Metaverse

The metaverse is a broad term for persistent, shared virtual worlds where people interact through avatars — and in crypto, specifically for such worlds where land, items, and currencies are blockchain tokens that users genuinely own and can trade. The crypto version argues that if virtual economies are going to matter, their property rights should not depend on one company's database.

In blockchain metaverse projects like Decentraland and The Sandbox, virtual land parcels are NFTs: an owner can build on a parcel, rent it out, or sell it on an open market, and the platform cannot confiscate it by editing a database. During the 2021–2022 boom, brands bought virtual land and some parcels sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars; activity and prices later fell sharply, making the metaverse a case study in hype cycles.

A common misconception is that the metaverse is one specific place or product; it is a loose concept spanning many separate platforms, most of which do not interoperate, and non-crypto versions (such as game worlds and VR platforms) do not involve token ownership at all. The durable idea underneath is narrower than the buzzword: using NFTs and tokens to give users portable, sellable property inside virtual environments.