Here’s your weekly Metaverse and NFT news roundup
Welcome to This Week in the Metaverse, where wealth summarizes the most interesting news in the world of NFTs, culture and the metaverse. E-mail [email protected] with tips.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, lets investors dive into the world of Metaverse investing with its new ETF.
The new iShares Future Metaverse Tech and Communications ETF, which launched this week, brings together holdings from several publicly traded companies that are “expected to invest in areas such as virtual platforms, social media, gaming, 3D software, digital assets as well as virtual and augmented reality contribute to the Metaverse,” according to the prospectus.
Some of the ETF’s top holdings, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, include Meta, Nvidia, and Apple. Microsoft stocks, in particular, have a lower weight in the ETF as the company has recently focused more on artificial intelligence.
When asked if the ETF would still find an audience during Crypto Winter, a BlackRock spokesperson referred me to a blog post by Jeff Spiegel, head of US iShares Megatrend and International ETFs. In the post, Spiegel lists several achievements related to metaverse, such as the 1982 publication Microsoft flight simulatorthe first to show color scenery, and points to Meta’s rebranding as proof that the metaverse could evolve and grow.
“All things considered, investment in the metaverse has increased year over year from $1.5 billion in 2020 to $57 billion in 2021 and $120 billion in 2022,” Spiegel wrote. “A recent report from Citigroup claims that at this rate, the addressable Metaverse market could reach $13 trillion by 2030.”
According to Bloomberg, the ETF was up almost 1% at Thursday’s close to $24.73 from its previous close of $24.49.
In other news:
A new NFT collection featuring never-before-seen photos of the late rapper Tupac Shakur launched on the NFT marketplace MakersPlace this week. The collection, 2Pacalypse92: 17 shots, includes six photos of the rapper performing at the Prince’s Glam Slam in 1992, documenting a high point in his rise to fame. Except for the photos taken by former ones Kronick Magazine Editor Lawrence “Loupy D” Dotson, each buyer will also receive an original negative.
Courtesy of Lawrence “Loupy D” Dotson
Artifacts salvaged from the titanic could soon be a part of your (NFT) collection. three companies, RMS Titanic (RMST), based in Hong Kong Venture Smart Financial Investmentsand NFT companies Artifact Laboratories has partnered to preserve 5,500 assets from the sunken ocean liner as NFTs from RMST, which has exclusive rights to salvage artifacts from the wreckage. Buyers also get access to VIP events at exhibitions, seminars with historians and privileged access to unique experiences.
Courtesy of Artifact Labs
To celebrate 30 years since the release of snow crashthe book by Neal Stephenson that first coined the word metaverseauction house Sotheby’s announced a sale of physical and digital items linked to the book. Among the items is a unique Tachi Sword inspired by the novel’s protagonist, which comes with his own unique digital replica as an NFT. It also includes Stephenson’s original manuscript for the book, which the auction house estimated would cost between $40,000 and $60,000. The auction house also sells 35mm slides that Stephenson and a collaborator used to introduce the project as a graphic novel, which come with their own NFTs.
Courtesy of Sotheby’s
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