Here are a few exciting facts about the metaverse that will fuel your curiosity for this technology of the future

10 interesting and gripping facts about metaverse. Source: unsplash.com

Metaverse is the next iteration of Internet connectivity that big tech finds worth investing in. While Microsoft, Facebook and Nvidia race to create their digital worlds and populate them with avatars, the public keeps fantasising about new virtual opportunities.

• Facebook’s parent company Meta is already developing a few parts of the metaverse. For starters, there’s Horizon Workrooms, a workplace app that lets Oculus-wearing workers enter virtual offices and hold meetings.The beta version is available for testing now. Horizon Home is another integral part of this Metaverse. Users can select from a variety of unique environments, from a cosy cabin to a new-age cyberpunk apartment, invite friends to hang out, watch immersive videos, or jump into multiplayer games together. The feature will soon be available in a Quest update. Meta is also planning to integrate its popular social apps like Facebook and Instagram into the Oculus store as part of the Home experience.

• There’s an ETF dedicated to metaverse called Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF. To be more precise, the fund holds equities of those companies that interact with, develop essential infrastructure or otherwise enable the Metaverse. These companies include: Meta Platforms, Nvidia, Microsoft, Roblox, Unity Software, Apple, Amazon, etc. Until now, the ETF was traded under the ticker META. However, the symbol is changing to METV effective Jan. 31.

• According to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts, Metaverse may become an $800 billion market by 2024, expanding revenue opportunities with live events, entertainment and social ads. Meanwhile, Grayscale estimates that the market opportunity for Metaverse may be worth over $1 trillion in annual revenue and may compete with Web 2.0 companies worth ~$15 trillion in market value today.

• There will be banks in the metaverse. Indeed, some of them are already present in the virtual worlds. For instance, EQIFI – a DeFi platform powered by the regulated and licensed EQI bank – partnered with the smart contract-based gaming platform Polkacity. Polkacity will reserve a digital virtual bank space for EQIFI in the upcoming Polkacity NFT game. The bank has already launched an EQIFi NFT card which gives its owners the ability to get a free bank account with EQIBank (subject to terms & conditions), a real debit & credit card for NFT card holders, as well as the ability to spend POLC crypto in the real world.

• Last November, a patch of the virtual real estate in the online metaverse world of Decentraland was sold for a record $2.4 million worth of its native crypto?MANA. Land and other items in Decentraland were sold in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The previous record sale was about $913 million and took place in June 2021. The most expensive land plot in Decentraland is in the “Fashion Street” area of the metaverse map and?it was bought by the subsidiary of Tokens.com, called the Metaverse Group, to host digital fashion shows and sell virtual clothing for avatars. Overall, sales of virtual land boomed?in December 2021, bringing in $105.87 million for a week to just four metaverse projects, according to DappRadar. Prices for plots have soared as much as 500% in the last few months after the Facebook rebranding started the metaverse rush.

• VR goggles and headsets allow you only to see the metaverse, but more immersive wearables may soon become mainstream. Thus, Meta Reality Labs has recently developed a prototype haptic glove allowing users to feel things in the metaverse. There are several other companies that make haptic vests, pants, and even?entire suits that resemble battery-powered Marvel superhero costumes. Clothing of this kind has in-built electroactive stimulators that provide a sense of touch in virtual and augmented reality. Besides, they can read body signals, and gather real-time biometric data which can be used to relay emotional state, stress level, and key health indicators.

• There are also a couple of companies working on transferring human movements to the metaverse with the help of a treadmill. Therefore, when you play games in the metaverse, you would not simply use the keyboard to move your avatar, but would be able to perform all crouching, strafing, kneeling and jumping by yourself. The Omni One from Virtuix, for instance, lets players walk and run in 360 degrees inside video games and other virtual worlds.

• According to?the IDC, global shipments of AR and VR headsets increased by a staggering 348.4% in 2021, whereas standalone VR headsets occupied nearly 90% of the market share. The organisation estimates?that this growth momentum will continue until 2025, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 45.9%.

• The term “metaverse” first appeared in a dystopian cyberpunk novel “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson. It was written back in 1992. The author has nothing to do with the Facebook rebranding and all current metaverse projects led by big tech.

• The SAND token used by the metaverse blockchain platform Sandbox increased by 40% after the company announced it would create a music theme park and concert venue within its digital reality. Sandbox partnered with Warner Music to onboard the artist for the metaverse concerts. The artists will be also able to create and promote NFT collections or personalised avatars in this virtual world. American rapper Snoop Dogg is one of the first celebrities to try out Sandbox creative opportunities. The rap star has a mansion built on the Sandbox plot of virtual land, his own exclusive avatar store, and a few NFT collections to sell. Users who buy the Snoop Private Party Pass token get a chance to have Snoop Dogg perform an exclusive concert on their LAND. In December, one NFT collector spent about $450,000 to become Snoop Dogg’s virtual neighbour. It may be a wise investment since residents of the so-called Snoopverse plots can not only party with the legendary celebrity, but also create their own games and experiences and make money off other residents who stop by.

SEE ALSO:

• Seoul plans to enter the metaverse: here’s what it means
• Metaverse is already here: everything you need to know
• How to invest in Metaverse