What Winter? The Metaverse Never Really Slowed Down

There’s a lot of FUD – fear, uncertainty, and doubt – in the crypto space right now. That’s understandable, if not quite well-founded.

Prices, which had been rallying in mid- and late August, are sliding again based on worries about the Federal Reserve, of course, and not crypto itself.

And of course, we’re still nowhere near the highs we hit in 2021.

But savvy crypto investors are going to be building bigger, cheaper positions at these prices.

What they might not be aware of is the unchecked growth in crypto’s “cousin” sector, the Metaverse.

What’s happening there is important – essential, even, if you’re serious about building a world-class digital asset portfolio.

Strap on your VR goggles and see what I mean…

CEOs Are Still Running Optimistic Forecasts

The Metaverse is a big idea – a virtual world where between anywhere from two people to 8 billion will come together online to work, play and create. The sheer size of the concept means it’s being attacked from all kinds of business angles – mixed reality, virtual reality & augmented reality, and blockchain. There’s a place for all of it.

People will enter and engage with the Metaverse on their phones, via laptops or desktops or, increasingly, powerful standalone goggles and haptic feedback clothing which lets the user feel, more or less, what’s happening to them.

And because no one country will have sovereignty here, it makes sense that the coin of this realm will be – you guessed it – cryptocurrencies. Nick Black has already recommended and talked about several Metaverse cryptos that will only gain in popularity as the Metaverse comes into its own.

But it’s traditional companies, at the moment, which will lead the charge here.

Meta Platforms Inc. (META), which most of us know as Facebook, is the self-appointed poster boy of the Metaverse. They’re so into it, they even put it in their new name.

META shares, though, have been crushed over the last six months, down nearly 18%. A lot of people have Meta conflated with the Metaverse in their heads (which was kind of Mark Zuckerberg’s point), but it’d be a mistake to think the Metaverse begins and ends at 1 Hacker Way in Menlo Park.

It’s much bigger than Meta.

Metaverse companies have been busy building and expanding this entire time, and a flood of marketplace and business development companies have entered the arena, too. Projections still put the Metaverse on track to grow at a 47.6% compound annual growth rate between 2022 and 2029, when the Metaverse is expected to be a $1.5 trillion economy.

Sandbox CEO Mathieu Nouzareth said not long ago that his plans aren’t really impacted by the crypto slump, and more people than ever are visiting – and spending – Sandbox’s corner of the virtual world. Sandbox announced on Twitter that they have a partnership with TIMEPieces to create the New Time Square location in its Metaverse on blockchain, reimagining it as a virtual hub for art and commerce.

And, to be fair, even Mark Zuckerberg is still very bullish on the growth and commerce prospects of the Metaverse.

In his near-term vision: “We hope to basically get to around a billion people in the metaverse doing hundreds of dollars of commerce, each buying digital goods, digital content, different things to express themselves, so whether that’s clothing for their avatar or different digital goods for their virtual home or things to decorate their virtual conference room, utilities to be able to be more productive in virtual and augmented reality and across the metaverse overall.”

That’s going to add up fast.

Zuckerberg envisions the Metaverse as similar to the look and feel of the 2018 sci-fi hit Ready Player One – more captivating text, photos, and videos than are now displayed on Facebook and Instagram.

Companies like Netflix Inc. (NFLX), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), Adidas AG-ADR (ADDYY), Walt Disney Co. (DIS), and Gap Inc. (GPS) are still moving quickly into the virtual world. Adobe Inc. (ADBE), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Sony Group Corp. (SONY),