Carnival of Metaverse concept stocks: If you missed the Internet, can you miss the Metaverse?

Following the large-scale limit-up of many Metaverse concept stocks on November 5, A-share Metaverse concept stocks rose again on November 9, influenced by the news that the disruptive application scenarios of the "Metaverse" concept are expected to be gradually implemented . On the same day, Zhongheng Design hit the limit-up, and stocks such as Zhongqingbao, SuperMap Software, and Tianxiaxiu rose significantly.

(Data source: Datayes)

What is the reason behind the popularity of Metaverse concept stocks? In this article, we will explore the reasons for the popularity of Metaverse concept stocks in the stock market , as well as the impact of Metaverse reality system mapping on the future under blockchain technology.

01 Capital Advancement of Metaverse

After the collective daily limit rise of Metaverse concept stocks on November 5, the topic about Metaverse on Weibo by Luo Yonghao, founder of Smartisan Technology, became a hot search, once again pushing the Metaverse concept to the forefront while also attracting a lot of doubts.

Some people believe that although the metaverse will come, based on the speed of human technological development, the successful construction of the metaverse will only be achieved after a considerable period of technological development . At this stage, the metaverse is just a "hype" by major companies.

However, a considerable number of market participants believe that the concept of the Metaverse today is just like the concept of "Internet+" 20 years ago, the concept of "e-commerce" 10 years ago, and the concept of 5G and electric vehicles 5 years ago. When everyone believed that the technology was still in the "long and difficult research and development process", the Metaverse has already come to people.

The surge in Metaverse concept stocks on November 9th indirectly reflects that more and more investors are optimistic about the Metaverse . The idea of ​​the virtual world and the real world interconnecting to form a closed-loop economic platform may become the ultimate form of digital technology application.

As Facebook changes its name to "meta" and major Internet companies such as Nvidia and Tencent are generally deploying the Metaverse in the market, the disruptive application scenarios of the "Metaverse" are expected to be gradually realized under the joint promotion of cost reduction and efficiency improvement of upstream software and hardware such as VR/AR and AI engines, and the improvement of downstream content and application richness.

On the other hand, as an important entry game to the Metaverse, the popularity of the Metaverse concept is also accelerating the valuation of the gaming sector.

Of course, although all the conditions for the realization of the Metaverse are already in place, such as brain-computer interfaces, VR, AR, 5G communications, etc., the actual realization of the Metaverse is neither as fast as Zuckerberg and many Metaverse concept stock enthusiasts think, nor as slow as the pessimists of the Metaverse concept imagine in 100 years.

The Metaverse, or more precisely, its components, will rapidly drive technology maturity under capital investment until it is put into practical use. Just like the historical turning point we have experienced in the past 30 years, the Metaverse has also demonstrated its advance in terms of capital enthusiasm.

Taking Zhongqingbao, the most aggressive A-share stock in the metaverse concept, as an example, Zhongqingbao stated in its reply to the letter of concern on October 29 that "Brewing Master" is a fully simulated social management product based on the concept of the metaverse, breaking through the barriers between virtual and reality, and with relatively high freedom and high sociality .

Regarding research and development, Zhongqingbao said that "The Wine Master plans to invest 5 to 15 million yuan in research and development."

In March 2021, Roblox was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and was called the first stock in the Metaverse. The company's product was launched in 2008 and built a multiplayer online 3D creative community, allowing users to create content at will by providing editing tools and materials.

In just a few months after Roblox went public, its valuation soared from US$4 billion to US$50 billion, an increase of more than 10 times in less than half a year.

In early September 2021, Zhongqingbao began to enter people's field of vision with the hype of the metaverse concept. At that time, Zhongqingbao's share price was about 8 yuan. As of November 9, 2021, Zhongqingbao's share price has reached about 35 yuan, and the current highest record is 37.5 yuan. In just two months, the stock price has increased by more than 400%.

Roblox and Zhongqingbao have performed amazingly in the stock market, which shows the capital advance of the Metaverse. So, what are the foundations and fields for the realization of the Metaverse?

02 The basis and fields of Metaverse application

The fundamental basis for the implementation of Metaverse applications still needs to be based on high-speed communications (5G/6G).

Through technologies such as VR, AR, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, artificial intelligence chips, edge computing, etc., we create a parallel world to the real world, a virtual world, which contains various life scenario applications (including games, payments (blockchain-related technologies, NFT, DAO, smart contracts, DeFi, etc.), education, etc.). There are various activities in this virtual world, which are similar to the activities of people in real life moved to the virtual world.

The fields that are currently widely believed to be the landing areas of the Metaverse include gaming, virtual reality equipment, and computer technology.

In addition, Microsoft announced that it will add 3D virtual images and immersive meetings to its own conference and video call software Microsoft Team. NetEase has applied to register trademarks such as "NetEase Metaverse", "Leihuo Metaverse", and "Fuxi Metaverse"...

The actions of the above-mentioned Internet giants also show that although the application areas of the Metaverse are concentrated in the fields of games, virtual reality equipment, and computer technology, its actual application areas are much broader.

Why are so many Internet giants so keen on the Metaverse that they are scrambling to enter it? This is closely related to the Internet 3.0 process behind the concept of the Metaverse.

Metaverse = Internet 3.0

Only the Internet industry knows how miserable it will be for companies that do not plan ahead before a new era arrives.

For example, Taobao, which abandoned its large-scale wholesale service platform and created small commodity stores for sales, defeated most of its competitors before the advent of the e-commerce era. However, Huicong.com, which did not have a small commodity retail layout, fell from its position as the absolute leader in China's e-commerce and found it difficult to even survive in the e-commerce era.

Another example is "51", which was still providing web social services before the advent of the mobile social platform era, but it disappeared after burning through its investment.

Based on the current common classification of Internet technology into stages and the degree of freedom of users on the Internet, the Internet can be divided into three stages.

1. Internet 1.0

Internet 1.0 is the simplest logic. Website developers edit information and publish it on web pages for users to view. Users choose websites based on their interests and passively accept the information generated by the websites. Websites retain users with high-quality content and generate revenue by placing advertisements on web pages.

In the Internet 1.0 stage, the freedom of websites was constrained by technology and they could not provide ideal content through web pages. Users had almost no freedom and could only passively accept information on web pages.

The bursting of the dot-com bubble in the fall of 2001 was a turning point for the Internet. Many people concluded that the Internet was overhyped, but in fact the bursting of the bubble and the decline in earnings of Internet companies reflected in the stock market did not mean the end of the Internet, but that Internet 1.0 no longer met people's actual needs and Internet technology needed an upgrade.

2. Internet 2.0

The dot-com bubble and the subsequent stock market recession seem to be the common features of all technological revolutions. The decline of Internet 1.0 has made newer interoperable technologies the "lifeline" of the Internet.

The sign of the Internet entering the 2.0 stage is the interaction between websites and users. Users can publish content on the website and communicate with each other through text and pictures in the discussion groups under the content . This is not a simple expansion of the website's functions, but a formation of information flow between websites and between netizens.

When the Internet first entered the 2.0 era, it would often take a minute or even longer for a message from one netizen to be seen by another person. With the development of communication technology, this time has now been shortened to milliseconds.

However, netizens still have expectations for all-round information exchange. Although Internet 2.0 technologies such as video calls and real-time communications have solved some of the problems of all-round information exchange among netizens, the Internet is still helpless in solving the problems of the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. At this time, technology will inevitably push the Internet into the 3.0 era, that is, the metaverse era of virtual reality.

3. Metaverse Era

Although the Metaverse era has not really arrived, its concept is already quite mature. In the envisioned Metaverse era, Internet users can interact with each other in all aspects, including the impact on the real world, and Internet users and the Internet are closely integrated in all aspects such as food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Simply put, it is the information interaction between the personal terminal device and the entire network world, starting from the central point.

Just like the previous two phased leaps forward in the Internet, the arrival of the metaverse era will inevitably eliminate the "giants" that now seem impossible to fall. If today's Internet giants do not have a layout in the metaverse, they will be abandoned by the times just like Huicong.com and Autumn Internet Company (dot-com) back then.

Therefore, the concept of the metaverse will inevitably be accompanied by capital investment and a significant leap in technology, and disruptive metaverse applications will also be quickly launched and implemented in the next few years.

Blockchain technology is currently widely regarded as the most forward-looking technology in the future metaverse era. Its characteristics such as immutable on-chain information, point-to-point interaction, and distributed structure perfectly fit the issue of digital property rights in the virtual world of the metaverse.

03 Blockchain Metaverse

We know that society is made up of individuals, the desert is made up of grains of sand, and the real world is made up of independent individuals (atoms). The metaverse, as a virtual world, is naturally made up of numbers.

Since it is a virtual world, it is necessary for humans to define boundaries and have rights and assets in the virtual world. Therefore, to confirm the rights and assets in these virtual worlds, it is necessary to confirm the digital rights that constitute these rights and assets.

At present, it is generally believed that blockchain is the most forward-looking technology in the field of property rights confirmation. In fact, blockchain technology has completed the "partial" creation of the metaverse, and has made great progress in mapping the financial system of the real world by virtue of its distributed structure.

The inherent financial attributes of blockchain make it naturally capable of mapping the financial system when it is integrated with the concept of the metaverse, thereby forming visual finance, presenting the issuance of currency, economic operation, and value cognition in reality in the form of games, and eventually becoming the Gamefi field we are familiar with.

The mapping of blockchain technology and visual finance perfectly presents the concept of the metaverse before us. That is to say, as much wealth as there is in reality can be mapped in the metaverse, and as many economic models as there are in reality can be mapped in the metaverse.

04 Summary

Of course, neither the blockchain metaverse nor the metaverse currently deployed by major Internet companies is a complete and perfect metaverse. The real metaverse is a combination of the two.

Most of the "digital assets" in the Metaverse must belong completely to individuals, and the economic and wealth models of the Metaverse also require a more realistic "experience" for people to recognize them.