How to buy property in the metaverse: A simple guide
How do you take part in property trading in the metaverse?
Contents
Cryptocurrency exploded in 2021 and, at least in the latter half of the year, one of the key drivers was the metaverse. If you would like to know how to buy property in the virtual reality world, then we can help.
The metaverse
Over the past year or so, one of the hottest areas in the world of cryptocurrency has been the metaverse. The metaverse is a fairly straightforward idea, and has been around for more than 30 years. The idea is that, at some point in the future, all humans will interact as avatars in a virtual world. So far, there is not one single online existence that links, or could potentially link, humanity together. However, there are smaller virtual worlds where people can login and explore the space and interact with other users. These are called metaverses.
Buying metaverse property
In the metaverse you can buy “land” and decorate it in pretty much any way you want to, using non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Metaverse property trading has become a big deal. For instance, in November 2021, the digital investment company Republic Realm bought some property in The Sandbox, a blockchain-based 3D open-world metaverse owned by the Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands, for around $4.2m.
While, hopefully, you will not have to pay that much, metaverse property is not cheap. On 14 February 2022, the cheapest piece of land in The Sandbox was going for 0.4498 ETH, equal to $1,290.33, while the cheapest virtual property on Decentraland, a 3D virtual world browser-based platform, was priced at 4.5 ETH ($12,909.06). Virtual property will not come cheaply.
Not every so-called metaverse features the ability to buy land. In terms of property, the big two are Decentraland and The Sandbox. Decentraland uses the MANA cryptocurrency, while the native token of The Sandbox is SAND. Fortunately, the process for buying property in these two systems are very similar, so what works for one should work for the other.
Step one
The first step for buying land in the metaverse will be to choose which network you want to hold your virtual land in.
What is your sentiment on MANA/USD?
Step two
The second step is to set up your crypto wallet. It is important to note here that not every wallet will support the crypto that you will be using, so make sure to check that it does. You may well already have a crypto wallet, but it may not be one suited for the coin you want to use. Once you have got your crypto wallet ready, and make sure you take a note of your seed phrase, you will then need to buy some SAND, MANA or ETH from an exchange. Then you will be ready for the next step.
Step three
The third step will depend on whether you are buying land in The Sandbox or in Decentraland. If you are using The Sandbox, you will need to sign in to the network, make sure your wallet is set to operate on the Ethereum blockchain, and then connect your wallet to the network.
If you are using Decentraland, then you need to go onto the marketplace and see what areas of land are up for sale. The marketplace should give you a list, coupled with the locations, of parcels of land that you can buy. The platform has a total of 90,601 parcels of land, although not all of them will be up for sale. You should then click on your chosen land and say that you want to buy it. This leads us to…
Step four
For Decentraland, the fourth step will be connecting your wallet to the network and making sure you are holding enough MANA to make your purchase. Once that is done, you are good to go. For The Sandbox, you have probably already worked out that you will need to head to the system’s marketplace. With your SAND, you will be able to buy your LAND, pieces of territory within the system. There are 166,464 LANDs across the game, each measuring 96m wide by 96m long and with a height of 128m. It is possible to buy neighbouring pieces of LAND and not every bit of land will be up for sale. A lot of LAND has already been purchased. However, you will be able to see what land is being resold using the OpenSea platform. Buying the property on OpenSea gives you access to the metaverse you own property in.
Step five
One word of warning, though. The metaverse is a fairly new thing. We do not know whether the current boom in metaverse property prices is here to stay, or whether this is going to turn out to be a bubble that is going to burst. As ever, you will need to do your own research, be aware that prices can go down as well as up, and never invest more money than you can afford to lose.
FAQs
It depends. We have seen plots going for not far off the equivalent of $1,000 recently, but we have also seen deals worth millions. We need to point out that, as of the middle of February 2022, virtual land is not a cheap investment.
We do not know. It could be that it ends up being here to stay and serves as a pillar of Web3 but, equally, it could be bubble that bursts and leaves a lot of people out of pocket. Be careful.
You can invest in the metaverse by doing the steps we have outlined above. As ever, it pays to be cautious – no one knows whether the metaverse and the virtual property market will be profitable in the long run. Make sure you never invest more money than you can afford to lose, because prices can go down as well as up, and make sure to do your own research.
