What is Decentraland?

2 mins read

Decentraland is a popular blockchain-based virtual world where users can buy and sell plots of land that they can actually develop and build on.  If you have ever played a 3D game, you’ll find that it has a very similar look to it. And besides being gamified it also incorporates a DAO,  which gives its members the ability to help make decisions.  

Decentraland has a token called MANA which is an ERC-20 token. This token can be used to purchase digital real estate parcels, items, and other customizable assets (such as your username).  Land parcels are actually unique ERC-721 NFTs. 

How does Decentraland Work?

Decentraland is a virtual online space that combines blockchain with virtual reality.  Players are involved in a decision-making activity that allows one to control the rules of the online world via the DAO.  Players are also able to vote on organizational and in-game policies. Essentially, everything is controlled by the DAO.  

NFTs play a large part in Decentraland, representing everything from your username, to land to in-game items such as clothing.  Users keep these items in their crypto wallets and can list them for sale on multiple marketplaces.  To buy any new items within the game, you need to have $MANA tokens to purchase. Moreover, secondary sales on other marketplaces will typically sell the items in $ETH.  

Once you have a piece of land, you can build many exciting things on it.  Some players build games, museums to show their art, activities, etc.  Others utilize it for advertising. And if you happen to have a plot in a popular area, you can use it to advertise projects for others. 

Decentraland Use Cases

Applications: Users are allowed to create apps and 3D scenes with Decentraland’s scripting language, which can both increase the quality of projects along with helping to save some money in development. 

Content Curation: Neighborhoods and communities have been developed within Decentraland, where people with common interests and goals meet and work together.

Advertising: Owning spaces in popular areas can lead to revenue for landholders if they are willing to let people rent the space to advertise with. Artists sometimes will even rent a space to hold a temporary gallery showing.

Digital Collectibles: All items in the game are NFTs, which allows you to create and collect them within the game.  Some wearables are even airdropped related to promotions, like the BAYC Sweatshirt (link: 

Social: This digital space can be used for activities or meetings, even entire conventions. It’s a great way to connect with people.   

In conclusion, there are a lot of ways to use Decentraland depending on what you are looking for, anything from a connection to a group of people to advertising for your project, to investing in virtual real estate. But the best way to start is to simply go walk around and check it out!