Stacked Insights Newsletter, 11.01.21 Metaverse tokens on | Stacked

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 11.01.21

Metaverse tokens on the move
Is Ethereum about to send?
The best-kept secret in NFTs

Metaverse tokens on the move

By now you’ve surely heard about Facebook’s rebrand to Meta. Twitter is already full of memes covering all the most cringe moments from Zuck’s keynote, so we won’t rehash them here.

And even though the CTO of Oculus, a Meta-owned company, says Zuck has no plans to fully embrace crypto, the rebrand is indisputably good for metaverse-related crypto projects. That’s why several of them, including MANA, ENJ, and SAND, have doubled in price overnight.

This is likely just the beginning of the run on metaverse tokens. Projects like Decentraland have been around for years but there are several less well-known metaverse tokens waiting to be found.

ILV
Illuvium is an expansive RPG game on Ethereum via the scalable Immutable X sidechain. Gameplay revolves around collecting creatures called Illuvials scattered throughout Illuvium, a vast metaversal landscape.

UFO
Similar to Axie Infinity creators Mavis Labs, UFO Gaming is building a gaming metaverse filled with Play To Earn games, lands, and in-game collectible NFTs. Called the ‘Dark Metaverse’, UFO’s digital world requires UFO tokens to unlock experiences.

ATLAS
Star Atlas is an intergalactic metaverse game based in the year 2620. It’s built on Solana and uses two in-game tokens, ATLAS and POLIS, along with NFT and DeFi mechanics. The team creating Star Atlas is sophisticated and world-class, so watch this space.

Is Ethereum about to send?

Bitcoin pierced its all-time high recently, leading to the very natural speculation that Ethereum was next. Sure enough, ETH crept just above its ATH, but not with impressive conviction.

ETH has since slunk back below $4300 but appears poised to strike. Does it have the legs? In our estimate, ETH has several fundamental factors to push it higher.

The metaverse is largely built on Ethereum
Since EIP-1559, $3B in ETH has burned

On the technical side, Ethereum has completed a corrective wave 2 in an ascending channel and appears to be in the early stages of a parabolic wave 3 rise.

Here’s an easy visual to help you see it.

Is Hic et Nunc the best-kept secret in NFTs?

Most of the NFT action is happening on Ethereum by way of marketplaces like OpenSea, Foundation, and SuperRare. There’s also a bit of Solana NFT activity but the quality/quantity of work isn’t there yet.

But Hic et Nunc, an NFT marketplace on Tezos, is surging forward to challenge Ethereum. If you follow the NFT space closely, many of the best + most collected artists are now linking to Hic et Nunc profiles (sometimes called HEN or HIC). Why are they moving to Tezos?

First and foremost, Tezos transactions are so cheap they’re basically free. They also confirm quickly. But the second reason for the explosion in Tezos NFT activity is quality artwork.

Hic et Nunc has managed to attract countless artists from the worlds of fine art, resulting in an NFT platform filled with works that rival the highest-selling pieces on SuperRare. To sweeten the deal, HEN artworks are also generally priced far below what Ethereum NFTs sell for.

There’s also OBJKT, the Tezos version of OpenSea, if you want to dive deeper.