Crypto will be the currency of the metaverse. Coinbase could benefit from this.

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The time of dreams

Facebook’s transition to a “metaverse” business should be generally positive for tokens that can potentially be used as currencies in the new worlds of online gaming and e-commerce.

Several companies and cryptos could benefit from the metaverse, a broad concept for a new generation of immersive virtual worlds where people will be able to work, play games, e-commerce and interact socially.

The concept got a big vote of confidence last week, when Facebook (ticker: FB), announced it would transform into a metaverse company and rename the company to Meta Platforms (while retaining the Facebook name for its platform. – main social media form).

Investors in Meta liked the idea. Shares are up more than 5% since the announcement last Thursday.

Crypto companies, online gaming, and digital assets in general could also benefit from the surging metaverse, with or without Meta.

A clear winner could be online gaming platforms and marketplaces that use non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, as tokens and in-game collectibles. Many of these companies have considered the announcement from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg , as a “validation of their efforts,” BTIG analyst Mark Palmer wrote in a note Monday.

People who had never heard of a “metaverse” began to discuss it, he notes. And momentum could now develop for virtual economies built around “play to win” gaming models and NFT.

Palmer presents Decentraland as an example of a metaverse world that could benefit from it. Decentraland is an online community where users can create avatars of themselves and interact. It presents itself as the “very first virtual world belonging to its users”.

Decentraland has its own token, called MANA, which has jumped over 225% since Meta’s announcement last week. MANA tokens can also be used to purchase LAND tokens which represent virtual property on Decentraland. Virtual plots sold for more than $ 900,000 million on the platform in June, bought by Republic Realm, a digital real estate fund.

Sotheby’s auction house has also staked a house on Decentraland. The company opened a virtual gallery in Decentraland’s “Voltaire Art District” in June, creating an NFT auction space.

Decentraland’s tokens aren’t the only ones taking advantage of the Metaverse’s newfound interest. As Palmer notes, other gaming tokens have also increased in price since last week, including The Sandbox’s SAND token, Wilder Worlds ‘WILD, and Alien Worlds’ TLM token.

Many of these tokens are based on the Ethereum blockchain or its side chains. This could greatly benefit the Ethereum, ETH token.

Another long-term beneficiary could be Coinbase Global (COIN). The company is the largest US crypto trading platform and the second in the world. Its 68 million user base is more than double that of Robinhood Markets (HOOD) and Charles Schwab (SCHW) combined, notes Devin Ryan, analyst at JMP Securities. Coinbase is adding more cryptos to its platform, developing institutional services, and also creating an NFT marketplace.

Coinbase is also expected to benefit from wider adoption of crypto with the recent launch of Bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds.

The stock has been on a roll; stocks rose 40% in October, mimicking Bitcoin’s 40% gain during the month.

Wall Street may have to revise its objectives on the title upwards. The shares, at a recent price of $ 333, were only trading 12% below the average target of $ 377.

Write to Daren Fonda at [email protected]

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