WHAT IF YOU BOUGHT A VIRTUAL... LAND PLOT?

No, this is not science fiction!

Since the creation of the most famous virtual currency in 2008, the famous Bitcoin, many investors around the world have decided to create a parallel economy in a 100% virtual world, called the metaverse. Like the real world, it is possible to develop all kinds of activities. And of course, as in the real world, the lucrative real estate market holds a special place there. In 2021, 270,000 virtual lots were sold in the metaverse for more than 455 million euros. Large companies such as Facebook, Adidas or PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have thus become owners of digital land.

Four companies currently share the metaverse world: Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, Somnium Space and The Sandbox (which holds 60% of the market). But other, smaller structures are beginning to emerge, particularly in Luxembourg, which should have its own metaverse at the end of 2022: “The Duchy”. In this new universe imagined by Mathias Keune, specialist in marketing and augmented and virtual reality and CEO of the marketing agency Vizz, a little more than twenty plots will be available for sale. Then buyers are free to set up a virtual and lucrative commercial activity there, such as opening a shop or an art gallery, as is already the case in the virtual worlds already online. In the meantime, you should know that the Grand Duchy already has a small metaverse in which you can "walk" without having to have a digital wallet. Some large Luxembourg companies, including Post and CFL, have spent 1,500 and 5,000 euros respectively to build their own virtual spaces there. It is therefore a great 3.0 marketing showcase for these heavyweights of the Luxembourg economy.

Of course, in global virtual spaces like Sandbox or Decentraland, the price of land is much more expensive and it is paid exclusively in cryptocurrency. In Sandbox, for example, it takes at least 5 ETH or Ethereum, or the equivalent of 15,000 euros to acquire a plot of 95 m2. Although it is still difficult to determine if the acquisition of land in the metaverse will prove profitable in the more or less long term, the fact remains that the price of the are there is lower than in reality . As a reminder, in the Grand Duchy, prices fluctuate between 100,000 and 300,000 euros per are. Something to make big dreamers and geeks think about...