The Fate of Sandbox and Decentraland: Can They Make a Comeback?
The Fate of Sandbox and Decentraland: Can They Make a Comeback?
The crypto market is known for its cycles, and each one brings its own themes and trends that often determine which projects receive more attention. In the 2017 bull run, initial coin offerings (ICOs) were the focus, where tokens were sold to investors before their market debut. In the latest bull run, the metaverse took center stage, with prominent projects like Sandbox and Decentraland. Today, these projects have somewhat fallen out of favor. What happened?
The Metaverse Hype
The rise of trends is a dynamic that few fully understand. Companies worldwide invest heavily in research and trend analysis to identify which themes will resonate with the market. A prime example is Facebook, which recognized the vision of the metaverse and invested over $100 billion in developing its own virtual reality platform. Mark Zuckerberg was so convinced of this idea that he renamed the company Meta.
The metaverse trend was further amplified by the NFT boom. Dominant brands and companies launched NFT campaigns and acquired virtual land in metaverse projects like Decentraland and Sandbox. Institutional inflows into this theme and mainstream acceptance of NFTs had a profound impact on the crypto space. Interestingly, NFTs like the successful CryptoPunks project have existed since 2017, although their popularity only grew in 2021.
Price Development
As the hype around Meta and NFTs grew, metaverse projects became the most lucrative investments of 2021. Decentraland’s price skyrocketed from just 5 cents in August 2020 to 5.90 USD, a 100x increase. Sandbox’s SAND token also saw a similar surge, from around 0.60 cents to nearly 9 USD.
However, the end of the bull run brought some harsh realities. It became clear that people were not yet ready to live and work in a virtual world. NFTs experienced a significant decline and have yet to recover. For non-fungible tokens, which were once worth millions, there is now neither interest nor utility.
Meta’s metaverse project suffered massive losses, forcing the company to reevaluate its strategy. The metaverse trend came to an end, and the prices of Decentraland and Sandbox corrected by 95% and 97%, respectively.
Can There Be a Comeback?
2021 was undoubtedly too early for the metaverse, but the future remains uncertain. Investors and companies will approach future investments with more caution. Looking at current trends, it appears clear that the focus has shifted to AI tokens and the tokenization of real-world assets. If the metaverse theme is to make a comeback, it may well be accompanied by renewed attention on projects like Decentraland and Sandbox.
For more Crypto and Finance content check out our Blog: https://finixyta.com/neo-the-chinese-ethereum-a-deep-dive-into-its-features-use-cases-and-future-outlook/
