Decentraland

What is Decentraland (MANA)?

Decentraland is a 3D browser-based platform running on Ethereum that incentivizes users to operate a shared virtual world, often referred to as a Metaverse.

On the platform, or in the virtual world, users can interact, explore, play games, communicate, and buy and sell digital real estate. This is facilitated by the use of two tokens, MANA and LAND.

MANA can be considered Decentraland’s native token, as it is used as the virtual world’s currency. MANA, a fungible token, is used to facilitate purchases of land as well as goods and services.

LAND, meanwhile, is a non-fungible token used to define ownership of the plots of land found in Decentraland’s virtual world.

When Was Decentraland Launched?

Decentraland was launched with an Initial Coin Offering in 2017. During the ICO, 40% of the 2.8 billion MANA total supply was sold, raising $24 million.

Following close to two years of development, Decentraland began its closed beta in 2019 and then opened its gates to the public in February 2020.

Who are the Founders of Decentraland?

Decentraland was founded by Ariel Meilich and Esteban Ordano. Both co-founders remain involved with Decentraland in an advisory role, with control of the platform taken over by the Decentraland DAO.

Meilich, who served as project lead at Decentraland until 2020, is a serial entrepreneur with several start-up successes under his belt. He also has venture capital experience, having worked as an analyst at Charles River Ventures.

Ordano, meanwhile, is an experienced cryptocurrency tech entrepreneur, with connections to BitPay Inc. and Matic Network. He also co-founded Zeppelin Solutions.

How Does Decentraland Work?

Decentraland uses the Ethereum blockchain to track ownership of digital land parcels via non-fungible LAND tokens. On the other hand, to interact with the Decentraland ecosystem, users need to hold MANA in their Ethereum wallets.

Each piece of LAND has a unique coordinate in the Decentraland virtual world, along with a reference to a description file representing the content of that parcel of LAND.

This content controls what happens with each parcel. It also contains various file types to reference static audio and visuals in the parcel, define the placement and behavior of the content, as well as define interactions such as gestures, messaging, and peer-to-peer communications.

In real time, Decentraland also facilitates social interactions between users via the use of avatars, which are characters that behave as a user’s focal point within the game world.

The Decentraland marketplace allows users to trade LAND tokens as well as other in-game assets and items. These include avatar accessories, wearables, and even unique names. Controversially, the name “Jew” was once on sale in the marketplace for in excess of $360,000.

What Makes Decentraland Unique?

Decentraland is powered by smart contracts—sometimes to its detriment, as in the case of slurs being used in names.

Users can suggest names to be banned, but they need a certain number of votes to activate the Decentraland DAO’s smart contract. This mechanism received mainstream criticism in one notable case.

In fact, Decentraland has not had the best reception from traditional gaming media, receiving criticism from publications such as Wired, Vice, Gizmodo, Kotaku, and PC Gamer.

However, several of these outlets have taken an increasingly anti-crypto and anti-NFT stance, fanning the flames of frustration originating from GPU price wars between gamers and miners.

Notably, Gizmodo and Kotaku are both owned by G/O Media, a holding company under the control of private equity firm Great Hill Partners. The firm also controls other publications, including Lifehacker and The Onion.

Since being brought under G/O Media, Kotaku has had an exodus of headline staff, including editor-in-chief Stephen Tolito, investigative journalist Jason Schreier, Cecilia D’Anastasio, Joshua Rivera, and others. Many of these departing staffers cited conflicts with management or G/O Media. Decentraland has also attracted institutional participation. Sotheby’s conducted a metaverse auction, and Decentraland hosted Metaverse Fashion Week featuring brands like D&G, Tommy Hilfiger, and Perry Ellis.

Grimes and Deadmau5 have held concerts on Decentraland, and Samsung, Adidas, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Miller Lite have established a presence in the virtual world.

Reception aside, Decentraland lives up to its name in several ways. One of the most significant of these is the smart contract-powered DAO that is used for governance decisions.

MANA holders control the direction of the Decentraland virtual world, and Decentraland’s LAND can be monetized in many ways. This feature truly brings the Web3 aspect of the Metaverse through, since users can create value and be rewarded directly by it.

How is the Decentraland Network Secured?

Decentraland is built on and secured by Ethereum. In fact, it is a good example of the sheer power of the Ethereum blockchain and its infrastructure.

MANA and LAND are both Ethereum standard tokens, as well. MANA is a fungible ERC-20 token, whereas LAND is a non-fungible ERC-721 token.

Ethereum itself is currently secured by proof-of-work, although it will transition to proof-of-stake as soon as testing and development are complete.

Proof-of-work, popularized by Bitcoin and indeed Ethereum itself, leverages the sheer computing power of machines connected to the network to keep it secure.

Proof-of-stake, on the other hand, uses a game-theoretic system of economic incentivization and punishment for security, which is far less resource-intensive.

What is the Use of MANA?

The primary use of MANA is as a currency in the Decentraland Metaverse. It can be used on the Decentraland marketplace for users to exchange all sorts of in-game assets. It is also used to purchase LAND via burning.

Another extremely powerful use of MANA is in governance. MANA holders control the direction of the Decentraland platform by proposing and voting on policy updates, specifics of LAND auctions, and what is and isn’t allowed in terms of Decentraland’s content.

It must be noted, however, that a lot of this governance is applied via smart contracts. These smart contracts do not compromise on their fulfillment conditions, which need to be met in order to execute.

A shortage of voters has been a problem that Decentraland has faced on occasion. This underlines the need for MANA holders to be active participants in the ecosystem for it to succeed.

Who Controls Decentraland?

As mentioned, Decentraland is controlled by a DAO, or decentralized autonomous organization.

The Decentraland DAO owns the main functional smart contracts and assets of Decentraland, including the LAND contract, the Estates contract, Wearables, Content Serves, and the Marketplace.

The DAO also controls a MANA treasury, allowing it autonomy and letting it subsidize operations and initiatives throughout Decentraland.

The Decentraland DAO is supported by a Security Advisory Board (SAB), comprising five community-picked members. It acts as a guarantor of contract security and responds quickly to bug reports. The SAB has the authority to upgrade the LAND and the implementation of Estate contracts upon receiving a responsible disclosure bug report.

How Much MANA Is In Circulation?

At its ICO in 2017, MANA had an initial total circulation of 2.8 billion MANA tokens. However, this amount has since been reduced given that users burn MANA in order to mint LAND tokens on the platform.

There are several mechanisms that result in MANA burning beyond the LAND minting, including a small percentage burned on each Decentraland marketplace transaction.

MANA was actually intended to inflate at a gradually decreasing rate, but this inflation is disabled, and therefore MANA remains a deflationary token.

Beyond the 40% of MANA’s supply sold during its ICO, 20% was reserved to incentivize the community, 20% went to the development team and early backers, and the final 20% was held by Decentraland.

How Do You Buy MANA?

MANA can be purchased on many exchanges around the world, including on the top CEX platforms. It is often paired against major stablecoins and top cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, and even has fiat pairs on some exchanges.

Besides that, you can also purchase MANA on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap.

Is It Possible to Buy MANA Instantly?

Since MANA is an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, transaction speed depends on what network is being used to buy it. Purchasing MANA on Ethereum layer 1 will take a little time, with Ethereum normally taking about six minutes until finality.

However, using one of the many Layer 2 technologies compatible with Ethereum will dramatically improve transaction speed as well as cost.

Of course, purchasing MANA on a centralized exchange is instant. However, these exchange accounts are custodial, meaning that you have no direct access to your MANA until you withdraw it to a non-custodial (your own) wallet.

How Do You Store MANA?

As mentioned, MANA is stored in wallets. These can come in many forms, with one of the major distinctions being custodial versus non-custodial, or trusting a third party to hold your coins for you versus keeping them safe yourself.

Beyond this, there are hot and cold wallets. Hot wallets connect to the internet and include exchange accounts as well as desktop clients and browser extension wallets. Cold wallets, on the other hand, stay offline, keeping your MANA safe from any online attacks.

Decentraland Energy Consumption

Decentraland doesn’t have its own blockchain and therefore can’t really be assessed in terms of energy consumption.

It could be argued that, since it exists on Ethereum, it could account for some of Ethereum’s footprint. That said, the Ethereum ecosystem is vast, and there are plenty of other platforms built on Ethereum.

Furthermore, Decentraland is a browser-based platform, ensuring that most computers with modern specifications can run it without a challenge. It doesn’t require any specialized hardware or require users to purchase expensive, high-intake rigs.

Is MANA a Good Investment?

Investing in MANA is seen by many as an investment in the metaverse. And, while Decentraland is one of the most successful implementations of the idea, it has plenty of ways to go.

Some of the criticism it has received has been unfair and has potentially come from voices with either a bias or an agenda. Still, that isn’t to say that some of said criticism hasn’t been warranted.

The massively multiplayer online (MMO) genre of computer games, or simply an online platform, is hugely popular. Decentraland is a proof of concept as to how Web3 principles of decentralized governance, creator ownership, and reward can apply to the space.

As such, the potential for competition is sky high—as is the potential for appreciation, if Decentraland is able to crush its bugs, polish its looks, and scale to the masses.

As the number of active users on the platform as well as the engagement with its different activities and marketplace rises, so might the demand for MANA.