Buzz Around Metaverse Fuels Booming Digital Property Market
In recent weeks, the buzz around the metaverse — a virtual reality where people can work, socialise, and play games — has spiralled following Facebook’s announcement that it would be changing its name to Meta as it shifts its focus toward virtual reality.
This week, Republic Realm announced it had spent a record-breaking $4.3 million on digital land through the “virtual world” website The Sandbox, following on from a $2.4 million digital land purchase by crypto company Tokens.com through Decentraland in late November. Such websites are self-labelled as prototypes of the metaverse.
Tech consultant Cathy Hackl says Facebook’s rebrand has “introduced the term “metaverse” to millions of people a lot faster than I would have ever imagined.”
Crypto data site Dapp has reported land worth more than $100 million selling in the past week across the four biggest metaverse sites. These include The Sandbox and Decentraland, as well as CryptoVoxels and Somnium Space.
Hackl says she is unsurprised by the booming market, which is generating huge potential for virtual real estate. Hackl says digital land is already functioning as an asset in the same way that real land does.
