Metavers becomes an investment option. Just like Facebook, is it worth betting?
The metaverse is a concept that only seemed to figure in a science fiction movie scenario, but it is closer than ever to us. When Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, announced in October that he would change the name of his social network to Meta, the subject gained visibility beyond enthusiasts.
The fact is that other market giants have been looking at the metaverse for some time. But if you still wonder what the metaverse is, this article is for you. And believe me: there is the possibility of making money in the metaverse, which has attracted investment funds that bet that it will be, in the future, one of the consolidated models of the market.
What is the Metaverse?
The concept of metaverse is a parallel reality, in which the person lives in another dimension. If it’s hard to understand on the first read, think of science fiction movies you’ve certainly watched or heard about.
Matrix and Avatar, for example, became classics that help explain what the metaverse is. In both works, people are connected to another reality, in a virtual environment, to have a kind of second life. It is precisely in this second life that the metaverse operates.
The promise of the metaverse, which is in the process of implementation and investments by technology companies around the world, is that you can have several benefits in your second life that you had in your first. You can buy clothes, watch sports games, travel, own land.
Some electronic games already use part of the concept in search of profit even more. In these games, if you want to leave your character with a more stylized outfit or buy weapons that increase his power, there is the possibility of buying. The metaverse is the immersion of this method.
Companies look at the Metaverse
All this infinity of possibilities in the metaverse attracted many companies, which bet part of their investments on ways to profit in this environment.
Adidas and Nike, multinational brands, have already announced that they will be in the metaverse and develop products specific to this parallel reality. The brands Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Ralph Lauren also present exclusive lines for the metaverse. Even Disney envisions replicating the experience of its dream theme parks.
The logic for these giants is simple because producing items for the metaverse requires less money than in the real world, let’s call it that. Designing a new shoe or bag, building an amusement park ride, even operating an airline takes time, research, resources, people. In the metaverse, this work is reduced and with the advantage that, if it doesn’t work out, getting rid of the stock is extremely easier than in reality.
Investing in the Metaverse
As with every venture model, it is possible to make money in the metaverse. There are possibilities for applying resources in pursuit of profitability in the parallel universe.
Land
In previous paragraphs you saw that you had land owned by Atari, the Japanese video game manufacturer, sold for US$ 4.3 million. Yes, there were people who sold and people who bought property in the metaverse for that amount.
Some games have already been developed for this purpose and project scenarios to the user that, in real life, he would not see so easily. For example, it is possible to purchase a plot of land next to the mansion of American rapper Snoopy Dogg.
Tokens and NFT
These two investment possibilities talk to each other, as they originate from the token, which represent the real value of some virtual good, such as a car or game items.
The most popular asset tokens in the metaverse function as mutual funds. For example, you are interested in acquiring a company in virtual reality, but you don’t have enough resources to complete this negotiation alone. This company, aware of your interest and that of other participants, adopts the ‘tokenization’ procedure of its value. That is, its entirety is sliced into shares, and each one may be able to buy. This strategy, in the metaverse environment, can be valid for many items.
So many items that there was a derivation of the token, which is the NFT, or the non-fungible asset token. The non-fungible asset is all that item that you cannot measure in the traditional way of the market. For example, a work of art.
In November, a work of digital art was sold for US$ 28.9 million – or R$ 156 million, in the conversion of the occasion – by an auction house in New York. The sculpture is the representation of the first human created in the metaverse. The transaction was made by NFT.
Cryptocurrencies
If cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies, are already a reality in the so-called real world, it is evident that they are in the metaverse.
It is possible to make financial transactions in the metaverse and these transactions are carried out through virtual currencies. The most popular currently are AXS and MANA. MANA, incidentally, appreciated 400% in November 2021 after the announcement of some high-value land transactions. Since its creation, MANA has registered an increase of 4,700%.
ETF stocks and funds
Other possibilities for profitability in the metaverse are through actions. In this case, the contribution is through quotas negotiated by companies that bet directly on this virtual environment.
Facebook itself, now Meta, trades its shares on the Stock Exchange and makes a point of boasting about the contribution it has made to the metaverse. Other companies that walk through this universe, such as the one that created the Fortnite game, also have shares traded on the Stock Exchange.
