What is Decentraland? How Does MANA Work?

Introduction

Decentraland is a 3D virtual world that advances humankind’s realization of an advanced and unified Metaverse. It gives users access to a virtual world powered by the Ethereum blockchain, allowing them to create, own, and virtual exchange goods, play games, and connect virtually. Members are heavily encouraged to participate in the platform’s progress by creating their in-world assets and being active. This aims to mimic the dynamics of the natural world, even though it is not the Metaverse.

What is Decentraland (MANA)?

Decentraland, a virtual reality environment where users can purchase LAND, an NFT that represents a portion of the virtual map, is hosted on the Ethereum network.

Decentraland users receive rewards for managing a VR that the entire community utilises. MANA is the program’s native money. It can be used to buy LAND. However, LAND denotes ownership of a particular territory in the Decentraland virtual environment. Members of the Decentraland system can engage in social interaction, benefit from in-world payments, play games, and watch virtual material to have a distinctive experience.

This is the first of its kind. Due to the ecosystem’s decentralised governance structure, which vests power in users and MANA holders, users have complete control over it.

How Does Decentraland Work?

Decentraland, which lacks a centralised government, is used by users to run and control the entire VR ecosystem. In this alternative VR ecosystem, users can buy and sell virtual commodities and real estate, play games, doing whatever they want with their property as long as the platform’s features enable it. The Decentraland metaverse, which resembles reality in a virtual environment, allows users to interact, manage, monetize, and generate content.

The Decentraland metaverse is run and governed by two separate tokens: LAND and MANA. The native token of the platform, MANA, can be used to purchase physical properties and digital goods created and offered for sale by Decentraland users. Additionally, system governance employs it. LAND denotes ownership of a Decentraland environment metaverse parcel. The Decentraland app is constructed on top of the Ethereum network to track LAND ownership. The Ethereum blockchain is used to utilize the functionality.

The operations and features of the VR ecosystem, where consumers can produce and host applications, video games, and interactive content, are supported by the multi-layered architecture of Decentraland.

How Blockchain Powers Decentraland?

The very fact that Decentraland depends on blockchain technology allows it to develop into a modern society with a decentralized internet. It is decentralized and run by its members as an innovative contract-powered blockchain solution rather than by a single firm or entity.

The native token MANA is the foundation of the virtual world’s digital economy. Tokens from other NFTs and virtual properties can be purchased or traded using Decentraland’s MANA ERC-20 token. Additionally, it grants members who can take part in the administration of the decentralized autonomous organization in the virtual world voting rights. Several exchanges accept fiat or cryptocurrencies as payment for MANA.

Users can participate in the Decentraland DAO, where MANA and LAND owners are granted voting rights and allowed to influence the direction of the virtual reality. Members now effectively have more power, and there is no longer a chance that companies or other interested parties will try to influence how the platform develops for their gain.

By using non-fungible tokens, Decentraland is also able to provide full ownership of assets thanks to the usage of blockchain technology. On the Marketplace, users can gather, produce, and trade NFT items like real estate, artwork, wearables, and other digital assets. Possession of these digital certificates of authenticity enables individuals to influence how the virtual environment functions. It also turns assets into money because they are worth money in the form of cryptocurrencies.

Despite providing a wide range of opportunities, the cost of entrance into this economy may be considerable due to high petrol prices and potentially prohibitive NFT costs.

Decentraland Features

Like other projects that resemble the Metaverse, Decentraland has centred its virtual universe around a few distinct qualities.

MANA 

The native token utilized in this blockchain-based gaming platform, MANA, was earlier mentioned. It’s the money of the virtual world, and it may be used to buy expensive items like in-game clothing, artwork, digital property, names, and other things. Additionally, it grants voting rights to members who desire to participate in the DAO’s decision-making process. Users of Decentraland must convert their MANA into wrapped MANA or MANA to vote using the DAO voting system. Wrapped MANA is confined within the DAO and only has one vote in proposals for governance.

A total of 2.8 billion MANA were first produced. However, 1.49 billion MANA tokens were in use by the beginning of 2021. A sizable fraction of the MANA tokens were burnt during the LAND auctions.

LAND

An NFT called LAND in Decentraland shows virtual pieces of land owned by community members. Although LAND can serve various functions, which we’ll discuss in the following section, it’s also utilized in conjunction with MANA to determine voting power. Unlike MANA, LAND can be used without being wrapped and locked into the DAO. Two thousand votes are represented by one LAND token. Decentralanders with many distinct plots can combine them into a single Estate token. The number of properties that make up an Estate token determines how many votes it has.

Marketplace

Players in Decentraland can manage their on-chain assets through the Marketplace. They can exchange goods and services with other users and buy, sell, or rent virtual LAND Estates, wearables, names, and other NFTs. They can also communicate with other members, exchange virtual goods, look at the virtual world’s map, give their virtual property names, let other users look around their LAND, and more. 

Builder

Members of Decentraland are urged to contribute to the virtual world by making their assets, as was previously mentioned. The Builder feature of Decentraland is intended to simplify this process by providing an intuitive visual editor tool. It gives users the ability to develop and share Decentraland sceneries. Scenes are digital events produced on digital terrains, such as video games, exhibition spaces, retail establishments, or other interactive experiences. They motivate other Decentraland participants to interact with your works.

How To Use Decentraland?

The first Decentralized virtual reality platform and Metaverse for user interaction and communication are called Decentraland. Users can utilize MANA to purchase virtual property in Decentraland. Virtual real estate is built using non-fungible coins called LAND. As the Metaverse expands as a market for personal and professional uses, users can create and participate in interactive experiences. Users’ ability to purchase and sell goods, including services and collectables, creates a dynamic environment.

Besides being traded on the real-time cryptocurrency market, MANA has no applications outside the Decentraland world. The primary form of payment in the Decentraland VR metaverse is MANA, which may be used to purchase LAND, services, avatars, and other in-game goods.

How To Choose a Decentraland Wallet?

Since MANA is an ERC-20 token, you can store it in almost any wallet that accepts Ethereum-based tokens. What you intend to use the MANA wallet for and how much you must keep will influence the type of MANA wallet you select.

The most secure choice comes from hardware wallets, also known as cold wallets, like Ledger or Trezor, which offer offline backup and storage. However, hardware wallets come at a higher cost and have a little more learning curve. As a result, they might be more appropriate for holding more MANA for seasoned users.

Software wallets are an additional choice that is both free and simple to use. They might be custodial or non-custodial and can be downloaded as desktop or smartphone apps. With custodial wallets, the service provider manages and backs up the private keys on your behalf. Non-custodial wallets keep the private keys on your device using safe components. Although helpful, they are less secure than hardware wallets and may be ideally adapted to individuals with less experience or lower amounts of MANA.

Online wallets, also known as web wallets, can be accessed from various devices using a web browser and are also cost-free and straightforward to use. However, they are regarded as “hot wallets” and might not be as secure as hardware or software alternatives.

Conclusion

This is the first one that accepts Ethereum-powered purchases and ownership of virtual goods. The Decentraland ecosystem may soon develop into a multifunctional metaverse where companies may market and profit from digital content. The operation of Decentraland also reflects the growing acceptance of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which may increase the value of MANA as Decentraland becomes more well-known and has a larger community.