One of the biggest trends in the cryptocurrency market this year is the metaverse. The metaverse didn’t gain much attention earlier this year but burst into the scene in the second half of 2021 as investors took advantage of the change in dynamics.
SAND and MANA Rise by Thousands of Percentages
While most of the attention in the market goes to the biggest coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, they are usually outperformed by some smaller coins. SAND, the native token of The Sandbox platform, and MANA, Decentraland’s native token, are some of the best performers in 2021.
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MANA and SAND have added thousands of percentages to their values since the start of the year, and they are now amongst the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap. Their adoption didn’t kick-off at the start of the year, but they grabbed attention towards the end of 2021.
Perhaps the major catalyst behind MANA and SAND’s rally is social media giant Facebook’s rebranding to Meta, indicating that it will expand its portfolio to enter the metaverse space. The move prompted massive adoption of metaverse-focused tokens such as SAND, MANA and several others.
From the start of the year, MANA was trading below the $1 mark, briefly climbing above that threshold in May. However, the coin rallied in October following Facebook’s announcement, rising to its all-time high above $5 within a few weeks. Over the past 52 weeks, MANA’s price is up by more than 4,000%, outperforming numerous coins in the process.
In November, Tokens.com, a Canadian investment firm that focuses on decentralized finance (DeFi), purchased virtual real estate on the Decentraland platform for roughly $2.5 million. The sale was one of the biggest in the history of the metaverse space. Popular gaming hardware company GameStop also announced earlier this month that it would start accepting MANA, SAND and a few other cryptocurrencies as means of payment for its products.
SAND is not left behind in terms of adoption. The token’s price has surged by thousands of percentages since the start of the year and is now one of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap. SAND has benefited immensely from Facebook’s entry into the metaverse space, with its price up by more than 900% since the announcement.
German sports apparel manufacturer Adidas announced its partnership with The Sandbox last month as it became the latest corporate entity to venture into the metaverse space. Also, in November, The Sandbox launched its Metaverse Alpha, an open multi-week Play-to-Earn event where players would have the opportunity to explore The Sandbox Metaverse.
Another huge development that saw SAND rally towards the end of the year was the adoption by PwC. PwC Hong Kong, a subsidiary of Pricewaterhouse Coopers, announced a few days ago that it had purchased land in The Sandbox metaverse. PwC Hong Kong intends to construct a Web 3.0 advisory hub in the metaverse, which will provide numerous professional services that include accounting and taxation. Heading into 2022, SAND is trading close to the $7 mark, outperforming numerous coins over the past 12 months.
The metaverse sector is in its early days, and many experts believe that 2022 holds even higher potential for projects in this area. LinkedIn CEO and co-founder Reid Hoffman recently told CNBC that there would be massive investment and development in the metaverse space over the coming years. According to Hoffman, the metaverse space has been around for a while, stating that the internet is an early version of the metaverse.
The adoption of metaverse projects is expected to grow further in the coming year. According to analysts at investment bank Morgan Stanley, the metaverse could become an $8 trillion market if it can host the next generation of social media, streaming and gaming platforms.
SAND and MANA are two of the leading metaverse projects with a shared market cap of under $30 billion. If the metaverse market grows at the projected rate, then MANA and SAND could record further growth in the coming months and years.
MANA and SAND’s Technical Forecast for 2022
SAND’s technical indicators show that the coin is one of the best performers in the cryptocurrency market at the market. SAND is trading above its 200-day moving average of $1.76, while the MACD line is above the neutral zone. The RSI of 71 shows that SAND is currently heading into the oversold region. At press time, SAND is trading above the $6 level. Analysts at WalletInvestor predict that SAND’s price could double in 2022 and reach the $13 mark before the end of next year.
MANA’s technical indicators show that the coin is also performing well. The coin is trading above its 200-day moving average of $1.59, while the MACD line is around the neutral zone. The RSI of 52 also shows that it is in the neutral zone at the moment. At press time, MANA is trading around $3.7 per coin. The token’s price could rally by nearly 140% in 2022 as WalletInvestor analysts predict that MANA could trade around $8 by the end of next year.
The metaverse space is one of the most exciting areas in the cryptocurrency space, and more investors will be keeping an eye on it in the coming year.