By
Godfrey Benjamin
February 13th, 2024
On the eve of Virtual Revolution: VR platform Decentraland creates new universe announcing its first land auction to take place in December.
You’ve likely heard of Virtual Reality (VR), though perhaps you’ve never experienced it. When you first put on the VR goggles, everything seems disjointed and difficult to make out. But suddenly you find yourself immersed in a virtual world, where everything is possible, and nothing is beyond the scope of your imagination.
With all this cool new technology, it’s no wonder that companies like Facebook, Google, and others are sinking huge sums of money into the VR world. The growth of the market has already been astronomical and will certainly continue. This virtual landscape, however, is only for you, and your interactions can only be what you’re able to access through programmers. Users are unable to interact, monetize content, or create or join groups.
However, Decentraland, a new VR platform owned by its users, is looking to change all that. The company has already completed an amazingly successful ICO, raising nearly $24 million in just 35 seconds. The consumer pressure for VR space is huge, and the Decentraland model is shaping up to the be the first and best of its kind. After the success of the ICO, the company has turned its attention to building the VR space, and has recently announced its very first land auction.
Creating the World
The Decentraland world is a VR platform that allows users to strap on their VR headset and step into this immersive space. The world is made up of buyable ‘spaces’, which are kept in scarcity in order to protect value. The spaces can be built on, or united with other spaces in order to create larger ecosystems within the virtual world.
Because everything is virtual, literally everything your mind can conceive, you can build. And all this content can be monetized. Want to build and open a VR gambling program? Do it! What about a VR ride? Simple enough. Build it, and monetize your content to other users. There’s no limit to what is possible.
Land is available for purchase and ownership through the Ethereum blockchain by using MANA tokens, the ERC20 compliant token within the Decentraland ecosystem. Because the land ownership is only transferrable through the blockchain, it is protected and completely secure, and all construction and ownership is privately held (unlike Facebook and other platforms). Decentraland has completed the building stages and is now beginning the first ever land auction for VR land within the ecosystem.
Let’s Get Going
The company recently announced that the first land auction will be taking place in December for the Genesis project – the first city in the VR universe, as well as a Terraform Event land sale. The registration requires the participant to commit, or ‘stake’, their MANA tokens for the purchase or auction by locking the tokens into a smart contract which will then be used for bidding in the Genesis city auction, or purchasing land in the Terraform event.
According to the report, “The tokens will be locked until the Terraform Event in December, when they will convert to land parcels in the districts that you supported, or become available to bid for land parcels at the Genesis City auction, depending on your choice. All unused MANA tokens will be returned to your ETH wallet after the Terraform event.”
For the Genesis city auction, users will need to commit at least 1000 MANA tokens, but will have some options for the auction. The central ring of the city will be owned by Decentraland and will have rotating content based on the community choice. The second ring will be part of the auction which will be conducted in a simple way, allowing for free market forces to work to establish pricing. Finally, the third ring of the city will be open for purchase for districts that are not concerned about the location of their land.
Users interested in staking their MANA tokens can go here to find the specific information. However, you must use a dApp compatible browser like Metamask or Mist. For those interested in getting into the platform but who do not yet own MANA tokens, they can be purchased through exchanges like hitbtc.com, or bittrex.com by using ETH or BTC.
The Virtual Revolution
The VR world is coming, and Decentraland is the first space organized and built for VR users where monetization, privatization, and scalability is real. Because of the power of blockchain technology, the company has created a way for users to keep their work and investment safe in the space, while at the same time enjoying the benefits of a highly specialized VR platform. The upcoming land sale, and the huge interest it is generating, is proving that the company’s platform is a force to be reckoned with.