MANA is the native token of the immensely popular Ethereum-powered virtual reality platform: Decentraland.
Decentraland (MANA) is an all-immersive virtual universe designed on a global network that lets users buy digital real estate in the form of NFTs, customize it, and create various monetized experiences, all while being able to interact with each other.
Launched by Ariel Meilich and Estaben Ordano, Decentraland started development in 2015 by the collective known as The Decentraland Foundation; a group who were looking to create a new virtual world to redefine digital experiences.
The first rendition of the platform went live in 2017 when the foundation did an Initial Coin Offering for MANA and initial NFT parcels of digital-real estate effectively named LAND.
However, Decentraland only went publicly live for the crypto community in 2020 and after the creation of the Decentraland DAO.
Decentraland DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization made up of users who own the most important smart contracts and assets that make up Decentraland: the LAND Contract, the Estates Contract, Wearables, Content Servers, and the Marketplace.
As an open-world metaverse, Decentralad users can interact with the platform in multiple ways; they can be players, land owners, or content creators.
Furthermore, they can explore Decentraland’s map and participate in various community events like concerts, conferences, and fashion shows, just to name a few, and also actively trade on the platform’s marketplace for goods like wearables, skins, services, and most importantly digital real estate.
There are 3 main types of native tokens on the platform:
As ERC-721 assets, Estate and Land are considered to be NFTs which are completely unique and cannot be interchangeable.
There is a unique coordinate for each parcel of land in the virtual world, an owner, and a description file representing the content in each parcel.
The native currency of Decentraland is MANA, which is used to purchase land on the Decentraland platform.
When LAND is purchased on Decentraland, owners receive a smart contract that gives them sole ownership of that particular piece of land.
The land is then stored on the Ethereum blockchain, where the owners can choose to keep it as is or customize it, sell it, or trade it with other users.
As a result, players now have the ability to own virtual land completely decentralized, generating a Metaverse-like experience.
Besides virtual land, MANA is also able to be used to purchase other virtual goods and services within Decentraland which include in-game items, avatar customizations, and access to premium content.
You can trade MANA on most cryptocurrency exchanges, including DIFX. On DIFX, MANA is available as a MANA/USDT pair for users to trade on.
Sign up for a DIFX account today and start trading!