Have you ever thought that you’ve actually been playing a "simplified version of the metaverse" all along? Every time you spend 60 yuan on LINE animated stickers, and in your family group chat, you use Kumamon to shake his head and suppress the long-press images of elders, essentially you’re doing the same thing as those buying virtual land in Decentraland or trading digital art on OpenSea. The only difference is, you’re buying a "usage right to a game company’s server," while they’re buying a "true digital asset that can be taken to any platform."

In recent years, the metaverse and NFTs have really exploded in popularity. But honestly, many people still don’t quite understand what these two concepts actually are, let alone how to participate. Today, I’ll explain these things all at once.

The term "metaverse" actually comes from the 1992 science fiction novel *Snow Crash*, describing a virtual world parallel to reality where everyone has their own online avatar. Fast forward to today, the metaverse is a visually rich virtual space where people can work, entertain, shop, and socialize. Behind all this, blockchain and NFTs are essential supports.

When it comes to NFTs, many people’s first reaction is the professional term "non-fungible token," but the core concept is quite simple. Imagine traditional digital assets like music and images, which can be copied infinitely, with every copy being identical. But NFTs are different—each one is unique, and ownership is clearly recorded via blockchain technology. More importantly, NFTs can be traded freely across multiple markets, not locked into a single platform.

That’s why a metaverse without NFTs would be very awkward. You buy in-game items that can’t be resold, so their value is stuck on the server; virtual clothes you design can only be worn by yourself, losing commercial potential; the houses you build could be taken down by the platform at any time, with assets wiped out. NFTs are like the "anti-counterfeit ID" for the metaverse, making virtual assets truly belong to you.

I’ve noticed that the relationship between the metaverse and cryptocurrencies is one of mutual prosperity and mutual loss. During the last bull market, Decentraland and The Sandbox sparked a craze, with MANA tokens soaring by 4,100% in 2021, outperforming BTC during the same period. The average price of virtual land in The Sandbox skyrocketed from 1,000 to 45,000, even surpassing the price increases of real estate in Taipei. How many people were talking about this back then? But as cryptocurrencies peaked and declined, the floor prices of these NFT projects continued to hit new lows, with 50% drops becoming normal. Some niche projects even became completely abandoned, with no buyers at all.

In the long run, the potential of the metaverse still exists. Big tech companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Google are investing in this field, with virtual reality and AI becoming key components. More business models and industry chains may emerge in the future, truly bridging virtual and real worlds.

So how can ordinary people participate? For most investors, creating projects themselves is too difficult, so buying and trading NFTs is the most practical approach. First, choose an NFT trading platform; OpenSea is the most mainstream option. Next, set up a digital wallet—MetaMask is commonly used—to connect to the platform and perform buying, selling, and transferring operations. Then, purchase cryptocurrencies like Ethereum (ETH) through mainstream exchanges and transfer them into your wallet. After that, you can browse and buy your favorite NFT projects on the platform. If you want to sell, find your NFT in your profile, set a price or participate in an auction.

Remember three "don’ts": don’t enter your private key on unfamiliar platforms (that’s like telling strangers your bank password); don’t use the same password for all accounts; don’t believe in "guaranteed profit" NFT airdrop ads.

Honestly, investing in the metaverse does have barriers. Many projects lack liquidity and may face the risk of no buyers. Plus, there are quite a few scams—projects that claim to be part of the metaverse but have no real application, just air hype. Once market enthusiasm wanes, prices can plummet sharply. For beginners, small investments are more suitable; don’t pour in large sums.

Participating in projects that seem cheap but are essentially empty without proper understanding carries significant risks. But compared to futures and leveraged trading, NFT investing doesn’t involve leverage factors. As long as you maintain good trading discipline and ensure sufficient liquidity, you can still buy and sell flexibly.

Overall, the metaverse and NFTs are not scams, but they’re also not guaranteed to make you rich without risk. Mainstream and well-known projects usually have real applications backing them, but small projects are much more uncertain. As laws and regulations improve in the future, barriers to entry will lower, and bad actors will decrease. Those entering now should see the opportunities but also recognize the risks.