Metaverse Projects the Top Exchanges are Supporting
Before Facebook was rebranded as Meta Platforms, the metaverse concept already existed thanks to several exciting and expansive cryptocurrency projects.
If you’re not familiar with the metaverse, you may be asking yourself, what exactly is it? In addition, you may also be wondering how you can invest in this new technology and what metaverse coins are paving the way.
In this article, we’ll be providing you with information about some incredible metaverse projects, including what they are, how they performed in 2021, and which crypto exchanges you can buy them on.
Let’s get into it!
What is the metaverse?
The metaverse is an entirely virtual space that integrates the technology of blockchains and cryptocurrency.
The metaverse represents immersive virtual worlds where opportunities are infinite, both social and financial. It is an idea that combines all the strengths of virtual reality, video games, social media, cryptocurrency, and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to create a fully immersive virtual world.
The metaverse allows people to do everything they would do in real life in a virtual setting, such as spend time together, play games, watch movies, and much more. However, it also allows them to expand their lives in ways that are impossible in real life by offering several ways for users to enhance their lives, be it monetarily or otherwise.
Now, you may be thinking that this is quite similar to playing The Sims, Runescape, or even World of Warcraft. However, while it does draw on certain aspects that made these games incredibly popular, the metaverse concept is unique.
The dawn of the metaverse is poised to become a crucial building block in the next phase of cryptocurrency and blockchain games. Additionally, the NFT industry is central to this vision because NFTs can fully own a digital asset.
In the metaverse, in true cryptocurrency style, we will be able to trade unique, virtual assets, be they property, or digital currency, in a fully decentralized, peer-to-peer way.
If you’re curious about which metaverse coins are leading this space and how you can invest in them, keep reading!
Axie Infinity (AXS)
What is Axie Infinity?
It may not be Pokemon or Neopets, but Axie Infinity seems to take inspiration from both. It is an incredibly popular NFT-based video game on the Ethereum blockchain that now boasts more than 3 million monthly players, a figure that is only increasing.
Digital pets, called Axies, are central to the gameplay. Players can collect, raise, battle, and trade their Axies, similar to previous generations with Pokemon.
However, users can earn an income with Axie Infinity instead of its predecessors. That is because it is a play-to-earn blockchain-based game. Users can make money in three different ways:
- Trading the game’s in-game breeding token, Smooth Love Potion (SLP)
- Breeding and trading Axies (which are also NFTs)
- Staking the governance token, Axie Infinity Shards (AXS)
Many people can make a living from playing the game in the Philippines and other developing nations.
How has AXS performed?
As of writing this article, AXS tokens represent the second-largest metaverse project by market cap and are 37th out of all cryptocurrencies.
Within the last year, AXS has grown from a $0.84 to an all-time high of $160.36 before correcting to $46.74 in the recent market crash of January 2022.
The top exchanges supporting AXS
Decentraland (MANA)
What is Decentraland?
Decentraland is a virtual reality platform on the Ethereum blockchain. In this virtual world, users can develop parcels and own virtual plots of land and other items as NFTs to expand and even monetize.
This metaverse’s target audiences are content creators, businesses, and individuals hoping to expand their opportunities. For example, the Australian Open recently partnered with Decentraland for an official grand slam in the metaverse. In addition, Samsung launched a virtual store within the platform. Last October, Paris Hilton was a headline artist for the platform’s inaugural Metaverse Festival.
Decentraland has two tokens. On the one hand, MANA is an ERC-20 token needed to pay for any number of virtual items in the Decentraland marketplace, such as full-body avatars, wearables, names, and much more. On the other hand, however, its most important use is to buy LAND, metaverse crypto’s other token. LAND is an NFT (ERC-721 token) used to define the ownership of digital land parcels. Simply put, LAND is digital real estate.
There are several ways investors can make money within the Decentraland ecosystem apart from the traditional route of trading MANA. For example, users can sell their LAND monetize it by leasing, advertising, or hosting several other paid experiences on their property. In addition, players can also earn an income by trading virtual goods on the Decentraland marketplace.
How has MANA performed?
Currently, MANA is the largest metaverse project by market cap and 35th out of all cryptocurrencies.
At the beginning of 2021, MANA was worth only $0.16 before exploding to an all-time high of around $5.40. Given the recent market crash, the native token is down to ~$1.84.
MANA is the largest metaverse project by market cap and is 34th out of all cryptocurrencies.
MANA began 2021 at around $0.08 before exploding to an all-time high of nearly $5.50. As of writing this article, its price sits at approximately $1.90.
The top exchanges supporting MANA
The Sandbox (SAND)
What is The Sandbox?
The Sandbox is another Ethereum-based metaverse. It has been referred to as a decentralized finance (DeFi) version of Minecraft since players can create their avatars to use and earn across this new 3D metaverse.
As a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), SAND token holders can express their opinions and choose the direction of the project’s development. Overall, the Sandbox is an ecosystem entirely focused on building a metaverse of involved players.
Like its competitors above, it’s a play-to-earn game where users can create, build, and trade assets within the game to earn an income. In addition, users can stake SAND tokens on both the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains.
After launching in 2011 as a mobile game, developers had first made the game to compete with Minecraft. However, after garnering more than 40 million downloads, the revamped Sandbox project was released in 2020. Along with Axie Infinity and Decentraland, it became one of the fastest-growing games in the crypto market.
While Decentraland has a fair share of celebrities and businesses joining its metaverse, so does The Sandbox. The game already has more than 50 partnerships with famous brands, such Atari, one of the top gaming companies, The Walking Dead, CryptoKitties, and renowned rapper, Snoop Dogg.
How has SAND performed?
SAND is the third-largest metaverse project by market cap and is 42nd out of all cryptocurrencies.
SAND began 2021 at around $0.09 before rallying to an all-time high of $8.40. As of writing this article, its price sits at $2.70.
The top exchanges supporting SAND
Enjin Coin (ENJ)
What is Enjin Coin?
Founded in 2009, Enjin is a company that is at the forefront of blockchain gaming on Ethereum. Enjin Coin (ENJ), which launched in 2018, is an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency used to back the value of next-gen fungibles and NFTs. This will be monumental for the metaverse industry as more gaming experiences collaborate with new projects.
In addition, Enjin provides a way for game developers to tokenize in-game items, plus ENJ tokens back digital assets on Enjin’s platform. Because the ENJ tokens back digital assets, players can trade items with real-world value. In other words, every token minted on Enjin is backed by ENJ, which gives in-game items liquidity in the real world.
In simple terms, Enjin’s goal is to offer products to simplify developing, trading, monetizing, and marketing with blockchain for everyone.
One of their main projects is the Enjin Network. This is a social platform for gamers to create websites, host virtual item stores, and chat. Furthermore, Enjin also launched the Enjin Marketplace. Here, tokens can be traded or exchanged for ENJ instantly. More tokens are minted, more ENJ is burned, reducing the token’s supply.
How has ENJ performed?
ENJ is the fifth largest metaverse project by market cap and is 63rd out of all cryptocurrencies.
ENJ began 2021 at around $0.47 before eclipsing an all-time high of around $4.68. As of writing this article, its price sits at $1.37.
The top exchanges supporting ENJ
Theta Network (THETA)
What is Theta Network?
As the metaverse industry continues to expand, the Theta Network could very well play a crucial role in the technological infrastructure to run virtual media, entertainment, and gaming.
Launched in 2018, Theta Network is a content delivery network that specializes in decentralized video streaming on the blockchain.
Theta’s native blockchain has two native tokens, THETA, its governance token, and Theta Fuel (TFUEL), its utility and gas token. As with other Proof-of-Stake ecosystems, THETA holders are granted governance powers. According to the developers, this project aims to disrupt the video streaming industry, which is currently very centralized, relies on poor infrastructure, and excessively high costs. This, in turn, results in a poor experience for the user and decreased revenue for content creators.
Theta’s services provide benefits for viewers, content creators, and video platforms at the same time. Viewers benefit from high-quality streaming, content creators increase their income, and video platforms save on infrastructure costs while increasing their ad and subscription revenue.
Theta Network is designed to improve video streaming quality and reward those who offer their computing resources for improved video delivery. This company also seeks to increase global access to live video streaming by reducing the infrastructure required.
Essentially, Theta aims to disrupt the current streaming industry by providing cheaper decentralized infrastructure than centralized platforms, such as YouTube and Twitch. Interestingly, Steve Chen, co-founder of YouTube, and Justin Kan, co-founder of Twitch, are media advisors on the project.
How has THETA performed?
THETA is the fifth largest metaverse project by market cap and is 63rd out of all cryptocurrencies.
THETA began 2021 at around $0.47 before eclipsing an all-time high of around $4.68. As of writing this article, its price sits at $1.37.
The top exchanges supporting THETA
The Top Exchanges LOVE Metaverse Projects…
If you’re interested in investing in cutting-edge blockchain technology, then investing in the metaverse space could be an excellent move.
Whether you prefer a blockchain game, augmented reality, exploring alien worlds, or simply having a novel virtual experience, any of the previously mentioned metaverse tokens could provide what you need to get started in metaverse crypto.
With or without Facebook leading the charge, these metaverse coins could represent the future of blockchain games and virtual experiences.
If you want to be safe, make sure to buy these coins on centralized exchanges, such as Binance, Kraken, Gate.io, Gemini, or Coinbase.
Decentraland 
The Sandbox 
Theta Network 
Enjin Coin 
Axie Infinity