This crypto project is bringing the metaverse into reality By

The last year has been full of tech narratives: blockchain, NFTs and even green energy polarized and energized people in 2021. But one news item caught the mainstream’s attention, and for a very good reason. Social media giant Facebook (NASDAQ:) changed its name to Meta, to better align with its mission to build the metaverse. And suddenly everyone, from Mark Zuckerberg to kids on Fortnite, were talking about the metaverse. It’s on people’s lips and, importantly, on investors’ radars.

But the grandiose vision conveyed in Meta’s PR material is further away from reality than they’d care to admit. And even if it wasn’t, does the mainstream care? For starters, most people aren’t in the position to fork out hundreds or thousands of dollars on Virtual Reality (VR) headwear to immerse themselves in this new digital universe. And for those willing to make that leap, what they’ll find on the other side is, for the most part, underdeveloped and clunky. But what if there was another, much more accessible way to dive into the metaverse—a way that could fit in your hand or pocket?

Over one billion smartphones are already equipped to handle Augmented Reality (AR), and most of us are familiar with how it works. Pokémon Go and Instagram face filters showed us how simple and effective AR applications can be. And while billion-dollar tech giants were scrambling to build the next version of Google (NASDAQ:) Glass, one small blockchain-based company has been working on its own ingenious solution for bringing the metaverse to the masses. They call themselves Hololoot and they are self-described as

being the world’s first AR NFT generator and metaverse built for widespread adoption.

According to their team, the Hololoot application allows users to browse through their marketplace, select any NFT-based 3D model found there and bring them into the real world through users’ smartphones. They’re supported by Enjin, one of the biggest names in NFTs, and have a growing list of backers and partners with reputations for picking the next big thing.

An AR interface for the decentralized future

Beyond viewing AR assets, users can add and transform 3D assets without requiring any specialized knowledge. This is made possible by the decentralization of the protocol and is in stark contrast to other solutions currently available on the market that require backend approval for something as simple as uploading an asset. This means that Hololoot is “self-service”, leaving users free to create AR models, mint them as NFTs and then trade them on Hololoot’s open marketplace. This decentralized solution is built on the Web3 ethos of user autonomy, meaning that your data is yours to control as you see fit.

You may be wondering what the uses for this sort of technology are, and Hololoot presents some compelling cases. Firstly, online shopping. By combining the metaverse with NFTs linked to…