Can you get rich by stripping in the metaverse?

A self-proclaimed TikTok entrepreneur generates 12 million views with his videos.

A self-proclaimed TikTok entrepreneur is racking up 12 million views with his videos. His message: get rich by stripping in the metaverse.

"This is your sign to pretend to be a woman and start stripping in the metaverse." It sounds like a joke, but this message isn't just circulating in the crypto space. More and more people are posting this kind of message on social media. The source? TikToker @holynft who's going viral right now: according to his own figures, the creator earned thousands of dollars in a week from the scam.

Is stripping in the metaverse the next big hype?

In total, three videos promote TikTok user @holynft's alleged new idea for success: stripping in the metaverse. The "entrepreneur" claims to have earned a total of $12,000.

The concept isn’t new: the earliest evidence of erotic dancing dates back to Paleolithic cave paintings in southern France, more than 20,000 years ago. Since then, a lot has changed: many people make money stripping. According to Comparably, the average gross salary for a stripper in the U.S. is $26,000 per year. That would be about $500 per week, which is only seven percent of the amount the alleged Metaverse stripper claims.

Truth or fiction?

Striping in the metaverse is unlikely to be the next big crypto hype. But perhaps there’s some truth: there are exotic dancers in the metaverse, namely exotic dancers. Drag queen Lena Diamond is one of them. Stripping is her passion, she says. She dances at "The Diamond Mine", a virtual burlesque and dance club on VRChat.

Just like in real strip clubs, customers here can request lap dances or private rooms. Dancers like Lena get tips for it. In a TikTok post, she explains that VR dancing "unfortunately isn’t a good source of income." So you don’t have to quit your day job yet: VR stripping won’t make you rich.