A few years ago, many people would not readily accept the idea of investing in a piece of virtual land. However, today, virtual real estate has increasingly grown in popularity. The demand for these relatively new assets has grown hugely as investors and crypto enthusiasts join the market. In this article we will thus explain you how to buy land in the Metaverse.
The land within the metaverse provides a good opportunity to get into NFTs and cryptocurrencies. Some of these lands are selling for as high as millions of dollars. Purchasing metaverse NFT land is an easy process that you can learn from this comprehensive guide.
What is the Metaverse?
Wikipedia defines metaverse as a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection. Metaverse exploits virtual reality, augmented reality, and extended reality to mimic the real-world environment in a virtual world. It provides an alternative digital reality that allows people to work, play, and live in a digital world.
What is Metaverse Virtual Land?
Virtual land is a purchasable plot of digital space within a metaverse project. The land is tokenized – converted into non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The owner of the NFT can use the land for many purposes or purely for speculation. Normally, a metaverse project divides its map into smaller areas and sells the pieces separately or multiple land offerings. For example, the image below shows a map of a virtual land within the Sandbox. The land is divided into many pieces that an investor can buy.
Often, cryptocurrency is the medium of exchange in the metaverse world.
Metaverse offers owners and their visitors a 3D virtual experience to explore. It is easy to prove the authenticity and ownership of these digital assets since they are NFTs. The owners of these lands can sell them on a secondary market through a metaverse project ecosystem or with a third-party exchange.
Metaverse Virtual Land Use Cases
Virtual land offers many use cases. A project that an investor chooses affects what they can do with them. Here are some use cases:
- Speculation
- Business
- Events and Parties
- Games
- Homes
- Advertisements
Speculations
An investor can buy a metaverse land to sell it at a higher price. The demand for metaverse is growing as it gets more popular. A report by BrandEssence Market Research predicts the metaverse real estate market to grow at a compound interest rate of 31% per year from 2022 to 2028. Such statistics show that the value of the metaverse land is likely to increase within the stated years. Therefore, an investor can generate profit by simply buying a piece of virtual land and selling them later when the prices are higher.
PwC also predicts rapid and massive market size growth by 2030, as shown below.
Business
Metaverse also allows landowners to build businesses within the world that the pieces of the land are located. You can set up different businesses, including shopping malls and restaurants. Below is a Shopping mall in Decentraland.
Homes
Metaverse virtual land also provides a space for owners to build houses. Developing a virtual property increases its value. You can build a house on your land and rent or sell it.
Events and Parties
Owners of the virtual land can also host events and parties in their spaces. You can have exclusive events and invite people. You can charge people for attending the event and generate income. For example, Snoop Dogg hosted a party inside the Sandbox. The rapper issued 1000 Private Party Pass NFTs. The NFTs gave the owners exclusive NFT airdrops and private parties in Snoop Dogg’s virtual villa.
Games
You can also develop a play-to-earn NFT video game on your virtual land. Some platforms, such as Axie Infinity, can provide extra resources, tokens, and crafting ingredients.
Advertising
You can change an advertisement fee for running an ad on your property. Plots in popular areas are suitable ad spaces since they attract many visitors.
Steps to buy land in the Metaverse
The process of purchasing virtual land is similar to buying any other NFT. Like the cryptocurrencies that underpin NFT markets, prices of virtual land may be subject to significant fluctuations. You need a crypto wallet to hold your crypto purchase and store your land to get started.
So, before buying virtual land, ensure you research extensively on the investment opportunity and evaluate its potential risks. Here is a 5-step process you can deploy when buying land in the metaverse:
Step 1: Select a Metaverse Platform
The bustling metaverse space has many platforms where you can buy virtual land. Before purchasing the land, you need to evaluate which platform best fits your preferences. As a beginner, the process may be hectic. Even then, you need to select a reputable metaverse platform – one that is popular, dominant, and secure. Let’s cover some of the top metaverse platforms where you can securely purchase land.
Decentraland
Launched in 2015, Decentraland is a 3D virtual reality world running on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform is one of the oldest and opened to the public in February 2020. Users on Decentraland can create virtual property and charge players who visit the property.
The virtual land on Decentraland is limited in supply, and the creation of more land is tasked on the platform’s decentralized autonomous organization (Decentraland DAO). Virtual land pieces on Decentraland are autonomously owned by users, who, in turn, sell them to other players. Decentraland also has a native cryptocurrency, $MANA, used for trading items on the platform. Among Decentraland’s top collaborations are with Samsung and the Australian Open.
The Sandbox
The Sandbox is a popular Ethereum-based virtual world that allows players to create, purchase and monetize items like virtual land. Like Decentraland, Sandbox is a single-layered metaverse platform split up into equal grids of land, which owners can combine to have larger pieces. The 3D virtual reality platform’s native crypto, $SAND, is deployed to complete transactions like land purchases.
The Sandbox project has partnered with many global brands, making it one of the most popular Metaverse platforms. Among its top collaborations are Atari, Adidas, Snoop Dogg, and The Walking Dead. Supply of land on The Sandbox is limited, and land sale is conducted through auctions.
Somnium Space
Somnium Space is an open-source virtual reality platform where users can buy land, set up property, play immersive video games, and even host concerts. Opened to the public in September 2018, Somnium Space can be accessed across platforms on the web, PC, and even mobile devices.
The space runs on the Ethereum blockchain and has an ERC20 token known as Somnium Space Cubes ($CUBE) to facilitate transactions like buying virtual land on the Metaverse platform. Parcels of land on Somnium Space come in different sizes, and there are currently over 5,000 parcels on the platform. The land supply at Somnium Space is limited, but new parcels are occasionally generated.
Step 2: Set Up a Wallet
You need to create a crypto wallet, which you will use to store your funds and purchase the virtual land from the metaverse platform. While there are many types of crypto wallets to choose from, ensure that your selected wallet is supported by the metaverse platform where you plan to buy land. One of the most suitable wallets for purchasing land on the metaverse is MetaMask. Other wallets that support multiple blockchains include the Binance Chain Wallet, Freewallet, and Coinbase Wallet.
MetaMask provides you with a key vault, secure login, crypto wallet, and crypto exchange. In this guide, we’ll opt for MetaMask wallet – supported on Decentraland, Somnium Space, and The Sandbox. This wallet is available on the web as a browser extension and mobile as an app.
- To create your wallet, visit the wallet’s website and select a download for your supported browse, iOS, or Android device.
- Click the ‘Get Started’ button and follow the prompts to create your wallet and set a password when prompted. Click on ‘Create a Wallet’ to create a new wallet, or select ‘Import Wallet’ if you have an existing MetaMask wallet.
- Then, write down the generated secret recovery phrase comprising 12 random words and keep the phrase safely offline as you will need it to restore your wallet and funds in case you cannot access the wallet.
Step 3: Connect Your Wallet to the Metaverse
Next, you need to connect your wallet to your chosen metaverse platform. To illustrate, this guide will cover how to connect the MetaMask wallet to The Sandbox.
- From The Sandbox map, you can browse parcels of land available for bidding. Find other parcels on the OpenSea NFT marketplace.
- Before you bid, click on the ‘Sign In’ tab on the top-right of the Map page, similar to the image below. Set your MetaMask wallet to the appropriate blockchain, Ethereum for The Sandbox Metaverse.
- Then, tap on ‘MetaMask.’
- A pop-up from MetaMask wallet then displays requesting to connect with The Sandbox. Click ‘Next’ to proceed.
- Then, tap ‘Connect’ to continue.
- You will be prompted to add your email address and create your nickname for The Sandbox account. Complete the fields and click ‘Continue’ to complete the account setup.
- Tap on ‘Sign’ on the MetaMask signature request to finish connecting your account to The Sandbox.
Upon successfully connecting to MetaMask, your account balance and profile picture will appear on the top-right of The Sandbox website.
Step 4: Top-up Your Wallet with Supported Crypto
Each metaverse platform supports specific digital currencies for purchasing land. For instance, you will need $MANA on Decentraland, $SAND on The Sandbox, and $CUBE on Somnium Space. For our illustration, you need to top up your wallet with $SAND tokens or Ether ($ETH).
The Sandbox only accepts $ETH for land purchases. From the MetaMask wallet, tap on ‘Buy’ to purchase $ETH. Copy your wallet’s public address and use it as the withdrawal address for your funds.
Step 5: Select a Parcel of Land to Purchase
With your wallet connected and topped up, you can now select a piece of land and start bidding. Some of the value factors to consider include location, size, and scarcity. On the Sandbox, explore available parcels by filtering through the map. Check the ‘For Sale’ box on the left of the map page to view available parcels for sale. You can also filter parcels available on OpenSea.
Select the parcel of land you want to buy and click ‘Bid’ to place your offer for the piece. For land with a fixed price, tap on the $ETH amount to purchase.
You will receive a pop-up for a parcel accepting bids to enter your offer. After entering your offer amount, proceed by tapping ‘Place Bid’ and confirming the transaction through your wallet. In case your bid is rejected, your funds will be reimbursed to your wallet.
Alternatively, you can purchase the land via OpenSea. Connect your topped-up wallet and proceed to select the parcel of land you want to purchase. You can purchase the land for the listed price or make an offer to the seller.
Final Thought
The virtual land in metaverse has become popular in the blockchain and crypto world. This virtual space operates like the real-world real estate industry. Virtual land offers much use, which makes it a lucrative investment. As you have seen, it is relatively easy to buy land in the metaverse. However, you should consider the value factors to ensure that you minimize the risks associated with virtual land.
