Welcome to the 2022 gift guide for web3.0, crypto, and metaverse geeks! We’ve got VR headsets, EEG bands, DeFi Wallets, NFTs, Books and even jewelry. And before you ask, yes, these are for both men and women…and anyone in between.
Oculus Quest 2
I felt like this was an obvious one, so I wanted to talk about it first. the oculus quest 2 is a must for any virtual reality enthusiast. You do need a Facebook account to access the apps, so keep that in mind. But the Quest 2 is arguably the best untethered virtual reality headset on the market. Some standout apps on the Quest 2 include Beat Saber, The Room VR: A Dark Matter. Not to mention all the apps you can sideload such as Sport Model, Helium, and Gorilla Tag.
EEG Headband
Don’t let the name fool you, this is not a hair accessory but a wearable EEG sensor that measures your brainwave patterns. So how does this relate to the metaverse? More and more apps are using biometrics such as your brainwave patterns to customize your experience within immersive apps. The Healium meditation app even has the option to add in an EEG headband to bio-feedback your mediation session.
Cold Wallets
Any crypto investor looking to step up their game will appreciate this gift. Cold wallets are considered the most secure way to store your crypto because they aren’t connected to the internet. My two top choices for 2021 are Trezor Model T and Ledger Nano X.
When ordering a cold wallet be sure to order directly from the brand, and if you can have the item shipped directly to the recipient to reduce the chances of it being tampered with in transit.
Books
I have a mix of fiction and non-fiction in here. First up is Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. This is the first novel to use the term ‘metaverse’. It is a dystopic novel set in a future version of Los Angeles where the Federal Government has been taken over by corporations and people move between the real world and a virtual one, where they are represented by avatars. It’s eerie how much of that novel came true given that it was written in 1992.
Next up we have The Augmented Workforce by our own Cathy Hackl. In this book, Cathy goes over how business leaders can use 5G, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and other emerging tech to scale companies and grow revenue.
She also published Marketing New Realities if you are shopping for a friend in marketing or sales.
Again I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Ready Player One. It’s really the quintessential virtual reality book of this generation. There are some collectors editions if you’re looking for something a little *extra*.
Finally, this one is actually best consumed as an audiobook, but you can buy the print version as well and that is we are legion, we are bob. it’s a sci-fi novel written by Dennis Taylor. This series is about a software developer Bob Johansson who agrees to have his consciousness digital preserved, should he die. And you guessed it, he dies and wakes up a century later to find that he has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets. Casual. It’s a great series, again it was written to be an audiobook so you could always bundle this gift with an Audible subscription.
NFTs
NFTs might just be the trendiest gift option of 2021. NFT stands for non-fungible token and is a digital asset such as an image, animation, music, domain or collectable whose ownership is secured on a blockchain. You can learn more about NFTs here. NFTs can be thousands, sometimes millions of dollars so definitely go into this one with a budget in mind. If you’re just starting I recommend taking a look on OpenSea, as they have a bit of everything. If you’d like a step-by-step breakdown on how to gift an NFT, and more options for where to buy them, be sure to subscribe because I will be going over that in a future video.
Digital Clothing
For the lifestyle influencer or fashionista in your life, we have a Dress-X subscription. This app is available to anyone with a smartphone and allows you to try on digital clothing and share the resulting images. It drastically cuts down on the carbon footprint associated with manufacturing and shipping real-world clothing and is perfect for those who wear an outfit once but won’t or don’t outfit repeat. I have a video on my experience with the app here if you want to take a closer look. Some of the designs on Dress-X are also NFTs so you could do a combo gift and get someone the app subscription and a collectible digital outfit.
Credit: Vogue.com /Dress-X
The Pokemon Ring
I think it’s really difficult to do geek jewelry well without it looking gimmicky or cheap, so I was so happy when I found this Pokemon ring by Geek Jewelry, that is offered in both mens and women's sizes. If you know a Level 40 Pokemon Trainer they could seriously love this gift. It’s available in silver, white gold, rose gold, platinum and palladium and looks like a piece of fine jewelry (because it is).
Pokeomon Ring from Geek Jewelry
ICYMI, Pokemon Go is one of the most successful augmented reality games out there, available on Android and iOS. The creators of Pokemon Go, Niantic, recently raised $300M to build infrastructure to support a metaverse and help to power the next evolution of the internet.” Niantic didn’t specifically mention blockchain or NFTs, but they main backer, Coatue, is known for bankrolling major crypto projects including Chainalysis and Fireblocks. So it might be a good idea to stay on the good side of your pokemon trainer friends as their pokemon could be worth some serious real-world cash in the near future.
That is all for this year’s guide. I hope this gave you some ideas for gifts! Have a happy holidays and don’t forget that you can save this as a pin for later:
