Decentraland: DAO-Governed Virtual Real Estate

Continuing our journey into virtual real estate (we previously covered The Sandbox), this piece will uncover one of the earliest blockchain-based virtual worlds: Decentraland. Powered by the Ethereum blockchain, Decentraland is a 3D virtual world where users can explore their surroundings, play games, visit art galleries, or attend concerts and New Year Eve parties. Furthermore, users who wish to host these contents can buy LAND, build experiences, and monetize it.

Measuring public interest, Decentraland appears to be more popular than The Sandbox. In fact, it was more popular than the term "metaverse" in Q1 2021. Overall, all three terms saw a huge jump in October's search volume, as Facebook rebranded itself to Meta.