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Highlights
- Decentraland’s virtual piece of land has recently sold for millions of dollars
- The Sandbox has drawn the attention of major players like SoftBank and Adidas
- Virtual real estate rush is dwarfing the inflation that has seeped into the actual world real estate sector
Call it FOMO, or Facebook’s metaverse move, or anything else you want, but the metaverse -NFT combo is ruling the crypto universe.
Two recent developments confirm this fact. Adidas – yes, the sportswear giant – has purchased land in the virtual reality world of The Sandbox, a blockchain-based fantasy game. Second, people who have bought some virtual assets like gas stations and banks in the virtual reality space of Polka City are making a fortune out of their assets.
Though it is true that the high valuation of digital assets like NFTs and metaverse real estate is a subject-matter of hot debates, let’s at least know a little about five projects in this space.
Also read: 5 breakout altcoins with metaverse underpinning
1. Decentraland (MANA)
Decentraland recently made enough noise when a piece of land in its virtual reality world sold for over US$2 million worth of cryptos. This is no mean feat even at a time when the real estate industry in the actual world is at record high. Why would someone pay millions of dollars for a real estate that doesn’t exist in reality?
5 virtual real estate metaverse projects with blockchain underpinnings
But that is the craze for metaverse. Decentraland is project where such assets can be bought and then, the project claims, monetized. These assets have NFT features, and they trade on exchanges like OpenSea.
Decentraland’s MANA crypto token has a market cap of nearly US$8 billion as of now.
Also read: What are DeFi games & which are the most popular DeFi games?
2. The Sandbox (SAND)
The Sandbox was making noise even before Adidas jumped onto the bandwagon. The project is in receipt of multi-million dollar funding from SoftBank.
The Sandbox is using blockchain’s decentralized attributes to make gaming a more user-controlled space. It is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) where the SAND crypto holders can vote on key governance issues.
The Sandbox cryptocurrency has a market cap of nearly US$6 billion as of now.
3. Polkacity (POLC)
Polkacity allows users to own commercial real estate ranging from petrol stations to banks and grocery stores.
Another fusion of metaverse and NFT, Polkacity is leveraging blockchain to draw interest of enthusiasts.
POLC token has a market cap of nearly US$20 million as of now.
Also read: Thanksgiving & NFTs – Macy’s, Martha Stewart join the craze
4. Somnium Space Cubes (CUBE)
This is a project that has built a virtual reality world with the underpinnings of decentralized economy. It claims to have blockchain-based education and entertainment elements.
CUBE cryptocurrency is trading at nearly US$19 apiece as of now.
5. Upland (UPX)
Upland is a relatively lesser-known metaverse project. The official website of the project has a similar narrative as the above four. Virtual property can be bought, sold and traded. The project claims to provide neighborhood building features to its users.
According to CoinMarketCap, the native UPX crypto is not tradable and is used only within the game.
Bottom line
NFTs ruled the cryptocurrency space for much of 2021. Beeple’s digital artworks and CryptoPunks have sold for millions of dollars, but the coming days may be more about metaverse-based cryptos. The rush is real for virtual real estate, and major players like Adidas are making it more interesting.
