Top Metaverse Projects to Watch in 2022
Let’s see which metaverse projects should be on your watchlist in 2022.
The Sandbox (SAND)
The Sandbox is a decentralized community-owned virtual world where creators can design their own avatars in the virtual world. Analysts like to compare Sandbox with Roblox due to their similarities in gameplay. However, the key difference with Sandbox is that players have true ownership of their assets in the virtual world.
The Sandbox has an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain. SAND is used as a utility token and also as a governance token. SAND is required to buy, sell NFTs such as LAND and assets from the Sandbox’s marketplace. The SAND token is also used for participating in governance functions. As of writing this article, the price of the SAND token is 5.84 USD.
Recently, Sandbox saw fast growth in monthly active users and crossed $144 million in transaction volume on its platform. It has also raised $93 million from investors led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2. Funding from Softbank shows traditional investors are also showing interest in metaverse projects in the crypto space.
Axie Infinity (AXS)
Axie Infinity is an NFT based online video game that is inspired by pokemon. It was the first metaverse project to introduce a play-to-earn gaming model. Axie Infinity runs on the Ethereum blockchain and has two cryptocurrency tokens associated with it i.e Axie Infinity (AXS) which is a governance token that can be used by holders of tokens to vote on governance proposals to decide the future of the game. Axie Infinity holders can stake their tokens to earn more Axie tokens.
The second cryptocurrency token associated with Axie Infinity is the Smooth Love Potion (SLP). Players here raise, breed, and battle their Axies (digital creatures) and after each victory in-game, they earn a Smooth Love Potion as a reward. These SLP tokens can be sold on exchanges. Axies and digital land in the game are NFTs that can be bought and sold by individuals in the game. As of writing this article, the price of the AXS token is 94.93 USD.
While the Axie Infinity game was built on the Ethereum blockchain, due to high transaction fees and slow processing on Ethereum. Sky Mavis, the parent company of Axie Infinity build the Ronin sidechain to handle a large number of transactions.
In its first month, Ronin’s launched its first decentralized exchange, Katana. Katana had huge success as it gained 409,000 unique users, and more than $1.2bn in liquidity was deposited. Axie Infinity is working hard on the problems currently faced by its users so that it continues to remain the market leader in the metaverse space.
Decenterland (MANA)
Decenterland is a virtual world where users can purchase land, build it, monetize, and immerse into the applications and content that is built by other users. The Decenterland project is owned by the community in a decentralized manner. It runs on the Ethereum blockchain.
Decenterland has its native token called MANA. MANA is used for buying, selling LAND and assets from the MANA marketplace. As of writing this article, the price of the MANA token is 3.29 USD.
Back in February, Grayscale launched its Decentraland Trust. Investments from Grayscale show that Decentraland has gone mainstream. A large number of transactions are taking place in Decenterland and investments from traditional investors make a bullish case for Decenterland.
Enjin Coin (ENJ)
Enjin is the largest gaming community platform online with over 250,000 gaming communities and 18.7 million registered gamers. It makes it easy for everyone to get access to NFTs.
Enjin’s goal is to manage in-game items across many properties. Enjin can help in reducing the high fees in the transfer of virtual goods.
It has an ERC 20 token called Enjin Coin, user can send, receive Enjin coins using the Ethereum wallet. Enjin coin is used as a currency in Enjin wallet to buy, sell NFTs. Items bought from the Enjin marketplace can be used in games and to transfer these items, you will need Enjin coins. As of writing this article, the price of the ENJ token is 2.6 USD.
They have been working with Microsoft on a few projects including Minecraft the game and most recently they also started working with the Age of Rust game where players can uncover Bitcoin and Enjin coin by solving puzzles in-game. Enjin can be considered a bluechip token in the metaverse space as it is actively working with big games and solving major problems related to NFTs.
Vulcan Forged (PYR)
Vulcan Forged is a community-owned metaverse project that promotes the development of games through its incubation and crowdfunding programs. Gaming enthusiasts can access popular games from their platform and can buy, sell digital items from their NFT marketplace.
It has its token called PYR. PYR token powers the Vulcan Forged ecosystem. PYR token is a utility token. It is used as a form of currency in the Vulcan forged marketplace. You can also stake your PYR tokens to earn more PYR tokens as a reward. As of writing this article, the price of the PYR token is 15.24 USD.
Last month, the company expanded to the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) which will enable expand Vulcan Forged to reach a wider community of BSC. After this expansion, Vulcan Forged is on three big blockchain networks i.e Ethereum, Polygon, and BSC. Users of all these networks now have access to Vulcan Forged Ecosystem.
Render Token (RNDR)
Render is the first network to create a decentralized economy by utilizing unused GPU power. Rener allows anyone with a modern GPU to contribute their rendering power in exchange for RNDR tokens, dramatically increasing the scale and availability of GPU compute for artists, designers, and gamers.
RNDR is the utility token used as a form of currency to pay for providing animation, motion graphics, and VFX rendering on the distributed Render Network. Metaverse users will benefit very much from the success of the Render network. As of writing this article, the price of the RNDR token is 4.60 US dollars.
The RNDR advisory board boasts industry leaders such as Ari Emanuel (Co-Founder and Co-CEO, WME), JJ Abrams (Chairman and CEO, Bad Robot Productions), and Brendan Eich (Founder and CEO, Brave Software and BAT), who have all advised RNDR in various capacities in bridging the gap between creating a system that appeals to both cryptocurrency communities and Hollywood studio production pipelines. RNDR has strong fundamentals, use cases in the real world, and having an experienced advisory board makes a bullish case for RNDR.
Oasis Network(ROSE)
Oasis network is the first privacy-enabled blockchain platform for open finance and a responsible data economy. ROSE is the native token of Oasis Network. It is used for paying transaction fees, delegation on the consensus layer, and staking by validator nodes on the network.
NFTb is famous for creating a platform for users to easily engage with DeFi and NFTs. They have recently announced their integration into the Oasis Network. In the future, we will be able to see NFTb bring all these features to the Oasis Community. Including 750+ verified creators and over 5000 curated NFTs already on the platform. It is very well suited for the development of metaverse projects. Oasis Network being such a good platform for metaverse projects may be the reason why recently Meta AI has announced an alliance with Oasis Protocol. As of writing this article, the price of the ROSE token is 0.39 US dollars.
UFO Gaming (UFO)
UFO Gaming is a fully decentralized gaming platform fully owned by the community bridging traditional games onto the blockchain and giving players the ability to earn while playing the game.
UFO is the primary utility token of the UFO gaming ecosystem. It is used for buying LAND, assets in the UFO gaming ecosystem. Holders of UFO tokens are also used for participating in governance functions to shape the future of the UFO ecosystem. UFO tokens can be used for staking purposes also, to earn rewards. As of writing this article, the price of the UFO token is 0.000023 US dollars.
UFO is creating an expanding Cross-Chain Metaverse that will be made up of many games. Each game will have its own planet, with its own in-game NFTs, and its DAO that is represented by finite sets of land. When NFTs will be used by players in-game, they will pay a certain amount for usage of NFT. This revenue will go directly to the owner of that particular NFT. If the userbase of the UFO gaming ecosystem increases, then more and more people will rush to buy NFTs and these NFTs can only be bought by UFO token. Thus, demand for UFO tokens will increase resulting in a price surge of UFO tokens.
Victoria VR (VR)
Victoria VR is the first blockchain-based MMORPG in virtual reality. Users will be able to immerse themselves interactively with never-ending digital content in the metaverse. The Victoria VR Metaverse will be where people go to work, rest, learn, play and eventually live.
VR is the utility token of Victoria VR, where users will be able to buy assets( items, buildings, advertisements, LAND’s ). Users can also stake their tokens to earn rewards such as mystery airdrops, VR tokens, VR land tickets. As of writing this article, the price of the UFO token is 0.47 US dollars.
Virtual reality use is increasing day by day and Victoria VR provides a great platform for users to play games in virtual reality. Victoria VR is doing all of this, while also maintaining a decentralized platform.
Phantasma (SOUL)
Phantasma is a fully interoperable, decentralized feature-rich blockchain. it has an innovative staking mechanism, dual token system, sustainable tokenomics model, and advanced eco-friendly smartNFTs.
The chain is designed to be used for digital goods & services for communications, entertainment, marketplaces, and on-chain storage solutions for Dapp creators and enterprise clients. it has built a great platform for metaverse projects development.
Phantasma has dual tokens which are SOUL and KCAL. KCAL token is used for covering transaction fees, minting NFTs, and for deploying smart contracts. SOUL token is used for governance functions. By staking SOUL tokens, the user can earn KCAL every day and use Phantasma for free. As of writing this article, the price of the SOUL token is 2.38 US dollars.
Conclusion
There are many metaverse projects which have huge potential. Some are working to create the best virtual reality experience while some are creating infrastructure for the proper development of metaverse. Projects which will provide the best user experience will win in the long term. Utility tokens of metaverse projects will most probably have a high price surge in 2022 in comparison to the projects whose tokens are used for governance purposes only.
