The frenzy of interest in what Metaverse means in terms of virtual real estate is part of what inflates its price.
There are multiple types of Metaverses, similar to how there are many types of cryptocurrency. Not all cryptocurrencies are as valuable as Bitcoin or Ethereum; in the same vein, not all Metaverse plots of land are worth the same in crypto.
The most famous Metaverses are Decentraland and The Sandbox.
These Metaverses offer plots of land built on the Ethereum blockchain, which means they can only be bought and sold using Ethereum. The lands can also be made available as NFTs for buying and selling.
If you want to buy land in the Metaverse
Set up a crypto wallet
Similar to purchasing an NFT, you should set up a crypto wallet to perform all cryptocurrency transactions if you don’t already have one. As many of these Metaverses use the Ethereum blockchain, we recommend you to download Metamask through this link.
The next step you should take is to link your crypto wallet to the Metaverse of your choice. Each of these might have its own set of instructions for purchasing the plots of land, which we describe in the following section.
Purchase cryptocurrency through a crypto exchange
You’ll have to purchase crypto through Binance, Coinbase, Gemini, or any other crypto exchange to buy the virtual real estate or before bidding for it in the Metaverse.
How to buy land in each Metaverse
Let’s take a look at the different primary Metaverses and how you can buy land in each of them:
Decentraland
- Go to Decentraland’s website and click on Accounts in the top-right menu.
- Connect your wallet and click “Buy.”
- Add your preferred payment method.
- Include your crypto wallet address with the amount you’re going to transfer.
Decentraland reports six thousand unique users daily and approximately 600 million active users monthly. The primary activity in Decentraland is playing games, socializing, and trading virtual plots of land. You can participate in many leisure activities by paying with crypto and even without a crypto wallet.
You’ll need a crypto wallet if you want to earn, buy, and sell land on Decentraland.
The Sandbox
To buy LAND in The Sandbox you need $SAND, the currency used by The Sandbox Metaverse. On top of that, you’ll need ETH to pay for the Ethereum gas fees.
You can purchase LAND in two places:
- First, in official The Sandbox LAND Sales, which are announced weeks in advance on The Sandbox’s website.
- Or, you can purchase LAND in a secondary market such as OpenSea or Rarible.
If you purchase it on a secondary market, your LAND will show in your inventory on The Sandbox website.
The Sandbox has many parcels, known as LAND, on the platform. A parcel can easily cost upwards of $11,000, with many properties selling for between $20,000 and $30,000. The highest reported property sale was
The Otherside
Otherside is Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Metaverse. It was launched much later than the other Metaverses we’ve covered, but the strong following behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club brand resulted in an equally hyped following of the Otherside.
To purchase land on the Otherside:
- If buying on primary sale, you can purchase them from The Otherside’s website. They only drop primary sales on specific dates.
- You need to go on OpenSea, and you’ll need ApeCoin (APE). You need to send your APE to your MetaMask wallet, and then make your purchase.
- Plots of land can be easily browsed in OpenSea’s search tool.
Otherside has 200,000 plots of land available. During its initial sale on April 30, 55,659 sales were sold as primary sales, and 13,258 were secondary sales during the first 24 hours, worth over $646 million.
This Metaverse was developed by Yuga Labs, the developing team behind Bored Ape Yacht Club. The Otherside also had the advantage of possessing many celebrities because they were Bored Ape Yacht Club holders. Some of these include Justin Bieber, Madonna, Ben Simmons, and Tom Brady.
How do lands in the Metaverse increase in price?
Depending on their location and ownership history, virtual plots of land can vary in price. Virtual plots of land owned by celebrities, important businesses, or influencers tend to attain higher prices.
Should I buy land in the Metaverse?
As you can see, buying Metaverse real estate is relatively easy. On a more practical level, how good of an investment is it to buy Metaverse lands?
Buying metaverse real estate is a risky investment and is considered as such by many cryptos and NFT experts.
On top of that, you can invest in the Metaverse simply to become a landlord.
Anything to do with crypto is volatile, and virtual lands are no exception. With little warning, cryptocurrency prices can swing high or plummet almost overnight.
At the same time, the nature of virtual real estate residing in a Metaverse could make it a strategic purchase for certain types of investors.
If you have a brand or business that sells products aimed at Gen Z or millennials, the Metaverse could be a good way to reach them directly. Gen Z is slowly dropping Instagram and focusing on alternative platforms for socializing, such as Discord or Metaverses.
Bear in mind that while Gen Z’s collective buying power is increasing yearly, simultaneously, they are a budget-conscious generation and don’t spend their money wantonly, especially due to rising IRL real estate costs.
Final words about how to buy land in the Metaverse
Purchasing land in the Metaverse could be a smart investment for companies that market their products to Gen Z, or investors who want to rent them out for the long-term.
On the other hand, the quickly varying prices of crypto make it difficult to assess if buying land in the Metaverse is a feasible investment or not.
