How to Buy Land in Decentraland

One of the most popular virtual worlds in existence today, Decentraland has generated numerous headlines in recent months for the eye-popping price of its land plots, some of which have sold for millions of dollars.

One famous example occurred in November of 2021 when a plot of land in Decentraland was bought by Tokens.com for a record $2.43 million.

Although real estate in Decentraland is expensive, anyone with the right amount of funds can jump in on the action. In this article, we’ll explore the ins and outs of Decentraland, and how to buy virtual plots on the platform.

How does Decentraland Work?

Founded in 2017 and built on the Ethereum blockchain, Decentraland is a virtual reality platform where players can buy and sell parcels of property called LAND, host exclusive events, play games, and interact with other characters. Each plot of LAND is 16 square feet, and only 90,601 parcels are available. 

Decentraland can also be thought of as one of the many metaverse games in which users create avatars in order to enter an interactive, digital world where they can shop, buy, sell, play, or replicate their own physical experiences.

NFTs

All of the digital real estate bought on Decentraland comes in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are digital tokens on blockchain networks that represent proof of ownership. When an investor purchases a piece of a virtual land plot, the blockchain network powering the virtual world verifies the sale and transfers ownership.

MANA Tokens

MANA is the digital currency that players must possess to pay for LAND, as well as other additional virtual goods and services. The coin has a total supply of 2.193 billion and a circulating supply of $1.83 billion. As of February 18, 2021, the current price of one MANA token was worth $2.96, giving the cryptocurrency a market cap of over $5 trillion.

Managing Inflation

The original total supply of MANA was set at 2.8 billion, but this has been reduced by more than 600 million due to the burning of tokens as a result of LAND auctions.

MANA also has other mechanisms in place to account for inflation and to reduce the circulating supply. For example, there is a 2.5% burn on all Decentraland marketplace transactions.

Although the game’s designers initially planned to inflate the Decentraland coin price at a rate of 8% in the first year, it’s unclear whether this plan was ever implemented, and inflation is currently disabled. The Decentraland glossary currently states that there are no plans to initiate this inflation “until necessary.”

Where Can you Buy MANA?

MANA can currently be traded on around 100 different cryptocurrency exchanges, with Binance, OKEx, and Coinbase acting as some of the most popular marketplaces to purchase the asset.

Buying Land

Creating a Wallet

Keep in mind that to buy property on Decentraland it will be necessary to create a digital wallet in order to store the MANA (or Ethereum) required to buy land on the site. Once you create an account, you can connect your crypto wallet to make purchases.

Some of the best current wallets include Coinbase, Binance, and Metamask. In addition to holding your cryptocurrency, Coinbase and Binance also serve as exchanges where a members can buy various digital coins.

The NFT Marketplace

To buy land in Decentraland, you can either navigate to the Decentraland marketplace or browse through a major NFT exchange such as OpenSea where Decentraland land plots are listed. Although Opensea’s interface may make it easier for first-time buyers, many members prefer to buy directly from the platform itself so that they can see the neighboring plots and the proximity to famous areas.

Keep in mind that the Decentraland marketplace has two different options for viewing available land plots: one way is by looking at a virtual map of the entire world, while another is a list format of the available plots. To toggle between these two layouts, you can click on the calendar-like button in the top right corner.

Selecting Land

After browsing the site’s options, you can choose your preferred piece of virtual land by clicking on it. This will allow you to see more details about the plot, such as the price of the land in MANA, availability, and the owner’s name. 

Once you are satisfied, click on the “Buy” button to make a purchase.

Connecting Your Wallet

In order to finalize the transaction, you will need to connect your cryptocurrency wallet to your account. This is because once the purchase is made, the land will be sent to your wallet as an NFT.

Remember that you will not just need enough currency to buy the land, but to cover the cost of the gas fees associated with the sale.

Those who want to go through with a purchase will have to part with a large chunk of their cash – currently, the cheapest land plot on Decentraland is listed for 4,600 MANA ($12,746).

Confirming the Transaction

The last step in the process is actually confirming that you bought the LAND that you wanted, and that it exists in your wallet.

Currently, MetaMask only displays NFTs on its mobile application, so don’t be alarmed if you don’t see your Decentraland property on your MetaMask browser extension on your computer. Your purchased NFT, however, should be available to view on MetaMask Mobile under “Collectibles,” or on your OpenSea or Decentraland account.

Why Buy Land in Decentraland?

Investors in Decentraland have the option to put their virtual pieces of land to work and earn an income from them. Owning a virtual property even allows the holder to host events or exclusive parties and even charge those who want to attend. 

Users of the site can also explore different plots of LAND, experience different settings, trade virtual assets, and connect with friends. Simply put, Decentraland owners decide what they want to put on their land until the date they sell land.