Category: NFT

The convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is poised to emerge as a significant trend within the NFT ecosystem. This phenomenon is gaining momentum, mainly within the NFT art sectors, thanks to the introduction of AI algorithms transforming text into artistic creations. 

NFT art created by AI algorithms brings new meaning to nonfungible tokens based on AI technologies and the human imagination. 

The market for Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, was worth $41 billion in 2021, close to the total value of the global fine art market.

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital asset representing ownership or proof of authenticity of a specific item or piece of content, such as artwork, music, virtual real estate, etc., on a blockchain network. Once NFTs have been encoded, they cannot be altered, and their originality and legitimacy are validated through the blockchain.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed how humans operate, communicate, and engage with information. Its influence expands across various industries, permeating nearly every facet of modern life. 

The fusion of AI and NFT art paves the way for novel forms of artistic expression, challenges conventional notions of art, and redefines the relationship between artists, collectors, and technology. It brings a new level of innovation, enabling artists, creators, and enthusiasts to explore the vast possibilities of digital art and collectibles. With AI, you can enhance your artistic vision, generate unique and captivating digital assets, and unlock a world of creativity within the realm of NFTs. 

The exciting integration of AI and NFTs can push artistic boundaries, challenge perceptions, and create entirely new artistic experiences. 

So how will AI impact the NFT art ecosystem? Are we witnessing the unfolding of an innovative, technologically progressive future for the arts? What are the ethical, authorship, creativity, and authenticity challenges of AI-generated art?

Let’s delve deeper into these topics and gain a deeper understanding of the profound and multifaceted impact AI has on the NFT art ecosystem.

How NFTs Impact the Arts Industry?

NFTs have become the next great thing ever since artist Beeple sold his Everydays – The First 5000 Days artwork for a whopping $69.3 million at a Christie’s auction in 2021. The sale set a record as the highest-priced NFT sale for an artwork and marked the first time a major auction house offered a purely digital NFT-based artwork. 

Widely regarded as the catalyst for the NFT boom in 2021, the sale of Beeple’s artwork played a pivotal role in shaping the NFT market.

The record-breaking transaction represented a significant financial achievement and marked a paradigm shift in the art world. It signified a departure from conventional notions of art, ownership, and value and highlighted the growing influence of digital culture and technology.

Beeple’s triumph symbolized the emergence of a collective movement driven by a generation embracing the digital age, challenging established norms, and transforming the way art is perceived, created, and valued. It inspired a new wave of artists, collectors, and enthusiasts to  seize the opportunities offered by blockchain technology and recognize the immense potential of NFTs for reshaping the art landscape. 

Advantages of NFTs for Artists and Collectors

As NFTs continue to gain traction, the potential benefits for artists and collectors are vast. Artists can monetize digital creations, retain control, and engage with global audiences. Simultaneously, collectors can enjoy unique ownership experiences, transparent provenance, and increased accessibility to a diverse array of digital artworks.

Let’s explore some potential benefits NFTs bring to artists and collectors alike. 

1. Direct Ownership and Authenticity: NFTs enable artists to establish verifiable proof of ownership and authenticate their digital artworks on the blockchain. They provide an immutable and transparent record of ownership, reducing the risk of plagiarism and ensuring the uniqueness and authenticity of the piece.  Artwork created with an NFT can never be counterfeited or duplicated. This gives collectors confidence in the authenticity and provenance of their NFT acquisitions.
2. Enhanced Royalties and Revenue Streams: NFTs enable artists to earn royalties with each subsequent sale or transfer of their artwork. Through smart contracts embedded in NFTs, artists can automatically receive a percentage of the resale value, ensuring ongoing financial support and recognition for their work. By leveraging NFTs, artists can create new business models, such as subscription services for digital art, and create limited-edition pieces or open editions to be introduced to new collectors at a more accessible price point.
3. Democratization of Art: NFTs have the potential to democratize the art world by eliminating the need for intermediaries. Artists can set their own prices for their work without any third-party interference and directly sell their work to collectors, bypassing traditional art galleries or auction houses. This opens up new opportunities for emerging artists to gain recognition and receive fair compensation, while collectors can access a diverse range of artwork directly from the creators. It also helps artists and collectors monetize and protect their digital creations in a secure and decentralized manner.
4. Transparency: NFTs offer unparalleled transparency in the art market. Each transaction and ownership transfer is recorded on the blockchain, providing a transparent and tamper-proof history of the artwork’s journey. Moreover, it provides transparency to the pricing of artwork, enabling collectors to evaluate the actual value of a piece based on its price history. 
5. Global Reach and Accessibility: NFTs remove geographical barriers, enabling artists to connect with a global audience. The digital nature of NFTs allows artworks to be easily shared, discovered, and collected by individuals worldwide, fostering exposure and expanding the artist’s reach beyond traditional art markets. The seamless transfer of the artwork’s ownership worldwide is made possible by the blockchain, eliminating the role of galleries, auction houses, etc.

Success Stories in NFT Art Sales

Many artists and collectors have harnessed the power of blockchain technology to unlock unprecedented opportunities through NFT art sales, where creativity meets financial success. From groundbreaking sales and record-breaking auctions to life-changing profits, these success stories showcase the immense potential of NFT art. 

Let’s explore some NFT art sales success stories where artistic visionaries have turned their digital creations into tangible achievements.

The Merge

The Merge is a unique NFT artwork created by a renowned artist going by the pseudonym Pak. Instead of a single piece of work, The Merge is a collection of “masses.” The Merge was sold on Nifty Gateway for a record sum of US$91.8 million — the most expensive NFT ever sold as an artwork. 

Clock

Clock is another NFT artwork by Pak sold for $52.74 million. It showcases a muted timer that symbolically tracks the number of days Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder, has spent in confinement. The NFT artworks were available through a “pay what you want” model on the OpenSea platform. This allowed buyers to tokenize messages and contribute to creating their own unique pieces within the open-edition NFT collection. The collaboration turned out to be a remarkable success. 

Human One

Human One is Beeple’s second-most successful NFT artwork sale. It was sold at an auction hosted by Christie’s for $28.9 million. Human One is a futuristic human-like sculpture that appears to be perpetually walking across ever-changing landscapes. To bring his vision of physical-meets-digital art to life, Beeple presented the 3D movement through four video screens telling the story of the first human born in the metaverse.

CryptoPunk

CryptoPunk #5822 was sold for 8k ETH, approximately equivalent to a staggering $23.7 Million in 2022. CryptoPunks is a collection of 10,000 tokens called punks. Punks are collectible characters, and no two punks are the same, which makes each CryptoPunk an exclusive item. CryptoPunk #5822 is part of the Alien series collection and has bluish-green skin with a stylish blue bandana. Out of the expansive 10,000-piece collection, only nine aliens exist, further enhancing their exclusivity. 

AI and NFT Art: Pros and Cons Explored

The intersection of AI and the NFT art ecosystem has led to innovative applications and new possibilities.  AI-adjacent technologies have been used in multiple generative art projects allowing for the production of an infinite array of digital creations, each distinct from the others. Generative art enables artists to input specific parameters and rules into the AI system, creating original artworks based on these guidelines. AI-generative NFTs use Generative Adversarial Networks or GANs, i.e., algorithms leveraging computers and using data to train models to produce machine-made images resembling art. As such, to create a new artwork, an artist must simply enter keywords or sentences into an AI model that will then use algorithms to analyze multiple artworks and produce unique images as a visual representation of the original text. “Edmond de Belamy” is the first AI-generated artwork sold for over $430,000 at a major auction in 2018. 

AI algorithms can replicate the artistic style of renowned artists, enabling artists to recreate famous artworks with their own unique twist. By leveraging machine learning techniques, style transfer algorithms generate NFTs with the visual characteristics and essence of iconic art movements or individual artists. For example, Art Blocks is a popular generative art project where users can explore a diverse marketplace of artistic styles, purchase, and subsequently receive generative artworks derived from their preferred artistic style. 

AI algorithms also help curate NFT art collections by analyzing various factors such as historical sales data, market trends, and user preferences. This allows collectors and platforms to discover and showcase artworks that align with specific themes, genres, or investment potential.

AI & NFt Art Pros

Let’s explore the numerous advantages AI brings to the NFT art ecosystem.

1. Enhanced Creativity

AI-powered tools and algorithms provide artists with new ways to explore and expand their creativity and produce unique and diverse artworks. These algorithms can create intricate and complex designs not easily achievable through traditional artistic methods alone. These tools include Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs); Image style algorithms; Computer-aided drawing tools; Image classification systems; and Art chatbots.

2. Efficiency

AI can expedite the creation process by automating specific tasks, allowing artists to focus more on conceptualization and creativity. Artists can leverage AI tools to generate many artworks in a fraction of the time it would take using traditional techniques. By employing techniques like GANs, realistic images can be generated within seconds, whereas manually creating similar images would require extensive hours or even days of work. Additionally, image classification systems enable artists to generate multiple images in a short period. This proves particularly valuable for projects requiring various options and proposals for clients. The acceleration in the creative process enables artists to explore a wide range of ideas and experiment with different styles, techniques, and concepts without limitations.  

3. Increased Accessibility

AI can lower the barriers to entry for artists by providing accessible tools and platforms for creating NFT art. This allows artists from diverse backgrounds and skill levels to participate and contribute to the NFT art ecosystem, promoting inclusivity and democratization of the art world.

4. Personalization and Customization

AI algorithms can analyze user preferences and create personalized works tailored to individual tastes. This level of customization enhances the connection between the artist, the artwork, and the collector, offering a more personalized and engaging experience.

AI & NFt Art Cons

While AI brings several advantages to the NFT art ecosystem, it’s essential to acknowledge and address the significant challenges and concerns associated with its use. Here are some of the key considerations to explore:

1. Lack of Authenticity

AI-generated art raises questions regarding the artwork’s authorship and authenticity. Since AI-generated artworks are created based on algorithms and training models, many people question whether these works can truly be considered artists’ creations.

Also, AI tools allow people to create accurate copies of existing works of art, raising questions about the authenticity of these copies and their artistic value.

2. Ethical and Privacy Concerns

Using AI in NFT art can lead to ethical dilemmas, particularly concerning copyright infringement and intellectual property. Artists need to carefully navigate the legal aspects and ensure their AI-generated artworks don’t violate any rights or contribute to plagiarism. Other concerns relate to privacy and data security, i.e., creating or manipulating images to deceive or harm people. 

3. Devaluation of Human Craftsmanship

The proliferation of AI-generated art may diminish the perceived value of traditional artistic skills and craftsmanship. Traditional art forms often involve meticulously handcrafted techniques and personal artistic choices, which can be overshadowed by the efficiency and speed of AI-generated art. As AI tools allow people to create art more quickly and efficiently, the demand for human artists and job opportunities in the market may decrease. Plus, it can lead to a loss of the uniqueness and subjectivity of art, devaluing the need for individual expression and personal experiences in creating art. While AI can create impressive and visually appealing pieces, there is a risk of losing the unique and individual artistic expression that sets artists apart. This homogeneity can make it difficult for artists to establish a distinct artistic voice and may lead to a lack of diversity and innovation in the art ecosystem.

In conclusion, integrating AI into the NFT art ecosystem should be seen as a collaborative effort where artists and designers work together with technology to unlock new creative possibilities. 

Real-world examples demonstrate the potential of AI in generating novel artworks, aiding curation processes, and expanding artistic possibilities. However, it’s crucial to address the ethical implications and ensure a balance between the benefits of AI and the preservation of human creativity and authenticity within the NFT art ecosystem.

Case Studies: Examples of AI and NFT Art

AI-powered tools and algorithms provide artists with new ways to explore their creativity and produce unique and diverse artworks. Plus, AI can expedite the creation process by automating specific tasks, allowing artists to focus more on conceptualization and imagination.

Lastly, AI-generated art can foster inclusivity by democratizing art creation, enabling artists with varying skill levels to produce high-quality pieces. 

Most AI generators allow users to create art based on their text of choice and then mint these creations directly to the NFT marketplaces.

Here are some popular AI generators to quickly create NFT art. 

NightCafe is a popular and user-friendly AI art generator renowned for its extensive array of algorithms and options. The platform operates on a credit system, offering a generous free tier for users while providing opportunities to “earn” credits by actively engaging with the community. NightCafe enables users to create NFT art and retain complete ownership of their artworks. For those seeking physical copies of their artwork, NightCafe offers the option to purchase high-quality prints. NightCafe is easy-to-use, enabling users to simply type in their text prompt, choose their style, and create!

STARRY NIGHT ASTRONAUT- is one of the top creations generated by NightCafe. It’s the iconic photo of Buzz Aldrin in a space suit, painted in the style of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.”

StarryAI is an AI art generator enabling users to transform art into NFTs. It’s a free NFT generator with automatic image generation that uses a machine learning algorithm to process images. StarryAI provides complete ownership rights over the generated images, enabling personal and commercial use. The platform also generates images based on textual inputs, offering versatility in creative outputs.

StarryAI opens up new avenues for artistic expression, empowering users to effortlessly generate AI-generated artwork and explore NFT possibilities. 

New-age depictions of the Girl in Pearl Earring and The Mona Lisa and the reimagining of the American Gothic are unique NFT artworks created by members of the starryai way.

Fotor is another popular, user-friendly AI tool for creating NFT art in minutes. In addition to allowing users to create NFT art, anime avatars, and artistic photos, Fotor is also a comprehensive photo editor. It offers advanced features, enabling users to create layers and add personal touches with a few clicks. Fotor offers an all-in-one photo editing application incorporating traditional editing styles, an AI art generator, graphics, and a template library.

Fotor users can generate AI images from text and can also modify the art styles of their own uploaded custom images and transform any image into a multitude of art styles using creative AI. Simply upload your image and mix it in your preferred art effect style, and the platform will automatically create NFT artwork for you. From Discord PFPs to photos transformed into oil artworks, let your creativity run wild!

Other popular AI art generators include GetIMG, enabling users to generate original images at scale, modify photos, expand pictures beyond their original borders, or create custom AI models; DALL-E 2, used to create illustrations, design products, and generate new ideas for business; Deep Dream Generator enabling users to select a painting style and category to generate images and providing the text to Image software Text 2 Dream, and many others.

Conclusion

AI-generative NFTs are gaining significant traction among the art community and enthusiasts of emerging cutting-edge technologies such as AI, blockchain, and the Metaverse. Integrating AI into the NFT art ecosystem presents exciting opportunities and challenges. Real-world examples demonstrate the potential of AI in generating unique artworks, helping curation processes, and expanding artistic possibilities.

However, it’s crucial to address the ethical implications and ensure a balance between the benefits of AI and the preservation of human creativity and authenticity within the NFT art ecosystem.

To ensure the impact of AI on art is positive and ethical, AI must be viewed as a valuable addition to human creativity, serving as a complement rather than a substitute. Artists should maintain their artistic integrity and retain their personal touch, using AI as a tool to enhance their vision.

Remember the chaos that unfolded during the NFT boom of the summer of 2021? Traders like myself resorted to tracking and mimicking transactions from high-profile NFT wallets on platforms like Nansen. It was a goldmine…until it wasn’t. The marketplace soon became a cacophony of countless transactions, making it challenging to identify the most promising opportunities.

Frustration mounted, and available tools offered no respite: Discord or Telegram bots were super noisy and required intensive manual labor to discover new wallets. It was then, in the eye of the storm, that CoinStats Midas was born.

Welcome to Midas, the ultimate NFT alerting system designed for investors demanding more than just a nerdy bot!

Midas is a smart and user-friendly tool that leverages the power of big data to send you meaningful alerts – crucial signals in the bustling NFT market.

Unveiling the Power of Numbers: Statistical Backing Behind Midas

At the heart of Midas lies the power of data and statistical significance. A single wallet making a purchase may not carry much weight. Even two wallets interacting with the same NFT could be a coincidence. But three or more wallets engaging with the same NFT is statistically significant. 

This statistical threshold is what defines significance within the Midas system. Relying on this principle, Midas ensures you receive alerts based on meaningful data, separating the noise from the truly impactful events in the NFT market.

In its initial iteration, Midas successfully addressed the issue of navigating a sea of transactions and eliminating noise. But there was another hurdle to overcome: the process of manually discovering promising wallets. And so we integrated Midas with the top NFT collection holders like punk holders and other alpha groups.

The Midas Journey From Concept to Execution

Following months of rigorous testing, refining, and bug fixing, Midas started to demonstrate its true potential. 

One of the key revelations was that even famous wallets were prone to making unprofitable trades. Armed with this insight, Midas entered its next critical phase of development: We started fine-tuning its ability to filter out the noise.

We devised a method to calculate the profit and loss (PnL) of the wallets, effectively filtering out the unprofitable ones. However, the task of identifying wallets for which PnL could be accurately determined posed yet another challenge. 

The Blur airdrop event in February provided us with an opportunity to identify active wallets in the market. From a pool of 100,000 participants, we refined our database to a curated list of ~2000 profitable wallets. 

Midas users now have access to a system that meticulously monitors these wallets, delivering alerts in an easy-to-understand format. 

An alert might read, “5 notable wallets purchased 15 items at an average price of 0.05 ETH in the last 5 minutes.” 

Isn’t this refreshing amidst the typical nerdy bot alerts?

Making Informed Decisions With Midas

Midas transforms the whole experience on the NFT market, providing traders with only relevant alerts to make swift and informed decisions. 

One of its standout features is the PnL checker, which conducts automatic checks every three months to ensure the tracked wallets remain profitable. And the best part? It’s as simple as flipping a toggle. 

Just like that, you receive minting and secondary market alerts right out of the box. Say goodbye to finding new wallets to track manually and embrace quality time with loved ones, hobbies, and more, all while staying on top of promising NFT collections.

How You Can Assess Midas?

1. Open the CoinStats app
2. Go the the Alerts page
3. Click on the Midas tab
4. Turn on the NFT smart alerts toggle

On the other hand, you can get notifications on your Discord/Telegram by turning on Midas Alerts on desktop.

What’s Next for Midas?

We’re just getting started. Midas has already integrated with popular platforms like Discord and Telegram, and we’re planning on enhancing its customization options for our tech-savvy users. We’re even exploring the possibilities of applying the same logic to tokens. 

Why limit ourselves to NFTs when we can extend the reach of Midas to the broader crypto landscape?

Midas is more than just a smart alerting system—it’s a revolutionary tool that makes NFT trading more accessible, profitable, and user-friendly. It transforms the noise of the NFT market into music for your ears. 

We invite you to join the Midas Revolution, get the golden touch, and experience the future of crypto trading today.

The metaverse is the next-generation digital world that uses augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies allowing users to seamlessly interact using avatars, their digital twins. Mattew Ball has famously described the metaverse as a “massively scaledand interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds which can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an effectively unlimited number of users.”

The metaverse has skyrocketed recently, with many large companies and global conglomerates planning for their own metaverse projects following Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement of rebranding Facebook as Meta in October 2021. For example, in the first quarter of 2022, Sony and Epic Games — two industry giants best known for their PlayStation and Fortnite series, respectively invested $1 billion in the metaverse.

Blurring the distinct lines between physical and digital with the use of AR and VR technology, the metaverse has the potential to impact people in their work, leisure, and social interaction and change the way we conduct business, and develop shared experiences.

Nowadays, it appears that every business is working on a Metaverse project ranging from investing in metaverse real estate to billion-dollar valuations in gaming franchises to provide their users with a unique experience.

In this article, we’ll explore the concept of the metaverse and introduce you to the top 10 metaverse projects to help you get in early on investing in metaverse crypto and discover novel ways of playing games, socializing, learning, and staying in touch with friends to ride the wave to metaverse success!

Let’s get right to it!

What Is the Metaverse

The term “metaverse” refers to an all-encompassing digital universe in which users, in the form of avatars, can work, play, shop, create, learn, and interact with others like in the real world.

It’s simpler to think of the metaverse as a hybrid of digital and physical worlds or a combination of the best of both worlds. We might also consider it the next step in online social interactions, enabling us to engage and connect with others in a multidimensional way.

In the metaverse, you can own virtual properties, much as you’d own actual real estate, rent or sell your property to other metaverse users or exchange the property for your favorite metaverse token or non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a type of in-game currency and collectible used in play-to-earn games. You can also invest in top metaverse cryptocurrencies and exchange your metaverse crypto with other users or earn interest.

In the metaverse, cryptocurrencies serve as money representing anything within a virtual environment, from an avatar’s clothing to concert tickets and original art pieces, all of which can be created, bought, sold, and traded with digital assets. Every metaverse project has its own metaverse coins or metaverse tokens used for transactions within that particular environment.

Tech giants like Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Tencent are pushing forward metaverse projects, each with the goal of being a key shaping power in this new digital environment. Recent projections indicate that the global metaverse market is expected to grow by nearly 40% within the next eight years and will be worth more than $670 billion by 2030. According to the following report, “main drivers predicted to drive revenue growth include a rising emphasis on linking digital and physical worlds through the Internet, as well as the increasing momentum and popularity of Virtual Reality (VR),  Mixed Reality (MR), and Augmented Reality (AR).”

Sensorium Galaxy is an example of a metaverse, with a blockchain-powered virtual economy that will fairly and openly compensate users for their contributions to the virtual world—worlds or meta locations.

Top Metaverse Projects for 2023

Now, let’s look into the top 10 blockchain-based metaverse projects, including the theme, gaming mechanics, reward structure, crypto-economics, market relevance, etc., to keep an eye on if you’re planning to invest in 2023.

1. Decentraland (MANA)

Decentraland is a well-established metaverse project that enables you to buy, sell, and manage your virtual property (called LAND) worth millions of dollars.

The metaverse associated with Decentraland hosts exciting interactive opportunities for users, providing them with plenty of options and opportunities. You can shop for your favorite brands, attend events, concerts, and festivals in vibrant entertainment venues, play games, meet new people, build new business projects, and even bet in this metaverse.

Decentraland is a fantastic metaverse crypto project built on the Ethereum blockchain. It’s totally user-owned, giving individuals a lot of flexibility to create their own settings, avatars, marketplaces, digital infrastructures, and apps.

MANA is the cryptocurrency that powers this vibrant virtual world. It can be easily purchased through several leading crypto exchanges. Along with the many additional benefits described above, the platform has recently witnessed an integration of eCommerce solutions, making it a key destination for advertising and marketing. As a result, it’s reasonable to predict that Decentraland will continue to flourish and rank among the best metaverse projects in 2023.

2. The Sandbox

The Sandbox is a virtual world focused on original content development and a play-to-earn metaverse built on the Ethereum blockchain. Having been influenced by Minecraft and Roblox, the Sandbox employs a 3D voxel technique to allow players to use their creativity to create a world in whatever manner they see fit. Anyone can create, control, and commercialize their game experience with SAND, the platform’s native currency.

SAND is an ERC-20 utility token that facilitates all transactions and interactions across the Sandbox ecosystem. Users have already created over 70 million unique worlds and environments, leading to a vibrant market of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

In addition to hosting incredible content-creation experiences, the Sandbox also allows its members to create games, assets, and applications on top of their land parcels. Each LAND is a unique non-fungible token on the public Ethereum network (ERC-721). They can then sell their creations on The Sandbox Marketplace or any other marketplace that accepts The Sandbox’s NFTs.

The Sandbox has partnerships with brands such as CryptoKitties, The Walking Dead, The Smurfs, Shaun the Sheep, and Rapper Snoop Dogg, making it one of the best metaverse projects in 2023. 

3. Axie Infinity (AXS)

There’s no way you haven’t heard about Axie Infinity, the blockchain-based game that has captivated the world with Axies, its charming animal-like avatars. Axie Infinity provides amazing opportunities to players who can earn large sums of money while doing something they enjoy: gaming. In fact, many people have made Axie their full-time profession.

Axie Infinity is based on the Ethereum blockchain and powered by AXS and SLP tokens. Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) is a governance token, allowing AXS holders to vote on the game’s future development plans, such as updates and treasury balance usage. AXS has continuously been placed among the best metaverse tokens and has witnessed 200% growth in 2021.
SLP tokens, also known as Smooth Love Potion, can be won as prizes in battle or adventure modes and used to breed Axies. As the game’s popularity grew, these animals became increasingly expensive – a tendency still evident in 2022.

Axie Infinity is one of the top metaverse projects to watch this year.

4. Metahero (HERO)

Metahero (HERO) is a metaverse crypto project founded in July 2021 to establish an ultra-realistic metaverse that allows users to scan themselves and real-world objects into the metaverse. The main attraction here is the hyper-realistic and digitalized replicas of real-world things. The native utility token HERO is an ERC-20 token used to pay for scanning services and interact with the metaverse, among other things.

Metahero uses Wolf Digital World’s scanning technology to create 3D representations of humans in the digital domain. Wolf Digital World is the industry leader in 3-dimensional 16k photogrammetric scanning technology, which is used by Triple-A gaming companies and development teams such as CD Project, the company behind Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher series.

Metahero has its Everdome metaverse and its own DOME coin. It has received $9 million in its presale, proving the project’s significant community support for the concept.

5. Somnium Space (Cube)

Somnium Space is a 3D blockchain platform full of mind-boggling experiences and possibilities to engage with all aspects of the metaverse.

Somnium calls itself “an open, social, and persistent virtual reality platform,” where users can not only “live” but also engage in entertainment, communication, e-commerce, and much more.

While most metaverse projects are built on the Ethereum chain, Somnium has opted for a multi-chain strategy incorporating the Solana blockchain. This opened up new possibilities for the metaverse, allowing users to participate in activities such as building an NFT Gallery, utilizing a VR avatar to attend VR concerts while dancing with a full-body tracking kit, and developing new NFT-based worlds and experiences for others to enjoy.

CUBE, the native token of Somnium Space, is an ERC-20 token. The currency can be used to purchase virtual items, pay for metaverse goods, services, games, events, rent land, and reward players for good ‘karma.’ 

Somnium has earned the backing of crypto heavyweights like Gemini, Microsoft, and OpenSea, to name a few.

6. Gala (GALA)

Gala is a blockchain gaming platform that gives players more control over their gaming experience, allowing them to swap in-game products freely. Gala offers several blockchain-based games marketed as social games that focus on building relationships and connecting players. Town Star, Mirandus, Fortified, Spider Tank, and Echoes of Empire are the currently accessible games.

GALA is the metaverse’s native token, used throughout the platform for network governance, prizes, and node operator incentives. GALA is also used to purchase digital items, such as NFTs, via the game’s shop and player marketplace. Gala users can design and modify their avatars like in other blockchain-based games in the crypto market.

7. ApeCoin (APE)

Launched in 2022, ApeCoin, one of the most recent metaverse coins to enter the crypto realm, has literally taken the industry by storm. Soon after it was created and airdropped to BAYC NFT holders, Yuga Labs, the producer of the Bored Ape Match Club NFT collection, announced about the launching of a metaverse crypto project based on the ApeCoin token. This news increased the APE token’s value immensely, making it briefly the largest metaverse coin by market cap.

However, it has dropped by more than 83% since then and is currently the third largest metaverse coin by market cap, according to CoinStats. This metaverse coin is managed by a decentralised autonomous organisation(DAO), and anyone holding the coin can vote on pertinent governance decisions.

In terms of functionality, ApeCoin performs a multitude of functions in the Yuga Labs ecosystem. In addition to DAO participation, it grants holders access to special games, events, goods & services. As an ERC-20 token, it may also be used to make payments on the Ethereum network. The coin is already being used as NFT incentives, and BAYC holders receive free APE they can cash out right away.

8. Souls of Nature

Souls of Nature is a new NFT project and the first HD Metaverse of its kind, launching in the third quarter of 2022. It will be both a metaverse game and a complete metaverse project, with its own tradeable NFTs and an objective of helping endangered creatures and their ecosystems.

As Souls of Nature is dedicated to animal wildlife and environmental concerns, the in-game avatars for gamers in this metaverse gaming experience are animals. You’ll be reborn as an animal soul and put on a journey to help rescue the ecosystem, all while being driven by the Unreal engine in immersive HD.

Souls of Nature is committed to assisting the world and conserving Mother Nature, and the team has vowed that a portion of the funds earned by the debut collection will be donated to conserve endangered ecosystems. 

9. Otherside

The Otherside project will eventually lead to a BAYC-connected MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game). According to the creators, the game would merge mechanics from MMORPGs and Web3-enabled virtual worlds.

NFTs will be able to be transformed into playable characters. Players will be able to own land all over the planet, and more than 10,000 people will be able to play simultaneously.

Otherside will have its own metaverse and NFT collections such as Cool Cats, World of Women, CrypToadz, etc. The metaverse will be similar to an open-world game, where collectors will be able to own land and interact with various ecosystems and their distinct species.

Yuga Labs has received $450 million to extend its metaverse. On the other hand, Yuga plans to use ApeCoin as its primary currency. The Otherside is also being created in conjunction with Animoca brands, the same firm that created The Sandbox. Owners of CryptoPunk, Mutant Ape, Board Ape, and Kennel Club NFTs will be able to use their NFTs as playable characters at launch. Meebits will be available in the future.

Otherside offers around two hundred thousand virtual land plots for sale, similar to other metaverse games. In the last week of April, they sold the first Otherdeeds, the NFTs representing the Otherside land plots.

10. Star Atlas

Star Atlas is one of the world’s first AAA crypto games. It’s a next-generation metaverse built on Unreal Engine 5 graphics and features triple-A game design and enhanced emphasis on security to ensure user protection and digital safety in the metaverse.

Star Atlas is a metaverse crypto project based on a famous grand strategy game with elements like space exploration, territory conquest, political dominance, etc. The game shows the future, the year 2620, where players can conquer territory and acquire resources in an extremely futuristic scenario.

POLIS and ATLAS are the two game tokens that drive all game activities in Star Atlas. ATLAS is an in-game coin that lets users enter battles, explore different worlds, and win the ATLAS token by playing the game, similar to other blockchain-based gaming reward systems.

According to a recent joint press release, Star Atlas has partnered with cryptocurrency payments infrastructure startup MoonPay to allow gamers to swiftly buy non-fungible tokens and the game currency ATLAS with a credit card. MoonPay will be responsible for facilitating currency-to-crypto payments across the Star Atlas ecosystem.

Bottom Line

The metaverse and the entire DeFi sphere are growing at a dizzying pace, making it difficult to forecast the future of virtual worlds and the metaverse cryptocurrencies that will likely continue to rank among the top metaverse projects. 

However, despite the many unknowns in the mix, we hope this list with metaverse games and projects that have proven their potential for growth and possibility will be an excellent start for your crypto journey.

You’re welcome to visit our CoinStats blog to discover a broader perspective on decentralized finance and how it aims to empower people.

You can also read our articles such as What Is DeFi, explore our in-depth buying guides on various cryptocurrencies, such as How to Buy Mooncoin, How to Buy Gnosis,  How to Buy Cryptocurrency and learn more about wallets and exchanges, portfolio trackers, etc.

Investment Advice Disclaimer: No part of the content that CoinStats provides constitutes financial advice, legal advice, investment advice, or any other form of advice meant for your specific reliance for any purpose. Any use or reliance on our content is solely at your own risk and discretion. You should conduct your own research, review, analyze and verify our content before relying on them. 

As a web3 enthusiast, you’ve undoubtedly had your fair share of trouble navigating the space at least once. 

Whether it’s the sheer number of platforms that offer different NFT prices, or the lackluster user experience, issues in this evergrowing field are numerous. Well, the situation might just take a turn for the better with Uniswap’s new release.  

Uniswap has launched two new smart contracts to fuel platform improvements in the DeFi space. This article will help you understand Universal Router and Permit2, as well as how they could improve your DeFi experience. 

Uniswap Universal Router Smart Contract

The first in a line of improvements coming from the largest DEX is the Universal Router smart contract. Universal Router unifies token and NFT trades into a flexible, gas-optimized, secure, and extensible swap router. It aims to improve the user experience of the platform as it becomes the default swap router for all Uniswap swaps. 

Its goal is to solve two main problems: 

• Current swap routers support only one of the two tokens: ERC20 or NFTs. 
• Users have to approve every token on their first use. 

With the introduction of Universal Router, users can execute multiple token swaps on Uniswap’s platform, all in one transaction. 

An example provided by Uniswap showed that we can use a single transaction to use several different tokens, swap them on Uniswap V2 and V3 using a split route, wrap ETH into WETH, and buy an NFT on OpenSea. 

In addition, due to the Permit2 smart contract integration (which we have covered below), users don’t need to send one or more approvals in order to allow this transaction. Rather, the token approval will happen within the transaction. 

Universal Router is a non-upgradable, unowned, and open-source smart contract that has been deployed to all blockchains supported by Uniswap, including Ethereum, Optimism, Arbitrum, Polygon, and Celo. 

Uniswap Permit2 Smart Contract

The next smart contract innovation that Uniswap has introduced is called Permit2. Permit2 smart contract has been introduced as a solution to the allowance problem of EIP-20 and EIP-2612 token structures: 

1. Whenever users wanted to use an application, they needed to send an approval transaction to allow the platform to utilize their funds. As a result, users were confused and spent a lot of time and gas fees to set everything in motion. 
2. Most platforms initially introduced maximum allowance “ask,” where they requested users to approve the maximum allowance instead of the amount they wanted or needed. This feature has improved user experience, but has also been shown to be somewhat exploitable security-wise. 
3. Another step toward solving this problem came with the invention of the EIP-2612 token standard. Users could now interact with application contracts without previously approving their spendings, but rather by adding a signed permit to their transaction. 

This improvement made token approves safer; however, tokens launched before the introduction of EIP-2612 did not support this function, and many newer tokens did not adopt this standard either. 

Permit2 further expands on the token approval mechanism and enables signature-based approvals and transfers for any ERC20 token regardless of its EIP-2612 support.

Uniswap’s Permit2 smart contract aims to improve the security, user experience, and flexibility of ERC-20 token approvals with features like:

• Shared cross-app approval management 

Users can now skip the allowance process entirely by releasing tokens to a permissioned spender through a one-time signature. This means that they can approve the use of their funds cross-platform.

• Universal permits for any token

By integrating Permit2, platforms can now eliminate the token approval button and have a simpler user experience regardless of EIP-2612 token standard support.

• Time-bound token approvals 

Approvals can now be time-bound, as Permit2 introduces an expiry date to allowances. This feature removes security concerns regarding allowances that last forever. 

• Batch approvals & revokes for tokens 

Users can now set approvals on multiple tokens, execute multiple transfers, or remove the allowance for multiple tokens in one transaction.

Permit2 is a non-upgradable, unowned, and open-source smart contract that has been deployed to all blockchains supported by Uniswap, including Ethereum, Optimism, Arbitrum, Polygon, and Celo. 

While Permit2 will cover NFT token standards in the future, the current version only supports ERC20 tokens. 

Uniswap NFT Marketplace Aggregator

As a result of these improvements and further development efforts, Uniswap has launched an NFT marketplace aggregator as the first step toward building a platform that connects the NFT and ERC20 token worlds. 

Starting Nov 30th, Uniswap users can trade NFTs across major marketplaces finding more listings and better prices directly on the platform. 

The most popular DEX platform has announced that the new feature will initially feature NFT collections coming from OpenSea, X2Y2, LooksRare, Sudoswap, Larva Labs, X2Y2, Foundation, NFT20, and NFTX platforms. 

Uniswap developers stated that users can save up to 15% on gas costs compared to other NFT aggregators when using Uniswap NFT. On top of that, users are now able to swap multiple tokens and NFTs in one swap while saving on gas fees.

The technology behind this upgrade has brought several changes that will drastically improve the way you navigate Uniswap platform in the future. 

What Does This Mean for You as a Uniswap User?

The introduction of Universal Router and Permit2 have brought two major improvements to Uniswap users, namely: 

• NFT integration & perks
• Improved user experience

Uniswap NFT Integration & Perks

Uniswap’s NFT integration will greatly improve how its users navigate the platform and attract new ones. 

Thanks to its NFT aggregator, Uniswap is able to offer users NFTs at better prices without them aimlessly browsing through dozens of marketplaces. Additionally, users will find the NFTs they want for cheaper, smart contracts will be safer, and indexing faster. 

Additionally, to welcome Genie users to Uniswap, the largest DEX will airdrop close to 5 million USDC. Each eligible user will get 300 USDT or 1,000 USDC, depending on their involvement with the platform. 

Last but not least, the first 22,000 Uniswap NFT users will benefit from gas rebates that will last until Dec 14, 2022. During the promotion, each eligible wallet will receive up to 0.01 ETH rebate on their first transaction. 

Check out CoinStats Midas and stop wasting time searching for the best collection to invest in — our algorithm-based tool aggregates NFT buying activity and enables you to outsmart the market! 

Improved User Experience

The introduction of the aforementioned two new smart contracts will significantly improve the way users navigate the entire platform, not just the Uniswap NFT marketplace aggregator. 

On top of that, with these contracts being open-source, different decentralized platforms will be able to adopt them in the future. Therefore, Uniswap’s new inventions could affect the entire market. 

With an easier and safer way to allow transactions and the ability to include multiple actions into one single transaction, Uniswap has surely set the bar pretty high. 

These are rekt times for crypto. We’re inviting you to go all out with the doom and celebrate the melancholy mood with some great artwork 🧡

CoinStats is taking over Rekt WTF, a mock collection of 9997 NFTs featuring ex-crypto giants that have since fallen from grace: Do Kwon, Su Zhu, Kyle Devies, Alex Mashinsky, Michael Saylor and Sam Bankman-Fried. The NFTs show those rekt bois fighting to survive in the apocalyptic underbelly – it’s a wild ride!

True to its name, Rekt WTF got wrecked, failed to gain traction. Tough luck. But just like with the markets, there are always second chances: We stumbled upon the collection and really liked the artwork. Now CoinStats is going to enable minting of the collection with the new contract address using CoinStats Rewards. Hope this is the redemption arch you needed in your life.

If you’ve already bought one and got rekt doing so, we’ll give you a month of CoinStats Premium so you make better investment decisions. Email us and we’ll redeem it.

Quite straightforward, isn’t it? And for those who don’t yet own a rektboi, it is time to put those ⚡️Sparks to good use and tap into the crypto zeitgeist of gloom. 

The most long-awaited event for all soccer fans, FIFA World Cup, is here, and we are delighted to have you celebrate it with CoinStats. Here’s how you can score and make your team proud. 

This November 20th to December 18th, you’ll get to take part in CoinStats World Cup NFT Giveaway. Performing quests like subscribing to our insightful newsletter CoinStats Scoop, referring a friend, or following us on TikTok, you will earn ⚡Sparks and gradually climb up the leaderboard. 

20 lucky champions on top of the leaderboard will get 20 NFTs from the ASM AIFA All-Stars collection, a collection of 40,000 unique 3D football characters created by Altered State Machine.

Those quirky and endearing characters will serve as mementos from this year’s FIFA World Cup, shining from your NFT collection for years to come. You may even use them for adventures in the Metaverse in the future!

So why only watch the games if you can jump into the game yourself? All it takes to become a champion and snatch ASM AIFA NFTs is completing quests on CoinStats. So enter the competition today and get ready for the big game – We’re counting on you to make the decisive move!

Halloween is right around the corner! It’s a spooky season traditionally known for hosting sophisticated dinner parties, trick-or-treating, costume watch parties, etc., but recently, the holiday has transitioned to the metaverse. Spooky NFTs are being released on marketplaces to showcase Halloween themes, and auctions for Halloween NFT collections are organized on OpenSea. Developers are unveiling their projects, kick-off events, and rolling out roadmap activations to bring collectors into the spirit. Classic Halloween NFT Wearable prizes await the winner, who will spook everyone out with their superior knowledge of all things Horror, Gore, and Ghoul in Decentraland.

So, let’s get in the All Hallows’ Eve spirit and celebrate this spooky season with macabre-themed art NFT projects and collections that set the mysterious atmosphere.

Ready to set a witchy scene and replenish your NFT collection with the eeriest samples?

Let’s look into the spookiest NFT collections in time for Halloween!

Halloween-Themed NFTs to Collect

Deadfellaz

Deadfellaz is a zombie-themed PFP project developed by crypto artist PsychStreetFight and his wife, Betty. The collection of 10,000 NFTs, which debuted in early August with a current floor price of 0.643 ETH, displays a swarm of trendy zombie avatars with randomly generated traits and attributes, including the mouth, eyes, head, and body grades.

Days before Halloween, the Deadfellaz project team unleashed a slew of activations and partnerships with some of the most notable NFT projects and collectors. The Deadfellaz: Infected Metaverse Halloween Event, which includes live music, panel talks, raffles, galleries, airdrops, etc., is planned to begin on October 29, with DJ Steve Aoki performing on Halloween Day.

Spookies

Spookies is a ghost-themed NFT project transferred to the OpenSea realm in July. This collection of 8,888 cute digital ghosts has been haunting its way across the Ethereum network. Spookies are all hand-drawn, each with specialized traits and levels of rarity. A spooky is your membership into a community of collectors and provides you access to member-specific benefits, drops, and giveaways.

In collaboration with the amazing artists @DefiTokensLive we produced this custom honorable Spooky as part of our Collectibles Series for @chaingovernance as a prize for winning our legendary hidden symbols challenge. pic.twitter.com/sYOOyWpKzN

— Spookies (@SpookiesNFT) October 23, 2021

Spookies may be one of the cheapest Halloween-ready collections available, with the current collection floor hovering at 0.015 ETH. But wait, there’s more. The Spookies team has continued to provide exciting incentives for collectors, most recently unveiling their Black Cat Pass and Cobweb tokens, with merch on the way.

CryptoSkulls

CryptoSkulls is a collection of PFP NFT skulls! With a total of 10,000 in their ranks, these skulls aren’t only aesthetically attractive but also provide utility as a playable token in the upcoming Gold of Skulls game.

SKULL LORDShttps://t.co/Wr346K6IpQ#cryptoskulls #cryptoart #pixelart #ethereum #NFT pic.twitter.com/eBtAM9w86J

— CryptoSkulls ☠️ (@Crypto_Skulls) August 3, 2020

CryptoSkulls, which debuted in 2019 and has a floor price of 0.025 ETH, resurfaced this year during the NFT surge. Although the project is spooky all year, the CryptoSkulls team has released a Pumpkin Lord 2021 NFT for Halloween, which they call a “spooky token for the spooky season.”

Mutant Ape Yacht Club

Although Mutant Apes isn’t planning any Halloween-themed activities and may be out of reach for many with a floor price of 3.79 ETH, the project may be the most inherently spooky on this list. With 16,555 Apes, this Bored Ape Yacht Club spinoff collection is indeed spooky enough to rep for Halloween.

Bored Ape #2376 just took a shot of an M1 serum and replicated into Mutant Ape #14752. #BAYC to #MAYC

There are now only 3581 mutants remaining!

Opensea: https://t.co/gruKRBp9py pic.twitter.com/QqF9fut8V0

— New Mutant Apes (Unofficial) (@NewMutantApes) October 28, 2021

Mutant Apes, a BAYC extension, is a collection of mutants developed straight from the Bored Ape catalog. These Mutants, minted by BAYC owners or acquired at public auction, make a terrific Halloween PFP.

DeadHeads

DeadHeads, launched in June 2021, was praised for attempting to be the first “multimedia brand that distributes verifiable ownership of its IP to its fan base via NFTs.” The collection includes 10,000 spooky yet charming 3D characters, and sales have begun to increase the anticipation of Halloween. The current floor price is 0.225 ETH.

HOLY SATANIC HELL WHAT HAVE YOU SICK MORBID DEGENS DONE. Sold Out in under 30 minutes…

The NFT underworld has spoken and its 1900 holders strong and growing 🪦

Land of the living… WE’RE COMING FOR YOU 😈#TheDeadWillRise pic.twitter.com/RhwJzoL6xu

— 🖕 DeadHeads 🪦 (@DeadHeadsNFT) June 30, 2021

According to the project’s backstory, DeadHeads are trapped in the NFT underworld, where “unwanted digital assets are burnt alive.” While the entire tale is still being told through the DeadHeads animated series, the project developers have continued to reveal roadmap activations such as burn mechanisms and their new Skull Troopers collection.

Bewitching Halloween NFTs

In the spookiest time of year, you should not only stock up on candy bars but also enrich your NFT collection with the spookiest samples, such as Bishal’s “Bewitching Halloween.”

Bishal is a well-known digital artist from India who won the MSI Creator Awards 2021 for Best Visual in the Graphic Design category. His work has been highlighted by Adobe Gen Create, Expert Photography, Piximperfect, Pixelsquid, etc.

“On Halloween Night,” from the “Bewitching Halloween” collection, includes Holy, a character that enjoys exploring the dark and frightening, so on Halloween night, she visits the creepiest spot in town. The place is overrun with tangled weeds and vines filled with prowling black cats and sparkling pumpkins. A ghostly person emerges from the foliage, addressing himself merely as “the land’s guardian.”

Creator Fund Halloween Collection

Sandbox’s Creator Fund will release some spooky Halloween-themed NFTs on the marketplace. These NFTs can be used to create an experience in The Sandbox using its Game Maker program and monetized by getting published into LANDs in the metaverse.

What Is Creator Fund

The Sandbox Creator Fund is an initiative that rewards and incentivizes artists to produce 3D ASSETs for The Sandbox platform. The Creator Fund’s successful candidates will have to develop exceptionally high-quality voxel art-based ASSETs utilizing The Sandbox’s voxel art software — VoxEdit. These voxel creations will be released as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain.

The Sandbox NFT Collection

Let’s look at the lovely NFTs that will be on sale in The Sandbox’s marketplace.

The Skeleton Coffin by BayumiMe and The Skull Man by Arcanaip

Angry Mimic by FearlessGeek and Skeleton by Obeleaks

Black Plague Doctor by Yowli and Killer Teddy by Thelostb0y

Stone Altar by Gatostao and Jack O’ Lantern Dinosaur by TomGlasses

Tools for Tracking NFT Collectors and Trades

Things move fast in the NFT space, and if you’re looking to invest in NFT collections, staying up to date with the trending NFTs, mint dates, project reveals, Twitter feeds, Discord announcements, and timed auctions is highly recommended.

Thousands of NFT sales occur daily, many of which are from brand-new collections. While certain NFTs in a collection may be worth millions of dollars due to their rarity, others may be worth nothing. If an NFT is exceptionally uncommon, it’s likely to be incredibly valuable as its scarcity raises its price.

While keeping track of all the events within the non-fungible ecosystem is a complex and sometimes nearly impossible task, some companies have built entire tool suites to help you keep up with collectors and trades.

Ninjalerts is a crypto and NFT tracking service that allows users to identify specific contract or wallet addresses and receive push notifications on their phones at the exact moment minting starts, NFT reveals happen, or whales and influencers make their next move.

DappRadar allows you to enter an ENS name or wallet address from the Ethereum, Binance, or Polygon chains and immediately see that wallet’s token, NFT balance, and net worth. It also provides DeFi and NFT financial stats for tracking individual portfolios.

Etherscan allows users totrack token and wallet transactions in real time and even mint a token directly from a smart contract instead of a minting website.

Icy.tools is a service that features excellent analytics tools, enabling users to quickly discover trending projects and track floor prices, volume, sale history, etc.

CoinStats NFT Tracking enables you to keep track of all the NFT analytics, including the latest stats for NFT collections and individual assets that have sold for the highest prices, and follow top wallets in real-time with one of a kind data-powered smart alert tool. CoinStat’s ever-evolving algorithm aggregates NFT buying activity, allowing you to discover the best NFTs to invest in.

Wrapping Up!

Excited about Halloween art NFT? Grab an enthralling Halloween NFT Collection from a marketplace such as OpenSea, Rarible, SuperRare, etc., and from all of us at CoinStats, have a spooktacular Halloween!

You’re welcome to learn more about NFTs with our guides like How to Make an NFT, How to Buy an NFT, etc.

You can also visit our CoinStats blog to learn more about wallets, cryptocurrency exchanges, portfolio trackers, tokens, etc., and explore our in-depth guides on topics such as What Is DeFi, How to Buy Cryptocurrency, etc.

Investment Advice Disclaimer: The information contained on this website is provided to you solely for informational purposes and does not constitute a recommendation by CoinStats to buy, sell, or hold any securities, financial product, or instrument mentioned in the content, nor does it constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other type of advice. Our information is based on independent research and may differ from what you see from a financial institution or service provider.

The metaverse is the next-generation digital world that uses augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies allowing users to seamlessly interact using avatars, their digital twins. Mattew Ball has famously described the metaverse as a “massively scaledand interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds which can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an effectively unlimited number of users.”

The metaverse has skyrocketed recently, with many large companies and global conglomerates planning for their own metaverse projects following Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement of rebranding Facebook as Meta in October 2021. For example, in the first quarter of 2022, Sony and Epic Games — two industry giants best known for their PlayStation and Fortnite series, respectively invested $1 billion in the metaverse.

Blurring the distinct lines between physical and digital with the use of AR and VR technology, the metaverse has the potential to impact people in their work, leisure, and social interaction and change the way we conduct business, and develop shared experiences.

Nowadays, it appears that every business is working on a Metaverse project ranging from investing in metaverse real estate to billion-dollar valuations in gaming franchises to provide their users with a unique experience.

In this article, we’ll explore the concept of the metaverse and introduce you to the top 10 metaverse projects to help you get in early on investing in metaverse crypto and discover novel ways of playing games, socializing, learning, and staying in touch with friends to ride the wave to metaverse success!

Let’s get right to it!

What Is the Metaverse

The term “metaverse” refers to an all-encompassing digital universe in which users, in the form of avatars, can work, play, shop, create, learn, and interact with others like in the real world.

It’s simpler to think of the metaverse as a hybrid of digital and physical worlds or a combination of the best of both worlds. We might also consider it the next step in online social interactions, enabling us to engage and connect with others in a multidimensional way.

In the metaverse, you can own virtual properties, much as you’d own actual real estate, rent or sell your property to other metaverse users or exchange the property for your favorite metaverse token or non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a type of in-game currency and collectible used in play-to-earn games. You can also invest in top metaverse cryptocurrencies and exchange your metaverse crypto with other users or earn interest.

In the metaverse, cryptocurrencies serve as money representing anything within a virtual environment, from an avatar’s clothing to concert tickets and original art pieces, all of which can be created, bought, sold, and traded with digital assets. Every metaverse project has its own metaverse coins or metaverse tokens used for transactions within that particular environment.

Tech giants like Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Tencent are pushing forward metaverse projects, each with the goal of being a key shaping power in this new digital environment. Recent projections indicate that the global metaverse market is expected to grow by nearly 40% within the next eight years and will be worth more than $670 billion by 2030. According to the following report, “main drivers predicted to drive revenue growth include a rising emphasis on linking digital and physical worlds through the Internet, as well as the increasing momentum and popularity of Virtual Reality (VR),  Mixed Reality (MR), and Augmented Reality (AR).”

Sensorium Galaxy is an example of a metaverse, with a blockchain-powered virtual economy that will fairly and openly compensate users for their contributions to the virtual world—worlds or meta locations.

Top Metaverse Projects for 2022

Now, let’s look into the top 10 blockchain-based metaverse projects, including the theme, gaming mechanics, reward structure, crypto-economics, market relevance, etc., to keep an eye on if you’re planning to invest in 2022.

1. Decentraland (MANA)

Decentraland is a well-established metaverse project that enables you to buy, sell, and manage your virtual property (called LAND) worth millions of dollars.

The metaverse associated with Decentraland hosts exciting interactive opportunities for users, providing them with plenty of options and opportunities. You can shop for your favorite brands, attend events, concerts, and festivals in vibrant entertainment venues, play games, meet new people, build new business projects, and even bet in this metaverse.

Decentraland is a fantastic metaverse crypto project built on the Ethereum blockchain. It’s totally user-owned, giving individuals a lot of flexibility to create their own settings, avatars, marketplaces, digital infrastructures, and apps.

MANA is the cryptocurrency that powers this vibrant virtual world. It can be easily purchased through several leading crypto exchanges. Along with the many additional benefits described above, the platform has recently witnessed an integration of eCommerce solutions, making it a key destination for advertising and marketing. As a result, it’s reasonable to predict that Decentraland will continue to flourish and rank among the best metaverse projects in 2022.

2. The Sandbox

The Sandbox is a virtual world focused on original content development and a play-to-earn metaverse built on the Ethereum blockchain. Having been influenced by Minecraft and Roblox, the Sandbox employs a 3D voxel technique to allow players to use their creativity to create a world in whatever manner they see fit. Anyone can create, control, and commercialize their game experience with SAND, the platform’s native currency.

SAND is an ERC-20 utility token that facilitates all transactions and interactions across the Sandbox ecosystem. Users have already created over 70 million unique worlds and environments, leading to a vibrant market of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

In addition to hosting incredible content-creation experiences, the Sandbox also allows its members to create games, assets, and applications on top of their land parcels. Each LAND is a unique non-fungible token on the public Ethereum network (ERC-721). They can then sell their creations on The Sandbox Marketplace or any other marketplace that accepts The Sandbox’s NFTs.

The Sandbox has partnerships with brands such as CryptoKitties, The Walking Dead, The Smurfs, Shaun the Sheep, and Rapper Snoop Dogg, making it one of the best metaverse projects in 2022. 

3. Axie Infinity (AXS)

There’s no way you haven’t heard about Axie Infinity, the blockchain-based game that has captivated the world with Axies, its charming animal-like avatars. Axie Infinity provides amazing opportunities to players who can earn large sums of money while doing something they enjoy: gaming. In fact, many people have made Axie their full-time profession.

Axie Infinity is based on the Ethereum blockchain and powered by AXS and SLP tokens. Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) is a governance token, allowing AXS holders to vote on the game’s future development plans, such as updates and treasury balance usage. AXS has continuously been placed among the best metaverse tokens and has witnessed 200% growth in 2021.
SLP tokens, also known as Smooth Love Potion, can be won as prizes in battle or adventure modes and used to breed Axies. As the game’s popularity grew, these animals became increasingly expensive – a tendency still evident in 2022.

Axie Infinity is one of the top metaverse projects to watch this year.

4. Metahero (HERO)

Metahero (HERO) is a metaverse crypto project founded in July 2021 to establish an ultra-realistic metaverse that allows users to scan themselves and real-world objects into the metaverse. The main attraction here is the hyper-realistic and digitalized replicas of real-world things. The native utility token HERO is an ERC-20 token used to pay for scanning services and interact with the metaverse, among other things.

Metahero uses Wolf Digital World’s scanning technology to create 3D representations of humans in the digital domain. Wolf Digital World is the industry leader in 3-dimensional 16k photogrammetric scanning technology, which is used by Triple-A gaming companies and development teams such as CD Project, the company behind Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher series.

Metahero has its Everdome metaverse and its own DOME coin. It has received $9 million in its presale, proving the project’s significant community support for the concept.

5. Somnium Space (Cube)

Somnium Space is a 3D blockchain platform full of mind-boggling experiences and possibilities to engage with all aspects of the metaverse.

Somnium calls itself “an open, social, and persistent virtual reality platform,” where users can not only “live” but also engage in entertainment, communication, e-commerce, and much more.

While most metaverse projects are built on the Ethereum chain, Somnium has opted for a multi-chain strategy incorporating the Solana blockchain. This opened up new possibilities for the metaverse, allowing users to participate in activities such as building an NFT Gallery, utilizing a VR avatar to attend VR concerts while dancing with a full-body tracking kit, and developing new NFT-based worlds and experiences for others to enjoy.

CUBE, the native token of Somnium Space, is an ERC-20 token. The currency can be used to purchase virtual items, pay for metaverse goods, services, games, events, rent land, and reward players for good ‘karma.’ 

Somnium has earned the backing of crypto heavyweights like Gemini, Microsoft, and OpenSea, to name a few.

6. Gala (GALA)

Gala is a blockchain gaming platform that gives players more control over their gaming experience, allowing them to swap in-game products freely. Gala offers several blockchain-based games marketed as social games that focus on building relationships and connecting players. Town Star, Mirandus, Fortified, Spider Tank, and Echoes of Empire are the currently accessible games.

GALA is the metaverse’s native token, used throughout the platform for network governance, prizes, and node operator incentives. GALA is also used to purchase digital items, such as NFTs, via the game’s shop and player marketplace. Gala users can design and modify their avatars like in other blockchain-based games in the crypto market.

7. ApeCoin (APE)

Launched in 2022, ApeCoin, one of the most recent metaverse coins to enter the crypto realm, has literally taken the industry by storm. Soon after it was created and airdropped to BAYC NFT holders, Yuga Labs, the producer of the Bored Ape Match Club NFT collection, announced about the launching of a metaverse crypto project based on the ApeCoin token. This news increased the APE token’s value immensely, making it briefly the largest metaverse coin by market cap.

However, it has dropped by more than 83% since then and is currently the third largest metaverse coin by market cap, according to CoinStats. This metaverse coin is managed by a decentralised autonomous organisation(DAO), and anyone holding the coin can vote on pertinent governance decisions.

In terms of functionality, ApeCoin performs a multitude of functions in the Yuga Labs ecosystem. In addition to DAO participation, it grants holders access to special games, events, goods & services. As an ERC-20 token, it may also be used to make payments on the Ethereum network. The coin is already being used as NFT incentives, and BAYC holders receive free APE they can cash out right away.

8. Souls of Nature

Souls of Nature is a new NFT project and the first HD Metaverse of its kind, launching in the third quarter of 2022. It will be both a metaverse game and a complete metaverse project, with its own tradeable NFTs and an objective of helping endangered creatures and their ecosystems.

As Souls of Nature is dedicated to animal wildlife and environmental concerns, the in-game avatars for gamers in this metaverse gaming experience are animals. You’ll be reborn as an animal soul and put on a journey to help rescue the ecosystem, all while being driven by the Unreal engine in immersive HD.

Souls of Nature is committed to assisting the world and conserving Mother Nature, and the team has vowed that a portion of the funds earned by the debut collection will be donated to conserve endangered ecosystems. 

9. Otherside

The Otherside project will eventually lead to a BAYC-connected MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game). According to the creators, the game would merge mechanics from MMORPGs and Web3-enabled virtual worlds.

NFTs will be able to be transformed into playable characters. Players will be able to own land all over the planet, and more than 10,000 people will be able to play simultaneously.

Otherside will have its own metaverse and NFT collections such as Cool Cats, World of Women, CrypToadz, etc. The metaverse will be similar to an open-world game, where collectors will be able to own land and interact with various ecosystems and their distinct species.

Yuga Labs has received $450 million to extend its metaverse. On the other hand, Yuga plans to use ApeCoin as its primary currency. The Otherside is also being created in conjunction with Animoca brands, the same firm that created The Sandbox. Owners of CryptoPunk, Mutant Ape, Board Ape, and Kennel Club NFTs will be able to use their NFTs as playable characters at launch. Meebits will be available in the future.

Otherside offers around two hundred thousand virtual land plots for sale, similar to other metaverse games. In the last week of April, they sold the first Otherdeeds, the NFTs representing the Otherside land plots.

10. Star Atlas

Star Atlas is one of the world’s first AAA crypto games. It’s a next-generation metaverse built on Unreal Engine 5 graphics and features triple-A game design and enhanced emphasis on security to ensure user protection and digital safety in the metaverse.

Star Atlas is a metaverse crypto project based on a famous grand strategy game with elements like space exploration, territory conquest, political dominance, etc. The game shows the future, the year 2620, where players can conquer territory and acquire resources in an extremely futuristic scenario.

POLIS and ATLAS are the two game tokens that drive all game activities in Star Atlas. ATLAS is an in-game coin that lets users enter battles, explore different worlds, and win the ATLAS token by playing the game, similar to other blockchain-based gaming reward systems.

According to a recent joint press release, Star Atlas has partnered with cryptocurrency payments infrastructure startup MoonPay to allow gamers to swiftly buy non-fungible tokens and the game currency ATLAS with a credit card. MoonPay will be responsible for facilitating currency-to-crypto payments across the Star Atlas ecosystem.

Bottom Line

The metaverse and the entire DeFi sphere are growing at a dizzying pace, making it difficult to forecast the future of virtual worlds and the metaverse cryptocurrencies that will likely continue to rank among the top metaverse projects. 

However, despite the many unknowns in the mix, we hope this list with metaverse games and projects that have proven their potential for growth and possibility will be an excellent start for your crypto journey.

You’re welcome to visit our CoinStats blog to discover a broader perspective on decentralized finance and how it aims to empower people.

You can also read our articles such as What Is DeFi, explore our in-depth buying guides on various cryptocurrencies, such as How to Buy Mooncoin, How to Buy Gnosis,  How to Buy Cryptocurrency and learn more about wallets and exchanges, portfolio trackers, etc.

Investment Advice Disclaimer: No part of the content that CoinStats provides constitutes financial advice, legal advice, investment advice, or any other form of advice meant for your specific reliance for any purpose. Any use or reliance on our content is solely at your own risk and discretion. You should conduct your own research, review, analyze and verify our content before relying on them. 

NFT gaming comprises digital items inside video games, such as collectibles, weapons, characters, skins, treasure boxes, poison, cosmetics, etc., that are real-world assets in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Moreover, rewards given to players for completing specific challenges can also come in the form of NFTs.

NFTs are non-fungible tokens and digital assets you can only buy and sell on their own value, like art. Each NFT is unique and can’t be duplicated. NFTs are stored on the blockchain, a public and decentralized ledger, which ensures the asset is one-of-a-kind and makes it difficult to alter or counterfeit.

What differentiates NFT games is that publishers can’t make changes to the games, such as removing features from games, etc., in contrast to centralized publishers. The reason why Vitalik Buterin started Ethereum was that his warlock got nerfed. Here’s what he wrote: “I happily played World of Warcraft during 2007-2010. But one day, Blizzard removed the damage component from my beloved warlock’s Siphon Life spell. I cried myself to sleep, and on that day, I realized what horrors centralized services can bring. I soon decided to quit.”

Another vital difference is that in-game NFT items can exist even after the game itself stops existing and retain their value. Users can take a rare item off NFT gaming platforms to sell elsewhere or convert them into cryptocurrencies like Ether.

Blockchain gaming has also introduced the “play-to-earn” model as part of GameFi, game finance, allowing you to earn money in the decentralized world by simply playing games.

The market for Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, was worth $41 billion in 2021, an amount close to the total value of the entire global fine art market. People spend millions of dollars on NFT collectibles, from art and music to sports trading cards, digital houses, in-game items, sneakers, and toilet paper.

With the NFT frenzy still at its high, it’s natural if you’re eager to benefit from the NFT mania while relaxing and having fun.
This article will tell you all about play-to-earn Web3 games and the GameFi sector and introduce you to the most popular NFT games to play in 2022, enabling you to stake, lend, borrow, and trade native chain tokens and in-game assets in the form of NFTs. 

So, without further ado, let’s get right to it.

What Are NFT Games

NFT games are a unique form of crypto games allowing players to earn NFTs or cryptocurrency rewarded for achieving a certain level or completing specific challenges in the game. Using NFTs in their mechanism, rules, and player interactions, such as characters, avatars, and in-game items, allows game developers to create rare digital assets. Players can trade these in-game assets for cryptocurrency on a marketplace, and their value depends on their scarcity and significant role in the game.

NFT games bridge the real and virtual worlds. In addition to playing, they allow fans to follow esports stars and get closer to the people and teams behind the games. Gamers can also purchase a game’s NFT to access exclusive in-game events, get the real rare caps as a wearable, etc.

NFT games are still a new trend; however, they have the potential to revolutionize the gaming world.

How Do NFT Games Work

Crypto games are just video games that run on the blockchain network and have a complete or partial distributed ledger architecture. This allows players to have verifiable ownership over the in-game items they either win while playing or buy with real money.

NFT game is a type of crypto game where the focus isn’t simply on using the in-game currency tokens for transactions with other players, but the tokens are used either to create or collect NFTs. In an NFT game, players compete with each other or simply play to earn rewards. They have control over in-game assets such as the player’s skin, armor, weapons, digital land, etc. These assets come in the form of NFTs, the ownership data of which is recorded over the blockchain providing owners and gamers with indistinguishable and tamper-proof ownership. NFTs also give the items in the games a sense of rarity and originality over time.

Game developers create NFT games through smart contracts that specify the rules for how the NFTs are used. NFTs can be used in a game’s mechanics and interactions and can be auctioned before the game launch to grant some people early access or raise money to fund the game’s development.

To play NFT games, you must connect your crypto wallet, buy in-game characters and start playing, participating in conquests, etc., using your characters. Most NFT games also have collectibles that can be won, bought, and sold to earn crypto.

NFT Games’ Benefits

Here are some of the benefits NFT games bring to players:

• Complete control over assets. NFT games give players complete control and ownership over their assets by allowing them to sell NFTs to earn cryptocurrencies and even earn a percentage from future resales. Physical ownership gives more incentives to play a blockchain-based game and can be a regular source of income. This makes crypto games different from the traditional gaming world, controlled by a centralized authority/ game developers. The shift of control from the game’s publisher to the players resulted from introducing blockchain technology and decentralization into the gaming world.
• Interoperability. Your NFT collectible, items bought and earned on an NFT blockchain, can be used across most games. The NFT is held on a blockchain, making its data and ownership trackable and the NFTs easily transferrable across games sharing the same blockchain. This makes NFT games different from classical ones, where the coins/money users won while playing these games had no value in real life. Instead, crypto gaming rewards its users with in-game currency, which can be used for making in-game purchases, trading, or simply converting them to fiat currencies and withdrawing them. This is the basic premise on which most crypto games function and is also one of the reasons why crypto gaming has risen to more than USD 12 billion in market cap.
• Transparency. NFTs create fair and transparent rules, and blockchain keeps digital transactions transparent and demonstrates the rarity of NFTs, which increases their value. Gamers are excited about collecting game items and rare NFTs representing retro game art, music, etc.

What Are Play-To-Earn Games

Play-to-earn NFT games allow gamers to earn NFTs or cryptocurrencies depending on how long they play and whenever they complete in-game challenges and tasks. With the play-to-earn Web3 games, a new term was created, GameFi, a combination of the words “game” and “finance.”

GameFi, i.e., a fusion of decentralized finance and gaming, was created due to the collaborative efforts of gamers and blockchain enthusiasts. It is characterized by play-to-earn models and includes various options previously limited to the financial sector. Play-to-earn NFT games offer monetary incentives to players. The incentives include NFTs, in-game tokens, and cryptocurrency players receive for playing games and advancing through their levels. These NFTs have measurable value outside the gaming ecosystem and can then be converted into popular currencies such as Ethereum or Bitcoin, which can then be swapped for fiat currency. They can also be used on DeFi platforms for yield farming, liquidity mining, staking, and as collaterals.

GameFi applications based on the play-to-earn model are powered by innovative technologies such as blockchain technology and smart contracts.

How to Earn Money Playing NFT Games

To earn money in a play-to-earn game, gamers should:

• Create or breed new characters in the games.
• Mint new items.
• Stake tokens in staking pools.
• Trade NFTs.
• Participate in special events and tournaments to earn unique rewards.

Most NFT games with a play-to-earn model require a significant initial investment to start playing, such as investing in the game tokens or buying in-game NFTs like characters, land plots, spell books, etc. However, some NFT games are entirely free-to-play. Free NFT games include Gods Unchained, Chainmonsters, The SandBox, etc. Note that many games claiming to be free-to-play require players to spend a certain amount of money on leveling up their ranks.

Some popular NFT games provide various scholarship programs and profit-sharing plans to offer a more accessible start for play-to-earn projects. Most programs allow players with more resources and assets to distribute and rent them out to starters in return for profit sharing later when the player makes money through these play-to-earn crypto games.

Best NFT Games In 2022

Now that you know everything about NFT games and how blockchain games work let’s proceed to our detailed list of the best NFT games in 2022 to help you get started and earn rewards. These games have successfully integrated NFTs with popular game themes, enabling gamers to play some of their favorite game genres and earn money while having fun.

Axie Infinity

Axie Infinity is one of the top games to play on the Ethereum blockchain and the best NFT game for Pokemon fans. In Axie Infinity, players can breed and collect NFT-based digital pets (digital assets) called Axies and battle them against other players to earn crypto. Axies can be traded on any Ethereum-based NFT marketplace, with prices depending upon each Axie’s strengths, different traits, and rarity in the game.

You must buy 3 Axies upfront and battle your Axies against other players to be rewarded Smooth Love Potion (SLP) tokens, the in-game currency, and an ERC-20 token. You can not only earn Smooth Love Potion tokens as in-game rewards but also buy them on almost all major cryptocurrency exchanges. Players can win SLP tokens and sell Axies to monetize their gaming efforts.

Axie Infinity has another governance token, Axie Infinity Shard (AXS), used in the game’s staking services.

However, it’s important to note that the SLP game token lost 99% of its highest value in 2022, making it a volatile period for investing in Axie.

Also See: How to Buy Axie Infinity (AXS)

The Sandbox Game

The Sandbox game was originally launched as a mobile game in 2012, but it was acquired by Animoca Brands in 2021 and relaunched as a metaverse NFT game. The gameplay of this play-to-earn NFT game is similar to Minecraft, with added play-to-earn features allowing players to create, distribute, trade, and monetize digital assets using NFT technology in the Sandbox. You can monetize items such as land as an NFT and trade it for the in-game currency SAND, an ERC-20 token, and the native token of the metaverse. Sandbox also has the ERC-20 token LAND, which is an NFT token.

Sandbox is a voxel-based gaming metaverse where users can create and monetize voxel assets and develop and play customized games. It’s one of the most successful NFT games and a pioneer in the metaverse NFT gaming niche attracting big companies such as Atari and Square Enix. A plot of land in Sandbox was sold for as high as USD 4.3 million, as Sandbox became the go-to place for buying metaverse real estate for big companies and players. The game has its own marketplace where players can trade their digital assets for SAND and earn money.

Gods Unchained

Gods Unchained is a free-to-play NFT game. It’s a trading card game with NFTs where players can accumulate more cards by purchasing from other players or winning player-vs-player (PvP) matches. Gamers earn in-game items through the PVP gameplay and by battling with players. The winner in PvP battles is determined by the player’s gaming skills, strategy, and strength of the cards. You can participate in various game modes and win rewards or experience points for defeating your opponent when their life drops to zero before yours. As the experience bar grows, your ratings also go up, and with an increase in rating and leveling up, new cards are added to your collection. With every wins, a player who collected Flux can create unique digital collectibles and NFT cards that can be traded on the marketplace. The cards in Gods Unchained are ERC-721 tokens, i.e., NFTs that can be traded in the game’s marketplace or other marketplaces. Gods Unchained also has its native token GODS used as a payment method at the in-game marketplace.

If you’re in the market for free play to earn games, look no further than Gods Unchained, the best free play to earn crypto.

Splinterlands

Splinterlands is one of the most popular free-to-play NFT games. It’s a trading card game like Gods Unchained, allowing you to earn rewards for winning card matches against other players. To start playing Splinterlands, you must purchase a starter pack of cards, register a Steem account, and unveil the cards you’ve purchased on Splinterlands. Some players can also find rare cards in their first set.

Splinterlands cards are NFT cards that can be traded, used to battle with other players, or participate in quests. What separates Splinterlands from other trading card games is that the battles only last a few minutes, and the gameplay is a mixture of auto-battle and deck building. These attributes make Splinterlands a popular collectible card game with play-to-earn mechanics at its core. Splinterlands NFT game has its own in-game currency, Splintershards (SPS), listed on several exchanges. It uses the HIVE blockchain in contrast to many other games that use Ethereum.

Thetan Arena

Thetan Arena is another popular and innovative blockchain game based on the well-known multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) format. It has taken inspiration from popular games such as Dota 2, League of Legends, etc., and added play-to-earn game features. Players can team up and battle with other players to earn rewards for their skills. Thetan Arena aims to become one of the first mass play-to-earn games and has various game modes such as Battle Royale, Tower Seige, Superstar, etc. It offers staking, guilds, in-game pets, streaming, etc.

Upon completion of battles, players are rewarded with various NFTs depending on skills, results of the battles, and the skins of their characters. To play the Thetan Arena earn crypto game, you must make some initial purchases; however, the game is also available in a free-to-play mode. Thetan Arena has two tokens, Thetan Coins (THC) and Thetan Gem (THG). Players earn THC while playing the game, whereas THG tokens are the protocol’s governance tokens used to upgrade the game’s characters.

Sorare – Fantasy Football

Sorare is a fantasy football NFT game developed in 2018 by Nicolas Julia and Adrien Montfort as a trading card game on the Ethereum blockchain. More than 230 football clubs from the world’s best football leagues are officially licensed with the game, including Real Madrid, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, etc.

In Sorare, the players are supposed to collect digital collectibles that are tradeable with other online soccer players or buy trading cards to compete in weekly competitions. By participating in these competitions, they stand a chance to unlock and win rare cards or win ETH. Sorare is a free-to-play NFT game that gives a new player a deck of random cards upon completing several onboarding tasks. However, to progress in the leagues and win prizes, a player must buy rare cards in the game’s marketplace for some ETH. The Sorare cards are divided into four types – Commons, Rare, Super-Rare, and Unique.

The gameplay works like most fantasy football games wherein a player has to pick a 5-member team and a captain from their deck of cards and enter the team into weekly competitions. If the selected players perform well in real-life football matches, your team will get points accordingly. Players earn rewards based on the goals they score, the overall winning rate, and the completed quests. The cards in a player’s deck are NFTs represented by a unique token on the Ethereum blockchain and can be traded on NFT marketplaces. Sorare brings one of the most popular online gaming, i.e., fantasy football, into the virtual world and makes it a play-to-earn game.

Alien Worlds

Alien Worlds is an NFT DeFi Metaverse designed to induce economic cooperation between players, enabling them to explore different planets. It does so by incentivizing players with the Trilium (TLM) token. Alien Worlds’ players must buy mining tools in the form of NFTs to start their journey, as the game is about mining on different planets. Players can also engage in battles with other players or complete in-game tasks or quests to earn TLM. The in-game items purchased as NFTs can be exchanged for TLM tokens in its marketplace. The game consists of sic Planet DAOs, and players can participate in the governance of those DAOs by electing their councilors. TLM tokens are available across most cryptocurrency exchanges. Alien Worlds is one of the best NFT games available in the market.

Star Atlas

Star Atlas is one of the top NFT games in terms of innovation. It’s built on the Solana blockchain and has ATLAS and POLIS native cryptocurrencies. The game is based in the galactic universe of 2620, and players have to explore the metaverse, build cities, participate in quests, adventures, own land, trade, etc. Players can also experience the game in virtual reality (VR), making it an immersive experience.

Since the game is built on the Solana blockchain, players must have a crypto wallet that supports Solana to start playing the game. Almost all in-game items are NFTs and can be sold in the game’s marketplace or other marketplaces supporting Solana NFTs. The game was released only in October 2021 but made it to the best NFT play-to-earn games within a year.

Illuvium

Illuvium is one of the best NFT games built on the Ethereum blockchain. It’s an open-world role-playing adventure game similar to Pokemon. The idea is to have players collect rare monsters called Illuvials. They must capture and train these Illuvials to battle with the Illuvials of other players. Illuvium players must build a team of Illuvials powerful enough to beat the Illuvials of other players to earn rewards.

Illuvium combines the best of the two game modes, namely free-to-play and paid gaming. Players must buy in-game digital assets such as land and Illuvials in the form of NFTs that can be traded freely with Illuvium’s Immutable X’s L2 solution, providing zero-cost NFT transfers to users. The Illuvials are divided into four types with various strengths and weaknesses, including Fighter, Rogue, Psion, and Empath. Players can combine two or more kinds of Illuvials to create a much more powerful Illuvial. These features, combined with the expansive 3D gameplay, make Illuvium one of the top four play-to-earn games in terms of market capitalization, coming after Axie Infinity, The Sandbox, and My Neighbor Alice.

My Neighbor Alice

My Neighbor Alice is inspired by popular conventional games like Animal Crossing. The basic premise of this top NFT game is to buy land to set up your own farm. Players have their own virtual avatars and can add various in-game assets to their farms, such as animals, vegetation, etc., to enhance the value of their farms. The items are available as NFTs and have become very rare and famous in a short period.

Players must complete daily tasks for which they are rewarded with the game’s native token, ALICE, used for making in-game purchases. They can also sell their own creations in the marketplace.

My Neighbor Alice’s highly interactive and immersive gameplay and the effective incorporation of the play-to-earn model make it one of the top NFT games in the market.

Sidus Heroes

Sidus Heroes is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) where players must navigate and conquer various planets in the SIDUS metaverse and battle with other players. They can discover colonized or uncolonized planets and own them as NFTs using the game’s secondary token SENATE. The land can then be used to mine for resources, earn passive income, and for infrastructure development. The SIDUS token is the game’s main token, used to reward players for completing tasks or winning battles.

The game also has other NFTs, such as the players’ gear, materials, monsters, etc., which can be traded with other players in the marketplaces. The game is developed on the Ethereum blockchain and leverages L2 solutions to keep the transaction costs low. Sidus Heroes has two different game modes, Player vs. Environment and Player vs. Players, and offers a wide range of features typical for NFT games or play-to-earn games.

Battle Racers

Battle Racers takes inspiration from the world’s most popular racing games, Mario Kart and F-Zero. Players are free to design their own cars in whatever way they like and then race them on arcade-sized tracks with other players. The cars that have been created or those that win the races can be minted as NFTs and sold on OpenSea for real money.

The game is available on Decentraland, a blockchain-based metaverse.

The Walking Dead: Empires

The makers of the hugely popular TV series “The Walking Dead” have taken the show’s concept to create one of the best play-to-earn games in collaboration with Gala Games and Ember Entertainment.

The Walking Dead: Empires is a survival Massively Multiplayer Online game where players must make their way through the walking dead and gain control over resources, territory, etc., to survive. The gameplay has Player vs. Environment and Player vs. Player game modes where different players must cooperate to survive.

As part of the game’s play-to-earn mechanics, the game enables players to win rewards for playing NFT games in different ways, including constructing their bases on NFT-based LAND under their ownership. LAND owners receive rewards when players sell, fight, or kill on their plots, etc.

Cosmic Champs

Cosmic Champs is the first play-to-earn game developed on the Algorand blockchain. It uses Algorand’s speed and cost-effectiveness to develop one of the best NFT games.

Cosmic Champs players known as Champs must undertake space exploration, PvP and PvE battles, etc., to gain rewards for their in-game efforts. The game has four different types of NFTs, namely, Champs, Ships, Planets, and Treasure. The Champs NFTs participate in the game’s battles, whereas the Ships are used for exploration. Planets are the assets used as PvP battlegrounds, and their owners get a share after each battle on their planet. Treasures are various NFT-based rewards and Cosmic Gold Tokens (COSG) that can be discovered all over the Cosmic World. COSG is the game’s native token used for rewarding, staking, NFT trading, governance, etc.

Conclusion

NFT crypto games are gaining immense popularity, attracting both investors and gamers. Many NFT games are free to play, while others may have a low upfront cost, so if you like to play games, it seems reasonable to give a few NFT games a try. The NFT gaming market is still developing, so there is a massive opportunity to make money through most NFT games. Making money while doing what you love has never been so easy. NFT games allow you to earn rewards while enjoying the amazing gameplay.

However, remember that nothing in this article is a piece of financial advice, and there are inherent risks associated with the blockchain industry, cryptocurrencies, and NFT games.

You’re welcome to visit our CoinStats blog to learn “How to Make an NFT,” “How to Mint an NFT,” or “How to Buy NFT.” Since Ethereum is required to buy most NFTs, get started by checking the live “Ethereum Price.” Additionally, check out our “Crypto Portfolio Trackers” to learn the secure way to manage your crypto portfolios.