If you don’t know exactly what the Metaverse, ETFs, cryptocurrency, and digital investment in artwork and real estate is all about, you’re not alone.
In a nutshell, the Metaverse is a collection of invented worlds, like multiplayer online role playing games. Real people interact as cartoon-like characters called avatars. Think of it like an immersive internet, where you can climb a mountain, attend a concert, or visit a cocktail party and chat with folks you don’t know virtually (instead of suffering the same fate in person). People access these worlds through a normal computer screen now, but Metaverse builders envision a future of 3D virtual reality.
Mark Zuckerberg sees the Metaverse as the next logical step to social media. (Hence renaming Facebook as Meta.) Like on Facebook, you’ll see ads, but instead of visiting the advertiser’s website, you’ll enter their store to look around at products in 3D. You’ll buy with cryptocurrency.
You can also own part of the architecture of these Metaverse platforms, called real estate…which may look like actual digital houses, shops, and islands.
Why would anyone want to buy digital property? For some, it’s just fun. For others it’s about access. If Snoop Dogg buys a digital house, then the real Dogg may pop in and out of that house. If you buy the digital house next door, you might run into his digital self, and be able to interact with the real him, wherever he’s at.
Investors are also betting on 3D shopping. They buy digital property where a business might want to open a digital shop on a popular digital street. Then they rent that property as a digital landlord. Others are simply speculating. If all the digital real estate gets bought up, eventually the price of their piece will rise. Don’t laugh; it’s already happening to the tune of millions of dollars!