On October 28th, Facebook unveiled a shocking major rebranding by changing its corporate name to Meta. Yes, you read that right!!! Facebook will now be known as Meta- a Latin word for “beyond”. In addition, the giant social media platform also changed its NASDAQ stock symbol from FB to MVSE. The company also mentioned Cryptos and NFTs in their statement as part of their name change. This bold move is a part of Facebook’s plans to go beyond social media and establish a “Metaverse” that brings people together through virtual reality. Mark Zuckerberg the company’s CEO stated that the Metaverse will be a new online world that allows people to connect via virtual reality where they can chat, play games, and collaborate. The company’s social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram will not be affected by the rebranding and their names will remain unchanged.

It's worth noting that these types of branding shifts frequently occur: for example, Google changed its name to Alphabet, Philip Morris changed its name to Altria, Valeant Pharmaceuticals changed its name to Bausch+, BP changed its name to Beyond Petroleum, and so on. By now it’s not uncommon for businesses to change their names or rebrand them and nothing is going to be affected by this. Mark Zuckerberg told his Facebook staff at the end of June that they would be working “to help bring the Metaverse to life.” Instagram product head Vishal Shah and Facebook Gaming’s Vivek Sharma and Jason Rubin are among the executives who have been convened to lead the project. In an interview with The Verge, Zuckerberg talked about his vision for the Metaverse. He proposed the concept of “infinity offices”, or virtual workspaces, claiming that working in VR allows for more multitasking. Meeting in a virtual, Metaverse-like setting is inherently more collaborative and productive. Zoom calls will undoubtedly have some drawbacks, and Mark says that he prefers to do meetings in virtual reality if possible.

Also read: All About Facebook’s Libra Coin

He also mentioned how the Metaverse could help with solutions for social inequity issues. Zuckerberg asserts that a person's physical location is highly connected with their income potential, referring to Raj Chetty's research. This concept is tossed on its head in a world with a popularized Metaverse. As technology advances in virtual and augmented reality realms, remote work becomes more productive and accessible. Furthermore, he explained how FB's investment in virtual reality would help us to get there. Facebook currently owns Oculus, the maker of the popular Quest VR headset, while virtual reality technology is still in its development; Zuckerberg believes it will be ready for Metaverse capabilities "by the end of the decade"

Soon after this rebranding, the Facebook stock ended the day with a slight 1.5 percent gain despite the multiple allegations about its inability to prevent the spread of false information and offensive content on its platform. Fb said the day before the announcement that it will invest at least $10 billion this year to create its Metaverse division and that it would hire 10,000 workers in the European Union over the following five years to help in the growth of the project. On December 1st, the company soon will begin trading under the ticker MVRS. If you’re into this you might be knowing that Facebook already has a Cryptocurrency known as Libra, which everyone was anticipating. However, the multibillion-dollar social networking platform changed its name to Diem and temporarily suspended its development. It was simply a matter of time before the term “Meta” was invented.

You may ask, what does this signify for the Crypto industry if Facebook’s name is changed to Meta? Well, we got you covered in this Crypto Blog. The films like “The Matrix” and “Divergent” sparked suspicion about the Metaverse, which aroused anxiety and fear in some viewers about technology that could also be used to control humans. However, as evidenced by the advancement of technology, this is not the case. Meta has a Metaverse section responsible for creating the Metaverse. And many gaming Cryptocurrencies contain Metaverse that mimics real-world interactions and settings, by building an interactive universe, Thus, FB will most likely combine four of its “Meta” sites via a Metaverse.

Digital Art:

Facebook envisions to utilize different creators for digital art (NFTs) creation.

At the same time, Meta aims to diversify its portfolio by using new Crypto technology. Meta now has a large user base and provides a low-cost platform for conducting business, networking, and marketing. Therefore, as a result, the number of Bitcoin users will only expand, and eventually, the NFT prices will rise. In addition, it will assist in attracting a large number of artists to the Crypto sector, increasing acceptability and usage.

A few weeks ago, the company debuted a new logo replacing the thumbs-up symbol with a blue infinity form often known as Mobius strip. The redesign comes amid a public relations crisis for the social media titan following the exposure of data by whistleblower and former employee Frances Haugen revealing that the corporation reportedly prioritized profit over safety. Presence, avatars, home space, teleporting, interoperability, privacy and security, virtual commodities, and natural interfaces are all predicted in the Metaverse according to Zuckerberg. He believes that privacy and security should be embedded into the Metaverse from the start. “Interoperability is required to fully realize the Metaverse’s potential” Mark continued, “no matter how far apart we are, we’ll be able to feel present- as if we’re right there with people”.

Will Diem and Novi be involved?

It's also possible that Metaverse will interact with Novi, which is Facebook's new Cryptocurrency wallet. Novi would support NFTs, according to FB's head of finance David Marcus but he hasn't said anything further. Otherwise, Facebook's other payment services might've been connected with the Metaverse. However, the distinction may be irrelevant now, that FB has stated all of its finance efforts including messenger and WhatsApp payment facilities will be merged under the Novi brand name. It's also unclear from which Blockchain NFTs funds will be pulled. Ethereum is the most popular Blockchain for NFT creation; hence it is likely to be supported. Facebook may use either its Diem Blockchain or a lesser-known Blockchain to handle NFTs, but it hasn't mentioned any of those options until now.

Also read: Top 7 Metaverse Tokens To Invest In 2021

Meta aspires to work in the Crypto industry:

Meta wants to be along with Crypto whether it to be a power in the field or merely to follow in the footsteps of the Winklevoss twins who launched the highly famous Gemini Crypto exchange; for example, FB and Coinbase unveiled a pilot experiment earlier this month to give Facebook’s digital wallet, Novi, to users in specific areas. The test’s claimed that the goal is to soft launch Facebook’s capacity to let users send and receive Pax dollars, a Crypto Stablecoin with immediate security without any transaction fees. This is a much smaller version of FB's unsuccessful Crypto launch of its own Libra coin in 2019 which as you know was cancelled after widespread heavy criticism from central banks and regulators. The central banks were concerned and rightly so that Libra might be used as a quasi-sovereign currency in developing countries. Diem has been rebranded by Libra and it has been taken from FB’s direct administration and management. However, several senators from the United States slammed the new Novi initiative, writing to Zuckerberg to demand him to shut it down, expressing the strongest objection to Facebook’s reived attempt to establish a Crypto and digital wallet now dubbed ‘Diem’ and ‘Novi’, respectively.

Small- scale Competitors of Facebook

Other Blockchain-based virtual reality initiatives have been launched. Decentraland, which debuted in February 2020 was one of the most eagerly anticipated virtual worlds in Blockchain history. Though the project dropped from prominence shortly after its inception, MANA, the project’s Crypto had a brief return with 400% price gains at the time of Facebook’s announcement. Meanwhile, The Sandbox which is an Ethereum-based Minecraft-like game has just received a $93 million investment led by SoftBank, coinciding with Facebook’s announcement. On the other hand, the price of its token has been unaffected by FB’s disclosure. The Ethereum Blockchain is also used by another project named CryptoVoxels. It not only allows users to show their own NFTs, but it also uses them as virtual land deeds.

It’s difficult to assess whether FB’s news has sparked increasing interest in the virtual world because the project lacks its coin. These projects are similar to FB’s Metaverse allowing users to buy, sell, and display NFTs in virtual environments. However, because some of these programs were only successful for a brief time, Facebook may face an uphill challenge to succeed. Earlier non-Blockchain virtual worlds such as Second Life failed miserably in the 2000s and the trend may repeat itself if FB’s Metaverse aims are not accomplished, its product has already been labeled as “Vaporware”.

Thus, with the shift, it is evident that meta, formerly known as Facebook, will now focus more on its virtual reality goods and services to accomplish this. Meta will focus on its efforts on digital products and services that users can watch and interact with.

Disclaimer: The author’s thoughts and comments are solely for educational reasons and informative purposes only. They do not represent financial, investment, or other advice.