Beyond enhancing existing systems and maximizing the potentials of old industries that have stood over time, blockchain technology is bringing home to roost certain ideas that may not have been thought possible before now.
A few years ago, it would have been out of place to think of owning a portion of cyberspace in the mould of real estate allocation. Today, this idea is not only becoming a reality, but a product of great demand with real economy as experienced in the tangible world.
The August rush
August 18 2017 recorded a significant event that proves the extended knowledge and belief in emerging technology by humankind. In the initial token sale of the first ever decentralized real estate in virtual reality (VR), Decentraland’s MANA tokens were sold out in just 35 seconds, raising $35 million in Ether. This development signifies a turning point on the general idea of property ownership, virtual reality and cryptocurrencies.
Decentraland is a virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain where users can create, experience, and monetize content and applications. The platform offers a virtual world that is ruled by open standards, shielded from the agenda of any central organization.
In Decentraland, users have full control over the content of the land they own and keep all the proceeds from the value they generate for other users, and this is made possible by blockchain technology as an unforgeable record of ownership.
Genesis City Auction
Having successfully navigated its initial stages of development, the platform is set to organise its first ever land auction tagged “Genesis City Auction”.
The auction is slated to take place in December 2017 and systematically organised land parcels shall be sold on a highest bidder priority system. The land parcels will be allocated in a progressive adjacent pattern where every knew allocation will be attached to an already existing parcel. This will enhance a proper community city design that will maximize future intrinsic resources to the benefit of landowners.
Registration to participate in the Genesis auction is already ongoing as at the time of writing. To register, MANA token holders can stake any amount of tokens with which they want to purchase a parcel or parcels of land. By staking, token holders will lock-in a given amount of tokens on the platform until auction opens. This registration will enable interested participants to secure their positions and not be taken unawares like in the case of the August 18 token sale. Also, tokens on stake will enable platform administrators to have an idea of the amount of allocations to expect come December, thereby creating a proper structure for the community.
How to register
To help users through the registration process, a community member, Dave Clancy has already put together some great tutorials as follows:
Staking can be done by going through a properly designed registration process which will remain open until early December. Users can participate by using MetaMask or Mist at terraform.decentraland.org.