DJ Crypto Will Be The Currency of The Metaverse. Coinbase Could Benefit. -- Barrons.com
12:08 PM ET 11/1/21 | Dow Jones
Daren Fonda
Facebook's transition to a "metaverse" company should be broadly positive for tokens that are likely to be used as currencies in new online gaming and e-commerce worlds.
Multiple 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, conduct e-commerce, and interact socially.
The concept got a big vote of confidence last week, when Facebook (ticker: FB), announced that it would transform into a metaverse company and rename the company as Meta Platforms (while keeping the Facebook name for its core social media platform).
Investors in Meta liked the idea. Shares are up more than 5% since the announcement last Thursday.
Crypto companies, online gaming, and digital assets broadly could also benefit from the metaverse taking a leap forward, with or without Meta.
One clear winner could be online gaming platforms and marketplaces that use non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, as in-game tokens and collectibles. Many of those companies viewed the announcement by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg as "validation of their efforts," wrote BTIG analyst Mark Palmer in a note on Monday.
People who had never heard of a "metaverse" have started discussing it, he notes. And momentum could now build for virtual economies built around "play-to-earn" gaming models and NFTs.
Palmer highlights Decentraland as an example of a metaverse world that may benefit. Decentraland is an online community where users can create avatars of themselves and interact. It bills itself as the "first-ever virtual world owned by its users."
Decentraland has its own token, called MANA, which has surged more than 225% since Meta's announcement last week. The MANA tokens may be also used to buy LAND tokens that represent virtual property on Decentraland. Virtual plots sold for more than $900,000 million on the platform in June, purchased by Republic Realm, a digital real estate fund.
Auction house Sotheby's has also staked out a home on Decentraland. The company opened a virtual gallery in Decentraland's "Voltaire Art District" in June, creating a space for auctioning NFTs.
Decentraland's tokens aren't the only ones riding the new metaverse interest. As Palmer notes, other gaming tokens have also jumped in price since last week, including The Sandbox's SAND, Wilder Worlds' WILD, and Alien Worlds' TLM token.
Many of these tokens are based on the Ethereum blockchain or its side chains. That could broadly benefit the Ethereum token, ETH.
One other long-term beneficiary could be Coinbase Global (COIN). The company is the largest U.S. trading platform for cryptos and the second-largest globally. Its 68 million user base is more than double that of Robinhood Markets (HOOD) and Charles Schwab (SCHW) combined, notes JMP Securities analyst Devin Ryan. Coinbase is adding more cryptos to its platform, developing institutional services, and building an NFT marketplace, too.
Coinbase should also benefit from wider crypto adoption with the recent launch of Bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds.
The stock has been on a roll; shares were up 40% in October, mimicking the 40% gain in Bitcoin during the month.
Wall Street may have to revise targets on the stock upward. The shares, at a recent $333, were trading only 12% below the average target of $377.
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