Chen Li is the CEO and Founder of Youbi Capital, a venture capital and accelerator focused on digital assets.
The digital economy is fostering the emergence of a completely new breed of investor. From the adoption of blockchain technology to the advent of cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance, and non-financial technologies, today’s traders are operating in a terrain that has been changed.
This is money like we’ve never seen it before – and it’s only the beginning of what’s possible. Investing in internet culture has become increasingly comfortable for investors, with the distinction between memes and financial products becoming increasingly blurred. For example,’meme‘ cryptocurrencies such as Dogecoin (DOGE) and’meme‘ stocks such as Gamestop have soared to unprecedented heights in recent months as a result of the enthusiastic backing of Generation Z.
With the evolution of the metaverse, internet culture will only become more tangible in the future. As blockchain technologies are integrated into the metaverse, they will enable the development of whole new applications, such as games with their own economies, as well as yield-bearing nonfungible assets, such as wearables and avatars, that will generate income for their owners. The metaverse will create a new environment for digital native audiences, one in which investing and trading in internet culture will become the standard practice.
Memes have significant financial clout.
Generation Z expresses a great desire to be more financially knowledgeable than prior generations – despite the fact that they are functioning under a whole different set of regulations than their parents and grandparents.
More than 80 percent of Generation Z (those born after 1996) rely on family for financial advice, but due to the fast changing nature of the financial world, the advice of older generations is becoming increasingly out of date as time goes on.
Worse, it is frequently inapplicable to specific market areas, such as bitcoin. TikTok is a source of financial advice for 38 percent of Gen Zers, according to recent data from Tallo. They say they will turn to the platform for advise on both long and short-term savings, and that they will use the platform to acquire advice on both.
Over the course of the past year, communities on social media have emerged as vital resources for people in this age group seeking financial education. This resulted in the rise of meme stock investments, such as GameStop and AMC, as well as meme cryptocurrencies, such as Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, that occurred last year (SHIB).
According to a new survey, young investors‘ passion for meme stocks has remained consistent, with their attention shifting to the metaverse as well as the real world.
The Ascension of the Multiverse
The metaverse, which serves as an interface layer between the physical and virtual worlds, is poised to become yet another important vehicle for driving digital expenditures. Why? Because it serves as the foundation for new sorts of digital-first economies, the roots of which may be seen in the use of non-financial tokens (NFTs) in the art, land, and collectibles markets.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club is a good example of this. It has become a meme in and of itself, with the cheapest NFTs selling for as little as USD 200,000 and the most expensive fetching more than USD 200,000. Ownership of one of these collectibles, which is also part of a community, allows users to speculate on the future value delivery by the franchise. The Bored Ape Yacht Club, for example, collaborated with Adidas to develop wearable things for blockchain gaming in December of last year.
The blockchain gaming industry, in fact, provides another another intriguing insight into what is to come in the metaverse.
These games are no longer just games; they are decentralized digital economies that have been sugarcoated into a more digestible format for players to enjoy. Most games feature native tokens that can be used for in-game purchases and trading between players. These games get value from the use of their tokens, which users and cryptocurrency dealers consider valuable.
The advent of play-to-earn (P2E) games such as Axie Infinity and DeFi Kingdoms has brought token-powered ecosystems to life, bridging the gap between finance, work, and interpersonal connection. Users gain an understanding of topics such as decentralized exchanges and liquidity through gameplay, and as a result, they decide to invest in this developing section of the virtual world. In just a few short months, we have witnessed remarkable growth from these innovative financial instruments, with Axie Infinity reaching an estimated 10 million participants, many of whom are non-crypto natives. A further development is the practice of some players of leasing their NFTs in exchange for a percentage of any cryptocurrency earned by the renter while gaming, a concept pioneered by Yield Guild Games, a P2E guild.
The metaverse is establishing an alternative economic system that operates online. It’s global, transparent, and relies on blockchain technology at its core – and you can expect it to be embraced by an audience with a desire to push the boundaries of digital technology.
The future of digital economies and the digital economy
It is now more important than ever for younger people to trade in internet culture and to leverage digital financial instruments. In the next years, this trend is expected to rise rapidly as a result of the metaverse and the apps that run in the metaverse, which are now being developed. In this new frontier, the sky truly is the limit – from virtual worlds where scarce ‚land‘ can be acquired, sold, and built upon, to marketplaces that match the supply and demand of digital assets.
Of course, this does not imply that the environment is completely risk-free. Because memes come and go, it is critical for blockchain ventures to provide something more than simply buzz in order to succeed.
Particularly for collectibles and gaming cryptoassets, there must be some sort of usefulness in order to incentivize long-term use. This is the stage at which community leaders must initiate projects, develop features, and construct worlds in which the meme instrument is essential to the operation of the game.
Because it is still early in the metaverse’s development, the number of verticals and their corresponding definitions are susceptible to change as the metaverse develops. However, for a generation in the midst of a digital metamorphosis, there is no doubt that new economies and investment opportunities are on the horizon in the form of new technologies.
More information can be found at:
– Metaverse Trends in 2022: Get Ready for More Gaming and New Virtual Experiences with NFTs – NFTs in 2022: From Word of the Year to Mainstream Adoption and New Use Cases – NFTs in 2022: From Word of the Year to Mainstream Adoption and New Use Cases
Gameplay-to-earn, gamification, interoperability, and major publishers will all be present in blockchain games in 2022.
– For businesses, here’s what JPMorgan has to say about their „Metaverse Strategy.“
In four years‘ time, Gartner predicts that the average person will spend one hour a day in the Metaverse.
– The Metaverse: Three Legal Issues That Must Be Addressed Immediately
