The Metaverse Explosion (Part 1): Could It Be the Biggest Opportunity in the Crypto Market?
The metaverse, a term that swept across the world like wildfire in the latter half of 2021, drawing in governments, businesses, KOLs, and ordinary people alike. First, Facebook—with over 3 billion active users globally—rebranded to Meta and announced a full-scale march into the metaverse. Then Microsoft, the world's most valuable company with a market cap of $2.5 trillion, also announced its full-scale entry into the metaverse. Domestically, giants like Tencent and ByteDance have all rolled out their metaverse strategies.
Practically overnight, the metaverse seized the "center stage" of social media, becoming the standard by which a company's future prospects are measured: whoever leads in the metaverse, whoever has stronger technology, will have a brighter future and greater growth potential.
Looking at the literal meaning of "metaverse": yuan (元) means the origin of qi (气), the very beginning. The metaverse is about creating a new world from scratch, much like God creating the world in Genesis. However, a rigorous definition would say the metaverse is a conceptual embodiment of blockchain, cloud computing, extended reality (XR), artificial intelligence, and other new technologies. It can also be described as using these technologies to recreate a new world and social form that blends the virtual and the real. In this world, you can use your imagination to do anything.
If we accept this definition, then all future companies, institutions, and individuals will be involved in the metaverse—it is an inevitable outcome of modern technological development, and could even be called a necessary stage in the evolution of human social structures.
After all that, what does the metaverse have to do with the crypto market?
Among the many elements that constitute the metaverse, a fair economic system is considered the core driving force behind its operation, while blockchain technology provides the foundation for the metaverse's economic system to function. Among these, native digital assets serve as the medium for value pricing, storage, and transfer in the metaverse world.
Why Blockchain Is the Metaverse's Infrastructure
When the metaverse concept first exploded in popularity, a saying emerged: internet technology is the "infrastructure" of the internet era, while blockchain is the "infrastructure" of the metaverse era.
Is this accurate? We can analyze it from two angles: the essence of the metaverse and the characteristics of blockchain technology. The essence of the metaverse is using blockchain, cloud computing, AI, and other new technologies to create a new world that blends the virtual and the real. This world is a complete human society and will generate a complete closed-loop economic system, which requires reprocessing and reapplying data within the metaverse world.
What does reprocessing and reapplying data mean? To borrow the words of blockchain industry observer Meng Yonghui: "Data reprocessing represents the continuous improvement and optimization of computing power, as well as the reform and innovation of processing methods; data reapplication represents the dissolution of the boundary between physical and virtual, and the deep integration of digital space and physical space." This is precisely what blockchain technology aims to achieve and realize.
In fact, if we trace the origins of the metaverse concept, we find it is not a new concept at all, but a rebirth of a classical one—it appeared as early as the 1990s in the science fiction novel Snow Crash. The reason it has exploded now is that the development of modern science and technology has turned science fiction into reality, providing the external conditions for its realization.
The new technologies required by the metaverse and their roles within it can be illustrated with an analogy: in the metaverse world, AI is the brain, the IoT is the sensory system, VR/AR is the hands and feet, and blockchain is the circulatory system that connects the entire world together.
Through this analogy, we can see that the future metaverse— whether building hardware or running software—will require blockchain technology to connect and support everything; otherwise, it would be a scattered force unable to achieve optimal efficiency. Therefore, studying the metaverse means studying blockchain technology, and it could even be said that any metaverse company must also be a blockchain technology company.
The Metaverse Will Provide a Stage and Soil for Valuable Digital Assets
From the analysis above, we know that blockchain is the infrastructure of the metaverse. The metaverse uses blockchain technology to build a fair economic system, thereby promoting prosperity and stability in the metaverse world. Since all economic systems require a medium for value transfer, can blockchain-native digital assets play this role to a certain extent?
We can analyze this concretely through gaming—the field that has advanced the furthest among all metaverse applications. In any metaverse-concept game, any minor contribution related to data can be traced through blockchain technology. Users earn various asset revenues or are rewarded with related native digital assets through these large and small contributions. All these assets can be exchanged with each other and converted into real returns. This forms a closed loop in the entire game world with scenes, behaviors, and trading.
Similar to the real world, in the metaverse, all value created by people, as well as all value exchange and consumption, takes place in the digital world. Social interactions, entertainment, gaming, and other activities in the real world—and the value generated by these activities—can all be conducted in the metaverse, and with the help of related technologies, they can even be conducted better.
It can be said that the establishment of the metaverse will bring abundant digital scenes and digital assets, forming a fully mature economy no less significant than the real world. Nearly every concept in the crypto market can find its place on this grand stage of the metaverse and flourish in its fertile soil, achieving value appreciation and ecosystem improvement.
For example, the NFT concept that went viral this year can provide underlying support for the generation, ownership confirmation, pricing, transfer, and traceability of digital assets within the metaverse. The non-fungible characteristics of NFTs can also further promote the mutual mapping between the physical and virtual in the metaverse, accelerating the implementation of the metaverse economic system.
Other concepts, such as DeFi and public chain projects, can ensure the stability and transparency of the metaverse world economic system through smart contracts and decentralized settlement. Although the development of the metaverse will provide enormous opportunities for the crypto market, the metaverse world will also be a massive battlefield—only those digital assets that genuinely provide value to users and earn user recognition will survive and grow into towering trees.
Finally, the current development of the metaverse, and even the definition of its concept, is still in the exploratory phase of "touching an elephant blindfolded": "Those who touched its fang said it was like a radish root; those who touched its ear said it was like a winnowing basket; those who touched its head said it was like a stone…" Everyone and every industry has only seen part of it, not the whole picture, and thus their views and understanding of the metaverse vary. However, the future is already here—this historic-level opportunity stands before us, and there is no alternative but to embrace it and explore it actively.
Disclaimer
This article may contain product-related content that does not apply to your region. This article is devoted to providing general information only and does not accept responsibility for any factual errors or omissions herein. This article represents the author's personal views only and does not represent OKX's views. This article is not intended to provide any advice, including but not limited to: (i) investment advice or investment recommendations; (ii) offers or solicitations to buy, sell, or hold digital assets; or (iii) financial, accounting, legal, or tax advice. Holding digital assets (including stablecoins) involves a high degree of risk, may be subject to significant volatility, and may even become worthless. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is appropriate for you based on your financial situation. For questions about your specific circumstances, please consult your legal/tax/investment professional. The information contained in this article (including market data and statistics, where applicable) is provided for general reference purposes only. Although we have taken all reasonable precautions in preparing these data and charts, we do not accept any responsibility for any factual errors or omissions expressed herein. © 2025 OKX. This article may be reproduced or distributed in its entirety, or excerpts of 100 words or less may be used, provided that such use is non-commercial in nature. Any reproduction or distribution of the full article must prominently state: "This article is copyrighted © 2025 OKX, used by permission." Permitted excerpts must cite the article title and include attribution, e.g., "Article Title, [Author Name (if applicable)], © 2025 OKX." Some content may have been generated or assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Derivative works and other uses of this article are not permitted.
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