Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are individuals collectively organized in social applications and blockchains to pursue common goals and interests.
As the metaverse continues to mature in its direction, DAOs are gathering around the prospect of leveraging and investing in the metaverse. With Goldman Sachs valuing the space at $8 trillion, attention is being paid to the accessibility, usability and monetization potential of these virtual worlds.
The digital landowners of the Metaverse advertise some of the most well-known brands such as Adidas, Nike, Snoop Dogg, and JP Morgan. These entities are investing in digital land and aligning with the Web3 movement to better connect with consumers.
However, the biggest hurdle to joining the digital land craze is cost. DAOs are looking for fairer ways to invest in and utilize these virtual worlds.
DAOs have the potential to help new entrants join Web3 in a substantial way by making digital lands more accessible. That means exploring ways to share, rent out, and invest in the digital land of the Metaverse.
NFTs are the new keys to the digital world
In 2021, the two largest metaverse platforms, Decentraland and The Sandbox, have a combined transaction volume of approximately $460 million in digital real estate. These aren't the only Metaverses users use. In order to generate valuable resources, blockchain games such as Axie Infinity are building their respective metaverses within their land gameplay.
However, judging by the current price of digital land in all metaverses, many investors are turned away by the high price. In Axie Infinity, the cheapest lot is around 2.2ETH ($5550), while the most expensive is currently around 10,000 ETH ($25,254,275). The price range for land is based on the speculative value of its location. Similar to real estate in real life, geographic location has a lot of value in the metaverse, and users can gain benefits through strategic positioning.
Land in Axie Infinity will not only provide a way to earn passive income through its governance token, Axie Infinity Shards (AXS), but will also be an advantageous means for players to harvest resources to upgrade game characters. Knowing how critical land is to gameplay, community members have co-created the AxieLands (AXL) non-fungible token (NFT) to allow players to acquire digital land.
The premise of AXL is that it acts as an entry ticket to the digital land purchased by the AXL NFT team. Community members can purchase an NFT for 0.1 ETH ($252.15), and then get access to any land purchased by the AxieLand NFT. The AXL NFT team intends to purchase 110 plots in Axie Infinity, ranging from the lowest value plots to premium plots. Although the project is still in its infancy and needs to pass legal parameters before officially becoming a DAO, the AXL NFT model is best suited for gaming guilds.
Other projects that match the land play are also adopting rental strategies to provide the opportunity to acquire digital assets and monetize them.
Investors Can Rent Digital Land for Passive Income
In addition to game features, digital land in the metaverse has infinite possibilities, especially depending on who is buying and building it. LandWorks, a community-driven marketplace on the Ethereum network, has established a model for digital landowners to rent out their respective plots, while users can take advantage of cheaper entry points without long-term holdings.
In the Metaverse, LandWorks' model is simple in terms of creating capital efficiencies. Similar to the accommodation marketplace and platform Airbnb, LandWorks operates its community-driven marketplace for users to browse for land they can rent. LandWorks is operated by EnterDAO and governed by the native token ENTR, and borrowers can accumulate tokens through Synthetix rewards.
Currently, the platform only supports Decentraland landowners, but this may change in the near future. EnterDAO is going all in on the Metaverse, supplementing its rental marketplace with another of its products, the Metaportal, the hub for all games and activities in the Metaverse.
DAOs Are Joining Forces to Turn Metaverse Real Estate Into Investments
Metaverse land cooperative PangeaDAO intends to create a fairer virtual world in the Metaverse by democratizing digital land ownership. PangeaDAO's asset library is managed by its community and is the DAO's capital to purchase digital real estate and assets. PangeaDAO will manage a diverse portfolio within the Metaverse, allowing members to benefit from owning, operating and funding income-generating land.
Unlike AxieLands NFTs and LandWorks, PangeaDAO is a slightly passive way for investors to gain exposure to the metaverse, but it is more about how it intends to generate income in digital land through collaboration and investment.
While operations, functionality, and value distribution within The DAO are still in the earliest stages of development, like-minded teams are working hard for the future of the Metaverse and its place in the broader emerging ecosystem.
Investors are now entering new territory for the next iteration of the web with DAOs. While DAOs and the Metaverse are still a long way off, now seems like a prime time to invest in and build a more accessible digital world.
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