Want To Own Land In The Metaverse? Record Sales Happening As Interest Picks Up

One term that has surged in popularity in 2021 is metaverse, a virtual world concept first coined by author Neal Stephenson in the 1992 book “Snow Crash.”

Meta Platforms Inc FB is the new name of social media platform company Facebook, which will also change its ticker to MVRS in the future.

The public market also saw the launch of a metaverse-themed ETF with the Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF META.

The growth of the metaverse theme has also led to a surge in trading volume and record sales for companies selling virtual land and assets.

The Sandbox: In late November, the Metaflower Super Mega Yacht sold for 149 Ethereum ETH/USD, or around $650,000. This marked the most expensive NFT item sold from The Sandbox metaverse and the most expensive NFT asset ever sold in a video game.

The asset was sold by Republic Realm, a premier developer in the metaverse, via a six-day auction. Republic Realm owns assets in 19 metaverse platforms and has developed six metaverse real estate projects. The virtual realtor owns over 2,500 NFTs.

Fantasy Islands, which are 100 private island NFTs in The Sandbox, were developed by Republic Realm and sold out in 24 hours. The floor price on the islands is currently 60 ETH.

The cryptocurrency for The Sandbox SAND/USD, has exploded in valuation in recent months. The Sandbox has partnerships with Adidas AG - ADR ADDYY, Nifty Gateway, Gemini and Snoop Dogg.

Snoop Dogg made headlines recently over his virtual land in The Sandbox, where he is recreating his California mansion. The plot next to Snoop Dogg’s sold for 71,000 SAND, or around $450,000 after the rap icon tweeted asking if anyone wanted to be his virtual neighbor.

The Sandbox was also part of a virtual land record in late November with Republic Realm paying $4.3 million for a metaverse property from Atari SA PONGF.

Related Link: Best Metaverse Cryptocurrencies 

Axie Infinity: Popular play-to-earn NFT game Axie Infinity AXS/USD holds the record as the most traded NFT by sales volume of all-time with more than $3 billion in sales. The game includes the sale of NFTs and cryptocurrencies used in the game, including its own AXS.

A plot of land in Axie Infinity recently sold for $2.5 million, or 550 ETH at the time. This marked the largest sale for a single plot of virtual land.

Decentraland: This metaverse subsidiary of Tokens.com, Dencentraland MANA/USD spent 618,000 MANA for 116 land parcels. The virtual land purchase cost around $2.4 million, which doubled the previous Decentraland record of $913,000.

The land will be used to host fashion shows and commerce within the digital fashion industry according to The Metaverse Group, which bought the land. The Metaverse Group plans on partnering with “several existing fashion brands” to help build out their metaverse presence.

“Fashion is the next massive area for growth in the metaverse,” Decentraland Foundation Head of Content Sam Hamilton said.

Why It’s Important: Virtual land could be the biggest NFT commodity in the sector right now. DappRadar reported $106 million in metaverse land sold in the previous week.

The Sandbox has risen up the sales volume chart for NFTs on Crytposlam. Sales volume for The Sandbox last week was $42.3 million, ranking second and topping even Bored Ape Yacht Club. The Sandbox ranks third in the last 30 days with a sales volume of $171.9 million, up 736% from the previous 30 days and trails only Axie Infinity and Bored Ape Yacht Club.

The opportunity for the metaverse could be worth $1 trillion according to Grayscale Investments, a leading crypto asset manager. Grayscale, which is behind the popular Grayscale Bitcoin Trust GBTC, shared a report titled “The Metaverse, Web 3.0 Virtual Cloud Economies.”

“This new paradigm allows users to own their digital assets as non-fungible tokens, trade them with others in the game … creating an entirely new free-market internet-native economy that can be monetized in the physical world,” the report reads.

Grayscale said the Metaverse could be in the early innings with Meta Platforms planning to invest $10 billion. The investment from Meta Platforms could lead to additional investments from other companies and venture capitalists.

Price Action, Tuesday afternoon at publication: SAND is up 5.67% to $5.44 and has traded between $0.03 and $8.51 over the past year.

AXS is up 7.46% to $107.93 and has traded between $0.41 and $165.37 over the past year.

MANA is up 10.30% to $3.91 and has traded between $0.07 and $5.90 over the past year.

Image: Metaflower Super Mega Yacht and villa courtesy Republic Realm