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<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/master-your-crypto"></a><div type="image" title="Andrew Steinwold, founder of NFT investment firm Sfermion" height="878" width="1170" msid="92706753" hostid="261" sizebytes="50358"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>As <keyword id="11893898" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto" source="Orion">crypto</keyword> <keyword id="11893875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="markets" source="Orion">markets</keyword> tumble, many <keyword id="11919795" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nft" source="Orion">NFT</keyword> collections have seen their values plunge as well.</li><li>The managing partner of an NFT investment firm explains why <keyword id="6357332" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="gaming" source="Orion">gaming</keyword> will onboard more users.</li></ul>NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, felt like all the rage last year, with celebrities from Snoop Dogg to Reese Witherspoon sporting six-figure JPEGs as their profile pictures. Meanwhile, Beeple's "Everydays: The First 5,000 Days" NFT sold for more than <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/art-auction-nft-beeple-top-selling-most-expensive-sale-millions-2021-3" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">$69 million</a> at Sotheby's auction house. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/style/dolce-gabbana-nft.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">Dolce &amp; Gabbana</a> and the NBA jumped on board with collections of their own.As broader crypto markets tumble, however, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-29/nfts-have-fallen-off-the-cliff-as-sales-sink-to-lowest-in-year?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&amp;utm_content=crypto&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social#xj4y7vzkg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">so have NFTs</a>. Ethereum, which is commonly used to buy and mint the digital assets, has declined 78.7% since its all-time high in November, according to dashboard <a href="https://messari.io/asset/ethereum" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">Messari</a>, Top-tier collections have seen their values plunge as well, per a <a href="https://dappradar.com/blog/dappradar-industry-report-may-2022/#NFT" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">DappRadar industry report</a>, with <keyword id="12881347" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bored-ape" source="Orion">Bored Ape</keyword> Yacht Club floor prices falling 38% last month. OpenSea, one of the largest NFT marketplaces, declined 65% in trading volumes and had a 14% decrease in number of users in the same time frame. Hopeful <keyword id="12461337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="web3" source="Orion">Web3</keyword> VCs and founders, however, told Insider that although prices are declining, the tokenized assets will stick around and eventually hit the mainstream by 2032. <h2>10-year outlook for NFTs</h2>Benjamin Cohen, founder of crypto <keyword id="14385207" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="venture" source="Orion">venture</keyword> firm Web 3 Equities, says the majority of NFTs won't be featured on social media accounts as a way to flex a collector's wealth. Instead, they will have a wide variety of use cases, which includes <keyword id="11898471" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="music" source="Orion">music</keyword>, gaming, ticketing, virtual real estate, deeds for houses, medical records, and even collateral for loans. Virtual real estate developer Republic Realm <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fmetaverse-real-estate-piles-up-record-sales-in-sandbox-and-other-virtual-realms-11638268380" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">announced</a> it had purchased a piece of property in metaverse game The Sandbox for $4.3 million. In March, an anonymous borrower <a href="https://blockworks.co/in-largest-ever-nft-backed-loan-101-cryptopunks-put-up-as-collateral/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">took out</a> an $8 million loan backed by a collection of 101 CryptoPunk NFTs. "Over time entrepreneurs will find creative ways to use NFTs and smart contracts in ways that we haven't conceived yet, far beyond the scope of status symbols," Cohen said. Although they founded different firms, CEO of blockchain ticketing platform YellowHeart Josh Katz and Cohen both agree that NFTs will move towards more utility use cases. People will cut out the "middlemen," Katz said, with ticket NFTs, weeding out third parties like Ticketmaster. YellowHeart, which has worked with musicians like Kings of Leon and Maroon 5, <a href="https://www.nftculture.com/nft-news/tao-group-hospitality-partners-with-yellowheart-to-introduce-nft-ticketing/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">announced</a> a partnership with Tao Group Hospitality, to sell tickets to its venues as NFTs. "Businesses are going to figure out cool ways to incorporate NFTs into something that we're doing everyday right now," Katz said, adding that most projects will have fiat on-ramps. "For ticketing, you could cut the line, get to the venue early, or get a free beer."In 2032, NFTs will also be more accessible than they are now so that "most internet users" can afford them, says Stephen Young, the founder and CEO of NFT lending marketplace NFTfi. "At the moment, many NFTs are expensive because blockchains are expensive and slow, so the use cases that make sense require high value NFTs," he said. To mint or purchase an NFT on Ethereum, investors and creators have to pay gas fees. These costs occur when performing any sort of function on Ethereum's network. At times, these fees can be <a href="https://mashable.com/article/ethereum-gas-fees-skyrocket-bored-ape-yacht-club-otherside-nft-launch" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">more expensive than the NFT itself.</a> Other blockchains and Layer-2s like Solana or Polygon, however, have quicker transaction times with lower costs.<h2>Mainstream adoption and hurdles </h2>Andrew Steinwold, the managing partner of NFT investment firm <keyword id="14385208" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sfermion" source="Orion">Sfermion</keyword>, says gaming will be the use case that onboards the most users. (Sfermion <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211101005038/en/Sfermion-Raises-100M-NFT-Fund-Aimed-at-Accelerating-the-Emergence-of-the-Metaverse" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">announced a $100 million fund</a> last year and has previously invested in AI enabled NFT platform Alethea AI, Web3 developer platform Mojito, and virtual real estate marketplace Parcel.)"I think NFTs in gaming have a really simple selling point to the user, 'Hey you spent $20 on this digital good in this video game, but you don't actually own it. Wouldn't you like to own it?'" Steinwold said. Blockchain gaming, unlike broader crypto markets, has <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/22/blockchain-gaming-unfazed-by-crypto-volatility-as-gamers-seek-out-entertainment/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">remained stable</a> in recent months. Around 1.15 million daily active wallets interacted with Web3 games in May, per a DappRadar <a href="https://dappradar.com/blog/dappradar-crypto-games-report-5-blockchain-games-continue-to-defy-the-bear-market" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">report</a>, declining 5% from the month before. Popular games include Splinterlands and Illuvium. Video games are also "fun and easy" to understand for people of all ages, Steinwold says, which lowers the barrier of entry to enter its ecosystem. Blockchain-based gaming, or games that integrated tokenized assets on-chain, grew 2,000% last year, per a Q1 2022 DappRadar and Blockchain Gaming Alliance <a href="https://dappradar.com/blog/dappradar-x-bga-games-report-q1-2022" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">report</a>. With massive growth in NFTs comes bad actors, which present plenty of obstacles to mainstream adoption.Critics are wary of the ecosystem due to security concerns, scams, and money laundering allegations. Earlier this month, Yuga Labs, creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/06/04/yuga-labs-confirms-discord-server-hack-200-eth-worth-of-nfts-stolen/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">said</a> its Discord server had been compromised, with a hacker draining $360,000 worth of ether-based NFTs at the time. In January, anonymous founders of an NFT collection called <a href="https://blockworks.co/nft-creators-stole-1-3m-from-investors-then-vanished-sources-say/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Frosties vanished</a> after siphoning $1.3 million worth of funds from its investors."Money laundering, and in particular, transfers from sanctioned cryptocurrency businesses, represents a large risk to building trust in NFTs, and should be monitored more closely by marketplaces, regulators, and law enforcement," blockchain research firm Chainalysis said in a <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/ethereum/more-people-are-falling-prey-to-scams-and-wash-trading-in-the-nft-space" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">recent report.</a>Whether you love them or hate them, NFTs don't seem to be going away anytime soon. Investment bank Jeffries <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/01/20/jefferies-sees-the-nft-market-reaching-more-than-80-billion-in-value-by-2025/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">forecasts</a> a massive percentage growth in the next five years, along with a market cap of over $80 billion by 2025.This article is intended to provide generalized information designed to educate a broad segment of the public; it does not give personalized investment, legal, or other business and professional advice. Before taking any action, you should always consult with your own financial, legal, tax, investment, or other professional for advice on matters that affect you and/or your business.

The future of NFTs, according to top crypto VCs and Web3 founders

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11893898" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto" source="Orion">Crypto</keyword> podcaster Andrew Steinwold raised $100 million for an <keyword id="11919795" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nft" source="Orion">NFT</keyword> fund for his firm Sfermion. </li><li>Crypto enthusiasts the <keyword id="12453376" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="winklevoss-twins" source="Orion">Winklevoss twins</keyword> and two <keyword id="11931413" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="andreessen-horowitz" source="Orion">Andreessen Horowitz</keyword> general partners are among the fund's backers.</li></ul>Crypto podcaster Andrew Steinwold just raised $100 million for an NFT fund with the help of the Winklevoss twins and two general partners from Andreessen Horowitz. Steinwold, who hosts the crypto podcast Zima Red, is a managing partner of Sfermion, a Chicago-based investment firm founded in 2019 that's focused on nonfungible tokens. Sfermion said in a Monday press release that the money will help it build a portfolio of investments underpinning the <keyword id="11121339" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="metaverse" source="Orion">metaverse</keyword>."It is incredible to see our thesis play out that NFTs were the key missing piece of technology needed for the metaverse to come to fruition," Steinwold said in the release.The $100 million "Fund II" received backing from Alan Howard, <keyword id="12453377" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="chris-dixon" source="Orion">Chris Dixon</keyword>, Marc Andreessen, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Matthew Roszak, Digital Currency Group, CMT Digital, and Animoca Brands.The backers all have a hand in the crypto world. For example, the Winklevoss twins founded the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/investment/news/mariah-carey-backs-bitcoin-in-a-new-partnership-with-the-winklevoss-twins-gemini-crypto-exchange/articleshow/87158641.cms">Gemini crypto exchange</a>, while Dixon and Andreessen's firm Andreessen Horowitz has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/a16z-crypto-fund-firm-strategy-behind-venturecapital-startups-2021-8">doubled down on crypto</a> investments. "NFTs are transforming digital experiences and creating new investment opportunities across a variety of decentralized marketplaces," Dixon said in the release. According to <a href="https://fortune.com/nfty-50/2021/andrew-steinwold/">Fortune</a>, Steinwold's Zima Red <a href="https://andrewsteinwold.substack.com/">newsletter and podcast</a> explore the NFT and crypto world and have become "essential parts of the media diet for metaverse enthusiasts." Sfermion and Steinwold also have invested in dozens of NFT-oriented companies, such as OpenSea, Artblocks, Yield Guild Games, and Nifty Island.The market for NFTs, aka digital artworks tied to a blockchain, has ballooned this year. In the third quarter alone, they registered $10.7 billion in trading volume, a 704% jump from nearly $2 billion in the three months prior, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/nft-trading-volume-q3-crypto-blockchain-snoop-dogg-axie-infinity-2021-10">Insider reported previously</a>, citing DappRadar.

Crypto podcaster Andrew Steinwold raised $100 million from Andreessen Horowitz partners and the Winklevoss twins for a new NFT fund

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The blockchain-based creative platform StoryCo is launching a new immersive storytelling concept.</li><li>People who sign up for a StoryPass (an NFT) can collect digital art and have creative control over "The Disco Ball."</li></ul>StoryCo, the blockchain-based creative platform from brothers Justin and J.P Alanis formerly known as Story DAO, is launching a new immersive storytelling concept — "The Disco Ball," billed as a "first-of-its-kind interactive narrative unfolding across <a href="https://story.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the StoryCo site</a>, social media and real-world interactions." Kyle Killen, the original showrunner of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/halo-producer-on-the-tv-show-journey-to-paramount-interview-2022-3">"Halo" series on Paramount+</a> (adapted from the Xbox game) and creator of Fox's "Lone Star," is the lead writer — or "story architect," in StoryCo parlance — on the project.The experience, which went live Thursday, is set against a glittering outer-space backdrop, as illustrated by artistic brother duo Shelby and Sandy. Participants solve puzzles along the way as lead character "Captain Alma Cooke and her team of astronauts on the International Space Station… are thrust into an existential journey to save the multiverse," StoryCo said. Like other Web3 storytelling projects, "The Disco Ball" is looking to build a community, and would-be participants are asked to sign up for a free StoryPass (read: NFT) that will allow them to collect digital art from the project. At the end of "Disco Ball," NFT holders "will assume control over the infinitely expanding Disco Ball universe." Those community members will have control not only over creative decisions but over each project's treasury, said Justin Alanis, which includes NFT sales, IP licensing revenue, and royalties. Half of all net revenue from projects like "Disco Ball" would then be split among the treasury's members after its story writers and creators are compensated.The "real-world interactions" available to StoryPass holders are being kept under wraps for now, but Alanis said that clues in the story are in "both physical and digital spaces that allow participants to interact with and help" the characters. The Alanis brothers are part of a new wave of storytellers looking to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-storyco-blockchain-immersive-storytelling-nft-raised-6-million-2023-1">create direct relationships between creators and fans using blockchain</a>, though they are looking to use more layperson-friendly terminology as they do it. (Hence the term "StoryPass" instead of "NFT.") "The goal there is to show how amazing this new technology can be to incubate this intellectual property, and then gradually fuse in all of this Web3 technology to show how additional incentives, rewards, access ownership models can then be an accelerant to our underlying product market fit with the creators that we have on the platform," Justin Alanis told Insider. The Alanises' vision is attracting Hollywood traditionalists like Killen, who is also known for creating ABC series "Mind Games," starring Christian Slater, and NBC's "Awake," starring Jason Isaacs. The company has "created a pathway for an entirely new form of storytelling, allowing for a freedom of creative expression that previously didn't exist," said Killen in a statement. "I've long been looking for a way to immerse the audience more deeply into the story by making them a part of both the story and the creative process, and the technologies made available by StoryCo now enable that to happen."StoryCo also just raised $6 million in a seed funding round led by two VC firms — crypto-focused Collab + Currency and Patron, which is focused on "backing founders building towards an interactive and multiplayer internet," per its website.Among the round's other participants are Floodgate Ventures, Blockchange Ventures, Sfermion, and Flamingo DAO, plus angel investors Lloyd Braun, Sabrina Hahn, Packy McCormick, and GMoney, as well as other execs from talent agencies WME and UTA. "Despite Hollywood and the entertainment industry growing into such a massive business around original IP in recent years, the creative talent which help to imagine and bring these stories to life are often overlooked and excluded from the value they help to create," said Patron general partner Jason Yeh in a statement. "We believe that better models will emerge which help emerging creative talent to capture and share in the value around these IP."<h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-storyco-blockchain-immersive-storytelling-nft-raised-6-million-2023-1">Check out the pitch deck that helped StoryCo raise $6 million in seed funding for its blockchain-based collaborative storytelling platform.</a></h2>

StoryCo and 'Halo' showrunner team up to launch 'Disco Ball,' a blockchain-based immersive story that's a model for Hollywood's move into Web3

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A <keyword id="11121339" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="metaverse" source="Orion">metaverse</keyword> startup got nearly $100 million in a funding round led by <keyword id="11893847" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="softbank" source="Orion">Softbank</keyword>. </li><li><keyword id="12460329" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sandbox" source="Orion">Sandbox</keyword> is a virtual world where players can monetize digital assets like NFTs.</li></ul>A metaverse and NFT-focused startup scored nearly $100 million in a round led by a Softbank fund.The startup, known as Sandbox, is is an ethereum-based metaverse that allows gamers to create their own virtual world and monetize digital assets, such as non-fungible tokens. For example, players can purchase plots of land they can build on, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/11/02/metaverse-startup-the-sandbox-closes-93m-series-b-led-by-softbank/">Coindesk reported</a> Tuesday."In this era of new possibilities, The Sandbox is emerging as the main NFT-based, open metaverse, where the content, economy, and even governance will be in the hands of the players, creators, and users who contribute to this virtual world," the company said in its press release.The company is a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based venture capital firm backing the metaverse and GameFi. In its press release, Sandbox Cofunder Sebastien Borget said the Series B funding round will send "a clear statement that the world's most innovative fund believes in Web3 and decentralization as the next major trend." Executives from GoldenTree Asset Management, among others, also invested in the round, the <a href="https://www.animocabrands.com/the-sandbox-raises-93m-in-round-led-by-softbank-vision-fund-2-to-grow-its-open-nft-metaverse">press release</a> said. The startup has partnerships with brands and people, including Snoop Dogg, The Walking Dead, and <keyword id="11893898" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto" source="Orion">Crypto</keyword>Kitties, and has more than 500,000 users with connected crypto wallets. Its cryptocurrency, aptly named "Sandbox," has a $2.3 billion market valuation, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Monday, another NFT-focused company called <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/crypto-podcaster-andrew-steinwold-nft-fund-andreessen-horowitz-winklevoss-twins-2021-11">Sfermion</a> got a $100 million funding round with big-name backers like the Winklevoss twins and two general partners from Andreessen Horowitz.The announcements follow news that social media platform Facebook would be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-metaverse-facebook-mark-zuckerberg-roblox-animal-crossing-2021-8">changing its name</a> to Meta in an effort to forge into the future of the internet, the metaverse.

Softbank leads a nearly $100 million funding round for a metaverse and NFT-focused startup also backed by Snoop Dogg

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11895315" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="coinbase" source="Orion">Coinbase</keyword> CEO Brian Armstrong said <keyword id="11901075" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nfts" source="Orion">NFTs</keyword> could upstage cryptocurrency trading on the platform.</li><li>Armstrong said he wants the company's NFT platform to be like Instagram, not eBay.</li></ul>The head of <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/coin-stock">Coinbase</a> thinks NFTs could someday surpass cryptocurrency trading on the platform.Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong made the comments on a conference call about the company's third quarter earnings, in which the platform <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/coinbase-stock-price-q3-earnings-miss-expectations-transactions-crypto-bitcoin-2021-11">suffered a steep drop</a> in trading volume. Armstrong said nonfungible tokens, which are digital artworks or tokens verified on the blockchain, will be a "very large area for crypto in the future.""It already is today," he said late Tuesday, according to a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fearnings%2Fcall-transcripts%2F2021%2F11%2F10%2Fcoinbase-global-inc-coin-q3-2021-earnings-call-tra%2F">transcript from the Motley Fool</a>. "Traditionally, Coinbase is focused on FTs, fungible tokens, and we're equally excited about NFTs. I think it could be as big or bigger."In just the third quarter, NFTs registered <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/nft-trading-volume-q3-crypto-blockchain-snoop-dogg-axie-infinity-2021-10?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest">$10.7 billion</a> in trading volume, up from $2 billion in the prior quarter, according to DappRadar.Coinbase announced it would <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/coinbase-nft-marketplace-cryptocurrency-ethereum-solana-digital-asset-token-ftx-2021-10">launch its NFT trading platform</a> by the end of the year. The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US has already received 2.5 million emails from users asking to sign up for it, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-10/-big-or-bigger-than-crypto-trading-coinbase-bets-large-on-nfts?srnd=markets-vp">Bloomberg</a>. By comparison, NFT marketplace OpenSea has had about 234,000 active unique users in the last 30 days, according to <a href="https://dappradar.com/ethereum/marketplaces/opensea">DappRadar</a>.Armstrong said he wants Coinbase NFT to be similar to Instagram versus an auction-type site such as eBay. "This is going to be a global phenomenon. We want to make sure our NFT platform is interoperable as every other platforms out there."Emilie Choi, Coinbase's president and chief operating officer, said on the call the company has been spending "a lot of time" working on NFTs in the metaverse as there's "just an abundance of innovation in this space, and we want to keep doubling down on those opportunities."The concept of the "metaverse" has become mainstream since Facebook rebranded to "Meta." But according to crypto podcaster Andrew Steinwold, who's a managing partner of digital token-focused firm Sfermion, NFTs were the missing piece of the puzzle for the metaverse to get started."Now that that's enabled, the metaverse is actually coming to fruition," he <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/facebook-metaverse-nfts-crypto-meta-cryptocurrencies-2021-11">told Insider previously</a>.

Coinbase's NFT platform should be like Instagram and may eventually overtake cryptocurrency trading, CEO says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, are the key to the <keyword id="11121339" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="metaverse" source="Orion">metaverse</keyword>, experts say.</li><li>With the digital tokens, people are becoming owners on the internet, instead of simply renters.</li></ul>And just like that, the term "metaverse" has gone mainstream. Last week, social media giant <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/fb-stock">Facebook</a> announced it would change its name to "<keyword id="12416504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="meta" source="Orion">Meta</keyword>" in an effort to move into the future of the internet, called <keyword id="12461337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="web3" source="Orion">Web3</keyword> or the metaverse.Now, headlines about the metaverse, blockchain, and NFTs are dominating the news, and you might be wondering how they're all connected. But let's start with the basics. What even is the metaverse?Think of your physical world, the things around you, what and who you interact with. Now think of that physical world being digital. That's it. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-metaverse-facebook-mark-zuckerberg-roblox-animal-crossing-2021-8">That's the metaverse</a>.Cathy Hackl, who has earned the title of godmother of the metaverse, put it like this to <a href="https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/the-fashion-execs-guide-to-the-metaverse">Vogue</a> in an interview in September: "It's about the internet breaking free from the rectangles in our hands, desks and walls and being all around us."It's like that Sims game so many grew up with, but better. Platforms like Decentraland and <keyword id="11893898" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto" source="Orion">Crypto</keyword>voxels are already the social media of the metaverse in a way, said Andrew Steinwold, who hosts the crypto podcast Zima Red.There, "you can build a gallery; you can put photos of yourself, just like regular social media. You can get creative, scratch that itch. You can be social. You can go talk to your neighbors, go attend events."But what do NFTs and crypto have to do with all this?Everything!<keyword id="11919795" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nft" source="Orion">NFT</keyword>s are the digital key to unlocking the metaverse, Shreyansh Singh, the head of Polygon's NFT and gaming arm, wrote in a <a href="https://decrypt.co/82992/nfts-key-accessing-metaverse-beyond">Decrypt article</a>. An NFT, or a nonfungible token, is a unique digital asset stored on a blockchain, the same technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. The tokens give users ownership in the digital world."That was kind of the missing piece of the puzzle," said Steinwold, who's also a managing partner of <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/crypto-podcaster-andrew-steinwold-nft-fund-andreessen-horowitz-winklevoss-twins-2021-11">NFT-focused firm Sfermion</a>. "Now that that's enabled, the metaverse is actually coming to fruition."Wait ... what?Let's say you have a Fortnite skin, Steinwold said, referring to a digital outfit for your video game character. You don't actually own it, even if you spent countless hours getting it. Epic Games, which makes Fortnite, owns it. "It's kind of up to Epic Games' total purview whatever they want to do with it," Steinwold said. "If they want to delete my account, then they can do that ... They can just say, 'You know what, Andrew tweeted "screw Epic Games" this morning, we're going to delete all this stuff.'"It's a communist system in the sense that users add value to the system but get nothing in return, Steinwold said. With NFTs, the internet is becoming more capitalistic, "where your time-money effort is actually rewarded through ownership.""It's like if I use <keyword id="11892960" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="facebook" source="Orion">Facebook</keyword>, and they somehow gave me some portion of stock from commenting, from liking, from uploading photos, because I'm adding value to that platform," he said, adding that people on the internet are becoming owners, instead of renters. Will Facebook - I mean Meta - be part of the metaverse?Some, <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/10/29/john-carmack-facebook-oculus-metaverse-mark-zuckerberg/">including a key architect</a> of Facebook's metaverse, have been skeptical of the company's plan.As Steinwold put it, "If Facebook turned into a decentralized organization where it was user owned and governed, that would be a true part of the metaverse."So what's next?We haven't seen anything yet. You may remember, perhaps, the early days of "dial-up" internet in the 1990s when aol.com was the main platform. That's where we are with the metaverse and NFTs, Steinwold said. "It's almost like if you asked me about Google or Airbnb or Uber back in the 1990s. I couldn't even explain to you what those are," he said. "We are not even in the first inning, like the game hasn't started. We're still warming up."

You Searched For "sfermion" and got 6 results

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