Have you ever dreamt of buying land? What if you could buy one but in a virtual space with more utility and uses than physical ones? Metaverse is offering an opportunity for individuals to become landowners and monetize it for passive income. Here’s a complete guide to it:
When the news of Facebook rebranding as Meta came out, there was a sudden surge in demand for real estate NFT in the metaverse. People who didn’t even know the definition of Metaverse were readily investing thousands of dollars in different metaverse platforms just because of its increasing demand.
According to CitiBank, the metaverse economy revenue opportunity is predicted to be worth over 13 trillion dollars, which is a huge amount for an industry that only exists in the digital space.
Why is there so much hype over these NFTs? Why should you jump on this bandwagon? And what are some metaverse platforms that offer ownership benefits? This article is a complete guide to all your questions but first, you should know what really is the “metaverse.”
What is the Metaverse?
Metaverse is a world of interconnected virtual spaces that co-exist on the internet and have the interoperability to jump from one space to another without any disconnection; the same way one moves from one website to another on the browser.
The Metaverse has no fixed definition as it is a different immersive experience for everyone. Developers see it as a challenge to infinite explorations within the space, brands and companies see it as a business opportunity, individuals see it as a medium of interaction, and professionals consider it a technology of convenience and experiments.
However, all the concepts of the metaverse come down to one main asset. Every project, every event, and every business begins with digital estate. For someone who is interested in the metaverse, buying a digital plot is the best decision to make currently in the market.
Although lands aren’t compulsory for every person visiting the metaverse, it is a way of getting a passive source of income.
What’s the use of virtual real estate NFTs?
Virtual real estate NFT is a valuable digital asset in today’s world. If you own a plot in the metaverse, you can be open to so many opportunities. You can build your own digital business, rent it out to other brands, or even sell it at a higher price in the marketplace.
Non-fungible tokens are defined as irreplaceable unique digital assets that give proof of ownership to buyers.
So, when you buy a digital estate NFT, the ownership of it belongs to you legally as it is fed into the blockchain ledger. Furthermore, these token assets are scarce and only one can exist in the metaverse.
You have the full authority to do whatever you want, however you want without any third-party involvement as long as you agree to the Terms and Policies stated by the platform.
How to buy virtual real estate NFT in metaverse?
Before you begin entering the virtual real estate business, you should know the basics of metaverse plots. Metaverse is built on blockchain technology and it is part of the Web3 world. This means all the processes and operations take place on the blockchain.
To purchase plots on the metaverse, you must first have a crypto wallet. Remember that you cannot get a plot for free, you need to have a small amount of investment money.
Crypto wallets are blockchain-based storage platforms where users can securely store cryptocurrency tokens. A wallet is an integral part of Web3 as all digital transactions take place through it.
Start off by setting up your wallet. You can sign up for MetaMask (the most common crypto wallet used in metaverse), Coinbase Wallet, Trust Wallet, or Enjin Wallet. Remember to sign up on a crypto wallet which is common in all metaverses; it makes buying and selling easier.
Once you have set up your wallet, you are ready to buy real estate tokens from the marketplace.
Top 10 metaverses to purchase virtual real estate NFT
Now that you know the basics of the metaverse plots, you might wonder, Well, where do I go to buy these types of NFTs in the metaverse? Here are the top 10 metaverse platforms where you can purchase lands and have full ownership over them:
- Otherside
- The Sandbox
- Axie Infinity
- Decentraland
- Voxels
- Somnium Space
- NFT Worlds
- WorldWideWebb
- Matrix World
- CryptoVerse
1. Otherside
Minimum price: ~$2,200 for one Otherdeed.
Valuation: Rare rarity traits
Yuga Labs’ Otherside is the most valuable metaverse platform of this year on the Ethereum blockchain. After the successful sales of Bored Ape Yacht Club, Yuga Labs announced the Otherside metaverse with the Otherdeed collection in May 2022 which got sold out within minutes.
Otherdeed is a key that gives holders ownership over lands in the Otherside metaverse. It is the most valuable NFT collection on the marketplace; each is worth thousands of dollars.
Even now, the lowest price for Otherdeed is 1.75 ETH ($2,284). Although this collection is a key to claiming lands, they are still worth the investment because of its demand in the marketplace. If you know Bored Ape’s value, then you can definitely predict Otherdeed’s value too.
You can buy Otherside’s Otherdeed on OpenSea.
2. The Sandbox
Minimum price: ~$2,000 for one land
Valuation: Location and Size
The Sandbox Game is an Ethereum-based metaverse platform that allows users to interact, create, own, and monetize digital content and items online. This utility-based platform has been actively growing day by day with over 200 collaborations with brands and celebrities.
The Sandbox is designed in the simplest way where players and creators can co-exist together. It is kind of like an open-source world to explore creativity and innovation using blockchain technology.
It comes with three main products, VoxEdit to create 3D objects, Game Maker to design free 3D games on the platform, and Marketplace to sell or trade digital items using SAND tokens, the native cryptocurrency of Sandbox.
Buying a virtual real estate NFT or LAND is a good investment because owners can get a chance to either build their own digital building or rent it out to other brands for their projects. There are a total of 166,464 lands in Sandbox and groups of 1×1 lands are parceled into 1/1 Estates that vary in size:
The LAND NFT is available on OpenSea.
3. Axie Infinity
Minimum price: ~$1,500 for one Terra
Valuation: Resources for gameplay and Location
Axie Infinity is an NFT-based online play-to-earn game by Sky Mavis built on the Ethereum blockchain. It is a metaverse platform because it has its own in-game economy and native Ethereum-based crypto tokens for trading.
Axie Infinity consists of mythical creatures called Axies that inhabit Lunacia, the virtual world. The plots on Lunacia are sold as tokens on the marketplace. Each tokenized land called Terra is a square-sized 301×301 grid that buyers can own, rent, and develop through players.
Terra can be customized by preferences and upgraded through P2E gameplay within the NFT game. There are mainly four types of Terra on Axie Infinity’s metaverse namely:
– Savannah
– Forest
– Arctic
– Mystic
Although all Terras are sold in the same size, Savannah is the cheapest digital asset because it belongs to the outskirts of Lunacia and has fewer resources. As of now, only 25% of lands on Lunacia have been allotted to the owners. The NFTs are currently sold out and can be viewed on the Axie Infinity Marketplace.
4. Decentraland
Minimum price: ~$2,800 for one Land
Valuation: Popular Location and Size
Decentraland is an immersive 3D-based metaverse platform created by Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano on the Ethereum blockchain where players can walk, interact, and buy virtual real estate non-fungible tokens. Decentraland is considered to be the rival of The Sandbox because both platforms have been actively leading the metaverse industry.
However, Decentraland is quite different from The Sandbox. Instead of games, this metaverse platform offers a variety of activities and events on lands purchased through MANA tokens, the native cryptocurrency. No crypto wallet is required to access this platform but users need to buy avatar wearable NFTs.
The creators can monetize their clothes, accessories, shoes, and other digital items by selling on the marketplace. The real estate digital asset can be owned and rented out by brands and individuals.
In Decentraland, there are a total of 90,601 plots sold through the marketplace. Once a person buys plots, they can develop them with 3D models using the Decentraland Builder or external software.
5. Voxels
Minimum price: ~$557 for one Parcel
Valuation: Popular areas near roads or height and proximity to the center
Voxels, formerly known as Cryptovoxels, is a metaverse space on the Ethereum blockchain by Nolan Consulting Limited where people can build, develop, and sell lands. The virtual world is called “Origin City” in which the streets are owned by “The Corporation” and the parcels are owned by users.
Each parcel is a digital token, which means it has unique coordinates on the Voxels map that aren’t common with one another. The users are required to have a MetaMask wallet. The parcels can be owned, rented, or sold on the marketplace based on their apparent value.
Currently, 7,351 parcels are minted on Voxels but they keep adding up with time. The average price of virtual parcels can go up to $5,000 if the value of the parcel is high. The Parcels in Voxels metaverse is available on OpenSea.
6. Somnium Space
Minimum price: ~$1,500 for one Parcel
Valuation: Popular spots
Somnium Space is another VR-based metaverse platform that has digital real estate in demand. It is a proper ecosystem with its own native currency and digital economy where people can buy, sell, and trade lands and NFTs.
Somnium Space offers users customizable property, avatars, and an immersive 3D virtual reality experience that no other platform would ever provide. It is one of the most valuable metaverses in the world.
Of course, owning a property in Somnium Space is profitable. There are 5,026 parcels on the metaverse platform that users can own and build. The parcels are divided by size:
- Small: 200m²size, 10m height & depth build limit
- Medium: 600m² size, 25m height & depth build limit
- Large: 1500m² size, 50m height & depth build limit
7. NFT Worlds
Minimum price: ~$700 for one World
Valuation: Popular spots
NFT Worlds is a metaverse platform on Ethereum where users can own and command their world. It is a decentralized multiplayer virtual space with different 3D voxel worlds as NFTs.
So, instead of just land, the users own a world with 16,000,000×16,000,000 blocks, giving them the freedom to explore the infinite possibilities of the metaverse.
These digital real estate NFTs are characterized by a combination of randomly generated terrain and other unique features.
They are ideal for people who wish to build a universe of their own and also rent different blocks within the world to companies. Owners can also earn passive income in WRLD tokens, the native cryptocurrency of the NFT Worlds.
NFT Worlds are worth almost $30,000 in terms of land value, which was a big figure for a newly launched platform.
8. Worldwide Webb
Minimum price: ~$500 for one land
Valuation: Popular areas, rarity traits
Worldwide Web is an MMORPG game where users can own avatars, pets, lands, and other items as an NFT. Buying a virtual plot on Worldwide Web is a good investment as it allows individuals to hold events and promote personal business in the metaverse.
There are 9490 Genesis Plots out of which 421 Land NFTs are distributed to the team and CryptoGFs holders. The rest of the plots are sold on the OpenSea marketplace. There are mainly four kinds of plots on WorldWide Webb:
- Small Apartment: 500 total supply, each for 0.069ETH
- Medium Apartment: 3000 total supply, each for 0.12ETH
- Large Apartment: 1000 total supply, each for 0.24ETH
- Penthouse: 69 total supply, each for 1ETH
Based on supply, Penthouse NFTs are most likely to be high in demand compared to Medium Apartment, which has a lot of supply.
9. Matrix World
Minimum price: ~$260 for one plot
Valuation: Popular spots and Size
You might have heard of the movie Matrix (1999), but you might not be familiar with the Matrix World. A virtual 3D space where landowners have more power than any other metaverse platform.
It is more than just a virtual space, it is an open-source world where individuals can host decentralized applications on several blockchains by utilizing Matrix’s built-in computational resources. To be precise, Matrix World allows users to buy, trade, and sell lands, hold virtual events, create 3D buildings, design NFTs, and other advanced features.
Matrix World is currently running on a pre-alpha version and only PC users can access this platform. As of now, the virtual world supports Ethereum and Flow blockchain but it will add more blockchains soon.
Matrix Land is the shortest territorial unit in the metaverse platform that features computation and storage resources for owners. So far, three waves of plots have been dropped as tradeable NFTs:
- First wave: 2000 plots on the Ethereum blockchain
- Second wave: 5000 plots on the Flow blockchain
- Third wave: 3000 plots on the Ethereum blockchain
Matrix Land is sold in four sizes, 1×1, 2×2, 3×3, and 6×6 is available for purchase on the OpenSea marketplace for the Ethereum blockchain and BloctoBay for the Flow blockchain.
10. CryptoVerse
Minimum price: ~$180 for one parcel
Valuation: Type of Land: Estate or Parcel
CryptoVerse is a well-known open-source 3D virtual world built on Unreal Engine 5 inspired by game design, deeply connected to the ChainGuardians ecosystem. The Cryptoverse Map features a two-tiered system of ownership for LAND. This metaverse platform has two layers, one is called the “continent layer” where all the zones exist.
The Zones or Islands have a themed vision that landowners must follow. There are eight Zones in CryptoVerse:
- The Hub
- Game & Entertainment
- Education
- High Culture
- Business
- Underworld
- Founderworld
- Kolland
There are two types of LAND on CryptoVerse, Parcels, and Estates within the Zones. Parcels are one single plot while Estates are the collection of many Parcels.
Naturally, the benefits for Estate owners are more than for Parcel owners but both have value as long as the owner makes an effort to develop the area.
The Estates are divided as follows:
- Single Parcel: 9,378 parcels, per plot for $180
- Small Estate: 460 supply, 30 parcels in each estate, $5,200 per estate
- Medium Estate: 50 supply, 50 parcels in each estate, $18,500 for one estate
- Large Estate: 15 supply, 179 parcels in each estate, $31,000 for one estate
- Giant Estate: 4 supply, 274 parcels in each estate, $47,500 for one estate
- Epic Estate: 4 supply, 490 parcels in each estate, 89,000 for one estate
The supply count is subject to change as the metaverse platform releases more estates in the future.
Final words
With so much demand and worth of metaverse in ecommerce and business aspects, the prices of virtual real estate land NFTs will most likely rise in the coming years. If you cannot afford to buy physical land, investing money in virtual lands can be profitable too.
Like IRL property ownership rights, you have the full authority to do whatever you want with your virtual plots as long as you follow the terms & conditions. You can rent it to businesses, host commercial events online, start a business online within metaverse, or do other experiments.
Currently, The Sandbox and Decentraland are the most valuable digital properties to own. Sandbox has recorded a $70.5M volume for 4,433 digital assets while Decentraland has recorded a $6.6M volume for 399 assets, making it the second most expensive NFT plots collection.
So, don’t wait and start investing your money in virtual lands NFT today!
