The virtual gold rush of Decentraland

Prospectors are moving into a city that doesn’t exist, spending millions of dollars buying up land parcels in the virtual space of Decentraland

Decentraland currently comprises one location, Genesis City

GENESIS CITY MAP

Consisting of 90,000 plots, each one 2 occupying 100m tile of virtual land. Overall size comparable to that of Washington D.C. Map key

Privately owned, themed Communities (largest ones named)

Genesis Plazas, where players respawn

Unsold plots, not currently for sale

Privately owned land bought and sold using “MANA”

Roads (not for sale)

“READY PLAYER ONE”

Users enter metaverse through virtual reality

Vegas City
Seven7 VR* 
Fashion Street
University
Aetherian
Dragon Kingdom
Dragon City
Main Square
3km

One plot
Virtual arcade
10m

Land sold through Ethereum blockchain creates permanent record of ownership, with landowners free to create anything

Aug 17, 2017: Decentra-land’s own MANA crypto- currency initial coin offering raises $26m in 30 seconds

Dec 17, 2017: Week- long Terraform Auction raises $28m from plot sales

Today: Plots (left) sell for as much as $200,000 (12,000 MANA)

Brainchild of Argentine coders Esteban Ordano and Ari Meilich

1 mana = $0.06 (Sep 7, 2018) 


Sources: Decentraland, Bloomberg Pictures: Decentraland, Oculus *Red light district 
© GRAPHIC NEWS