Decentraland is a virtual world and a community based on blockchain technology. Users develop and own land, works of art and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT). Members also participate in the platform's Autonomous Decentralized Organization (DAO).
As a DAO, Decentraland gives its community the power to participate in project governance. Decentraland's native cryptocurrency, MANA, and all game assets are in the blockchain Ethereum.
In this article, we will discuss:
Introduction
If you've played in Second Life and traded cryptocurrency, you may be interested in Decentraland. Since its inception in 2016, the platform has evolved from a basic 2D experiment to a large 3D world.
Decentraland developers, Estaban Ordano and Ari Meilich, created a virtual space containing digital real estate packages, items and other customizable assets. All of them can be purchased using MANA, Decentraland's ERC-20 token.
Decentralizers can buy MANA on various exchanges for crypto or fiat. ERC-721 non-fungible tokens represent Decentraland's unique assets, including LAND properties and other collectibles.
How does Decentraland work?
Decentraland is an online space that combines virtual reality with blockchain technology. Unlike most online games, players have direct control over the rules of the online world. DAO allows token holders to vote directly on game and organizational policies. This mechanism affects everything from the types of items allowed to investments in the DAO's treasury.
Non-fungible tokens represent collectible items from the game, including clothing, items and the game's virtual property, LAND. Users store these tokens in their encrypted wallets and sell them to other users on Decentraland Marketplace. To buy a new mask, for example, you'll need to get your hands on some MANA, Decentraland's native cryptocurrency.
In addition to exchanging items and properties, players can fill their personal space with games, activities and artwork for others to interact with. There is also the option to monetize your LAND. It is up to each player to decide what to do with his storyline.
Your destiny, your success and, eventually, your journey depend on you, your efforts, your imagination.
Decentraland has many use cases, including advertising and content curation. But, for new players who want to start using NFTs, the barriers to entry are high. The fees for ethereum gas make the purchase of some cosmetic items almost twice the price. Land prices also reach thousands of dollars, making the property very expensive for some players.
What are LAND and MANA?
As mentioned, MANA is Decentraland's native cryptocurrency. It not only functions as a digital currency, but also provides each MANA holder with voting power in Decentral and DAO.
To participate in DAO governance, users convert their MANA into packaged MANA (wMANA) and block it in DAO. Each wMANA represents one vote on governance proposals. You can obtain MANA from exchanges or by selling collectible items on the Decentraland Marketplace. DAO also has its own MANA treasury to finance its decisions and operations.
LAND is a non-fungible token that represents land owned by players in the community. Similar to MANA, it also provides voting power as part of Decentraland's governance protocol.
However, LAND does not need to be blocked in the DAO and provides two thousand votes per LAND token. Players with multiple lots can tie them to a single property token, with voting power equal to the lots contained.
What is Decentraland DAO?
One of the interesting aspects of Decentraland is its focus on decentralization. As we have already discussed, the community of players controls Decentraland's land, digital assets and developments.
As an Autonomous Decentralized Organization, the project uses open source code to regulate its rules. Anyone who has bet their MANA or has a LAND can create and vote on proposals.
Decentraland DAO runs on the DAO Aragon software solution, using an agent that can interact with Ethereum smart contracts.
Use cases and decentralized
Since the platform's design, Decentraland's developers have kept in mind its potential for new use cases in blockchain-based communities. Described in your white paper are five main use cases:
Applications: users can create applications and 3D scenes with the Decentraland scripting language, providing richer interactions.
Content curation: neighborhoods developed in Decentraland, attracting fans with similar interests and increasing organic communities.
Publicity: the traffic of players in the neighborhood led advertising brands to buy space and set up billboards.
Digital collectibles: NFT items are collected, created and marketed at Decentraland Marketplace, giving users property rights.
Social: Communities on social media platforms or even offline groups can experience a more interactive way to socialize with their friends.
As with most games that contain blockchain savings, there is a chance to win some money. Speculation is common, with some land in demand going for large sums of money.
How to store MANA and LAND
You will need an encrypted wallet that integrates with your browser to interact with Decentral and fully. The development team currently recommends MetaMask to store its MANA (ERC-20) and LAND (ERC-721) tokens.
Final Thoughts
Decentraland is quite unique when it comes to blockchain virtual reality platforms. It is completely free to explore, so you can easily decide to enter the world. His development team took him from a small project to what he is now more than five years ago, making him reasonably mature compared to other crypto projects.