Buy Decentraland

Decentraland is a blockchain-based virtual world, or metaverse, where people can explore, build, and own digital land and items, and MANA is the cryptocurrency that powers it. It is one of the longest-running virtual worlds in crypto.

It helps to separate two names. Decentraland is the virtual world and platform, while MANA is its cryptocurrency. People often use the names interchangeably, but you buy and hold MANA, while Decentraland is the wider world it is used in.

The idea behind Decentraland is to let people genuinely own parts of a virtual world. Users can buy virtual plots of land, known as LAND, and create items such as wearables, all held as NFTs that they truly own. People can visit Decentraland to attend events, play games, explore creations and socialise.

What is Decentraland used for?

Decentraland is mainly used to explore and build within its virtual world. MANA is the cryptocurrency used to buy land, items and services across Decentraland.

MANA is used to:

• buy virtual land (LAND), wearables and other digital items
• pay for goods and services within the virtual world
• take part in governance and be held or traded as the platform's token

Decentraland is governed by its community through the Decentraland DAO, where holders of MANA and LAND can vote on decisions about how the world is run. When MANA is used to buy certain items, such as land or names, those tokens are often removed from circulation, or burned.

MANA is a token on Ethereum rather than a scarce asset like Bitcoin. It does not have a fixed maximum supply in the same way, and the amount in circulation changes over time, partly because tokens are burned when used for certain purchases. Like many cryptocurrencies, MANA can be volatile, and its value can be influenced by interest in the metaverse, the success of Decentraland, and wider market conditions.

The history of Decentraland

Decentraland was founded by Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano, with the MANA token launching in 2017 and an early auction of virtual land taking place the same year. The platform later opened to the public as an explorable 3D virtual world in February 2020.

Over time, control of the platform was handed to the Decentraland DAO, giving the community a say in how the world develops. You can find out more on the official Decentraland website.

Since launching, Decentraland has become one of the best-known virtual worlds in crypto, used for events, games, art and socialising. People buy MANA for many reasons, including using it within Decentraland, taking part in governance, or gaining exposure to the metaverse and blockchain-based virtual worlds.