A Tale of Two Chains
Avalanche and Immutable X Go Head to Head | Metaverse Pride Is Here | Metaverse Seed Funding Strong in 2022
Last week we saw two heavy-hitter blockchains shoot their shot to replace Ethereum as the blockchain for ApeCoin and the Otherside metaverse.
The Background
Back in April, we covered BAYC creators YugaLabs’ digital land sale for their upcoming metaverse, Otherside. It garnered over $300 million in initial sales and resulted in Opensea’s all-time best single day in secondary sales volume.
It was also seen as a fiasco that led to sky-high gas prices. The sale cost investors almost $160 million in gas fees and left many empty handed due to failed transactions.
The Pitches
On May 24, Ava Labs, creators of the Avalanche Layer-1 blockchain made a public pitch via the ApeCoin DAO to move Otherside from Ethereum to their chain via their proprietary subnet framework.
This is a high-profile attempt to position Avalanche as the blockchain of the future, particularly for metaverse development. If Avalanche can continue to grow in popularity and build out strong use cases, it could open new possibilities for metaverse platforms to flourish.
A Challenger Approaches
A few days later, up and coming Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution Immutable X posted their own proposal to host the metaverse.
Immutable X’s proposal offers a clear benefit as it would allow holders to stay within the Ethereum ecosystem. On the other hand, moving to Avalanche could lead to other high-profile NFT and metaverse projects building there; creating a positive feedback loop.
It is unclear how this will unfold. Both solutions claim to offer increased scalability and lower fees, but the community sentiment seems to be leaning towards keeping the project on Ethereum in support of Immutable X.
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Metaverse Pride
Yesterday marked the beginning of Pride Month! 🏳️🌈 Here are some metaverse Pride events to keep on your radar:
Over in Decentraland, Metapride Land launched their headquarters and will host events throughout the month. The Metaverse Pride Parade will begin on June 11 at 5PM ET.
Check out Decentraland’s Pride Month page for info on other events going on in the space.
The People of Crypto Lab (POC) are partnering with The Sandbox to launch The Valley of Belonging later in June. POC is an innovation hub dedicated to making web3 a safe, diverse, and inclusive environment.
The experience will feature an NFT collection of 8,430 avatars representing different ethnic, gender, and sexual identities. All of the avatars in the project will be non-binary and offer freedom for holders to choose their own pronouns.
Strong Seed Funding for Metaverse and NFT Companies
2022 has been a great year for startups building the future of technology. Metaverse and NFT startups have seen strong seed rounds this year, according to recent data from Crunchbase.
Here are a few highlights:
Space Runners raised $10 million to build a platform for artists, athletes, and brands to launch fashion NFT projects and enter the growing fashion metaverse ecosystem.
ONCYBER raised $6.7 million to launch a digital showroom platform for users to display their NFTs.
Mirror World raised $4 million to develop an AI-powered, gaming-focused metaverse.
CryptoSlam raised $9 million to grow their NFT aggregator platform.
Stakes raised $5.3 million to launch their app that joins sports betting and NFTs.
These examples represent a wide range of verticals and product types. The industry is growing fast, and strong funding rounds early this year will help these companies weather the recent market correction.
Land and Token Prices - As of Sunday May 29, 2022
Average land prices in The Sandbox (-25%), The Otherside (-11%), Cryptoxels (-14%) and Somnium (-8%) are all down compared to 7 days prior, while LAND in Decentraland rose 9% over the same period.
$MANA(-0.6%), $SAND(-5%), $CUBE(-12%), and $APE(-22%) tokens were all down compared to their price 7 days prior.
Other News:
South Korea is betting on the metaverse — and it could provide a blueprint for others
Mini Macau Is Now Live In The Sandbox Metaverse: Here's The Scoop
The Notorious B.I.G. To Enter The Metaverse With His Own Virtual World, 'The Brook'
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