Finance Monthly - December 2021

• Microsoft: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has spoken about the concept of an “enterprise metaverse” which would enable the company to expand its dominance in the professional software market. • Roblox: As a global platform that brings people together through games, Roblox already embraces many metaverse aspects today with its own digital currency and the virtual social experiences that it enables. Metaverse ETFs For investors who are struggling to decide which metaverse stock is best to invest in, an option worth considering is investing in the Round Ball Metaverse ETF (META). Launched in June 2021, META is the first index globally designed to track the metaverse’s performance and has already amassed $176 million in assets. The fund tracks the Ball Metaverse Index and invests in global public companies actively involved in the metaverse. The vast majority of META’s holdings are US equities (80%), with the rest spread between Asian countries such as China, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan. The three top holdings are NVIDIA (8.99%), Microsoft (7.26%), and Roblox (6.79%). Since starting out in June, META has risen by almost 3%. Summary While the metaverse is by no means a new concept, Facebook’s recent push will spur further investments into the space. In the coming years, society is almost certain to dive deeper into a digital economy and virtual world, significantly altering life as we currently know it. “The potential in this space is huge, with platforms such as Roblox already seeing significant success. However, the market is expected to double with ease over the next few years.” Finance Monthly. Inve s tmen t 37