A Glimpse Into the Metaverse
A deep dive into Enjin and Decentraland.
What is the Metaverse?
Even with so many individuals unfamiliar with the world of crypto and the nuances of digital assets, it seems most people have heard of the most popular buzzowrd of 2021: “metaverse.” FirstWatch Crypto is here to equip you with metaverse knowledge for your inevitable holiday dinner table conversations.
The shift of value into the digital world has never been more real, as we saw earlier this year with the rise of cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and even Facebook announcing its name change to Meta in Mark Zuckerberg's infamous presentation. In regards to digital assets, the metaverse is currently being built by various teams every single day. These teams are continuing to develop the decentralized, virtual realities that global users will continue to adopt over time.
The term “metaverse” actually originated from the 1992 author of “Snow Crash”, Neal Stephenson, who depicted a world where naturalistic avatars were able to meet and interact in 3D buildings and virtual reality environments. That fundamental idea has become more of a real concept with modern technologies, and the metaverse promises to offer an integrated, digital world where all individuals will be able to interact.
The promises are big — digital worlds, digital goods, virtual offices, and more. The investment opportunity is equally as big. ARK Invest's research predicts revenue from virtual worlds will reach $390 billion by 2025, up from $180 billion today. Many investment vehicles offer targeted exposure to metaverse opportunities, such as the Grayscale Decentraland Trust, among others. While the exact structure of the metaverse remains to be seen, there is plenty of development and investment trying to capitalize on the opportunity.
Metaverse Tokens: Enjin and Decentraland
Today, we will dive into the digital realm through the well-known projects Enjin (ENJ) and Decentraland (MANA). Both tokens are part of larger ecosystems that are seen as investment plays on the metaverse. Both Enjin and Decentraland not only have their respective native tokens, but they also boast their unique communities, use cases, and value propositions.
What is Enjin ($ENJ)?
Enjin is mainly focused on the gaming/NFT side of the metaverse. Enjin’s native token, ENJ, is a product of Enjin and acts as an in-game payment technology that underlies the entire ecosystem. Enjin fosters the full integration and development of tokenized digital assets via gaming, NFTs, virtual goods, ENJ as in-game currency, and other distributed apps. Enjin was also one of the first projects that started testing the Raiden Network (a faster scaling solution for Ethereum), before straying its focus toward a scaling solutions infrastructure called Efinity. All Enjin coin assets/NFTs can be created or destroyed to be turned back into ENJ at any point in time. What this means is that any assets built with ENJ hold their value and can be redeemed. Enjin coins have a tangible value at a market price of $2.93 per coin as of 11/17/2021, implying that every NFT created within the Enjin ecosystem has a real dollar value as well.
What makes Enjin Unique?
What makes Enjin unique is that in-game items are given real-world liquidity since each asset in the network being directly backed by ENJ tokens. Enjin also has a distinctive and organic approach to incentive developers. The project is building out a blockchain-based, gaming hub for game-oriented ideas that are integrated with the real world. It is attempting to create its own lively, organic ecosystem and infrastructure. Additionally, Enjin is working to pioneer the oversight of the cross-chain metaverse infrastructure.
Where is Enjin Now?
For now, Enjin seems to be focused on consistent and widespread adoption of the network. Enjin CEO Maxim Blagov has even stated that he imagines a future where millions of gamers are seamlessly interacting with Enjin assets — with or without realizing it. Tokens can also be traded on the Enjin Marketplace, adding a communal aspect to the ecosystem. The project has already collaborated and partnered with multi-national companies including Microsoft, Unity, Samsung, and BMW. With its large partners and the shift of global attention toward future gaming protocols, Enjin seems poised to develop into the well-respected NFT/game-based powerhouse that it originally planned to be.
What is Decentraland (MANA)?
Decentraland was co-founded in 2015 by Ariel Meilich and Esteban Ordano. $MANA is Decentraland's payment token. Decentraland is a 3-D, decentralized virtual reality platform created for users to create, explore, experience, and even monetize content and applications. Basically, there are three virtual good types in Decentraland; LAND, WEAR, and MANA. LAND is purchased (with MANA) for any virtual acquisition of real estate in Decentraland, WEAR is for wearables/articles, and MANA itself is used for all goods and services in the virtual world, allowing for users to effectively interact in the seemingly realistic marketplace of Decentraland.
What Makes Decentraland Unique?
Decentraland is an entirely unique and decentralized world of its own; it provides a great example of one existing domain of the metaverse. Decentraland is governed by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), meaning that the entire community can get involved in voting for proposals they wish to adopt or reject. Decentraland attempts to be a virtual world owned by its users, as the community owns the smart contracts, estate contracts, wearables, and the marketplace. Additionally, owning MANA means owning the currency that unlocks a world of decentralized exploration. In Decentraland, all interactions are hosted by peer-to-peer connections and remote, third-party servers.
What's Going On In Decentraland?
One significant 4-day event that was recently held on October 21, 2021 was Decentraland's new Metaverse Music Festival. This one-of-a-kind virtual music festival involved many famous names such as Paris Hilton, 3LAU, Deadmau5, and more. In December of last year, Decentraland introduced "Smart Items", which made it possible to use external images, video, and audio in the platform, ultimately making virtual concerts that much more impactful and enthralling. This festival brought the interest of thousands of users eager to experience a concert in the metaverse.
Who will win in this Space?
The metaverse and blockchain form a symbiotic relationship. As with the internet, no one owns the blockchain, and the blockchain allows for the metaverse to be decentralized and interoperable. However, key centralized players, like Meta, formerly known as Facebook, will have a big stake in these ecosystems getting built out. Zuckerberg said, "The metaverse, will be 'an embodied internet where you’re in the experience, not just looking at it”. Large entities, corporations, DAOs, and individuals will need to contribute to make this a reality. If done right, it could change commerce forever and be a force of complete disruption in the world economy, hopefully for the good. There are many digital assets, NFTs, and tokens that serve as investments to capitalize on this future. We believe that crypto, blockchains, NFTs will all be key parts of this world of the future, and even these large centralized players will start building worlds and projects similar to Decentraland and Enjin.
Resources:
The Metaverse: Will it be a decentralized haven or a centralized tyranny?
Enjin Coin price today, ENJ to USD live, marketcap and chart
Decentraland price today, MANA to USD live, marketcap and chart
Decentraland Opens Doors with Public Launch | by Robert Hoogendoorn | Play to Earn —>medium.com
Some key stats:
The metaverse could be greater than a $1 Trillion dollar market
Enjin just launched a $100M metaverse fund.
Cryptovoxels, The Sandbox and Somnium Space are some other projects in the space.
MANA is up roughly 4,937% this year.
Thanks for our contributor Justin Kim for helping with this week's newsletter.
➡️ About FirstWatch Crypto ⬅️
FirstWatch Crypto was started by Dan McGlinn (@DigitalDanMcG)and John "Blaize" Hrabrick (@blaizebitcoin) who have been investing in the space for a combined 8 years. FirstWatch Crypto is on a mission to simplify the crypto investment landscape.