The Metaverse is Being Built on Solana

A lot of the metaverse air has been sucked up by Ethereum based platforms The Sandbox and Decentraland right now and for good reason. They're big, well thought out, and well funded project. The problem is, both cost over $10,000 just for a plot of land today. These may be the big-dollar projects right now, but on Solana there are some great projects worth exploring that come in at a much more reasonable price point for smaller NFT investors. 

On Solana, there's a growing list of metaverse projects with varying degrees of ambitions. SolanaVerse wants to be the Decentraland of Solana, Enviro wants to be a premium version of Cyber, and Desolates Metaverse is literally a planetary experience. What's unique on Solana is that transaction costs are so low that projects can get off the ground with a few hundred dollar investment from early users. If they work out, the payoff could be incredible. Below isn't an exhaustive list of metaverse projects on Solana, but they're the ones that have caught my eye and in some cases ones I have bought into myself and are a great way to get started in the growing Solana metaverse. 

Solana Town

I love a project that already has an alpha or beta version up and running and Solana Town has that in impressive fashion. You can see a screen shot of the experience above, but check it out for yourself at https://alpha.solanatown.com/. 

The key for any project is forward momentum and Solana Town is moving forward, working on adding avatar support for Solmees, Chicken Tribe, CyberTrolls, Cat Cartel, and others. Given the plethora of 3D character projects on Solana, I think we'll see a wide range of avatars in this game. 

There are also small peaks at advances, like the plot outline shown in the video below. 

We have gotten a few sneak peaks, but haven't seen many updates in the last few weeks and as much as I like the project that's a concern. Here are the concerns I would have entering the project now. 

• The dev team is not doxxed and haven't done a great job communicating or engaging the community.

• The devs don't even know if this will be a PC game or a web browser game yet.

• A roadmap is not yet complete.

• A token is contemplated but not launched.

• Only 1,000 of 5,000 plots of land have been minted.

• Upgraded homes are planned, but there's no timeline and it's unclear what upgrades will look like.

Like all of these project, there's a lot of promise, but not a lot built. The good news is that an alpha version is up and running and we're seeing the team working. I just wonder if they have the experience or funding to make this a 100x project from here? 

Enviro

I'm lumping Enviro in the metaverse camp, but this is really more of an artistic environment than anything else. The project puts its position in the market like this: 

There are currently three sizes of Enviro NFTs from the smallest Tier 1 that can display 4 NFTs to Tier 3, which can display 10 NFT. But there could be up to ten tiers with over 100 NFTs displayable over time. This would be built by upgrading current NFTs to higher levels (outlined in the Whitepaper). 

The features available for Enviros is impressive if they're what you're looking for. There will be photography tools, a daylight system, email integration, post-processing, video integration, and more. Here's where to find more: 

• Find the Enviro Whitepaper here

• Parametrise is a sister collection that generates $PMRS tokens for upgrading Enviros to higher levels

• Per Discord, Enviros will be rentable, allowing owners to earn passive income

I view this a little like owning a Cyber environment for displaying NFTs, but focused on the photo quality. If you're in marketing or want a great way to show off your NFT collection, this could be a great project for you at a reasonable price point compared to the RTFKT Space Pod. 

SolanaVerse

I covered the SolSand mint here, so if you want more about the SolanaVerse that's where you should start. What's worth noting here is that the SolSand mint went well and prices have moved higher, averaging 6.6 SOL in the last 24 hours at the time I'm writing. That should give the developers and investors confidence to push forward on what will certainly be a multi-million dollar build-out envisioned. 

There's a grand vision for SolanaVerse, which doesn't really culminate until late this year, as you can see below (see more about the roadmap here). 

Given how little we know and have seen about SolanaVerse, this is still a high-risk project but I mentioned above that Ethereum projects are selling for tens of thousands of dollars for a plot of land. For about $500 you can get a plot of land in the SolanaVerse, which could be a high-return project if development works out as planned. 

The Suites

The hottest mint of this past weekend wasn't SolSand, it was The Suites. Within milliseconds of the public mint Magic Eden broke and gave users an error (including me). That left thousands disappointed they couldn't mint the sports-themed metaverse project. 

The idea behind The Suites is that people can get together in the metaverse and watch games together. Right now, that looks like a bunch of avatars running around while a few small screens play streams of games, but in time that could change.

If VR or AR support are added that could be interesting and in-app support of gambling could be great. But right now the vision is literally that you will invite your friends to hang out in your metaverse Suite and watch a game. There's clearly a big market for this kind of experience based on the project's current 14 SOL price floor. You can see a demo Suite here and see if it's your cup of tea for the metaverse. 

Portals

Arguably the most advanced metaverse NFT is Portals and it's building the "go-to" meet-up experience on Solana right now. Multiple people can hang out in a space and the furniture and art can be rearranged to the owner's taste. 

I have been in a couple of Portals and they're a great experience all around. The visuals are great, navigation is easy, and from what I have seen it's relatively simple to move objects around. The entry point is expensive at 43 SOL for a small room, but this has become a standard item for NFT teams' treasuries and for good reason. 

Metaverse Desolates

Arguably the most unique metaverse project is Desolates Metaverse, a project where you literally buy a planet in the metaverse. The idea is growing on me and the team recently introduced building tools to add everything from 2D images to 3D objects. People with a little 3D experience could really go crazy in this universe. 

For now, a wallet's NFTs are automatically added, but that can be customized with simple tools available right now. In the future, the team is adding an SDK for building on top of your planet. In time, we could see games and interactive universes being built. 

This project took me some time to be a believer in, but given how quickly the team is building and how customizable the tools are, I think this could be an incredible metaverse location long-term. Just think about the Metaverse Desolates in VR and how much possibility it would open there. 

I own a single planet right now, but if prices remain under 4 SOL this is a project I could see adding to over time. I don't have the skills to build the metaverse I envision, but owning the planet to build on can't be a bad strategy for now... 

Metavillage

The final project I'll mention is Metavillage, which I covered at length here and is currently in the process of minting with its community. I have lots of questions about what this project will look like long-term, but I will say that no project I've seen has been so focused on community and lore as Metavillage. If you're into games of lore and being in a community with friends where you can take missions together, this could be an absolute home run project for you. 

I'm not in the inner circle of the Metavillage, but when this project hits the secondary market I'll be watching it closely for an opportunity to buy. 

Solana is where the metaverse is being built

Given the low price point for "land" in the metaverse on Solana, these projects have a lot of potential for buyers right now. There's a lot of risk, of course, but if you're looking for NFTs that can 100x or 1,000x you have to be looking for asymmetric opportunities where the upside is huge even though the downside is zero. 

I like the vision of each of these projects and the trajectory they're on right now. A lot of questions have to be answered like "Can the team build it?" and "Will people value the Solana metaverse as highly as ETH projects?" but in time a diverse portfolio should work out well. That's what I'm building and I'm cheering on the Solana metaverse as a whole to take over the metaverse because Mark Zuckerberg has enough money. 

TiplsyVerse? 

A project I will likely cover in an upcoming post is the TipsyVerse, which is another big vision in the metaverse. It's wild. It's wacky. It might just work. Stay tuned. 

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Disclaimer: Travis Hoium is invested in Solana Town, Enviro, SolanaVerse, and Metaverse Desolates and has not been compensated for this post. The NFT Project DOES NOT provide financial advice. All content is for informational purposes only. The NFT Project is not a registered investment, legal, or tax advisor or a broker/dealer. Trading any crypto-related asset is extremely risky and could result in significant capital losses. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH