Decentraland (MANA) what it is, how it works and forecasts for 2022
Understanding Decentraland and MANA
Decentraland is a project that runs on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain and whose purpose is the creation of a virtual world in which it is possible to operate as in the physical world. This means socializing, exploring and trading in this virtual world.
LAST UPDATE 19 February 2022
Preface
Before talking about Decentraland, let’s analyze how the world of video games has changed since the beginning Video games have ceased to be a mere technological curiosity to become a multi-billion dollar industry with more than two billion users around the world and growing every year.
Game designers create complex systems capable of managing virtual worlds (metaverses), gaming platforms in which hundreds of thousands and even hundreds of millions of people participate and interact. A
nd, like all interactions, these huge games lead to the creation of complex systems to support its playability, one of these systems being the cheap one.
For example, EVE Online (https://www.eveonline.com/), a game with 9 million users and several activity records, has its own in-game economic system that is so complex that they have hired economists.
The game’s virtual currency, ISK, is used by its players as a trading currency for real business. Simply put, there are people who play EVE Online, win play money, and use this money to exchange it for real goods and services.
This fact is repeated in other sectors. You can review games like World of Warcraft (https://worldofwarcraft.com), DOTA2 (https://www.dota2.com) or Fornite (https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/it/home) and you will see that many players use in-game items, points or coins as a means of exchanging value in the real world.
However, the virtual money obtained in these games is centralized, which penalizes their usability and fungibility in spaces other than those that the gaming community has created. In short, your coins or items are only valid for the players of that game, for the rest of the people that coin doesn’t matter, and therefore its value is zero.
Cryptocurrencies represent a decentralized form of value that you can use with anyone, anywhere in the world, and that you can trade when you need to. So if you combine the world of games, its virtual worlds and their economy with a blockchain and a cryptocurrency or our token, we understand the importance of what Decentraland has created: a virtual world with a blockchain economy inside.
The Decentraland (MANA) project is the clearest demonstration that the world of blockchain technology has evolved a lot in recent years. An evolution that has brought this technology to the world of games and virtual worlds.
The Decentraland token, called MANA, has long been under the magnifying glass of crypto enthusiasts due to some particularly interesting aspects, in particular its key role within the metaverse.
Decentraland’s price has grown considerably since Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg officially announced the new name of his company, META, and the start of work on the implementation of virtual reality.
The MANA currency is considered by analysts to be one of the Altcoins with the most promising long-term prospects, which is why it is advisable for those who are writing to buy and hold them in their digital wallet.
The crypto, for those interested, is available on numerous exchanges and you will find information at the bottom of this article.
What is Decentraland?
Decentraland is a name born from the union of the terms “decentralized” and “land”, and is the name of an open source videogame platform built on the Ethereum blockchain.
The creators of this virtual space are the Argentines Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano.
The Decentraland project began in June 2015 in what they call the Stone Age, when the earth was modeled in the form of a simple grid and pixels were assigned to users via a Proof of Work algorithm. In March 2017, the project entered the Bronze Age, and the 3D view was added.
Those who bought MANA, the ERC20 token, were able to obtain land plots and thus interact with other holders of the same cryptocurrency. The Iron Age adds multiplayer support, along with live chat and avatars.
The last phase, the Silicon Age, opened the world to full VR support.
In March 2018 the team launched the Decentraland Marketplace. A real decentralized market in which to buy and sell land belonging to other users:
Users who take part in the gaming experience first create their own “Avatar” and then have the opportunity to buy and resell lots of land on which to build. The currency used for the transactions is, in fact, the MANA which is the native ERC-20 token of Decentraland.
An important feature of MANA, which constitutes an intrinsic value, is the fact that, unlike other cryptocurrencies, it is not mined but is removed from the blockchain every time a transaction takes place for the purchase of land or other goods that can be purchased by users.
In addition to buying or selling land, MANAs can be used to purchase digital content, NFTs, advertising services and much more.
As can be seen from the trend of the last year, this token reached its maximum towards the end of 2021, increasing its value by about 400 times and several investors expect the continuation of the upward trend in the coming years and exceeding $ 15. by 2025.
How Decentraland and the Metaverse works
Decentraland is a DAO (acronym for “Decentralized Autonomous Organization”), ie a project that is not managed and regulated by a central entity but by the code contained in the smart contracts.
This means that no one can condition or modify the game environments at will and, to take part in the governance of Decentraland it is sufficient to possess the MANA and LAND tokens which are the “Non-Fungible Tokens” corresponding to the land plots owned.
While each MANA has a single vote, a LAND grants 2,000 votes, so the owners of many LANDs can exert more weight on future decisions.
LANDs often group into districts, very large areas created by players who share a common passion, such as music or painting.
The lots offered for sale are located in a marketplace, which indicates the value in MANA and any buildings present on them.
Decentraland, therefore, provides a virtual reality platform based on the Ethereum blockchain. This is the first decentralized virtual platform that stands out, for example, from Second Life primarily for being built on the blockchain owned by its users and then for earning opportunities.
Decentraland also collaborates with two other cryptocurrencies: district0x and Aragon.
There are literally no limits with Decentraland, you can create and explore anything. Users are free to build whatever they want. Some suggested options include live music shows, casinos, shopping, commercial activities, underwater resort visits, and car driving tests.
All this takes place in a virtual world with a 360-degree view capable of involving users through the web browser or thanks to the use of a VR viewer.
What makes Decentraland different from other VR platforms
The biggest difference between Decentraland (MANA) and existing VR platforms is that this virtual world is managed and governed with open standards.
Therefore no central organization is able to impose its will. In addition to being owned by users, Decentraland allows you to control the plots of land you own as you wish. In addition, the owners themselves are able to derive income from the value generated by other users.
Completely different, therefore, from systems in which the central organization, which manages the platform, takes a percentage on each transaction. Without a centralization point, there is no group capable of deciding commissions or fees to pay.
It is important to note that the land of Decentraland is scarce, a feature designed not only to increase demand, but also to improve the overall user experience and the ability to discover its content.
The MANA token is used to purchase land, directly from Decentraland or from other users (the land is transferable), as well as to make purchases of digital goods and services present in the virtual world.
The usefulness of MANA will grow as the lands of Decentraland are developed on the Ethereum blockchain.
Decentreland Game
To ensure the proper functioning of Decentraland, the development team behind the project created a structure divided into three parts:
Consent level: on which the responsibility of keeping track of all the operations possessed by the game falls. For example, if a player has created an identity and purchased a virtual plot of land within Decentraland, this level of consensus will create the corresponding blockchain record of those shares.
Content Level: This level is intended to store information that will be used to render content in the virtual world. The idea is that each user has in their possession a small part (or all) of the data to be returned, keeping the system as efficient as possible.
Real-Time Interaction Level: This level is what allows for real-time user interaction within the platform.
MANA and LAND tokens
This project has two working tokens:
The first, the MANA token, created as a governance token within the platform and for the purchase and sale of land within it. MANA was created following Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, so it can be easily integrated into Ethereum’s DeFi, DEX and other dApps platforms, allowing for quick exchange.
Decentraland has decided that the existence of MANA tokens would be limited to a total of 2,194,460,527 tokens, of which 1,816,935,591 tokens in circulation (November 2021).
Being MANA a limited token it will become more valuable as the use of the platform increases.
The second token is LAND, an ERC-721 standard NFT. Each LAND token identifies the ownership of a piece of land. Each plot of land has its own unique characteristics and, therefore, each LAND token represents all those properties.
To acquire LAND tokens, the user must exchange their MANA tokens for LAND tokens, an action that burns MANA tokens, making them even more scarce and more valuable.
Due to LAND’s relationship with MANA, the existence of this token is also limited and its creation responds to the smart contract by participating in the internal exchange of MANA for LAND.
In addition to this, when you have two LAND tokens together (two adjacent packs) then you have a Summer token in your possession, this type of token is important because both MANA, LAND and Estate tokens can be used in Decentraland governance.
Governance of the project
As already mentioned, Decentraland is governed by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). This means that those who decide the course of the development of the platform are the Decentraland community itself through voting and referendums.
To participate in the DAO Decentraland, users must be in possession of MANA, LAND and Estate tokens. This is in order to use them to exercise their voting power.
As a curiosity, it is worth noting that the DAO Decentraland was created using Aragon technology, a platform on Ethereum designed to create DAO in a very simple way.
To vote on the proposed protocol changes, you must have wrapped MANA (Wrapped MANA or wMANA), LAND and Estate tokens. Each wMANA provides you with one unit of voting power, while each LAND plot provides 2000 voting units and each Estate provides 2000 units of voting power for each plot within it.
To vote you need to wrap MANA and create wMANA.
In addition to the DAO, Decentraland has a Security Advisory Board (SAB) that oversees the security of the platform’s smart contracts, reviews governance proposals, and responds to bug reports.
The SAB is made up of five members voted by the Decentraland community. The board has the ability to delay or reject governance proposals that could adversely affect Decentraland.
Categorization of objects in Decentraland
An important point of Decentraland is its categorization of collectibles which are classified into:
Common: that have an existence equal to or greater than 100,000 units.
Uncommon: For those collectibles with a stock not exceeding 10,000 units.
Rare: for those who have a stock not exceeding 5000 units.
Epic: for those who have a stock not exceeding 1000 units.
Legendary: for those with an existence of no more than 100 units.
Mythic: for those who have an existence of no more than 10 units.
Unique: for those for whom only that unity exists.
This categorization was done to facilitate the publication and offering of collectibles within the Decentraland Marketplace, creating a positive market dynamic for the entire community.
Running Decentraland
Decentraland uses web technologies such as WebGL and Web3, all you need to run Decentraland is a recent web browser (Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, Brave, Opera, Edge Chrome) and a computer with an operating system that can offer you use the hardware acceleration to use this system.
Here is an example of what you need to manage Decentraland:
CPU: i3 (Gen 2 or higher) or AMD equivalent.
RAM memory: minimum 4 GB (8 GB recommended)
Updated web browser
Graphics: NVIDIA GT 730 or better (AMD equivalent or better)
Windows with updated graphics drivers (Mac OS or GNU / Linux updated)
Vulkan and WebGL support
MetaMask (for interaction with Ethereum)
Fast internet connection
The future of Decentraland
Decentraland has quickly become a very captivating game, and indeed many are already trying to replicate its success. The idea of blockchain-based metaverses is only just beginning.
That said, the future of Decentraland as a game and as a currency is promising. In fact, the community has greatly improved the gaming experience and the earnings from participating.
On the other hand, the security level of their smart contracts gives us the certainty that we are facing a well thought out project.
MANA price prediction
Data provider Price Prediction (https://priceprediction.net) expects the price to continue to rise over the next ten years.
According to MANA Price Prediction forecasts, the average MANA / USD price will be $ 4.46 in 2022.
Moving to an average price of $ 6.68 in 2023, rising to $ 9.42 in 2024, $ 13.3 in 2025, $ 20 in 2026 and $ 94 in 2030.
TechNewsLeader (https://technewsleader.com/) said MANA could reach $ 6.72 in 12 months, rising to $ 21.6 by 2027. TechNewsLeader expects MANA to hit $ 147 in 10 years.
The algorithm-based forecaster Wallet Investor (https://walletinvestor.com/) predicted that the price could reach $ 5.34 by this time in 2023 and reach $ 15.6 in five years.
Where to buy and trade MANA
Nexo
Buy MANA and trade on Nexo.io
Binance
Buy MANA and trade on Binance
Coinbase
Read our guide (soon)
Buy MANA and trade on Coinbase
BlockFi
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Buy ETH and trade on BlockFi
Where to earn MANA for free
Freebitco
earn easily BTC on Freebitco (then you can swap in MANA)
Cointiply
earn easily COINS on Cointiply
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