A known cryptocurrency spiked 400% after Facebook changed its name to Meta

November 2, 2021: -Mana known cryptocurrency used for buying and selling virtual land, saw its price spike over the weekend amid excitement over Facebook’s rebrand.

On Sunday, the price of mana hit a high of $4.16, according to CoinMarketCap data, up 400% from where it was trading after Facebook announced it was changing its name to Meta. It has fallen since, having last changed hands at nearly $3.16.

Facebook’s rebrand aimed to shift the embattled social media company’s focus toward the “metaverse,” sharing virtual reality in which multiple users can interact with each other and digital objects.

Launched in 2017, mana is the native digital token of Decentraland, a self-proclaimed metaverse platform where users were buying and selling virtual properties. Ownership of the land purchasing through non-fungible passes is a digital asset meant to track to own whatever. It runs on Ethereum, the blockchain network behind ether, the world’s second-largest digital currency.

Vijay Ayyar, head of Asia Pacific at cryptocurrency exchange Luno, said mana and different metaverse-focused cryptocurrencies rallies on the back of Facebook’s rebrand, seeing as a growing acceptance of the metaverse trend.

“I read it as an interpretation of a vote of confidence amongst both speculators and investors that this concept of a metaverse is taking a serious turn in terms of reaching mainstream consciousness and adoption,” Ayyar said.

Other cryptocurrencies, which include the tokens of blockchain-based games Axie Infinity and The Sandbox, have seen solid gains in the past few days.

Investors are looking to smaller alternative cryptocurrencies, or “altcoins,” as interest in bitcoin has started to peter out after the world’s largest digital coin hit a record high of around $67,000 in the previous month, according to Luno’s Ayyar.

“Typically, Bitcoin crosses an all-time high, and we see money flow into other altcoins,” he said.

Last week, Shiba Inu rallied sharply between speculation over whether Robinhood could add the coin to its trading platform. It ranks ahead of dogecoin, with a market capitalization of more than $39.6 billion.