Four blockchain and crypto projects in the metaverse

The metaverse is growing at an accelerating rate. Projects are constantly developing and connecting to help integrate more aspects of our digital lives. The blockchain is already playing a fundamental role in this development.

Binance Smart Chain hosts a large number of metaverse projects. These include RPG games like Cyber ​​Dragon and Alien Worlds, the metaverse-type universe SecondLive, and even a player-owned casino called decentral.games. Trading card games like TopGoal also have their place in the metaverse.

On the Ethereum blockchain, Decentraland and Sandbox offer similar metaverse experiences, where users can create a digital identity, buy land, and trade NFTs on NFT markets. Its combination of work, life and play allows users to participate in play-to-earn DeFi economies. By interacting and playing video games, users have the possibility to generate income. Bloktopia offers a similar experience, spread across 21 levels of a digital skyscraper. Users can trade and rent real estate spaces on each level to generate income.

While the Enjin project doesn't yet offer a 3D VR universe to explore, it does provide the tools to create in-game NFT objects. NFTs are another important part of the metaverse as they allow for digital collectability. Through Enjin, users create liquid NFTs that can be decomposed into ENJ tokens at any time.

2021 has been a great year for cryptocurrencies and blockchain. From meme coins to NFTs to bull runs, the sector has consistently made headlines. The second half of the year has brought us a new trend: the metaverse. Aiming to blend our real-world social lives, work, and immersive technology, the metaverse has captured the public imagination. Although the metaverse is still in its infancy, cryptocurrencies already play a crucial role. Let's take a look at some of the blockchain projects that are helping to bring about this new digital future.

Why are cryptocurrencies and blockchain important to the metaverse?

To understand how important cryptocurrencies and blockchain are to the metaverse, let's briefly review what the metaverse is. The metaverse is an online and connected universe, explorable through 3D avatars. Users can work, socialize, create and learn, all in one place. We can imagine it as the next evolution of the internet experience.

While the web has PayPal and card payments, the metaverse has cryptocurrencies to help create a digital economy. Blockchain has proven to be a useful technology for six key areas of the metaverse: digital proof of ownership, digital collectability, transfer of value, governance, accessibility, and interoperability. Blockchain technology offers a transparent and affordable solution, making it ideal for the metaverse. You can explore these six areas in greater detail by heading over to our What is the Metaverse? article. Let's see how it applies to metaverse projects on different blockchains.

What is The Sandbox (SAND)?

The Sandbox is a blockchain game in which users explore a virtual world containing NFTs (non-fungible tokens), user-created environments, and other content. Originally conceived as a mobile game in 2011, The Sandbox has evolved into a complex Ethereum game, utilizing Ether (ETH) and the SAND token to power the game's internal economy.

Players create their own avatars and digital identity, a key concept of the metaverse. An avatar can be linked with a cryptocurrency wallet to manage the player's NFTs, SAND tokens and other blockchain assets. A gamer can even create virtual games and objects using the VoxEdit and Game Maker tools. These powerful programs allow you to create complex and professional game assets, which you can then turn into NFTs. Since users can exchange such assets, this has given rise to play-to-earn gameplay, where users can earn additional income by playing The Sandbox.

What is Decentraland (MANA)?

Decentraland is a 3D universe where players develop their plots of land, host events, create content, and engage in other social activities. The core economy of Decentraland is based on the blockchain to establish digital identities, ownership and rarity of unique objects. It is one of the most famous and well-known projects, and it predates the great rush of the metaverses at the end of 2021.

Founded in 2016, Esteban Ordano and Ari Meilich took a basic 2D game and grew it into a huge world with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of NFTs. The project also has its own ERC-20 utility token: MANA.

But how does Decentraland fit into the metaverse? The truth is that it fulfills many of the requirements of the metaverse: a 3D interface, a digital economy, social elements and internal game events. With an increasing number of projects connecting to Decentraland, it also fulfills the aspect of a metaverse connector. Decentraland is also particularly famous for its NFT-type virtual real estate called LAND. In addition to providing voting power in Decentraland's Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), LAND's price has seen tremendous growth, making it popular with traders and investors.

What is Enjin (ENJ)?

Enjin is a blockchain platform focused on the creation of NFTs used as items within games. The project has released software development kits (SDKs) to make it easier for the average user to create Ethereum-based NFTs. As NFTs have already become a key part of the metaverse, Enjin has set out to create a safer way for people to create them.

A common complaint about NFTs is that they can be illiquid. You have to find a buyer for your NFT, which can take time. However, an Enjin NFT can always be smelted for ENJ Coins. This means that NFTs will always have a certain value as long as the price of ENJ does not reach zero. Since there is no need to wait to find a buyer, converting NFT to ENJ can bring instant liquidity. By supporting digital collectability and scarcity, Enjin aims to be a useful part of the metaverse.

What is Bloktopia (BLOK)?

Bloktopia is another virtual reality game from the metaverse, which takes place in a skyscraper with 21 levels. Similar to Decentraland and The Sandbox, Bloktopia aims to be a connector for events, socializing, work, and more. The 21 levels represent the maximum supply of 21 million BTC. The project uses the Polygon blockchain to support its four main aspects: learn, earn, play and create.

1. Learn: Bloktopia will act as a gateway for users to learn about blockchain and how it helps power the metaverse. It provides a more accessible and interactive way to learn about cryptocurrencies.

2. Earn: Bloktopia embraces the play-to-earn model with its native BLOK token, virtual real estate known as Reblok, and advertising opportunities with Adblok.

3. Play: Users could socialize with friends online and enjoy a wide variety of games and content created by other users.

4. Create: Bloktopia offers its players tools to create environments and even digital advertising spaces.

Play-to-earn has become a popular topic in the gaming metaverse. The idea of ​​generating income by playing and interacting with games is hugely appealing. While Decentraland and The Sandbox present a simple method for selling real estate, Bloktopia goes one step further. Each level of Reblok can be rented to tenants or hired for a specific event. Users can also generate ad revenue when other players spend time on their level.

Conclusions

There is still a long way to go in the development of the metaverse. If you try the games on your own, you will see that the mechanics and look of these games are quite basic. Many of them are still in the planning stage and cannot even be tested.

However, one thing for sure is that the number of new projects continues to grow. Regardless of whether it is a large video game company or a small crypto project from the metaverse, development is happening at an accelerated rate. The projects mentioned above are just a starting point, so keep an eye on the news and updates to keep up with the evolution of the metaverse.