Reuters also saw land purchases recorded on the NFT’s OpenSea marketplace. (File)
London:
Cryptocurrency investors Tokens.com and Decentraland say a piece of virtual real estate in the online world of Decentraland has been sold for a record $2.4 million in crypto.
Decentraland is an online environment – also known as a “metaverse” – where users can buy land, tour buildings, walk around, and meet people as avatars.
Such environments have become popular this year, as the pandemic causes people to spend more time online.
Interest spiked last month when Facebook changed its name to Meta to reflect its focus on developing virtual reality products for the metaverse.
Decentraland is a specific type of metaverse that uses blockchain. Land and other commodities in Decentraland are sold as a non-fungible token (NFT), a crypto-asset class.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts buy land there as a speculative investment, using Decentraland’s cryptocurrency, MANA.
A subsidiary of Tokens.com, called Metaverse Group, purchased a piece of real estate for 618,000 MANA on Monday, about $2,428,740 at the time, a Decentraland spokesperson and a statement said. of Tokens.com said.
Reuters also saw land purchases recorded on the NFT’s OpenSea marketplace.
Decentraland says this is the most expensive purchase of a single batch of virtual real estate on the platform.
The property is located in the “Fashion Street” area of Decentraland’s map, and Tokens.com says it will be used to host digital fashion events and sell virtual clothing for the avatar.
It is made of 116 smaller plots of land, each measuring 52.5 square feet, making the plot a virtual 6,090 square feet.
Andrew Kiguel, CEO of Tokens.com, said the asset will complement real estate already held by Metaverse Group.
In June, a virtual parcel of land in Decentraland sold for 1,295,000 MANA, worth $913,228 at the time. Buyers built a virtual mall to sell digital clothing, but Reuters has visited the site several times since and hasn’t seen any shoppers.
MANA is very volatile. According to Coinbase, it is up about 400% this month, a spike after Facebook changed its name.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from the feed provided.)
