Facebook (FB) changed its name Meta and will trade under MVRS on Dec. 1, 2021. Mark Zuckerberg announced on Thursday, October 28, that Facebook will now be called Meta to better encompass what the company does. The metaverse that Zuck’s talking about is essentially a virtual-reality platform in which people congregate and communicate in digital environments.
Decentraland’s MANA has surged 80% in the last 24 hours (10/28/2021) to a market capitalization of more than $2 billion. The jump in the virtual world’s token to $1.26 at last check was apparently spurred by Facebook’s announcement Thursday it is changing its corporate name to Meta to signal an increasing focus on the metaverse.
Facebook said Thursday the company’s metaverse will support non-fungible tokens (NFT) in a possible boost to the Ethereum protocol, where the digital collectibles format has thrived. “This will make it easier for people to sell Limited Edition digital objects like NFTs, display them in their digital spaces and even resell them to the next person securely,” Facebook Head of Metaverse Products Vishal Shah said.
“MANA’s leading position in the metaverse ecosystem will likely be solidified further by Facebook’s move to rebrand and focus on building its own extension to the digital world,” said Denis Vinokourov, head of research at Synergia Capital.
“Tokenized gaming has really taken off as a trend in the last few weeks and Decentraland is by far the most established of the bunch,” said Mati Greenspan, CEO of Quantum Economics.
Virtual Reality
Vinokourov is still bullish on Decentraland’s MANA, now valued at $2.4 billion. “This market cap is far from extreme, given the sector growth potential,” he said. Virtual worlds like Decentraland and Sandbox have stark differences to Facebook’s Meta vision for the metaverse, according to Nystrom.
Nystrom explains that he expects Meta to build “moats” around the metaverse, creating digital walled gardens, so that the holding company and its family of networks (for example, Facebook) have the ability to make money off it. Digital worlds like Sandbox and Decentraland, by contrast, will allow developers and gamers to make money for themselves.
“Essentially it’s the difference between a closed (Meta) and open (crypto) metaverse,’’ he explained.
Investors will likely want access to both avenues because how the metaverse will unfold is largely unknown, said Nystrom.
Decentraland
Decentraland is a completely decentralized virtual world where you can buy, build, and sell digital real estate, artworks, or NFTs. You can do all this by playing games and interacting with various activities in the virtual world!
Ultimately, Decentraland, in its own words, is a social experience where you interact with people in the community. The platform is community-owned and built on the Ethereum blockchain.
In 2015, Ariel Meilich and Esteban Ordano created the Decentraland Foundation, the organization that developed Decentraland. The virtual world was opened to the public in January 2020. Since then, it has become one of the most sought-after metaverses in the crypto universe.
You don’t need much to play in Decentraland; as a guest user, you can simply explore the world by opening up its website on a browser. Then, create an avatar, give it a name, confirm your legal age, accept the T&Cs, and you’re good to go!
However, as of now, the platform doesn’t support mobile devices. Additionally, to fully experience all the perks of Decentraland, you should have a crypto wallet, where you can safely store your cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. Without a wallet, you will only be able to walk around and customize your avatar and won’t be able to take part in events.
On Decentraland, you can build 3D environments, create avatars, or showcase a range of digital content which you can monetize—the possibilities are endless! Once you are in the virtual world, you can walk around wherever you want, or use the map to teleport to a specific location.
Go party at a virtual club, visit NFT art shows, participate in a racing game, or even catch up with your virtual friends—all from the comforts of your home. You’ll be doing all this as avatars – your digital representation. Your avatar helps others to identify you and helps you to keep track of all your friends.
To make your avatar as unique as you, you can customize it in a number of ways. Choose from a range of facial features such as eyes, smiles, or facial hair, select the perfect outfit, skin tone, or hairstyles. You can also customize your avatar by giving it a unique name. Once you have the perfect avatar ready, you can explore the virtual world.
The metaverse also has several games that you can enjoy. Some also have a play-to-earn economy, using which you can earn by gaming. Ethermon, for instance, is a monster-catching role-playing, play-to-earn game. Here, you can buy Ethermon NFTs and battle with others.
Meanwhile, in WonderQuest, you can buy a collectible dragon egg NFT. Once hatched, you can use the dragon to interact in the virtual gaming world, which has many quests and musical performances.
Other things you can check out are Tominoya Casino, a virtual gambling house developed by Decentral Games, or the racing game Battle Racers. Video game legend Atari also owns an estate in the metaverse. Here you can enjoy many classic games created by the developer.
Furthermore, if you are a developer, you can create games on your LAND by using Decentraland’s Software Development Kit.
What is the economy of Decentraland?
Decentraland is governed by its users via a decentralized autonomous organization called the Decentraland DAO. The metaverse has two native tokens – MANA and LAND. Let’s take a look at these in detail.
What is MANA?
MANA is Decentraland’s cryptocurrency and has a fixed supply. As it’s an ERC-20 token (fungible token), it can be bought and traded on crypto exchanges like Binance and Huobi Global or even “stacked” on DEX (decentralised exchange) like Uniswap or Sushiswap. In the metaverse, it can be used to pay for LAND, avatar, accessories, collectibles, or gaming, and more.
Meanwhile, you can also lock your MANA in a WMANA contract, giving rise to wrapped MANA. This wrapped MANA will be “locked”, meaning you can’t spend or transfer it.
What is LAND?
“Land is a non-fungible, transferrable, scarce digital asset stored in an Ethereum smart Contract,” notes the metaverse. Decentraland is made up of 90,601 parcels of LAND, which are 16 x 16 meters in size. Each parcel is an NFT and is identified by its location/coordinates on the virtual world. It also contains information about its owner. Furthermore, two or more adjacent parcels make an Estate.
Additionally, each parcel varies in color. The light grey lines, for instance, are roads and cannot be bought. Similarly, the nine green areas are plazas owned by the Decentraland community, whereas the grey lands are those that are owned but are not available for sale. As opposed, the light blue colored lands are available for sale. Lands closer to the Genesis Plaza (the plaza at the center) or popular districts are more expensive.
You can buy parcels from NFT marketplaces like Opensea or straight from Decentraland’s marketplace. These come at quite a hefty price. In June, for instance, 259 parcels were sold for a whopping $913,228. This is the most expensive LAND sold in Decentraland.
Decentraland DAO: The decentralized autonomous organization on the metaverse
What stands Decentraland apart from other metaverses is that it is not controlled by a centralized body. Instead, the metaverse users who hold MANA and LAND control it via the Decentraland DAO. This means that everything from land to assets and governance is controlled by players themselves.
The token holders can create as well as vote on proposals on development in the metaverse. Furthermore, they can create polls, vote on policy updates, token economics, and LAND auctions, among others. Depending on the token you hold, you get the following voting power:
- Wrapped MANA – one voting power
- LAND – 2000 units of voting power
- Estate – 2000 units of voting power
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