If you have ever played an NFTs game, you are likely to be interested in Decentraland. Early in 2016, a team of tech gurus, Ari Meilich and Estaban Ordano developed a 2D experiment and since then, the platform has evolved from what it was.
Today, it is a full-fledged 3D world with many members. This post will explore this beautiful metaverse and provide insights into what it is all about and what it offers. Let us delve into the details already!
What is Decentraland?
Decentraland is a virtual space that consists of digital real estate, customization assets, and items that users can explore. It is a blockchain-based virtual community that allows users to buy islands and create their world using the native currency, MANA.
The digital land in the World is divided into parcels that users can buy using the digital token. The non-fungible tokens are the unique asset of the platform. There are also other collectible items and LAND property that members can buy.
The best part is that users that purchase LAND in the virtual world own it permanently. They have the freedom to control the look and feel of their property and what they want the scenes and content to be like.
The Decentraland and DAO
DAO is an acronym for Decentralized Autonomous Organization and it relates to the governance of the virtual world. As mentioned earlier, the metaverse is a fully decentralized virtual universe and the original plan is to hand over the governance and control of the LAND to the users who create and operate in the virtual space.
With the DAO, users control the policies developed to determine the operations and activities of the virtual reality world. The Decentraland DAO owns the critical assets and contracts that make up the platform. These include the LAND Contract, Content Servers, Marketplace, the Estate Contract, and the Wearables.
It owns a significant purse of MANA, which makes it wholly autonomous and also subsidizes initiatives and operations across the virtual universe. So, how does the DAO work in the metaverse? It is a seamless process.
The community proposes and votes on Marketplace and Builders, future LAND auctions, policy updates, whitelisting of different NFT contracts to be used in the World, and anything else that the community thinks is pertinent.
The voting is conducted on the governance interface of the Decentraland DAO, which is powered by Aragon. The outcome of the votes determines the decision that the community will implement.
Decentraland Use Cases
Use cases within the blockchain-based community are a major consideration during the development and design of the platform. The developers are mindful of the potentials for new use cases that may come up as the universe grows and evolves. Therefore, they have outlined five major use cases in the platform’s whitepaper. These are enumerated below:
dApps
The scripting language of the virtual reality world will enable users to develop applications, dynamics 3D scenes, games, and gambling. The scripting language is designed to manage different capabilities, such as managing physics, creating objects, encoding user interactions, payments, external calls, and sounds, and loading textures.
Business Advertising
Brands will have the freedom to advertise using billboards in or near high-traffic land parcels to improve the awareness and promote their events, products, and services. Brands may also position their products and create unique shared experiences to engage their target audience.
Digital Collectibles
Users can publish, collect, and distribute exceptional digital assets issued on the blockchain by independent creators. Like in other virtual worlds and online forums, the digital assets can be traded in the Decentraland through its scripting system and backed by the same naming system.
Social Games
Groups that are already in chat groups, online forums, and other centralized multiplayer games have the freedom to transfer their communities into Decentraland. The platform will also welcome offline communities and allow them to find a space in the LAND where they can gather.
MANA: The Decentraland Token
MANA is the native cryptocurrency of this World. At launch, about 40% of the tokens were sold to the public, while the platform held on to 20%. The founding members of the metaverse also held 20%, while the remaining 20% was used in building the community and managing the funding partnership.
The currency is an ERC-20 token, a fungible token that was created with the use of Ethereum smart contracts. Apart from functioning as the digital currency in the universe, it also offers holders voting power within the Decentraland DAO.
The currency holders must convert it into wMANA (wrapper MANA) and then lock it in the Decentralized Autonomous Organization. Users also use the currency to purchase LAND and also make in-world purchases of different goods and services.
Digital currency is available on exchange and individuals can also get it through the sale of collectible items in the Marketplace. It should be noted that the DAO has its MANA treasury that funds its operations and decisions.
MetaMask Wallet
Metamask is a crypto wallet that can be used on Firefox, Brave, and Chrome browsers as a browser extension. It acts as the connection between the blockchain and decentralized applications. That means that with a MetaMask wallet, you can monitor your transaction history, security options, and available funds.
Users need to use a browser-integrated wallet to enter the Decentraland and the platform recommends that its members use MetaMask. The MetaMask can be installed as an extension on their browser. After the installation, users will receive a public and private key.
The public key is a distinctive identifier for a user’s wallet and it can be shared with others freely. The private key should be used by the user’s wallet to sign and certify each transaction to confirm that it was sent by the owner.
Conclusion
In summary, Decentraland is a virtual reality platform that is powered by Ethereum. It is designed to enable users to purchase parcels of LAND, build applications, create content, and monetize them. The platform is referred to as the LAND and it is full of exciting real estate and assets just waiting to be explored.
