What is the Role of NFT in the Metaverse?

NFTs and metaverse are two trending buzzwords that have taken over the internet. Art, sports, movies, virtual real estate, and gaming have seen the most NFT activity, with people investing and trading in NFTs worth billions of dollars. The new use cases of NFT provide emerging opportunities for collectors, crypto investors, and businesses. 

Metaverse, the term coined by Neal Stephenson in 1992, is a reality today thanks to Facebook and others. This digitally created utopian environment enables people to interact, work, collaborate, and socialize virtually. The metaverse collectively uses numerous advanced technologies to simulate a new virtual world that mimics our real world, including blockchain, augmented reality, and virtual reality technology. From playing games to shopping, there is nothing you cannot do in the metaverse.

But, what is the connection between NFT and metaverse? NFT enables users to gain access to the metaverse in addition to owning virtual assets in these universes. These tokenized assets enable users to share identities, social experiences, and communities in virtual worlds like Decentraland and Somnium Space. Thus, NFTs are similar to building blocks that enable the establishment of an ideal metaverse and its thriving economy. 

What is NFT in metaverse?

Non-fungible tokens are immutable virtual assets having pre-programmed scarcity, making them an excellent instrument for representing ownership of virtual assets such as in-metaverse products or virtual real estate. NFTs can be turned into 3-dimensional avatars that users could transport from one metaverse environment to another. These digital items may be exchanged, personalized, and even monetized at the owner’s discretion.

The metaverse is an evolving notion, and we can expect NFTs to play a more prominent role in its ecosystem in the future. NFT metaverse collaboration would push the possibility of employing NFTs as virtual property deeds. As such, NFTs can help users gain exclusive access and ownership to an area in the metaverse while also controlling access of others to that property.

Because of the exclusive nature of NFTs, you are the only owner of your personalized NFT-based avatar, and no one else can replicate or change it. Hence, NFT and metaverse complement each by helping you create unique, irreplaceable identities in different digital worlds. In other words, the metaverse and NFTs are created for each other.

Furthermore, NFTs also play an important part in helping brands airdrop branded products to followers, including exclusive metaverse avatars. Metaverse participants can construct a minted metaverse-agnostic avatar that can be transported from one metaverse to another.

The NFT’s smart contract capabilities may also aid in selling real estate in the metaverse such as Decentraland. In the early phases of metaverse development, most NFT use cases primarily focus on accessibility. However, as both NFT and metaverse continue to develop, we may have new case uses for NFTs within the metaverse.

What are the use cases of NFT in the metaverse?

NFT provides new opportunities for business and individual investors. Given below are the most popular NFT use cases in the metaverse:

Virtual marketplace:

Metaverse can become a virtual marketplace where users can sell, buy, or rent their NFTs. The virtual world may serve as a common ground for buyers and sellers to interact and trade their NFTs outside a traditional NFT marketplace. Interested sellers may showcase and provide links to digital assets or allow buyers to mint their NFTs directly on the metaverse.

Virtual art museum:

The metaverse is the perfect landscape for collectors to view digital art. So, it’s not implausible to assume that the metaverse will serve as a virtual art museum in the future. The VR technology will enable investors to take an up-and-close look at art. Platforms like Сryptovoxels allow users to build art galleries in the metaverse. 

Virtual real estate:

NFTs can be used to buy property in the metaverse. The ironclad nature of blockchain technology means that real estate owners can protect their intellectual property from fraud. Virtual worlds like Decntraland offer users the opportunity to buy and sell virtual land. Each plot of land in this metaverse represents an NFT asset that can be bought and sold with cryptocurrency. 

Virtual events:

Metaverse is the perfect venue to host virtual events, conferences, and meet and greets. NFT passes can be used to generate cash for virtual events, parties, and concerts that take place across many metaverses. For example, Snoop Dog, an enthusiastic NFT supporter, collaborated with The Sandbox to hold a private party in September 2021. 

1,000 NFT party passes were made available for the event, with 650 accessible on The Sandbox’s marketplace. The Snoop Private Party Pass essentially provided guests access to Snoop Dogg’s private lifestyle. The event was filled with unique NFTs experiences, and it served as an opportunity to have Snoop Dogg play an exclusive concert on their LAND.

How to get into the NFT metaverse?

The essential components you need to enter the metaverse are an internet connection, a VR headset, and a crypto wallet. Presently, not all metaverse environments require VR headsets, as some of them are easily accessible through desktops and laptops.

There are several metaverses, and the most well-known virtual worlds are Decentraland (MANA), Sandbox (SAND), Axie Infinity (AXS), and Enjin (ENJ). The Decentraland metaverse, arguably the most popular metaverse, is a virtual project that contains 90,601 plots that are sold as NFTs.

In the metaverse, participants are represented as an avatar that is more than just a user-created visage; in fact, it represents a user’s unique identity. Avatars are distinctive identification with humanoid characteristics such as an expressive face, upper and lower torsos, and moving limbs.

The metaverse avatar doesn’t need to resemble or differ from the user’s actual physical appearance. Rather individuals can customize the avatars’ physical traits, including hair, clothes, and body proportions. 

Generally, avatars are classified into full-body avatars and VR avatars. Virtual reality avatars mirror hand movements but not lower limb movements. In contrast, full-body avatars are a step beyond as they are capable of mimicking full-body motions.

Once the avatars are ready, users can explore the virtual world. In Decentraland, you can play games like ‘Wonder Mine Crafting Game’ and make friends with other avatars.

NFTs provide access to the metaverse in many ways, including connecting real-life identities to digital avatars. These non-fungible tokens may also one day serve as both the deed and the key to properties in the virtual land. It will allow the owner exclusive authority to enter that location in the metaverse as well as the ability to provide access to others. 

These crypto tokens may be assigned to a range of activities, including multiplayer online video games and augmented reality environments. These experiences may be highly personal while simultaneously transforming the tokens into economic commodities with liquid, exchangeable value inside the blockchain ecosystem.

Conclusion

The future of the metaverse is boundless as we are still a few years away from having a full-fledged metaverse. Experts believe that metaverse will allow humans to do things that would be difficult in the actual world. It would facilitate and foster human connections without anyone having to relocate or spend money interacting and meeting each other.

Investments in the metaverse have increased significantly over the years as many tech and non-tech companies have pumped money to build and optimize the infrastructure. Slowly but surely, metaverse will become mainstream as NFTs and other blockchain-based assets and items. When that happens, the metaverse will no longer be a futuristic concept; instead, it will become an integral part of our future.