First Sandbox ETP, the video game crypto
21Shares is launching the world’s first The Sandbox ETP. The Sandbox is the biggest crypto committed to video gaming and the metaverse.
The Sandbox was founded in 2012. It started as an uncomplicated mobile phone game where users could build simple 2D virtual worlds. (Think Minecraft but way more basic). It's still available on mobiles today.
However in 2017 when the crypto bull market kicked off The Sandbox got turned into a 3D game built on the Ethereum blockchain where users create items in-game (that are NFTs) that they could sell. NFTs in Sandbox are bought with the SAND token, which is itself an NFT on the Ethereum network. The value of SAND is therefore largely determined by the number of active gamers in The Sandbox.
The Sandbox Foundation, which runs the Sandbox, raises money by issuing tokens to venture capitalists at below market price (as is common in crypto). But also through virtual land sales – of the kind we’re increasingly seeing in the metaverse – where companies can buy land within the video game.
Some of the land in the Sandbox is owned by companies you know the names of: Atari, CoinMarketCap, and bizarrely the South China Morning Post (Jack Ma's newspaper).
The Sandbox is currently the 39th largest crypto by market cap.
SAND charges 2.5%.
Bernie’s commentary – Facebook is undervalued
The SAND token jumped a massive 500% last year after Facebook (I refuse to call it “Meta Platforms”) announced its metaverse rebrand. (The coin has fallen 70% in value since November last year). In many respects, The Sandbox is a more down-market, video games-centric and less ambitious version of what Facebook hopes to build with its metaverse push.
But that Facebook can have this type of effect on other assets, including crypto, does make you think about that company and its stock. While Facebook is taking heat from Apple’s privacy changes, from TikTok, and plays home to Sir Nick Clegg, it is still central to most people’s daily lives. And it has the balance sheet and cash pile to build something big in the metaverse.
The company’s share price is down 42% since its peak in September last year. As Facebook has fallen, metaverse stocks, ETFs and cryptos have surged.
Ironically, Facebook’s metaverse rebrand seems to have boosted everything metaverse-related—except for Facebook itself. And Facebook currently trades on a lower PE ratio than go-nowhere tech has-beens IBM, Oracle, Cisco.
So to me, any rally in SAND suggests that Facebook is very possibly undervalued.