How to invest in the Metaverse
More people want to know how to invest in the Metaverse as it becomes more popular worldwide. Though the hype started last year, the idea was around for several years. Neal Stephenson coined the Metaverse in his 1992 sci-fi story “Snow Crash.” It refers to the physical world and virtual worlds merging into one as if the latter were a real-life location.
Here, people could work, play, and do many other things that they couldn’t do in the real world. Nowadays, various companies from around the world are investing millions of dollars into the concept. Meta, formerly Facebook, wants to lead this tech revolution. How can you benefit?
That’s what I will answer today by listing the many ways you can invest in the Metaverse. The easy ways involve buying related assets such as cryptocurrencies, stocks, and ETFs. On the other hand, you can go the extra mile by purchasing digital land or participating in the various platforms. I’ll list them starting from the easiest method to the hardest:
Metaverse tokens
Difficulty level: Easy
Many of the Metaverse platforms we have now use blockchain technology to function. They operate on decentralized networks that rely on cryptocurrencies.
Take the popular NFT game Axie Infinity as an example. It lets players earn AXS tokens, SLP tokens, and in-game items that function as non-fungible tokens.
These digital goods have ownership recorded on a blockchain, making them unique. What’s more, they could sell the NFT items for Ethers, the Ethereum network’s native cryptocurrency.
What’s great about cryptocurrencies is their price volatility. Some people dislike that their value may drop significantly after a few days. Yet, they don’t often talk about the potential gains!
Most people don’t realize this, but you can get these tokens even without using these Metaverse platforms. Instead, you could just buy them from a crypto exchange platform like Binance.
They track crypto prices, too, so you can see in real-time just how much your assets grow in value. Later, you can sell your cryptos for profit.
You can buy these tokens for as low as $10.00, at least on Binance, then you just have to wait for gains. Now, do you see why it’s the easiest way to invest in the Metaverse?
Metaverse stocks
Difficulty level: Moderate
Learning how to invest in the Metaverse seems to be a recent trend. That’s why you might be surprised to hear the stock market is one of its investment options.
Yet, this is possible because many companies want this idea to become real. One of the popular investment choices is Nvidia because it wants to create an Nvidia Omniverse.
If the name rings a bell, you probably play video games, mine cryptocurrencies, or both. Gamers look to them for the best graphics cards for the latest games.
On the other hand, their graphics cards help crypto miners gain as much bitcoin as possible. This is why Nvidia claims it can connect the “Metaverses” into a shared “virtual universe.”
Also, Roblox is another well-known Metaverse stock. After all, it’s where you’ll find Nike’s Meta platform known as Nikeland, where people can buy the fitness brand’s shoes as in-game wearables.
Thanks to so many investment apps nowadays, getting into the stock market is easier than ever. Still, it’s not as easy as building a crypto portfolio.
Unless your online broker allows stock fractions, you will have to pay full price. A share of the Meta stocks can set you back over $200. You can only buy during a trading day.
Still, this might be a better choice if you prefer the safety of an old asset type. Just remember that all investments have a risk, whether in real life or this tech world!
Read more: What Is The Metaverse?
Metaverse ETFs
Introducing META – The Metaverse ETF 👾$META is designed to give investors exposure to the Metaverse, a multi-trillion dollar market opportunity that will touch almost every sector and industry per @ballmatthew.$META is now trading on the NYSE.
— Roundhill Investments (@roundhill) June 30, 2021
Difficulty level: Moderate
You may think of ETFs or exchange-traded funds as a mix of conventional and nowadays digital assets. We now see more ETFs with Meta stocks and cryptocurrencies in them!
For example, the Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF helps its clients invest in this new tech world. It contains the stocks I talked about, like Nvidia and Roblox.
By the end of 2021, ProShares applied at the SEC to have a similar offering. It saw how this ETF could be a great investment after the value of its Bitcoin ETF went up by 549% earlier this year!
What’s great about an ETF is that it has many assets inside. That means any of those could keep its price up even as the others go down. This seems better than stocks, right?
Well, that is until you see how much more planning you’ll have to do before investing. Instead of just one company, you’ll have to check all the ones inside the ETF.
Then, you have to check the sponsor or company that will manage the fund. If they turn out to have a poor record, you might be letting the wrong people handle your money!
Virtual real estate
Difficulty level: Hard
Earlier this month, major accounting firms bought a lot of digital lands. On the other side of this spectrum, you have famous rapper Snoop Dogg owning real estate in SandBox.
It seems like everyone wants to get in on this tech craze, right? That’s because digital land presents huge revenue opportunities, just like its real-life counterparts.
Take Decentraland as an example. You can buy digital real estate that you can tweak however you like. However, you can make money from it by hosting events inside.
You could go classy by having an NFT art gallery, for example. If you want something more active, you could invite artists to perform in your venue.
This option is at the bottom of my “How to invest in the Metaverse” guide because virtual land can cost as much as real-life ones, sometimes even more!
You can buy them from the Decentraland Marketplace using MANA tokens. At the time of writing, the price of a MANA token was $2.93, and the average land cost was 9,900 MANA.
This means you will have to spend at least $26,460 or more to buy a plot in Decentraland. It’s easy to see why investing this way is a lot harder than the earlier methods.
Metaverse platforms
Why You Absolutely Must Invest In The Metaverse https://t.co/beBs0N1jtR pic.twitter.com/MxanHoR6V7
— Forbes (@Forbes) November 15, 2021
Difficulty level: Depends on your chosen platform
Instead of just buying and selling digital assets, you could join the platforms that produce them. As I said, this can be easy or hard, depending on the platform you’re using.
Let’s start with the difficult path with Axie Infinity. You play the game using fantasy pets called Axies to battle against fellow players. However, you will have to buy them at the Axie Marketplace.
At the time of writing, the price of Ethers is $3,168.10. The hype around Axie is cooling down, too, so the Axies are much cheaper right now.
As I’m writing this, you could buy an Axie from the Marketplace for around $76. If you don’t want to spend that much, you could request a player to let you use their extra pets.
On the other hand, you could try an easier way using the Octi app. It’s a social media platform that lets people earn from their posts. Let’s say you posted a video on the app.
As it becomes trending, you earn Octi coins that can give you discounts on real-life goodies. Some of the brands include Nike, Funko, and Reebok.
This could be the right choice if you enjoy making content on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube. With Octi, you can turn online clout into real-life goodies!
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Final thoughts
With a VR headset, we could land in the Metaverse. Because of the recent hype, this tech world keeps growing. The question is, will you be earning from it?
Those were my ways to invest in the Metaverse, but keep in mind that this article isn’t meant as investment advice. Make sure you look into any option before trying it.
Read the other Inquirer USA articles if you want to know more about tech trends. Those will give you the latest scoop on all the hottest happenings worldwide.
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