Introduction
- Blockchain-based game “The Sandbox” has been selling virtual LAND
- Crypto exchange Binance and NFT collector WhaleShark are currently the top holders
- Decrypt talked with representatives of Sandbox and Binance on the promotion of ownership
Currently in the field of encryption, a real estate boom is sweeping. The Sandbox under Animoca Brands is currently one of the most promising blockchain-driven games, in addition to attracting many partners including Final Fantasy developers Square Enix and Care Bears In addition, this game has passed several symbolic pre-sales so far.
Most of the pre-sales are LAND tokens, that is, virtual game assets in the Minecraft-style shared voxel world, which can be developed into interactive games and experiences, monetized, rented, or sold as needed. So far, Sandbox has raised more than $1.5 million through the sale of tokens, LAND. Unlike traditional cryptocurrency tokens, these tokens are unique because they are non-homogeneous tokens. In the blockchain gaming world, they are called “NFTs” (abbreviations for non-homogeneous tokens).
Although Sandbox has not been officially opened to the public, a pair of very different LAND tycoons has emerged, namely Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, and WhaleShark, the NFT collector and creator of $WHALE. So far, Binance is the largest LAND owner in the game, but WhaleShark and his diversified blockchain NFTs vault are not far behind.
Sandbox’s COO and co-founder Sebastien Borget told Decrypt: “We are very happy to have bigger partners who are’participating in the game’ by holding LAND. It is very important to leverage their community and attract their users in novel ways. Significantly, this can jointly create a new entertainment field, bring more freedom to players, and bring them SAND token rewards.”
Recently Binance is working on things related to Sandbox. It first sold $3 million in SAND game tokens, and then bought 4,012 of its own LAND tokens. According to Borget, Binance’s involvement has increased the popularity of the game and its unique economic status, even before it became popular.
He said: “Binance is the catalyst and expander of our vision. It brings the concepts of making money in games, creating games, earning rewards and tokens to new audiences. Binance is the world’s largest exchange; it is in every continent and Many countries/regions have points of presence and active communities, but the Sandbox team has not actively started any promotion or marketing.”
WhaleShark, another LAND owner. This mysterious figure created the WHALE token with his personal collection of digital assets and described it as a “social currency” based on NFT ownership. In addition to LAND, his digital asset vault also contains game assets from other blockchain-driven games, such as “Gods Unchained” and “CryptoVoxels”, as well as artworks from Super Rare.
According to estimates by encrypted data companies Messari and NonFungible.com, the vault contains NFT collectibles worth less than $1 million. According to CoinGecko, $WHALE currently has a market value of $34.6 million. In the past week alone, this market value has doubled. Although WhaleShark did not respond to a request for comment, Borget recently introduced a “collect like a whale” panel discussion featuring WhaleShark to discuss the unique perspective of collectors.
“WhaleShark is a thought leader in this field. As a proactive collector, he is committed to creating more value, popularity and influence in this field, and he is widely recognized,” Borget said. “WhaleShark particularly understands the vision of the sandbox and demonstrated its ability as a management talent, revealing the hidden value of NFTs in the art and gaming industries.
Working the LAND
Both Binance and WhaleShark have seen the value of NFT assets themselves. WhaleShark is buying large quantities of LAND and storing it in its vault along with other NFTs. He is fighting a protracted battle and hopes that LAND will continue to appreciate over time. Binance also sees the long-term benefits of this game, and together with the sandbox, it aims to help establish and disseminate game information.
“In the short term, we believe that virtual real estate will provide powerful tools for developing different elements, as well as opportunities for us to interact with other players and the entire community,” a Binance spokesperson told Decrypt via email. He said: “In the long run, considering their scarcity and utility, we believe that these are valuable assets. Together with other IPs that cooperate with the sandbox, we believe that the sandbox will create a large community and enable virtual Real estate is becoming more valuable.”
In addition, both Binance and WhaleShark plan to actually use the virtual LAND itself in the game. Of course, this is an asset worth holding, but it is also a digital real estate, which can be lived in as they see fit.
Borget said that WhaleShark plans to use sufficient artists and creators in the $WHALE community to let them rent out LAND freely and potentially create additional value in the process. In the LAND purchase announcement last week, Binance stated that it would hold an NFT game creation competition and reward LAND to creators.
The spokesperson added: “We are actively working with the sandbox team to design and utilize the elements of the system, such as games to make money, games and pledges. Our goal is to be able to engage with the community through a gamified experience and have meaningful interactions with them. Interaction, partly for brand promotion and promotion of our platform, but also to create a strong community, and also to show what can be brought about by integrating cryptocurrency with games, so as to increase the general understanding of cryptocurrency. For wider adoption.”
When asked whether a single owner gathering a large number of LAND would have any negative effects, and whether the sandbox has any reason to restrict or inhibit such behavior, Borget said that this problem does not exist, and this is the blockchain game sandbox and Part of the reason why similar traditional games are different.
“Digital copyright should not have any restrictions,” he said. “We support unlicensed asset transfers, and are breaking the centralized, closed, user-generated content game frameworks like Minecraft, Fortnite, or Roblox, and these games are effective for users in their world. Have complete control and authority over what you can or cannot do.”
Instead, Borget told Decrypt that he believes that these larger LAND owners will promote a “virtuous circle” to develop all sandboxes. Over time, the overall valuation of all created experiences will grow and gradually become more Many players pull into the ecosystem.
At least, this is our goal. As the sandbox plans to open up public beta testing to more users in December, we will see whether those early gamers can really promote the growth of virtual space.
Original author: Andrew Hayward
Original link: https://decrypt.co/42187/land-rush-crypto-whales-buy-virtual-real-estate-the-sandbox
