The announcement that Facebook will rebrand itself as Meta has sent prices for Metaverse, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and gaming tokens soaring in recent hours. The giant IT has reiterated its intention to rebrand itself as a “Metaverse company” – and has included “crypto” and “NFTs” in its communication about the rebrand.
Some Metaverse-related currencies are up 100% or more in the last 24 hours, with the fastest rise occurring in the hours after the tech title was declared. Starlink (STARL) is up 109 percent at 07:50 UTC, while Decentraland (MANA) is up 39 percent and Sandbox (SAND) is up 23 percent.
Coingecko stats indicate huge growth in the NFT/gaming industry, with the market-leading currency of Sky Mavis game Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) up 11% in the last 24 hours. Other game-related coins were also available for purchase.
Last week, the industry was informed of an upcoming name change, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been talking about a Metaverse change for many months.
However, the term meta, as well as the rhetoric Zuckerberg and his colleagues are using to describe the company’s new path, has led the markets to expect a lot of money to flow into the Metaverse.
Zuckerberg pointed out in a “founder’s letter” that the new path “will require not only unique technical development – like community support for crypto and NFT initiatives – but also new types of governance.”
The company claimed it had explored what the “metaverse might feel like in the next decade” during its annual Connect event, looking at themes such as “social connections, entertainment, gaming, fitness, employment, education, and commerce”.
The company also promised to invest money in “new tools to help individuals build the Metaverse.” These include the Presence Platform, a mixed reality solution for Quest 2, and a “$150 million investment in immersive learning to teach the next generation of artists.”
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Rather than emphasize its commitment to initiatives related to VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality), the company has not overtly addressed the role that Stablecoin Project Diem and Novi Wallet – already in testing – might play in its new approach.
It described its “vision of the Metaverse” as the “successor to the mobile internet” and described it as “a collection of linked digital environments that allows you to do things you can not do in the real world.”
Meta pointed out that real-world products, such as the company’s “first full-fledged AR glasses,” are “still a few years away.”
