Needham analyst sees metaverse tied heavily to open-source blockchain, NFTs

Needham analyst John Todaro expects the metaverse, which represents a shift from the psychical world to a virtual word, to be primarily built on open-source blockchains, citing a note he wrote to clients. Within the metaverse, blockchain-based DeFi gaming and virtual reality worlds, marketplaces that have recently risen in trading activity, allow users to trade their items that are represented as tokenized non-fungible tokens. "NFTs will be the primary vehicle of transaction between parties in this new virtual world," the analyst writes. Ethereum-based virtual reality world, Decentraland (MANA-USD), for example, have plots of land that are tokenized as NFTs and are freely traded among users. The average asset sale price in Decentraland (MANA-USD) of just over $16K this month soars from about $1.5K in the same period a year ago, the note says. Decentraland (MANA-USD) tokens rise 3% so far on Monday, down from its record high of $5.47 last week. The largest metaverse