Everyrealm's CEO Janine Yorio was the featured guest on episode 24 of Coinbase's Around The Block Podcast.
While many still struggle to wrap their heads around what the metaverse actually is, Everyrealm is out there identifying investment opportunities within this nascent landscape. During this conversation, Janine defines what the metaverse is to her, and how Everyrealm approaches metaverse investing from first principles.
Here's an overview of the discussion:
What Is The Metaverse?
Before you can invest in something, you need to know what it is. When it comes to the metaverse, Janine defined it as a video-game-like environment that is social, persistent, and has an in-game economy where people can buy and sell virtual assets that possess real-world value. She also explained what the metaverse isn’t.
For example, the metaverse isn’t an alternate version of reality, any more than Facebook or Twitter are. Furthermore, because there is no fixed objective or journey the platform is built around, the metaverse is fundamentally different from a game.
It’s also essential to distinguish between the metaverse and metaverses. Janine sees the difference between these two terms mirroring the difference between the Internet and websites.
One refers to the technology's broad concepts and infrastructure, while the other refers to the specific entities that users interface with.
The opportunities the metaverse provides are what make the space truly fascinating. At the intersection of gaming, social media, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs, the metaverse may be on the verge of an explosion. Early adopters like Decentraland and The Sandbox were only the beginning.
In their conversation, Janine explains that she believes the metaverse will rapidly become the premier way to discover and be discovered. She mentioned the enormous marketing opportunities of these virtual worlds and how NFTs have demonstrated that Web3 innovations have the capacity to rapidly expand, break down barriers, and evolve in ways that even early adopters couldn’t have imagined.
What are the Investment Opportunities?
During the interview, Janine describes Everyrealm as a metaverse investment company. What does that mean?
Primarily, Everyrealm is focusing on the infrastructure of the metaverse. Following this principle, Everyrealm is currently invested in 26 different platforms, only 7 of which are now live.
In addition to backing platforms, Everyrealm has also pioneered building projects within the platforms and continues developing new initiatives to evangelize the metaverse. In addition to infrastructure, Janine also provided insights into the latest virtual real estate market that is currently unfolding.
She talked about how Everyrealm has worked with some of the biggest names in gaming to build virtual experiences within some metaverse platforms. One of the guiding principles of Everyrealm is that participating is better than speculating.
Instead of just buying up virtual land, Everyrealm has in-house developers, architects, and engineers who actively build new projects and experiences to help grow the metaverse.
When asked about the future of the metaverse, Janine predicted that the growth of the space would be much like the growth of the Internet. Overall, the industry will rapidly expand, with some platforms exploding and becoming massively popular while others remain focused on serving niche groups.
She also predicted that the gaming environments making up the metaverse would become more photorealistic, highlighting that AAA gaming studios have announced multiple projects like this that will be launching in the next 12 to 24 months.
What About the Risks?
Every investment carries some risk. One of the ways Everyrealm manages the many unknowns surrounding an emerging industry is through diversification.
Because it’s difficult to tell which platform or format will be the one to capture the public’s attention, Everyrealm forms connections with all kinds of players in the space. Janine discussed this fact, along with Everyrealm’s goal to become the central connecting point between various platforms and experiences.
One of the key requirements to succeeding in Web3 is patience. Some of the first platforms failed quite early because they began their launch process by offering some kind of governance token before building a successful platform.
Then, their audience bought the token and became impatient as they didn’t see any results from their investment. Once again, Everyrealm believes that metaverse projects should be built around participation and not just pure speculation.
How Can I Learn More?
You can find a lot more information about the metaverse and the opportunities it holds by watching the full interview here. In the end, it’s important not to trust whatever material comes to your fingertips. This industry is rife with shoddy journalism and lazy research.
That’s why Everyrealm offers Realm Academy, where you can learn from experts everything you need to know to dive into the metaverse and web3.
DISCLAIMER
THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DO NOT CONSTITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, OR OTHER ADVICE.
