The metaverse has gained immediate global attention in recent weeks, and this is due to the focus on Facebook’s name change to Meta. The firm looks to leverage its social network and combine its own Virtual Reality (VR) technology from Occulus Rift as its strategy for the future.
However within crypto, none of this is new — this has been going on for some time, with projects like Decentraland, Axie, Enjin, Sand and many more. This article will look at the top 10 Metaverse coins to keep an eye on.
What is the Metaverse?
The metaverse is a universe that exists entirely virtually. They’re open spaces that typically enable you to live, work and earn in a completely virtual environment. Metaverse environments try to get as close to reality as the technology will let them.
“Shared web-based environments that sometimes mimic reality in ways, and people can express and explore and often build the world around them.” — Charles Read, founder of Rarestone Capital, a pioneering Crypto VC.
What are Metaverse coins?
These are crypto-related coins that have either been planned for in the future or currently have metaverse. These coins are typically used as means of exchange in metaverse economies and offer governance & economic incentives from the project they’re a part of.
The majority of the 10 projects mentioned below are pretty large and boast deep liquidity, this means they’re very accessible to easily buy and sell on reputable exchanges. This is good for you as users as you could buy these crypto coins more efficiently and typically at a lower cost.
Top 10 Metaverse coins to keep an eye on
- Decentraland
- ENJIN
- AXIE INFINITY
- SAND
- STAR ATLAS
- ALICE
- AURY
- GHOST
- UFO
- YGG
1. Decentraland
Decentaland was founded in 2017 is one of the incumbent metaverse based projects in Crypto.
Decentraland is a user-owned & built using the Ethereum virtual world where you can play, explore, and interact with games and activities. Purchasing land, creating your own environments, marketplaces, and applications.
If you are familiar with games like Roblox & Minecraft in the non-crypto world, it’s not so different to these. The major difference between Decentraland and these games is that Decentraland is governed by its users through a DAO & that it’s built on a chain.
3 tokens associated with it — $MANA, $LAND, and $ESTATE. All work in combination for different areas of the Decentraland economy.
The platform is governed by its users through the Decentraland DAO, a decentralised autonomous organisation.
Things you can do in Decentraland:
- Tomoya Casino is a Las Vegas-style experience.
- Investing is also an option—invest by purchasing real estate or land.
- Showcase art in NFT art galleries.
- Decentralised racing games.
- Visit a retro arcade where you can use & wear a few NFT wearables.
2. ENJIN
Enjin is a blockchain gaming platform built on the Ethereum Network, designing / creating digital collectable items. The cryptocurrency Enjin (ENJ) itself was made on the Ethereum blockchain and came to life through an ICO that raised $18.9 million in late 2017.
The platform offers methods for creating digital assets known as ERC-1155 tokens. For use across multiple Games. These are superior versions of the ERC20 and ERC721 tokens.
Cross-game items are a selection of digital assets that can be used across the ‘multiverse’. This enables ownership across a mass amount of platforms not restricted to one platform. With these items, you can also trade them with other users on marketplaces or p2p via Enjin Wallet.
Enjin has released software development kits (SDKs), allowing users to create digital assets on Ethereum and integrate them into games and apps.
3. AXIE INFINITY
Axie is a crypto game that has similarities to a Pokémon style game in which players raise, battle, and trade cute NFT pets called Axies—founded by Sky Mavis, who launched the game in 2018. In August 2021, the game had around 1 million daily players.
In August, the game took $364 million in protocol revenue, up from $196 million in July, according to data from AxieWorld. This revenue was the 2nd largest revenue-generating project only behind Ethereum, which took the top spot.
Axie Infinity is built on the Ronin Sidechain, which is an Ethereum sidechain in order to make the game more affordable.
It has two native cryptocurrencies:
- AXS, which can be bought and sold on exchanges.
- Small Love Potion (SLP), which is awarded to players for spending time in the game. (Also Available on a handful of exchanges).
The big selling point is the play to earn model, which enables users to actually redeem earnings in-game and then exchange for assets outside the game to make an income from it.
4. SAND
Sandbox, which was recently invested in by one of the worlds biggest technology investors, SoftBank — one of the world’s largest innovative venture firms.
Sandbox is a project in the Ethereum metaverse in the gaming ecosystem. Where you can create, share, and monetise assets and games. Similar to Decentraland but this project appeals more to a younger audience.
The Sandbox metaverse is one of several blockchain-based virtual worlds attempting to change the dynamics of the gaming market and reward creators for the value they produce through user-generated content.
SAND is an ERC20 token that powers the whole ecosystem
Used for:
- Play games & purchase equipment or customise your avatar.
- SAND will also serve as a governance token on the Sandbox DAO.
- SAND can be used to purchase ASSETS and LANDS; digital pieces of real estate.
- SAND tokens can be staked to acquire more SAND.
- Generate revenue, by creating NFTs using VoxEdit.
- Earn rewards as a player of other users’ games.
5. STAR ATLAS
Star Atlas is a blockchain-based gaming metaverse built using the Solana Blockchain. The decentralised game is powered by real-time graphics, DeFi, and multiplayer gaming, allowing for hyper-realistic and interactive gameplay.
Since the introduction of the Solana protocol, blockchain has managed to establish an immense serverless and reliable gaming environment through which Star Atlas is trying to utilise. Solana’s unique protocol facilitates gameplay connection between assets to be actively recorded and essentially skips the need for a robust traditional server for online multiplayer games like Star Atlas.
NFTs and crypto trading within the Star Atlas will be possible, aiming to build a strong in-game economy.
6. ALICE
My Neighbor Alice (ALICE) is the native token for a farm game. The game is a world where users invest in digital islands, build on top of those islands & find new collectables.
ALICE is an ERC-20 token built on the ETH network and earnable in-game through events and competitions, among other ways. The token also powers My Neighbor Alice’s NFT Marketplace, enabling players to trade and profit off of their creations.
ALICE token incentivises players to participate in the My Neighbor Alice farm-building game.
ALICE also represents in-game items like land or furniture, which can be sold or rented out to other players via smart contracts.
The ALICE token ensures My Neighbor Alice is a free-to-start crypto game. Anyone can participate in competitions and slowly earn their way to spendable amounts of ALICE. Or, users can invest ahead of time and gain access to certain game features right away.
7. AURY
Aurory, is a Play-to-Earn game that takes inspiration from Axie Infinity. It is actively being built utilising the Solana blockchain. Aurory’s aim is to build a game that helps users earn more from playing games, helping more people understand blockchain technology in a fun, playful and simple way through games.
Aurory chose to build on Solana and cooperate with Serum DEX (Solana based Decentralised exchange). Aurory benefits from this as it can inherit the low transaction costs and fast transaction processing speed of the Solana network.
8. GHOST
Aavegotchi is a DeFi-enabled NFT game developed by Pixelcraft Studios in 2020.
It is a crypto collectables game built on the Ethereum network where participants can create their very own ghost avatars as NFTs and interact with the Aavegotchi digital universe.
GHST is an ERC 20 token and is used for the governance and utility of the cryptocurrency token.
You will need GHST if you wish to purchase a ghost avatar or upgrade the one you own.
The Aavegotchi metaverse enables holders to purchase digital items, including wearables for their avatars, or use them to vote and participate in the game’s development.
They can then trade them on a secondary marketplace.
9. UFO
UFO Gaming is a project with a fully decentralised social gaming token, UFO. In the P2E (Play to earn) metaverse, Virtual land, NFT and Gaming. The token is designated to be used to participate in the IDO Launchpad for new metaverse based projects. All actions to participate with the project ecosystem will require the $UFO token.
10. YGG
Yield Guild Games (YGG) is a little different from the other metaverse coins. It is the purely decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) for investing in non-fungible tokens (NFTs), virtual worlds and blockchain-based games all connected to the metaverse.
The organisation’s mission is to create the biggest virtual world economy, where the holders of YGG can benefit from the community-owned assets through sharing of profits made by the DAO with token holders.
YGG combines non-fungible token (NFT) & decentralised finance (DeFi), bringing yield farming to game economies while adding value to these virtual worlds by developing the content and economy of these games. The aim is to own and acquire assets in the metaverse.