Why Does the Metaverse, NFTs and GameFi, Have a Low Number of Users?

Today, The Metaverse, NFTs, and GameFi make up a huge part of the blockchain landscape, as they have been considered to be quite lucrative sectors in crypto. In the last two years, these projects saw a massive inflow of individual and institutional investments.

The number of users, however, doesn’t complement the popularity and rapid development of these sectors – the graphs are going in the opposite direction.

Why does the number of users in Metaverse crypto companies grow slowly or even decrease? How can more users be onboarded to Metaverse projects?

All the answers are right here.

Thriving but not driving

The Metaverse has become one of the trendiest sectors in the cryptocurrency industry, embracing GameFi, NFT, and other Web3 projects connected with virtual worlds. Today, according to Chainplay, ​​the GameFi market cap totals around $6.7B with a 24h trading volume of $629,664,760 and with over 1700 GameFi projects. NFTs saw a spike in 2021, but this growth hasn’t been consistent and has leveled off in 2022. The number of NFT market participants started to steadily decline since February 2022.

Despite the enormous Metaverse market growth, this sector has been facing a user base downturn. DappRadar which tracks on-chain transactions via smart contracts shows less than 60 active users and around 100 transactions on Decentraland, the biggest Ethereum-based Metaverse project. The DappRadar tools provide user data in the form of UAW (Unique active wallets) – the “number of unique wallet addresses interacting with dApp’s smart contracts”. It means that despite the biggest market cap of around $1.2B, Decentraland can’t boast of active users who make blockchain transactions in its virtual world, having only 60 active players who interact with smart contracts in the game.

Payers vs Players

To fully interact with a Metaverse blockchain-based project, one should interact with its smart contracts, precisely - buy or sell the land, goods, and services. The reason why not many people do that is that Metaverse projects lack a hassle-free entry for users who are still not into crypto payments. Thus, a project wins in daily active players who log in or simply create accounts but loses out on “payers” interacting with a blockchain.

Why are there more players than payers?

Users willing to securely access a DeFi app, create in-game NFT avatars, or invest funds in staking, must first cross the border line separating today’s fiat reality from the new ecosystem of blockchain-based digital assets. Even the most innovative Web3 app can’t succeed if potential customers don’t have any money on the blockchain.

How to get into crypto in the easiest and most cost-efficient way?

Going to a centralized exchange, passing KYC, and other steps just to enter the game sounds too complicated even for a seasoned gamer. Not everyone will go for it, so projects have to ease this tiring and daunting process for their would-customers and ease their onboarding.

How to reach out masses?

Enabling easy entry is key to increasing the mass adoption of your product, and this is one of the main today’s struggles for Metaverse, GameFi, and NFT projects. One of the cost-effective and fast solutions that already exist on the market but is yet to be discovered is Fiat-On-Ramp.

Fiat-On-Ramp tools allow your users to establish a presence on the blockchain with fiat payments and start interacting with your in-game items in the easiest way. It’s the first step in making your blockchain-based Web3 project accessible to all types of users, be they experienced crypto gamers or crypto newbies. They no longer need to apply to a CEX or any other platform to swap their fiat money into cryptocurrency, they simply do it on your website with a Fiat-On-Ramp functionality (through a widget, SDK, or API).

One of the Metaverse platforms that went for this option is Axie Infinity, a well-known Metaverse game, developed by the gaming company Sky Mavis. On average, Axie Infinity attracts 20,000 unique daily users. With this development, Axie Infinity allowed their users to buy ETH with fiat on Ronin and get started with their game without going through the clunky process of getting ETH on a centralized exchange, transferring it to MetaMask, and then depositing it to Ronin.

To make an upshot

There will always be an entry point to DeFi that is to an extent related to Centralized Finances. However, the extent of this centralization may vary. Fiat-On-Ramp is one of the solutions in the rich and diversified Web3 world. What else can bootstrap the Metaverse and GameFi users? Share in the comments!