Over the past few months, the technology arena has witnessed great interest in investing in the Metaverse, as it is one of the new investment areas.
Major companies and institutions around the world began racing to invest in this promising field, which made analysts expect the value of this sector to reach $800 billion by 2024.
Since Mark Zuckerberg announced, several months ago, that he was changing the name of his company from Facebook to Meta, as an initial step towards the metaverse, the amount of interest in this new world has increased, and questions have increased about the methods and mechanisms for investing in it.
In light of this, we will try through this article to provide a detailed explanation of everything related to investing in the metaverse, and how to make a profit from it, in addition to reviewing some expectations about its future.
What is investing in the metaverse?
In concept, investing in the metaverse is like investing in any other field, as it simply refers to the process of pumping money into this virtual world; This is in order to make profits from it.
The investment process in this field is based on purchasing virtual assets that do not exist on the ground, but rather exist in various metaverse worlds, such as Decentraland, The Sandbox, Roblox, and others, and represent a very great value.
There are many ways through which you can invest in this imaginary world, but before discussing them, we must provide a brief overview of the concept of the metaverse in general. This is an important introduction to understanding the main topic that this article revolves around.
The metaverse can be defined as a network of three-dimensional virtual worlds that focus on social communication, by combining a group of different technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and video.
This is now being promoted to the world on a large scale; As the next generation of the Internet, it is currently viewed as an important business and financial opportunity for the technology industry and other sectors.
It can be said that talking about this term today is very similar to talking about the Internet in the seventies and eighties, when the basic building blocks for the new form of communication were laid. At that time, this raised many speculations about what it would look like and how people would use it, which is the same thing. Happening now for the metaverse. For more information about the world of the metaverse.
In this context, major technology companies began to enter this world and invest huge amounts of money in it, such as Meta, or Facebook previously, NVIDIA, Tencent, Microsoft, and other technology giants around the world.
Through the vision formulated by social media and technology companies for the metaverse, various devices such as virtual reality headsets, digital glasses, smartphones, and other devices will allow users to access 3D virtual or augmented reality environments, where they can work and communicate with friends, conduct business, and visit websites. distance, and access to educational opportunities.
How can you invest in the metaverse?
As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, there are many ways and mechanisms through which you can invest in this fantasy world, and make profits from it.
In the following lines, we will monitor the most prominent of these methods, as follows:
Buy Metaverse Coins
The most prominent and easiest way to invest in this field is to buy the digital currencies of this world. All you will need to do this is to own a digital wallet. To keep these currencies and participate in their exchange.
This investment option is not limited to large companies and institutions only, as anyone can buy these currencies and invest in them.
Since metaverse projects are still fairly new, their currency prices are very low, which opens up investment opportunities for almost anyone.
There are many famous currencies that have achieved significant rise during the recent period, and you can invest in them, the most prominent of which are the following:
SAND coin: It is the base currency of the Sandbox world, and its price reached 4.80 US dollars during the first quarter of 2022 as its highest value, while its market value during the same period reached 4.90 billion US dollars.
MANA coin: It is the base currency of the world of Decentraland, and its price during the first quarter of 2022 reached 3.46 US dollars as its highest value, while its market value during the same period reached 6.47 billion US dollars.
HVT coin: It is the currency of the HyperVerse world, and its price reached 7.7 US dollars during the first quarter of 2022 as its highest value, while no information is yet available about its market value during the same period.
CUBE coin: It is the currency of the Somnium Space world, and its price during the first quarter of 2022 reached 8.61 US dollars as its highest value, while its market value during the same period reached 105 million US dollars.
NAKA coin: It is the currency of the Nakamoto world, and its price reached 0.83 US dollars during the first quarter of 2022 as its highest value, while no information is yet available about its market value during the same period.
Buy metaverse lands
Buying land is the second best and easiest way to invest in the metaverse, after buying cryptocurrencies.
Where you can buy virtual lands from any world of the metaverse, and make profits from it, whether by renting them or selling them at a higher price later.
One of the most prominent and famous of these worlds is the Decentraland world or platform, which has succeeded, during the recent period, in selling many virtual lands, some of which have reached millions of dollars in price.
There are expectations that the size of the metaverse land market will reach one billion US dollars during the current year.
However, this option involves much greater risks than the option to buy digital currencies.
This is because the value of the hypothetical land depends on a variety of variable factors that you cannot predict.
But in any case, you can buy lands in this fantasy world very easily, by following the following steps:
Select the platform through which you would like to purchase digital land, such as Decentraland, The Sandbox, or others.
Create a digital currency wallet, which must be compatible with the blockchain associated with the platform of your chosen platform.
Connecting the digital wallet to the platform.
After that, purchasing virtual land will be very similar to purchasing real land, as you will need to consider the price, location, and future value of the land.
Once you choose a plot of land, you will be required to purchase digital currencies and store them in your wallet, knowing that the type of currency required to carry out the transaction varies depending on the platform. For example, if you want to buy a plot of land in the world of Decentraland, you will need to obtain MANA coins.
After that, you can make an offer for the land and buy it directly.
Rent or purchase prefabricated buildings
Instead of buying land, you can rent or buy prefabricated buildings that you can use directly.
For example, an individual or company can have a virtual store, which is used to display 3D digital copies in the metaverse.
There are some obstacles that make this option not easy for some, such as the high minimum purchase.
Create, buy and sell non-fungible tokens – NFTs
One of the most flexible ways to invest in the metaverse is to create, buy and sell non-fungible tokens – NFTs.
Through this option, you can create 3D symbols or assets and list them for sale on the Metaverse markets.
You can also buy already generated tokens, sell them later and make profits from it.
It is worth noting that non-fungible codes include everything you can use in this virtual world, whether it is fictional characters, real estate, clothes and fashion, etc.
Buy Metaverse shares
Buying shares in companies interested in or working in the metaverse field is one of the best ways to invest in this virtual world.
As we previously mentioned in previous articles, there are many major companies and institutions around the world that have recently turned to the metaverse.
The most prominent of these companies are the following:
Meta Company: This company, which recently changed its name from Facebook to Meta, is one of the most prominent companies that has stormed the world of the metaverse during the recent period, as its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, decided to pump huge investments into this field.
Tencent: This company specializing in the field of the Internet and games announced, several months ago, its plan to join the world of the metaverse, and the path it will take to move towards the virtual world is through its specialized video games, as well as social networks, as it announced.
NVIDIA: It is also considered one of the most prominent companies interested in the world of the metaverse, as it has launched a platform or tool known as Omniverse, through which three-dimensional worlds are connected into one virtual world, and building and real estate projects are established in the virtual world that simulate those in the real world.
Microsoft - Microsoft: It is considered one of the first technological companies to break into this imaginary world, by developing a series of its own applications, which the company included under its main platform known as Mesh. It also updated the Altspace VR social platform; To make the metaverse a safer place for users and players.
Unity Software: It is considered one of the technology companies that has paid very great attention to the field of metaverses. At the end of last year, it announced the acquisition of Weta Digital, a company working in the field of 3D visual effects, as a first step towards moving towards the virtual world.
Therefore, you can invest in the metaverse, by purchasing the traded shares of these companies.
This method is also one of the easy and simple ways through which you can invest in the metaverse. This is because it does not require dealing in digital currencies or even owning a wallet.
For example, you can buy shares in Meta Company, by following the following steps:
Choose a financial trading company with a high degree of trust; This is so you can buy shares.
Open a personal account with the financial trading company you have chosen, and deposit money into it.
You can then easily make your purchase by searching for the stocks you want to invest in.
Regarding the price of Metaverse shares, we can say that there is no specific price, as it varies from one platform to another.
How to profit from the metaverse
So, to summarize what was previously mentioned, you can make a profit from the metaverse through five basic methods, which are:
Buy digital currencies
Land purchase.
Renting or purchasing buildings.
Create, buy and sell non-fungible tokens – NFTs
Buy stocks
Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages, and therefore before you make your decision, you must study each of them well. To choose the method that best suits you.
What is the size of investments in the metaverse?
In a very short period of time, the world of the metaverse has succeeded in attracting huge investments estimated at billions of dollars, despite it being a fairly new field.
Although there is no specific number for the total investments so far in the metaverse, the volume of investments that major companies and institutions have decided to pump into this field can be monitored.
For example, Microsoft directed about $70 billion; To develop a group of games and programs, as part of its plan to move towards the virtual world.
Meta also invested about $10 billion; This is to develop the hardware and software that will be used to provide virtual reality capabilities within this world.
As for Google, it announced that it will direct about $39.8 million to a private equity fund for all metaverse projects.
Bloomberg estimated the value of the metaverse market during 2020 at about $478 billion.
It also predicted that the metaverse's value would reach $800 billion by 2024.
Is investing in the metaverse safe?
Despite the great interest in investing in the world of the metaverse, especially by major technology companies and institutions, we cannot say that investing in this world is 100% safe.
Investing in the metaverse, like investing in many other fields, involves great risk and many fluctuations. Therefore, it is very important to think carefully before investing your money in any project, and to conduct your own studies about it.
There are many fears about heading into this field, which may affect investment in it in the coming years, the most prominent of which is the lack of a regulatory entity for this world, the absence of security, and the difficulty of integrating all platforms or worlds under one roof.
A future vision for investing in the metaverse
Since metaverse projects are still young, there are no 100% certain predictions about their investment future.
But in general, and in light of what was discussed in this article regarding the state of interest and passion for the world of metaverses, and the keenness of technology giants around the world to move towards it, it is expected that the next few years will witness an increase in the volume of investments in this new field.
Also, in the context of expectations that indicate the possibility of the metaverse in the future becoming similar to our real world in many aspects, it is likely that major companies operating in all fields, not just technology, will race to pump more investments into it.
Conclusion
At the end of the article, we can say that investing in this imaginary world, like investing in any other field, may result in huge gains or huge losses.
Therefore, the future of investment in the metaverse depends on what surprises the coming years will bring us regarding this imaginary world and everything related to it.