Grayscale, the largest crypto asset manager in the world, says that the metaverse is crypto cloud economies are the next emerging market investment frontier, with the metaverse at the forefront.
In a new report, Grayscale says that they see the Metaverse as the third big step in the evolution of digital communities, with Decentraland (MANA) leading the charge.
“The internet has always been about connecting people. Over the past three decades, internet technology has evolved, and the way we all interact with the web has evolved with it. Much has changed, but three key eras of online-based communities could be thought of as:
• Web 1.0 – Netscape connected us online
• Web 2.0 – Facebook connected us into online communities
• Web 3.0 – Decentraland connected us into a community-owned virtual world”
Grayscale
Grayscale says that established Web 2.0 companies, such as social media giant Facebook, will be forced to disrupt their business models by opening up new ecosystems and getting rid of “competitive moats.”
“We don’t yet know the path Facebook will take with their Metaverse ambitions, but they—like other Web 2.0 companies—will need to make this challenging shift inthe face of pressure to meet quarterly results for shareholders.”
While most of the metaverse narrative has been focused in on the gaming side of things, Grayscale believes that gaming is only one facet to a concept that could be exponentially bigger. The firm sees the metaverse growing to capture industries like advertising, social commerce, digital events, hardware, and developer/creator monetization.
“The total market cap of the leading Web 3.0 Metaverse crypto networks sits at ~$27.5 billion. This pales in comparison to the ~$900 billion market cap of Facebook, the ~$2 trillion market cap of the gaming sector, and the $14.8 trillion market cap of Web 2.0 companies that could shift to the Metaverse or risk disruption…
The market opportunity for bringing the Metaverse to life may be worth over $1 trillion in annual revenue and may compete with Web 2.0 companies worth ~$15 trillion in market value today. This potential has attracted companies like Facebook to pivot towards the Metaverse, which may serve as a catalyst for other Web 2.0 tech giants and investors to follow.”
At the time of writing, metaverse-related coins have been popping off left right and center the past month or so. Decentraland (MANA), is the second biggest metaverse coin on the market after the play-to-earn game Axie Infinity (AXS). At the time of writing, MANA has gone up 537% in the last 30 days, currently switching hands at $5.17.
