- Cryptocurrency giant Grayscale has said the metaverse is a $1 trillion annual revenue opportunity.
- This occurs when virtual lands within the Metaverse projects have been sold for over $2 million.
- Grayscale said the metaverse is a great opportunity for the cryptocurrency world as investments accelerate.
The Metaverse has the potential to become a $1 trillion annual revenue opportunity in the world of advertising, digital events, e-commerce and hardware, according to a new report from cryptocurrency giant Grayscale
Grayscale’s report, released Wednesday night, comes amid a surge of interest in the Metaverse after Facebook officially changed its name to Meta as it focuses on the immersive virtual world that it says is the future of the Internet.
This week there were the first indications of the potential size of the Metaverse economy, with virtual plots of land within cryptocurrency-based metaverses Decentraland and Axie Infinity sold for more than $2 million dollars.
Metaverse refers to a range of online 3D virtual environments, in which people can play games, build things, socialize, work, and even trade and earn crypto assets.
The most famous individual metaverse currently is in the gaming arena, with Fortnite and Roblox becoming increasingly popular in recent years. Grayscale estimates that virtual game world sales could grow to $400 billion by 2025, from about $180 billion in 2020.
Still Grayscale, which manages the world’s largest crypto fund, said the Metaverse is still “in its infancy”. He said Facebook’s plans to spend $10 billion on the Metaverse this year are a sign of the market’s potential.
“The market opportunity to bring the Metaverse to life could have annual sales in excess of $ 1trillion,” the report said, although it does not specify a timetable.
The report’s authors, Grayscale research director David Grider and research analyst Matt Maximo, argued that the Metaverse was a great opportunity for crypto companies.
Many of today’s Metaverse projects, such as virtual realities or games, are run by so-called Web2 companies that are centralized and geared towards profit. Facebook, which launched the virtual reality room Horizon Worlds, is one example.
But more and more Metaverse projects are being created or are heavily tied to encryption technologies that give users more control and allow them to make money to use in the real world known as the Web3 Metaverse.
Grayscale listed monetization opportunities for consumers within the Web3 metaverse, including art galleries introducing NFTs, games and casinos where players earn crypto, digital billboards, and music venues where DJs and artists give concerts.
In the third quarter, total Web3 and NFT fundraising reached $ 1.8 billion, out of total crypto fundraising of $ 8.2 billion, Grayscale said. He added that investment “has recently started to accelerate”.
The Grayscale report focused on Decentraland. In this metaverse, people log in to play games, earn mana in native cryptocurrency, buy NFTs that contain virtual lands and collectibles, and vote on the governance of the economy.
The crypto investment company recently set up a Decentraland Trust that invests exclusively in Mana. According to Coingecko, the cryptocurrency has risen by around 550% in the past 30 days.
