Will the Metaverse(s) change humanity as we know it? Will the Metaverse(s) be the ultimate augmentation of human perception? Will it become an agora for our dreams (and, of course, nightmares), able to transform human perception entirely? Has it already started? To start with the latter question: Yes, the groundwork has already been laid. Sensors from our smartphones, social media, digital devices, and the digital data-driven companies that top the Fortune 500 comprise the new cathedrals, religions and tribal spaces for humanity. These technologies and the onset of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, or 4IR, and the AI-driven Society 5.0 …

This week on “The Market Report,” we jump right into our main event. Join Cointelegraph analysts Benton Yaun, Jordan Finneseth, Sam Bourgi and Ornella Hernández as they debate each other on the top metaverse projects on the market. First up, we’ve got Bourgi’s pick of Wilder World, which allows you to interact with its immersive 3D world via nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and is also based on the massively popular Unreal Engine 5. Following Bourgi, we have The Market Report first-timer Hernández, who has decided to go with Boson Portal, which aims to revolutionize metaverse commerce. Will its high-profile partners such …

Mark Zuckerberg might claim the Metaverse is the future — but in the eyes of others, the future has already begun. Science fiction author Neal Stephenson coined the term “Metaverse” back in his 1994 novel, Snow Crash. Within the pages, the main character, Hiro Protagonist, navigates through the virtual world. Since 2003, millions have also worked, played and socialized in the Metaverse within the online Second Life world. While the game, with a heyday in the first decade of the 2000s and featuring some blocky graphics is a far cry from the modern Metaverse vision laid out by companies like …

The team behind one of the top memecoin projects Shiba Inu (SHIB) is rolling out tokenized real estate dubbed “Shiba Lands” as part of its upcoming metaverse project. Shiba’s upcoming metaverse is yet to receive a name, with the team referring to it as the “Shiberse,” and stating that the official title will be revealed later this month. The launch date for the tokenized land sales and auctions is also set to be announced soon and hodlers of the LEASH token (which is available via Shiba Swap) will be granted first access to the land sale events. After the first …

The influence of blockchain technology on the ongoing digital revolution cannot be overstated as the rise of the Metaverse and the integration of virtual reality is transforming the way humans interact on a global scale. One project that is beginning to gain traction in its effort to bridge the old world with the new is Decentraland (MANA), a virtual reality (VR) ecosystem built on the Ethereum network that allows users to create, engage with and monetize digital content through a variety of interactive experiences. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that over the past two weeks, the price …

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, saw the largest single-day slide in market value for a U.S. company ever with a 26% fall in share prices on Thursday after the tech giant revealed disappointing earnings and a decline in daily active users. Meta famously changed its name from Facebook in late 2021, to signal its plans to focus on the Metaverse, and its struggles have coincided with double-digit percentage gains for its decentralized competitors The Sandbox and Decentraland. Meta reported $33.67 billion worth of total revenue for Q4 2021, compared to $28 billion the year prior. However, its net …

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs), gaming protocols and the dawn of the Metaverse were all trending topics in 2021 and they are shaping up to be even bigger in 2022. NFTs and Metaverse-related projects are also bouncing back quickly from the market-wide downturn and Vulcan Forged (PYR) is one of the top movers this week. The project is a blockchain game studio and NFT marketplace that is in the process of developing out its VulcanVerse ecosystem. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $6.59 on Jan. 24, the price of PYR has rallied 119% to …

Solana-based augmented reality and NFT platform Dropp GG is developing geographical-based NFT minting and “mixed reality events” tied to the Metaverse. The firm was founded in early 2021 and is progressively rolling out several initiatives over this year including partnered NFT drops, geo-minting events, virtual land plots with AR support, and a metaverse platform that maps to the physical world. Dropp recently closed an $8 million funding round that was backed by top crypto and NFT firms such as Animoca Brands, Alameda Research DeFiance Capital and Three Arrows Capital. The funding will go towards IP accumulation, partnerships and metaverse/AR tech …

Following the announcement that Facebook’s parent company would be rebranding in a shift towards the Metaverse, many projects have started similar initiatives entering the virtual space, from buying property to testing the limits of what this universe has to offer. Visit Disneyland… in the Metaverse? The entertainment company behind some of the most popular theme parks in the world recently had a patent approved for a “virtual-world simulator in a real-world venue.” Though the Los Angeles Times reported that Disney had “no current plans” to use the simulator in the near future, the application does suggest Disneyland and Disney World …

The founder of Linden Lab’s virtual online world Second Life Philip Rosedale will be rejoining the project as a strategic advisor to guide its entry to the Metaverse. While he is negative on content interoperability in the Metaverse describing it as “a total fail” he believes an NFT based future is the way forward long term. Second Life is an online social game universe that launched in 2003, when the word “Metaverse” was only being used by Neal Stephenson fans. Since leaving his position as CEO of Linden Labs in 2008, Rosedale has made a name for himself in the …

Employees from Microsoft and Apple are jumping ship to join Meta Platforms as the company sets its sights on creating the Metaverse. According to former employees of Microsoft quoted by the Wall Street Journal, around 100 people have ditched the tech giant’s augmented reality team over the past year to join Meta Platforms. They claim that Meta has been particularly focused on snapping up people who have worked on Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented reality (AR) headsets. According to the WSJ, Linkedin profiles show that more than 70 people who were part of Microsoft’s HoloLens team have left the project over the …

Disney has been approved for a patent that would create personalized interactive attractions for theme park visitors. The technology would facilitate headset-free augmented reality (AR) attractions at Disney theme parks. The tech would work by tracking visitors using their mobile phones, and generating and projecting personalized 3D effects onto nearby physical spaces, walls, and objects in the park. The entertainment giant was approved for a “virtual-world simulator in a real-world venue,” patent on Dec. 28, 2021. It was originally filed to the United States Patent and Trademark Office in July 2020. The “Metaverse” has largely been imagined as existing on …