Welcome to Decentraland, the metaverse world with its own crypto where the “land” is worth millions

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If you thought the Metaverse came into being when Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta was building the “next version of the Internet,” then you might be surprised to learn that the Metaverse is already an existing and thriving ecosystem, with a booming real estate market.

In recent days, a piece of “land” has sold for 2.1 million euros in online social world Decentraland, erasing its previous sales record of 810,000 euros in June.

In Decentraland, users from the physical world can enter, create avatars, buy goods, buy clothes in the market, and attend events.

The platform has already hosted a virtual music festival attracting headliners like DeadMau5 and Paris Hilton.

There is also institutional interest in the virtual world, having recently signed an agreement with the government of Barbados to open the world’s first digital embassy in January next year.

“The people who use Decentraland rule it”

Decentraland, which was first opened to the public in February 2020, is built on the Ethereum blockchain and bills itself as the first fully decentralized virtual world.

“The fact that it’s decentralized means that the people who use Decentraland own Decentraland, they rule it,” Dave Carr, communications manager for the platform, told Euronews Next.

“We have a decentralized autonomous organization in which people can submit proposals and vote on proposals submitted by others. And that effectively determines the future direction of Decentraland.”

Transactions in this world are made with MANA, Decentraland’s native cryptocurrency, and proof of ownership of virtual property is verified through NFT.

The coin’s value had already started to climb in 2021, but following Meta’s announcement, its value skyrocketed.

At the time of writing, the crypto is trading at € 4.06 a coin, up from € 0.07 at the start of this year.

According to Carr, there are two ways you can participate in the governance of Decentraland: you can either own MANA or own land.

But with MANA’s value skyrocketing and virtual lands becoming insanely expensive, the question remains whether Decentraland can remain a so-called “open metaverse” instead of just being the digital stronghold of rich users or early adopters. investors.

“One of the great things that came up was, ‘Oh, have I ever missed the boat? “Because the land prices in various virtual worlds are expensive, so I can’t really contribute or participate – which I don’t,” Carr said.

According to Carr, designers who come in and contribute a piece of virtual land or bring their own clothes to the Decentraland marketplace is “always an opportunity.”

Carr is also envisioning a future Decentraland where leasing virtual land will become an option for people excluded from the digital real estate market.

“I think the earth will be another area of ​​virtual worlds that will change dramatically,” he said.

“I think you will see rentals happen, you will see subdivisions of land.”

Additionally, users could find a route through the metaverse through game communities.

“You already see guilds like Yield Guild Games [a play-to-earn gaming guild], buying land for their communities to work on and build games.

But what is there for those who have already started and bought virtual real estate?

“The original landowners, the early investors will want content added to their property because they have a vested interest in the virtual worlds in which they buy the land,” Carr explained.

“They’re going to want to have that content and those experiences on the ground, because it brings people into the virtual world and it just enriches the experience,” he said.

Will the metaverse dominate this nascent industry?

Regarding Meta’s announcement of their plans to build the Metaverse, Carr concedes that the tech giant, and others like him, are likely to have a huge influence on how the Expanded Metaverse will develop.

Nonetheless, he believes there will still be plenty of room for platforms like Decentraland to work as their structure means they are better placed to cater to those seeking greater autonomy in virtual spaces.

“The assumption is that, given Facebook’s success as a social media platform… you have to imagine that their version of a virtual world and metaverse services will not be decentralized,” Carr said.

“It won’t be OK. Let’s hand it over to the community and you tell us how you want to handle it. You should assume based on the story that it will be a more centralized experience.”

Among the community active in the Metaverse space, Carr believes the reaction to Meta’s announcement has been mixed.

“When Facebook talks about building the metaverse, if you follow that space on Twitter, you would have seen a lot of reactions saying, ‘OK, the metaverse has already been built, and it’s very active and has a lot of communities and a lot of people. users in the different virtual worlds, ”he said.

On the other hand, he admits that the flashing announcement firmly brought the word into the mainstream, “which can only be a good thing for the metaverse in general,” he added.

“I think Meta will create something that is organized, centralized, and controllable, which will work for some people.”

“I don’t think it’s going to kill other virtual worlds or other metaverse experiences, I think. I think everyone will find their place in the metaverse that suits them.”

To learn more about this story, watch the video in the video player above.

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