• Over the weekend, the little-known cryptocurrency mana reached an all-time high on enthusiasm over Facebook changing its name to Meta.
• Mana is Decentraland's native digital token, a self-described metaverse platform where anyone may purchase and trade virtual properties.
• The rebranding of Facebook by crypto investors is seen as a sign of increased acceptance of the metaverse trend.

Over the weekend, the price of Mana, a little-known cryptocurrency used for buying and selling virtual land, soared on enthusiasm over Facebook's rebranding.

The price of mana hit an all-time high of $4.16 on Saturday evening, according to CoinMarketCap data, up 400 percent from where it was trading just after Facebook announced its name change to Meta. It has since dropped in value, last changing hands at roughly $3.16.

The rebranding was intended to refocus Facebook's focus away from the "metaverse," a type of shared virtual reality in which numerous users may interact with each other and digital items.

Mana is the original digital token of Decentraland, a self-described metaverse platform where users may purchase and trade virtual properties. It was launched in 2017. Nonfungible tokens, a sort of digital asset used to track who owns what, are used to purchase land ownership. It is based on Ethereum, the blockchain network that underpins ether, the second-largest digital currency in the world.

Mana and other metaverse-focused cryptocurrencies are rallying on the back of Facebook's redesign, which is seen as a sign of growing acceptance of the metaverse movement, according to Vijay Ayyar, head of Asia-Pacific at cryptocurrency exchange Luno.

“I read it as a vote of confidence among speculators and investors that the concept of a metaverse is now taking a significant turn in terms of popular consciousness and — soon — adoption,” Ayyar added.

Other cryptocurrencies, such as the tokens for the blockchain-based games Axie Infinity and The Sandbox, have seen significant rises in recent days.

Investors are turning to smaller alternative cryptocurrencies, or "altcoins," since interest in bitcoin has waned after the world's largest digital coin hit a record high of about $67,000 last month, according to Luno’s Ayyar.

"We typically see money flow into other altcoins once Bitcoin passes an all-time high," he said.

Last week, shiba inu, a "meme token" that competes with dogecoin, rose dramatically on anticipation that Robinhood could add it to its trading platform. With a market capitalization of more than $39.6 billion, it has surpassed dogecoin. So far, Robinhood has remained silent on whether or not it would support shiba inu.