The concept of metavers – digital universes – is booming in the cryptosphere. And this enthusiasm extends far beyond Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Businessmen from traditional finance are indeed also investing in the field, like today with virtual land in The Sandbox.
The Sandbox becomes the playground for real estate investors
The Sandox (SAND) project has a metaverse with a pixel art design, which feels very inspired by the video game Minecraft. Since the launch of the alpha version of The Sandbox in mid-November 2021, there has been a real craze for its virtual lands, called LANDS.
Adrian Cheng, the CEO of a major Hong Kong real estate group, will also move on to buy properties in the virtual world of The Sandbox. According to a publication in Forbes, the head of New World Development has no intention of doing things by halves and intends to buy one of the largest digital land parcels in this metaverse.
In this virtual world, he intends to develop, via an “innovation hub”, the startups of a new economic zone gathering Hong Kong, Macau and cities of the Chinese province of Guangdong, which is called the Greater Bay Area. Will its large lot in The Sandbox bear the same name?
Real businesses represented in a virtual world
While The Sandbox’s metaverse may look like a video game, there are real companies in this world. Adrian Cheng explains, for example, that 10 companies related to the New World Development real estate group will be present in his land. These companies, such as Prenetics, Lalamove or Casetify, plan to offer non-fungible tokens (NFT) as well as immersive experiences and entertainment offerings.
“Providing structures for the next generation is essential to progress, so that this generation can create, innovate and feel part of something that paves the way for the future (…) The digital world is constantly evolving and we need to stay at the forefront of these changes, continuously exploring and developing the metaverse.”
Adrian Cheng
Will virtual real estate do as well as our physical world? Only time will tell. But with the recent $93 million fundraising that The Sandbox has successfully completed to develop its project, there’s no doubt that this metaverse will have plenty to build its new digital world… for a good while at least.
