Back on your way, you feel like attending a Taylor Swift concert, because why not? So, you groove to some of her songs, come back, and buy yourself a Bored Apes NFT (Non-Fungible Token) to add to your repertoire.
And then, you log off the internet, leaving this world behind. But not quite.
In 2021, Facebook re-modelled itself to Meta, in a bid to represent and extend the fantastical idea of Metaverse- a living, breathing, thriving alternate world, essentially a virtual environment, where you can have different, innumerable, life-like characters and identities, which play cricket, read Shakespeare, work at an upscale cafe anywhere you want in the world, cook your favourite dish.
And all this, while you sip your tea on your desk, working a regular day-job, sitting in some part of India, or even the world, trading in bitcoin or any of your favourite crypto on popular platforms like
CoinSwitch Kuber
.
ET Spotlight SpecialWay before, in 1992, Neal Stephenson, in his dystopian, cult-science fiction novel Snow Crash, had already envisioned a similar, digital-physical hybrid world wherein private entities like Facebook command immense power over our realities and even our digital selves. Metaverse is essentially a real-world beyond the world we live in, just virtual. Your actual existence is deeply and intrinsically intertwined with your digital world.
In stride with this nod to Stephenson and the major rebranding effort that Facebook recently underwent post their announcement on October 31, meta-coins collectively jumped a whopping 164 percent in just 12 hours, per data from Coinbase.
Take, for instance, MANA, the native token of Decentraland, a one-stop destination for buying virtual assets, estates, lands, and more, which jumped almost 400 percent to hit an all-time high. Virtual-reality platform Sandbox, which is built on Ethereum and empowers the users to create, build and monetize their virtual experiences, which saw its SAND token surge to a 7-day high of almost 300 percent.. Welcome to the world of metaverse!
Maintaining the momentum, the much-beloved, crypto-gaming pioneer Axie Infinity, which allows players to purchase digital pets also witnessed a substantial rally in its native token, Axie Infinity Shard.
In fact, such is the popularity of this game that in developing economies like the Philippines and Ghana, one can earn more than the respective countries minimum wages just by playing Axie! Per data, an estimated 40% of players are
based in the Philippines
alone, with villages coming together to play this.
Axie Infinity players in countries like Ghana can make as much as 854 to 2,562 Ghanaian cedis per month, which comes down to almost between $140 to $420, which comes down to anywhere between Rs 10,000-Rs 30,000, an amount considerably higher than Ghana’s existing standard of minimum wages.
ET Spotlight SpecialCryptocurrency as a metaverse pillar
In the physical world, you transact using fiat currency, which acts as a store of value and a medium of exchange for buying or selling anything you want. But in your virtual world, how do you think you will pay for buying your painting, land, and paying for that Taylor Swift concert in a seamless, instantaneous manner? The answer is simple- Crypto!
It is almost impossible to imagine the metaverse, the other, just-as-real world, operating without cryptocurrency. In a world where speed, transparency, and security are almost fundamental, crypto becomes a necessity rather than an option. At its heart, cryptocurrency is the perfect medium of exchange for this exponentially emerging hybrid world.
Think about it. First, prompt, swift, and frequent transactions, like selling your vintage and immediately buying a new one, or even getting your hands on that NFT needs decentralization and transparency, where the power to approve and validate your desirous transactions rests with not just one centralized authority or hub, but rather with every participant in the network collectively, making it more democratic, accessible and quick! You do not repose your trust just in a single person.
Secondly, operating on a public ledger like blockchain, where every transaction you undertake is irreversible, traceable, and secure, you can be assured that your funds are safe, given that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin employ highly sophisticated cryptography technology for encryption and fund protection.
As an integral pillar of the metaverse, the third pillar would obviously be the enviable lightning-fast speed, a gap filled competently by the scalability prospect of cryptocurrencies, or its ability to process or confirm a higher number of transactions per second! Cementing the idea of interoperability i.e. functioning across various blockchain systems, quick transfer of value and digital, permanent proof of ownership in the metaverse, crypto is indeed the way to go. And to begin your cryptocurrency journey head-on and take the plunge, the best thing you can do is to start dabbling in this space via verified cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms like
CoinSwitch Kuber. So go ahead, enter the metaverse, the other world which happens to be just as real and perhaps, just as encompassing as the ones we live in!
Disclaimer: The above content is non-editorial, and TIL hereby disclaims any and all warranties, express or implied, relating to the same. TIL does not guarantee, vouch for or necessarily endorse any of the above content, nor is responsible for them in any manner whatsoever. The article does not constitute investment advice. Please take all steps necessary to ascertain that any information and content provided is correct, updated and verified.
