receive a share of the income earned while playing, due to lack of financial means to purchase NFTs without an intermediary.
4. The sandbox (SAND)
The Sandbox is a virtual world with native tokens for transacting with the game’s digital assets. SAND can be earned and spent in the sandbox, just like MANA in Decentraland, another piece of the metaverse that appears on this list.
Virtual world tokens highlight what makes investing in the metaverse so difficult. With the metaverse still in its infancy, with an ever-growing range of platforms, and a rapidly evolving environment that changes daily, it is very difficult to pick a winner.
Unsurprisingly, the SAND token price has struggled so far this year as these variables and the market as a whole have moved against it.
Whether or not the metaverse achieves its goals remains a question of which games, platforms, and apps will overtake the others. Currently, SAND is one of the largest players in this field.
5. Theta Network (THETA)
YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime and Twitch are the titans of video streaming, operated by centralized companies wielding great power.
Enter Theta, a blockchain specially designed for video streaming. It aims to decentralize video streaming, by leveraging a peer-to-peer video delivery network.
The company’s promises are like many metaverse business plans: reduce costs, shift power from corporations to the masses, and eliminate middlemen. According to Theta, this vision would give a bigger piece of the pie to content creators and make video cheaper for consumers.
The Theta Network is designed so that when users consume video content, a portion of their computer power and available bandwidth is harnessed to relay those videos to other users on the network. In exchange, THETA tokens are earned. The more people on the network, the higher the streaming quality and speed.
Players in the traditional video streaming industry have taken note. Theta’s advisory board includes Twitch co-founder Justin Kan and YouTube co-founder Steve Chen.
6. Decentralized country (MANA)
Decentralized country exploits an entire metaverse of its own. It is a VR platform powered by the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, with a native token MANA used to conduct commercial transactions in its worlds.
Users can create avatars and navigate this online world as they wish. They can purchase lands, outfits for their avatars, accessories, and more on the Decentraland Marketplace. Content and apps from around the world can also be monetized.
The hope of this project is that Decentraland becomes a place where more and more users choose to go out, do business, and make daily transactions.
Concern over declining users has some wondering if the metaverse project will catch on or if conventional games will remain a better alternative.
7. ApeCoin (APE)
ApeCoin is not only one of the largest metaverse coins on the market, but also one of the newest. It was designed to power the growing ecosystem around popular Bored Monkeys Yacht Club.
Bored Ape Yacht Club is one of the most successful non-fungible tokens (NFT) art collections. The lowest price for one of these blockchain art monkeys is estimated at $100,000. Its sister NFT collection, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), has a floor price of $18,500, according to CoinGecko data.
To exploit the popularity of these expensive apes, the APE was airdropped to every holder of a Bored Ape or Mutant Ape NFT in March 2022. The goal behind the APE is to resolve voting and governance, as well as transactions within the “Ape metaverse”.
Metaverse FAQ
How can you buy Metaverse Coins?
Metaverse coins can be traded like any other cryptocurrency. Larger tokens can be purchased on cryptocurrency exchanges by simply exchanging fiat currency for the desired token, using the exchange’s liquidity pair.
That said, the more obscure metaverse tokens may not have liquidity for fiat trading pairs. Therefore, traders may be required to purchase a larger cryptocurrency first, such as Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum, before then swapping it for the more specialized metaverse token they want.
However, as the historical price references in the article above show, purchasing these coins represents a huge risk and should be considered a gamble rather than an investment.
You should be vigilant and do all the necessary research, while of course ensuring that you only invest what you can afford to lose, given the extreme volatility and vulnerability to huge losses that these coins possess.
Where can you buy Metaverse Coins?
Bigger crypto exchanges such as Binanceand KuCoin have trading pairs for the majority of the largest cryptocurrencies, including the largest coins in the metaverse: ICP, APE, SAND, THETA, MANA and AXS.
If you go against the conventional route, you can also use a decentralized exchange (DEX) to purchase metaverse coins. This means that Know Your Customer (KYC) is not required: rules that help verify users and prevent criminal and money laundering activities. With a DEX, you can access more obscure cryptocurrencies.
But the user experience with DEXs is not intuitive and is unique to cryptocurrency. There is also no customer support or recourse if something goes wrong and your crypto is sent to the wrong place. Therefore, this route should be avoided unless you are a very experienced trader.