Decentraland, a metaverse-based platform, has enabled the renting of virtual land by owners. This comes as the metaverse narrative grows in the public consciousness.
Decentraland was one of the first platforms to introduce the concept of allowing users to own parcels of virtual land. In the universe, you can develop and sell these parcels.
Now these users of the platform, or LAND owners, can rent out these virtual spaces as landlords. According to an official company statement, starting this December, landowners will be able to rent it out for a specified period of time.
A LAND owner is the account or wallet address that holds the smart contract for the digital property. It could be “a parcel, an Estate, or both.” And by allowing owners of these properties to rent them out, the platform has opened up ways to earn passively for LAND owners.
Decentraland follows in the footsteps of popular metaverse projects like Sandbox by allowing users to rent LAND. Another platform where users can buy, sell and rent virtual spaces.
How Decentraland Came About
As mentioned earlier, Decentraland was one of the first metaverse projects. It was launched in 2017 after a $24 million ICO. However, its closed beta would launch two years later, in 2019, before opening to the public in February 2020.
Since then, users of the platform have been able to create a wide range of experiences on their virtual LAND. Some popular uses include creating sprawling 3D scenes, interactive games, and other interactive experiences.
These experiences are accessible through two native tokens, MANA and LAND. The former is an ERC-20 token that you burn to acquire non-fungible ERC-721 LAND tokens. MANA also serves as a utility token on the platform. It can be used to pay for a range of avatars, wearables, names, and other things on the Decentraland marketplace.