Non-fungible tokens, known as NFTs in the took everyone by surprise in 2021. People are thinking about how NFTs and the metaverse will look like in the future. The benefits of blockchain technology are well-known. But, there are many who don’t understand the point of the metaverse and NFTs in their lives. Standing up for a better way to structure society will always have its fair share of naysayers.
The metaverse became a popular term owing to Facebook’s much marketed rebranding to ‘Meta’. But, this does not mean that the metaverse is ready. It will take the entirety of this decade and the next for us to realize the full vision of the metaverse. This is because any new technology takes time to reach everyone’s daily lives. Think how much time it took for the internet and smartphones to reach our daily lives. You get the idea what we’re talking about. In one way or another, we’re already living in the metaverse. We don’t believe or see it yet
What is the Metaverse and Why is it Important?
The metaverse consists of VR worlds which are interoperable with each other. They use blockchain as the underlying database to track of updates and transactions. It is important because our current internet is broken along many lines. Main among them are data theft, spam, misinformation and reliance on centralized intermediaries. The metaverse can fix all these issues. We need to build an open ecosystem based on blockchain technology.
Why is the Metaverse Valuable?
It comes from blockchain technology. Think of the blockchain as a decentralized database not controlled by any one. This means that entire markets and industries can rely on the same database. Hence, an open metaverse built on the blockchain will enable entire new worlds to run. People can buy and sell from each other without any intermediary to dictate terms. And businesses are people at the end of the day.
Land is the bedrock of the physical world and the starting point of all economies. That’s because land gives us resources and helps set up industries. Many people claim that ‘space’ in the metaverse will be more valuable as more users start entering it. This is already happening. For example, Sandbox and Decentraland, where users buy and sell virtual land. Hence, blockchain enables everything in the metaverse to be owned, bought and sold in the form of NFTs.
How to Buy Land in the Metaverse
It is the third generation of the internet, and is also called Web 3. Many believe that it is currently like how the original internet was, way back in 1995. That is how early we are towards the vision of building a decentralized internet at scale. The physical world has limitations. This is why the internet became popular for entertainment and commerce. Similarly, the current version of the internet has its own set of limitations. This is why the it will become popular in a few years. We’re still building out the use cases. Hence, follow the three simple steps outlined below to buy land in the metaverse.
Step 1: Choose A Metaverse Project You Like
Like how you evalue NFT projects for investing in them, do the same for a metaverse project. Currently, Decentraland and Sanbox are the two most popular metaverse platforms out there. However there are many other metaverse platforms coming up everyday. Some of them include Metroverse, Somnium Space and Bit Country.
There are developers working on creating their own metaverse platforms and raising funds. Spend time on Twitter and Discord to know what the community talking about. You never know what kinds of projects you can get in early! It’s that easy.
Step 2: Create a Cryptocurrency Wallet Address
There are many blockchains used to build decentralized applications. There are projects using platforms like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and so on. On a similar note, there are blockchain platforms like Ethereum, Cosmos, Polkadot, Harmony etc. Hence, there are different cryptocurrency wallets that are compatible with one or more blockchains.
The most popular cryptocurrency wallet is currently MetaMask. That’s because most of the popular metaverse, NFT and DeFi applications are built on the Ethereum blockchain. Hence, your MetaMask wallet address will suffice for a majority of the metaverse applications out there. You must keep the seed phrase of your wallet stored away carefully so that you can recover it later if something goes wrong.
Step 3: Buy some ETH
You need ETH to pay transaction fees for anything on the Ethereum blockchain’s ecosystem. You can make an account on an exchange like Binance, Coinbase, Kucoin or Huobi to use fiat currency from any nation you reside in and buy ETH. Similarly, if you want to buy land on a metaverse application that’s built on a blockchain like Cosmos, you would need to buy ATOM. Once done, you can proceed to the next step.
Step 4: Connect your wallet to the Metaverse application
Every application has its own method of gameplay. You need to follow its set of rules to buy and transact assets within its ecosystem. Land is one of the main assets in the metaverse. However, as we know, how the land is used also matters. It’s the same in the metaverse with a few differences here and there. Like the fact that you can connect your wallet address to the land so that there is a clear ownership record.
Every Web 3 and Metaverse application is accessible to anyone in the world who has a cryptocurrency wallet and an internet connection. In the Web 2 world, you need separate login credentials and passwords for apps and websites. In Web 3, like your physical wallet (Although we don’t carry cash any longer!) that holds your documents and cash, you can use the same wallet to login to any metaverse application you want.
Closing Thoughts
In the future, the metaverse will be worth trillions of dollars. Individuals and institutions are both bullish on this trend for this coming decade. You can be among the early movers and capitalize on it to build generational wealth. But, don’t come into the metaverse if you think you can become rich overnight. Like every technology, this is a long game. You need to come here by doing your own research and making yourself familiar with all details.
NFTically is a venture that helps brands, creators and enterprises to create and launch their own NFT marketplaces. We’re a metaverse company.