Decentraland to get a Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration

The blockchain and crypto investor Digital Currency Group (DCG) and the international real estate firm Jamestown announced Wednesday that they’re going to recreate a significant cultural site within the virtual world platform Decentraland — One Times Square. 

One Times Square is a 26-story building in the middle of New York City's Time Square. Its roof is where the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop Celebration occurs every December 31, and the building itself is owned by Jamestown.

On December 31 at 11 p.m. EST, the virtual One Times Square will have its own digital New Year’s Eve Ball and will be the site of a New Year’s Eve party, marking one of the first times a major cultural celebration has been translated into the metaverse. 

“This event highlights how virtual events can cohesively integrate with real ones in an effort to bring once-in-a-lifetime experiences to so many that would have never been able to participate otherwise,” said DCG Head of Real Estate Simon Koster in a statement. 

The metaverse development companies GrowYourBase and MetaVenture Studios are constructing Decentraland’s One Times Square, located at -106, -119 on the platform. 

Decentraland gained popularity as a virtual world platform in 2021. Parcels of its digital land have sold for millions of dollars for shopping district development, brands such as Sotheby’s recreating their physical spaces.