Recently, someone asked me how to understand the metaverse and NFTs, and I realized that many people are actually already using a simplified version of the metaverse without realizing it. You spend 60 yuan on LINE stickers, using a bear character to wave its head and suppress elders' images in family groups, compared to players who buy land and trade digital art in virtual worlds. The fundamental difference is: you buy the right to use a game company's server, while they buy real digital assets that can be taken away. This difference is actually quite significant.

I’ve watched the movie "Ready Player One," where the protagonist wears VR glasses and races in a virtual world to earn treasures, which is essentially the concept of the metaverse. But today’s metaverse is much more complex than the movie; it’s not just a game, but a visually rich virtual space where people can work, entertain, shop, and socialize—all built on blockchain and NFTs.

Speaking of NFTs, many people are still a bit confused. Simply put, an NFT is like a "counterfeit-proof ID card" for the metaverse. It uses blockchain technology to ensure each virtual asset is unique and has clear ownership. What happens without NFTs? The game items you buy can’t be resold, and their value is stuck on the server; virtual clothes you design can only be worn by yourself, with no commercial potential; even the houses you painstakingly build can be taken down by the platform at any time, with assets wiped out. That’s why NFTs are so important to the metaverse.

I noticed that during the last bull market, projects like Decentraland and The Sandbox sparked a wave of enthusiasm. The MANA token surged 4,100% in 2021, and The Sandbox’s virtual land skyrocketed from 1,000 to 45,000, with gains exceeding Taipei real estate. At that time, capital flooded in, and the entire crypto market was driven up. But later, cryptocurrencies peaked and declined, and the floor prices of these metaverse tokens continued to hit new lows, with 50% drops becoming normal, and some small projects even being ignored.

Want to participate in the metaverse? The process isn’t complicated. First, choose an NFT trading platform; OpenSea is the most mainstream. Then set up a MetaMask wallet, which is the key tool to connect to the platform. Next, buy some Ethereum or other cryptocurrencies through mainstream exchanges and transfer them into your wallet. With funds in place, you can start browsing, place orders for NFTs you like, or join auctions to try to snag a deal. If you want to sell your NFTs, just list them on the platform or set an auction price.

However, I must say, you need to be mentally prepared when entering this field. First, the liquidity of metaverse tokens and NFTs isn’t great overall, and you might face situations where no one is willing to buy. Second, there are many scam projects—lots of hollow projects claiming to be part of the metaverse, which are essentially just hype without real substance, purely emotional trading. When market enthusiasm wanes, prices can plummet sharply. So my advice is to start with small funds, avoid unfamiliar projects, and especially stay away from ads promising guaranteed profits.

For safety, remember these three “don’ts”: don’t enter your private key on unfamiliar platforms (that’s like telling someone your bank password); don’t use the same password for all accounts; don’t trust any airdrop ads.

In the long run, I still believe in the prospects of the metaverse. Tech giants like Meta, Microsoft, and Google are investing heavily, and virtual reality and AI will become important components. More business models and industry chains will land in the future, with virtual and real worlds truly interconnected. Corresponding laws and regulations will gradually improve, lowering the entry barriers. So although the current metaverse token market has bubbles, the development trend and technological innovation directions are clear. As long as you’re not greedy and maintain trading discipline, and liquidity allows, you can still move in and out freely.