Facebook’s Meta rebrand causes obscure crypto MANA to jump 400%

BY CHRIS MORRIS (via Fortune)

Facebook’s well-publicized (and often mocked) rebranding elevated MANA, a cryptocurrency that most people have never heard of, into the spotlight, resulting in a three-day price spike of 462% over the weekend.

The crypto has since lost some ground and is currently trading at $3.13, according to Coinbase. That’s still a 306% increase over Oct. 27, the day before Facebook announced its rebranding.

MANA is the token for Decentraland, which describes itself as a metaverse platform that allows users to buy and sell virtual properties. The token runs on the Ethereum blockchain.

Decentraland itself provides a gamelike atmosphere in which people create virtual lands and others explore them and participate in social games. Visually, it’s not unlike Roblox or Second Life.

Using MANA, visitors can buy “property” or upgrade it to whatever environment they want. They can also buy and sell items to use in the virtual world, as well as list their properties for sale. (Prices range from 30,000 MANA to over 1 million.)

Facebook’s big bet on the metaverse has ignited interest in many companies that focus on that space. Decentraland operates a bit differently than Facebook is expected to in the virtual world, though, focusing on user-generated content that lets people make money for themselves, rather than walled gardens that could enrich corporations.

MANA’s not the only crypto to see a surge after Facebook changed its name. SAND, the token for Sandbox, another virtual world, jumped from 74¢ on Oct. 27 to more than $2 on Monday, a 176% increase. (At its peak this weekend, SAND was trading at $2.35, a 218% increase.)

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Facebook Rebrand Fuels Metaverse Token Run With Decentraland (MANA) Leading Pack

By Robert D Knight (Via beincrypto)

IN BRIEF

• Facebook is rebranding to Meta as it shifts focus to the metaverse.
• The news has proved bullish for existing crypto metaverse projects.
• The social media giant has pre-existing crypto interests thanks to Diem.

Metaverse tokens have pumped in the last 24 hours following the announcement that Facebook will rebrand to Meta, as the company shifts its long-term focus from social media and messaging, to immersive 3D virtual environments.

At time of press Decentraland (MANA) is up 54.8%, Axie Infinity(AXS) is up 15.5%, The Sandbox (SAND) is up 23%, and Dentral Games (DG) has recorded gains of 13.8%.

Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the change in focus during his Connect 2021 keynote presentation, delivered on October 28th. Appearing initially from the real world, Zuckerberg then bathed in an otherworldly blue light before being transported to a simulated virtual reality.

“Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we’re building towards,” he said. “It is time for us to adopt a new company brand to encompass everything that we do, to reflect who we are and what we hope to build.”

A suite of new features will be rolled out by Meta over the course of the coming year, incorporating Facebook and Instagram into metaverse work environments as well as offering multiple user accounts, allowing users to keep their personal and work lives separate.

While the metaverse is already big news in the cryptosphere, Facebook’s branding change naturally brings greater exposure within the sector and beyond.

Facebook, Meta and Diem

The recent Facebook rebrand is not the first time Zuckerberg has aligned company interests with crypto-related technologies. In 2019 the Facebook CEO set the crypto world into a frenzy when he announced the launch of a new cryptocurrency dubbed Libra.

The plan drew Congressional scrutiny and has since languished in development hell, losing key founding members of its board, paired back its ambitions, and rebranded as Diem.

Zuckerberg and Meta will undoubtedly hope that their next brush with the cryptosphere is less fraught with difficulty.