Let’s face the harsh reality – real estate is expensive. Though shockingly, it turns out that some of the most valuable lands in the world are not even on Earth. As a matter of fact, it isn’t even real!
Enter: The metaverse
We are fast approaching the birth of the metaverse, which is basically a three-dimensional (3D) virtual world that we will all eventually be living in alongside our real lives. As its technology continues to become increasingly sophisticated, we may even anticipate a rising usage of such spaces to interact, work, play and learn.
In other words, it would almost be as if we have a “digital twin” living in the metaverse, where we could do practically anything we like without ever having to step outside our homes. Such activities, in specific, would include property investments. On that note, if the concept of the metaverse intrigues you, do consider checking out the articles on
Metaverse Insider to stay updated on the ongoing events in this space!
The race for virtual real estate is heating up
Albeit the technology is still in its infancy, the metaverse real estate sector is already an enormous business on its own, with celebrities such as Snoop Dogg alongside multinational corporations like JP Morgan, Samsung, PwC and HSBC having already purchased large plots of virtual land to be further developed for various purposes. Put simply, investors ranging from technology enthusiasts, crypto natives and prospective metaverse users are now racing to snap up a piece of land or property that only exists in a virtual universe!
Moreover, early investors in this space have already made huge returns on paper, at the very least. In particular, the average price for the smallest piece of land on Decentraland or the Sandbox (two of the biggest metaverse platforms) was below US$1,000 in early 2021. As of the point of writing, the price has risen to approximately US$13,000.
This, therefore, leads us to ponder – are virtual real estates another highly invaluable investment opportunity for individuals to jump right into before their price soars at an exponential rate, just like how it occurred for Bitcoin and non-fungible tokens (NFTs)? Alternatively, would it be much safer to maintain a safe distance from a potentially dangerous bubble?
Let’s find out!
Why would anyone buy land in the metaverse?
Similar to purchasing real estate in the physical world, there are two key reasons why anyone would want to know
how to buy land in the metaverse and then, of course, make an investment.
First of all, the buyer wants to use the digital land for a specific purpose, like building a house to live in or constructing a working space to conduct business activities in the digital universe. To a large extent, these metaverse lands are an innovative way for individuals and organisations to express themselves online or even showcase their unique collections of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). You could technically equate this to some sort of personal web page during the early days of the internet before social media began to take over the world by storm.
On the other hand, the second reason for purchasing metaverse land would be for investment purposes. Although there is no certainty that its value will appreciate over time, it is simply undeniable that we are currently living in the gold rush period for metaverse real estate. Over the past year, the average value of digital land has increased by a factor of 10, with some investors even purchasing land to let as a healthy rental market for metaverse real estate is already emerging.
How do I buy land in the metaverse?
Purchasing metaverse real estate is typically completed with cryptocurrency transactions, with Ethereum, SAND (the currency linked with a gamified metaverse platform known as the Sandbox), and MANA (currency connected with the platform, Decentraland) being popular go-to options. Thus, possessing these cryptocurrencies would be the critical first step in your purchasing journey.
Following that, most individuals would turn to the platforms, Sandbox and Decentraland to search for metaverse land and property that are available for sale. This is because these two metaverse platforms already have well-established infrastructures and notable celebrities and corporations as their active landlords and tenants. Come to think about it, how amazing would it be to have Snoop Dogg as your neighbour in the metaverse?
Aside from purchasing metaverse real estate from the first-party market, it is also essential to take note of the existence of a third-party reseller market as well. Specifically, metaverse platforms such as nonfungible.com and opensea.io are notable decentralised real estate agents for the metaverse to enable the listing of metaverse properties and prices by sellers and buyers to make queries or initiate negotiations.
Given that the payments for these pieces of land can be completed directly on the platforms themselves, in which the transfer of ownership will be documented through the transfer of NFTs, the next step would be for you to get yourself a crypto wallet to store these digital assets. On that note, Binance and Metamask are two popular choices for digital wallets.
Is it safe to buy land in the metaverse?
At this point in time, purchasing metaverse real estate would be considered a high-risk investment as the market is mainly unregulated. This means that if any fraudulent transactions were to occur, there would be no central regulatory figure or channel for victims to report their losses to. In addition to that, various technical factors may compromise the security of your transactions. To elaborate, considering that these transactions will be in the form of cryptocurrencies and/or
NFTs, you need to be confident in your capability to store these digital assets safely and remember your passwords as part of verifying your ownership.
Nevertheless, realistically speaking, there have been many creative strategies to safeguard the security of everyone’s assets in view of these identified risks. To begin with, the whole purchasing process will be recorded via smart contracts that are safely encrypted on blockchains. This minimises the chances of any malicious third-party hackers successfully stealing your metaverse real estate or modifying the transaction details in the smart contract.
What does the future of buying land in the metaverse entail?
The metaverse is most likely here to stay in the long run as some of the largest and most influential organisations like Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia are already actively investing in this space with the vision of making it the “next generation of the internet”. Therefore, if this vision were ever to become a reality, the metaverse would definitely go on to become an essential addition to businesses and our society as a whole.