What is Decentraland (MANA)? The Beginner’s Guide

When the Metaverse narrative emerged as a result of Meta, virtual world crypto developers enjoyed the attention but were also pressurized to make their metaverses ready for adoption.

So, in this blog, we will guide you through the Decentraland (MANA).

What is Decentraland (MANA)?

Decentraland is a virtual reality platform powered by Ethereum. You buy plots of land in this virtual world to later traverse, build on, and monetize. There is no limit to what you can accomplish. It is the first digital platform entirely owned by its users.

Decentraland is decentralised, as the name the data is stored on multiple community-maintained servers. Furthermore, the platform provides monetization capabilities that are only available in the blockchain ecosystem. 

How does Decentraland work?

Decentraland is designed to track real estate parcels defined by LAND tokens. The software uses the Ethereum blockchain to track ownership of this digital land, and it requires users to keep their MANA token in an Ethereum wallet to participate in its ecosystem.

Furthermore, developers have the freedom to innovate within Decentraland’s platform by designing the animation and interactions that users encounter on their virtual real estate.

Decentraland, like Skyrim and Fallout, is a fully immersive virtual universe. Instead of a two-dimensional screen, you are immersed in a three-dimensional world. It appears to be the logical next step before developing full-fledged AI-based games in physical space.

What is LAND?

The spaces you interact with in Decentraland are LAND, non-fungible digital assets that you purchase in the game. Once you own a plot of LAND, you can do whatever you want with it. You can build games, apps, gambling services, and even dynamic 3D scenes.

Although it is not its primary purpose, you can develop LAND-based services in the areas of education, professional development, tourism, and so on.

The number of LAND is limited, and each plot is 33 feet by 33 feet, but there is no height restriction. Decentraland recently introduced LAND Estates, a feature that allows you to manage your LAND more easily by associating adjacent plots. If you’re looking to buy LAND (or just look at the map), you should go to the LAND marketplace.

What is MANA?

As previously mentioned, Decentraland has a native fungible cryptocurrency that can be used on the platform: the MANA token. While each LAND token is one-of-a-kind, MANA tokens are used as currency on the Decentraland marketplace. MANA uses Ethereum token standards because Decentraland is powered by ERC20.

When you buy LAND, Decentraland burns the MANA you used to buy it. Initially, the Decentraland team sold each plot of LAND for 1000 MANA. However, now that there is a secondary market, LAND prices vary. Currently, the cheapest plot of LAND is 11,750 MANA, while more popular areas cost millions.

What is the Decentraland DAO?

The Decentraland DAO is the virtual world’s decision-making tool for MANA, NAMES, and LAND holders. The community can issue grants and change the lists of banned names, POIs, and catalyst nodes through DAO votes. The DAO is also in charge of the LAND and Estate smart contracts.

All DAOs, or decentralised autonomous organisations, are part of Ethereum’s new approach to organisational management and decision making.

Let’s go through some benefits of Decentralizing Virtual Reality:

Freedom:

Virtual reality is both immersive and interactive. As technology advances, so does the need for better methods of managing the content that is created. Users own their digital assets in Decentraland, giving them complete ownership and the freedom to do whatever they want with them—from trading them to selling them to keeping them forever.

Ownership:

Decentraland uses blockchain technology to power everything from land purchases to platform transactions. It’s a ground-breaking approach because it gives users ownership of their digital assets without having to worry about a centralised company seizing control or charging exorbitant fees for items.

Privacy:

Virtual reality in Decentraland is intended to be completely private. On Decentraland, you have complete control over your experience—no one can tell you what to do inside VR. This contrasts sharply with the metaverse, which remains heavily reliant on centralised servers and technologies.

Is Decentraland the Same as the Metaverse?

Even though Decentraland is a metaverse project, it differs significantly from the concept of the metaverse as envisioned by people like Mark Zuckerberg.

Decentraland, like Sandbox, Enjin, Bloktopia, and Star Atlas, is a type of metaverse project. As a result, it is not the metaverse, but it is certainly a participant in the conversation. While the metaverse and Decentraland are similar in many ways, including the fact that they are both virtual reality platforms, some key differences should be noted.

The metaverse, on the other hand, would be based on a centralised server system. This means that the entire virtual world is accessible via a single computer system. Decentraland, on the other hand, is built on a distributed ledger system, which means it stores information on a network of decentralised computers rather than a single server. This increases the security and dependability of data storage for users.

To summarise, while Decentraland is similar to the metaverse in some ways, there are significant differences between the two. Decentraland is the first popular iteration of the metaverse, which is still a concept to be built.

Is Decentraland a Good Investment?

Decentraland’s primary purpose is to be used as a game. Another application is virtual business development. MANA allows users to buy and sell goods within the game because it is primarily used as an in-game currency.

The popularity of “alternative life” games is encouraging, but it’s unclear whether this trend will spread to 3D and blockchain. However, if Decentraland achieves the level of adoption that its supporters anticipate, we may be witnessing the birth of an entirely new ecosystem of businesses and experiences right in front of our eyes.

Decentraland aspires to reach a much larger audience and integrate the initiative into daily life, making it a valuable investment asset.

Conclusion

The cryptocurrency market is extremely volatile, making price prediction difficult. Experts can form an opinion based on its past performance and direction. However, with careful planning and a sound investment strategy, it could be part of a well-balanced portfolio.

Given that the metaverse is a new sector driven by a strong community with significant growth potential, investors are betting big on Decentraland. The platform piqued the interest of most users because it was the first metaverse platform hosted on the Ethereum blockchain.

Carret’s simple and easy-to-use interface allows all users to trade MANA cryptocurrency at the lowest market fees.

You can learn more about metaverse and cryptocurrencies at:

https://blog.carret.in/