The Metaverse is not just a new buzzword. According to a report from cryptocurrency giant Grayscale, the market represents a $1 trillion annual revenue opportunity across hardware, the worlds of advertising, e-commerce, and digital events.

In recent weeks, plots of digital lands were sold for exorbitant prices. For instance, plots of land on Decentraland and Axie Infinity were sold for more than $2 million each.

The Metaverse is an online 3D virtual environment. In the virtual space, people can interact, play games, socialize and even work or trade cryptocurrencies and NFTs (Non-fungible-tokens). 

The Metaverse is "in its early innings"

Grayscale estimates that the revenue from Metaverse gaming could hit the $400 billion mark in 2025, compared to $180 billion in 2020.

This is despite the fact the Metaverse is “in its early innings’ said Grayscale. The crypto giant argued that Facebook’s $10 billion — allocated to the Meta project — is a sign of the market’s potential.

"The market opportunity for bringing the Metaverse to life may be worth over $1 trillion in annual revenue," the report said.

The report's authors, Grayscale's head of research David Grider and research analyst Matt Maximo, argued the metaverse is a huge opportunity for crypto companies.

Grayscale added that there are many opportunities for the monetization of consumers within Metaverses. This involves NFTs art galleries, digital advertising billboards, and music venues for artists to hold concerts.

In Q3, the total Web3 and NFT fundraising reached $1.8 billion, out of overall crypto fundraising of $8.2 billion, Grayscale said. It added that investment has "recently started to accelerate."

The report by Grayscale concentrated on Decentraland. The virtual world allows users to play games and earn the platform’s native crypto MANA. Additionally, players can buy NFTs such as in-game collectibles and plots of land and even vote on the governance of the economy within DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations). 

The crypto investment company recently created a Decentraland trust that invests solely in mana. The cryptocurrency is up around 550% in the last 30 days, according to Coingecko.