As you are new to cryptocurrency trading you will have already come across and invested in the likes of Bitcoin and Ether, and started to research on alternatives such as Litecoin, which is regarded as an improved version of Bitcoin.

You’ve no doubt also decided on a sound crypto investment plan, with sufficient financial reserves to deal with losses, and set up an account with a reputable secure exchange such as BigONE to manage your trading activities.

And now having reviewed all the various options you are keen to find out what the next big thing in crypto is, which is exactly what I’m here to talk about. So, without further introduction, let's take a deep dive into the world of meme coins, the metaverse, DeFi and an emerging exciting sector in gaming called play-as-you-earn, also known as GameFi.

But to start by setting the context, so you are the most equipped traders coming into this booming sector of crypto investment, let's look at the rise of meme coins, created originally as a joke about crypto which have taken a life of their own as their popularity has soared and new meme coins have emerged with real world use cases since the launch of DogeCoin in 2013.

Trading tokens in the metaverse?

It’s also not hard to see meme coins use in related sectors such as music and particularly gaming, as a cross-proprietary platform currency to enable the vision of the ‘multiverse’ or more commonly known as the metaverse.

In a recent report UK-based blockchain VC Outlier Ventures sees the need to have a crypto decentralized core, with its own payment system as key to building the metaverse.

But to take a step back and explain the metaverse a little, and why it’s worth understanding from a crypto traders’ perspective. First, a definition of metaverse. In layman's terms, a metaverse is a virtual world that exists alongside the real world. The popularity of the metaverse concept is taking serious shape in recent years, with tech titans such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and Sony joining forces to form the XR Association, which is aimed at bringing this concept of an ‘experiential reality to life.

So back to the role of crypto, or the lack of it to date, in the metaverse.

Despite the frictionless use of crypto, with low fees and decentralized P2P structures, the reality is that the commercial first movers in the metaverse space from gaming have their own proprietary currencies.

What makes DeFi so attractive to the metaverse community is that it can be automated, without any centralized intervention. It also means that DeFi has long term attractions, allowing game developers and players to invest time and money knowing the underlying blockchain platform won’t change without crypto community consensus.

Cryptocurrencies have already been successfully integrated recently into virtual worlds created by companies such as Decentraland and Sandbox. For example, users in Decentraland can purchase virtual real estate such as theme parks and monetize them using cryptocurrencies. While drinks giant Coca Cola plans to launch its own NFTs on the platform, including a ‘wearable’ jacket for avatars in the Decentraland metaverse.

NFTs

As newcomers to the world of crypto trading you may not have heard of the metaverse before, but you probably heard of NFTs and the headline grabbing rise in value of these unique digital assets.

Non-fungible tokens are referred to as NFTs. According to my understanding of economics, the term fungible relates to anything that can be exchanged for something of equal value.

Most investors know that the nonfungible token (NFT) sector has been on fire since July, and as the likes of CryptoPunks (which got even more coverage when bought recently by VISA), Mutant Ape Yacht Club and pet EtherRock NFTs fetched six- and seven-figure sums, while top NFT marketplace OpenSea surpassed $4 billion in total sales.

While the frenzy has been impressive, it’s also true that many new projects have launched across a var