This week, the metaverse token sector has seen a strong rise, with established projects performing particularly well:

  • $SAND (The Sandbox): Increased by about 107% over the week, currently priced at nearly $0.72, with a market capitalization of $1.75 billion.

  • $MANA (Decentraland): Increased by about 72%, with a market capitalization reaching $1.3 billion.

  • $GALA (Gala Games) and $AXS (Axie Infinity) have also seen increases of 40%.

In the past three months, Bitcoin has continuously risen, especially in the past month, with a 40% increase. During this time, most other cryptocurrencies have not followed suit, and those that did have rarely exceeded Bitcoin's growth. Additionally, with this round of Ethereum performing poorly, many Ethereum holders have sold off, but after they have sold, the likelihood of buying back Bitcoin at this price level is low, leading funds to start flowing into altcoins, thus initiating a sector rotation. This explains why established altcoins are experiencing significant surges, and it is also a signal that the altcoin season has arrived. Currently, there are already signs of a flow towards established metaverse sectors. Many may not be familiar with these established metaverse projects, so let me introduce them.

Decentraland ($MANA)

Decentraland is an online virtual reality platform based on the Ethereum blockchain, initiated in 2015 and officially opened to the public in February 2020. Its core idea is to create a decentralized virtual world where users can purchase, develop, and trade virtual assets, while freely creating content and building their own digital economic systems.

2017: Decentraland held its first land auction, with a virtual land plot selling for about $20 at that time.

2020: The platform officially launched, dividing virtual space into a fixed number of 90,000 plots of land, each measuring 16 meters by 16 meters, identified by coordinates (x, y).

2021 and beyond: The average selling price of land surpassed $6,000, with some scarce plots selling for over $15,000, becoming the market focus, with celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Lin Junjie publicly announcing their purchases of virtual land.

As of now, the highest price for land has reached $2.43 million.

Decentraland has established a benchmark position in the metaverse field with its innovative ideas and technological accumulation. Despite facing competitive pressure from emerging projects, its strong community and brand influence still maintain good growth momentum.

The Sandbox ($SAND)

The Sandbox is a blockchain sandbox game project built by traditional sandbox game developer Pixowl in 2018. The team had previously developed two popular mobile games (The Sandbox) and (The Sandbox Evolution), with a combined download count of 40 million. After being acquired by Animoca Brands, Pixowl brought existing IP into the blockchain space, launching a new decentralized metaverse ecosystem. Compared to Decentraland, The Sandbox has a stronger gaming attribute, with a visual style closer to (Minecraft) and (Mini World). The platform supports users in trading virtual land, allowing them to earn income through land leasing while using the ecological token SAND to create and trade NFT assets or develop games and profit from it.

The total number of virtual lands on the platform is 166,464, of which 123,840 are for sale, 25,920 are for ecological rewards, and the remaining 16,704 are reserved by the team.

The Sandbox launched its SAND token through an IEO in August 2020, attracting a large number of users and investors. As of now, the platform's land sales have reached a total of 160,000 ETH. Its investors include well-known institutions such as Binance, Hashed, SoftBank, and True Global Ventures. As a leading project in the metaverse field, The Sandbox has attracted widespread participation from developers and players through tool support and a rich token economic system, and it has demonstrated strong market prospects by continuously optimizing user experience, enhancing cross-chain compatibility, and collaborating with mainstream brands.

Gala Games ($GALA)

Gala Games is a blockchain gaming platform where each game provides players with true ownership of their in-game items through the use of NFTs. Launched in 2020, it attracted players to play their games through the GALA Token and is one of the earliest participants and promoters in the P2E field. The founder node voting mechanism allows players to influence which games Gala should develop and which games should receive funding.

Gala Games is committed to becoming the largest gaming ecosystem in cryptocurrency, breaking the centralized competition of traditional games. Unlike other cryptocurrency projects, Gala Games has not received any form of VC and did not conduct an ICO for the GALA Token.

Gala Games is somewhat similar to the Steam store or GOG, offering a variety of games for users to choose from and experience.

Axie Infinity ($AXS)

Axie Infinity is currently one of the most popular metaverse NFT games, attracting a large number of gamers and blockchain enthusiasts. The game was developed by the Vietnamese game studio Sky Mavis, inspired by classic games (Pokemon) and (Neopets). The core gameplay of Axie Infinity revolves around collecting, raising, and training creatures called Axies. Players can explore the virtual world and earn the in-game native token Smooth Love Potion (SLP) by battling other Axies. This token can be traded on major cryptocurrency exchanges. Additionally, players can use SLP to upgrade Axies, thereby increasing their combat power and market value.

Axie Infinity reached its peak in 2021, with daily active users exceeding 2.8 million, becoming one of the benchmarks in the blockchain gaming sector. As a 'Play-to-Earn' game, its model has provided economic support for players in many low-income countries, especially in places like the Philippines and Indonesia, where many players consider it a full-time income source. However, this model also faces sustainability issues, as excessive reliance on token economics may lead to inflation and instability within the gaming ecosystem.

In the Axie Infinity market, each Axie is an NFT, and players can profit by buying and selling these creatures. The most expensive Axie ever sold for $820,000, reflecting a strong demand for rare virtual assets in the market. Other important tokens in the game include AXS (Axie Infinity Shards), which is a governance token used to participate in platform decision-making and as part of the reward mechanism.

The success of Axie Infinity has attracted the attention of top investment institutions, including well-known venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz and Animoca Brands. In addition, the platform continues to innovate, such as optimizing user trading experiences through the Ronin blockchain to reduce costs and improve speed.

In addition to the metaverse projects mentioned above, are there any others that are worth paying attention to?

Star Atlas

Star Atlas is a space-themed metaverse game built on the Solana blockchain, which raised $12.2 million through an ICO in 2021. In addition, it received over $3 million in investment from Animoca Brands. Its highlights include a vast virtual universe and immersive space exploration experience. Players can purchase digital assets such as virtual ships and land, explore the galaxy, engage in battles, and build their own cosmic empires. It combines strategic gameplay with high-quality graphics technology, presenting a futuristic space adventure. Star Atlas is known for its unique economic system, providing players with opportunities to earn while they play, while achieving low costs and fast transactions through the efficiency of the Solana network.

Illuvium

Illuvium is an open-world RPG game based on Ethereum, released around the same time as bigtime, and has gained recognition from well-known crypto investment institutions such as Framework Ventures and Delphi Digital. It combines high-quality visuals with NFT technology. In the game, players can capture creatures called Illuvials while exploring strange worlds, which can be used for combat or trading. These creatures are both collectibles and showcase strategic value in the arena. Illuvium's features lie in its distributed economic system and immersive open-world experience, providing players with visually stunning environments while maintaining the transparency and security of decentralized ownership.

Somnium Space

Somnium Space is a VR-focused metaverse project that offers a higher level of immersion compared to other platforms. Users can purchase land and build unique virtual structures, as well as customize interactive experiences in a VR environment. As a metaverse that highly values VR technology, Somnium Space aims to provide players with an immersive virtual living experience, making them feel as if they are in another world.

NFT Worlds

NFT Worlds is built on the popular Minecraft game engine but integrates blockchain features, allowing players to freely buy, sell, and trade land and other digital assets. It combines familiar and innovative elements, excitingly merging the widely popular gameplay of Minecraft with decentralized ownership that makes metaverse gaming stand out. Successfully attracting the Minecraft community and promoting blockchain technology, the project's ecosystem is gradually growing.

The potential for development in gaming and the metaverse sector is enormous. Driven by cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain, virtual reality (VR), and artificial intelligence (AI), the metaverse ecosystem is becoming more diverse, and user experiences are constantly improving. Recently, Elon Musk announced that his company would enter the gaming field, adding fuel to this sector. As one of the most influential figures in the tech world, Musk's involvement will undoubtedly attract global capital and user attention, injecting new vitality into the metaverse and blockchain gaming.

It is foreseeable that both existing star projects and emerging platforms will witness more innovations and breakthroughs in the metaverse field. With the rapid expansion of the industry, players, developers, and investors may all benefit from it, and the next big boom in gaming and the metaverse might be closer than we think.