What is Decentraland? All you need to know about MANA Token

What is Decentraland?

Decentraland is a project that provides an infrastructure to support a shared virtual world, also known as a metaverse. It consists of a decentralized ledger for land ownership, a protocol for describing the content of each land parcel, and a peer-to-peer network for user interactions.

Decentraland users can buy and sell digital real estate while exploring, interacting, and playing games within this virtual world. Over time, the platform has evolved to implement interactive apps, in-world payments, and peer-to-peer communication for users.

Two different types of tokens govern operations in Decentraland:

• LAND – A non-fungible token (NFT) used to define the ownership of land parcels representing digital real estate.
• MANA – A cryptocurrency that facilitates purchases of LAND, as well as virtual goods and services used in Decentraland.

The statistics below are just for the time being; the Metaverse GameFi, including Decentraland has been a very hot trend for the past two weeks, so there will undoubtedly be a change in movement in the long term.

How does Decentraland work?

World Owned by Users

Users can create scenes, images, challenges, and digital assets such as real estate, and avatar attire, as well as exchange them. Like many other games, this function provides the user the impression of being changed into a character.

Decentraland aims to establish a network that allows its content creators to own and capture the full value of their contributions. Besides trading items and parcels, players can fill their personal space with games, activities, and artwork for others to interact with, and personalize their avatars with unique wearables.

All these in-game collectibles are created using NFTs bought and sold on the Decentraland Marketplace. Anyone can create, buy or sell these digital assets.

Economic Activities

In Decentraland, users can trade NFT artworks or charge entry to a virtual exhibition or concert. They can also make money by trading land, prices of which have surged over the past few years.

Just like real estate, the key to valuing Decentraland LAND is based on location such as proximity to the road, distance from the center, proximity to districts, etc. People are scrambling to figure out how to place a price on their land.

Decentraland can be used for a variety of purposes, such as advertising and content curation. The obstacles to entry for new players wishing to get started with NFTs, however, are substantial. Ethereum gas fees nearly double the cost of some cosmetics. Land costs tens of thousands of dollars, making ownership prohibitive for some gamers.

For instance, Billboards near or in high-traffic land parcels can be used by brands to promote their products, services, and events. Some neighborhoods may become virtual replicas of New York City's Times Square. In order to engage with their audience, marketers can position items and create shared experiences.

What is the MANA token?

Decentraland uses two tokens, LAND and MANA, which allow users to interact with the platform.

• MANA is the currency that is used in Decentraland. Decentraland is made up of LAND, non-fungible digital plots of virtual space (or land) that make up the game.
• LAND isn’t the only asset available within the Decentraland universe - one can also buy virtual goods using MANA in the Decentraland Marketplace.

Detailed information about MANA Token

MANA Key Metrics

• Token Name: Decentraland.
• Ticker: MANA.
• Contract: 0x0f5d2fb29fb7d3cfee444a200298f468908cc942
• Blockchain: Ethereum.
• Token Standard: ERC-20.
• Token type: Utility Token.
• Total Supply: 2,194,102,327 MANA.
• Circulating Supply: 1,327,372,145 MANA.

MANA Token Allocation

• Crowdsale (ICO): 40%.
• Decentraland Foundation: 20%.
• Team & Early Contributors: 20%.
• Community & Partners: 20%.

MANA Token Release Schedule

The annual increase in the MANA supply will be 8% for the first year and a lower rate in subsequent years until reaching 60% of the remaining MANA tokens.

MANA Token Sales

Between August 16th and 18th, 2017, an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of Decentraland raised initial financing of about $26 million.

ICO Token Price: MANA = 0.024 USD

MANA Token Use Cases

MANA is the native currency in Decentraland. It can be used to purchase Decentraland real estate as well as other items in the virtual world.

How to buy MANA Token

Decentraland tokens may be traded on major crypto platforms such as Coinbase Binance, Mandala Exchange, OKEx, CoinTiger, and FTX.

In addition, you can use Coin98 Wallet to swap other tokens for MANA following these simple steps:

Step 1: Open Coin98 Wallet on your mobile phone.

Step 2: Search MANA token.

Step 3: Choose MANA on Swap feature.

Step 4: Adjust the amount you want to swap.

Step 5: Adjust the gas fee, then click Approve.

You can also buy MANA token on Coin98 Exchange with the same steps. Coin98 Exchange is a decentralized exchange (DEX), a Multi-chain liquidity aggregator that offers users a wide variety of DeFi services (swap, stake, lend, borrow,...) through intuitive and simple interfaces.

See Also: How to use Coin98 Exchange

How to store MANA Token

You can store MANA on Coin98 Wallet with these steps:

Step 1: Open Coin98 Wallet & click Search Icon on the home screen.

Step 2: Search MANA Token.

Step 3: Click on the correct result at Receive Tab with a specific chain (ERC20 or PRC20), copy the wallet address and send MANA to this address.

MANA Roadmap

• In 2015: Decentraland founded.
• In August 2017: $20 million raised in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
• In December 2017: The first “LAND” auction is held where developers pick prime virtual property locations.
• In March 2018: After becoming a priority due to demand, a Decentraland land marketplace opens.
• In June 2018: Developers begin to build their creations and LAND sales for the month are double CryptoKitties volume.
• In April 2019: Customizable avatars with passports are unveiled and will be available soon. Decentralized is expected to go live in Q2.

The ultimate goal is for Decentraland to have its own in-game economy, where people can rent land to others, put up advertising billboards for products and services and create gathering places inside the game for users to spend time in.

Team, Investors and Partners

Team 

Decentraland was co-founded by Ariel Meilich and Esteban Ordano - both have since stepped down from major roles, but still act as advisors.

• Ariel Meilich is an entrepreneur who has created multiple businesses and worked as a venture capital analyst.
• Esteban Ordano has worked in the cryptocurrency industry as a software engineer, an advisor, and the owner of a smart contract development firm, as well as a blockchain technology infrastructure organization.

Investors

Decentraland has raised a total of $25.5M in funding over 3 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Jan 1, 2020, from a Venture-Series Unknown round.

Some of the key investors are Digital Currency Group, Animoca Brands, Boost VC, Fabric Ventures, Genesis One Capital, Fundamental Labs, George Burke, etc.

Partners

Binance: Binance is supporting blockchain-driven gaming innovations by working with Decentraland. Under this collaboration, you can use Binance Coin (BNB) to participate in Decentraland’s upcoming auction for virtual land parcels, called LAND.

Is Decentraland (MANA) a good investment?

Metaverse coins have been affected by Facebook's decision to change their name to Meta and focus on the metaverse. The spread of the Metaverse, as more significant firms begin to focus on similar virtual worlds, could have a favorable impact on Metaverse Crypto initiatives.

MANA had the advantage of being established 4 years ago, giving it a head start on its competitors.

I discovered the problem of unsteady transmission and excessive gas fees when experiencing MANA. These are the considerations you should make before deciding whether or not to invest.

On the other hand, Meta's roadmap until 2028-2030 will only deliver the Metaverse product they desire. So far, I believe it is too early to consider its use in daily life.

Disclaimer: All the information in this article is only for information purposes and should NOT be considered investment advice. Investing in Crypto contains hugely high risks, and you should only invest the fund you are willing to lose.

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