Metaverse in the spotlight, as digital land plot sells for $2.3 million on Axie Infinity

Play-to-earn gaming platform Axie Infinity recently posted on Twitter that “A Genesis Land Plot just sold for 550 ETH.” Amounting to $2.3 million, it is the “largest sum ever paid for a single plot of digital land,” as per the post. Axie noted,

“Our player-owned Digital nation continues to shock the world.”

According to the website, a Genesis land is in the center of Axie’s map and is considered “extremely rare,” with a total supply of only 220 plots.

“These lands will be the hosting area for special content like Chimera Bosses and Raids.”

Prior to this, a piece of virtual land was sold for a record $2.4 million on Decentraland. Reuters reported that the buyer was a subsidiary of Tokens.com called the Metaverse Group. The virtual patch of land was reportedly in Decentraland’s “Fashion Street.” This will be used by Tokens.com “to host digital fashion events and sell virtual clothing for avatars.”

Earlier this year, Axie had also sold nine Genesis plots for 888.25 ETH or $1.5 million. 

? Is this real life?!

? Congrats to @Its_Falcon_Time and @seedphrase for making NFT History!

9 Genesis plots. 888.25 ETH!

$1,500,000

The. Largest. NFT. Sale. Ever

Why? ?? pic.twitter.com/WcIbg6X1Z3

— Axie Infinity?? (@AxieInfinity) February 8, 2021

The Metaverse

It is noteworthy that these sales are now increasing on the back of growing investor interest in metaverse. In fact, a recent report claimed that it will be a trillion-dollar industry by next year. 

Metaverse has become a hot topic, specially after Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement around Facebook rebranding some time back and it is still gaining steam. A recent statement by Morgan Stanley mentioning that it might be the next big investment vertical makes it more interesting. 

Apart from Axie Infinity (AXS) and Decentraland (MANA), there are several metaverse tokens that include names like Enjin Coin (ENJ) and The Sandbox (SAND). These allow the virtual avatars of the users to trade and play in the digital marketplaces. 

As per CoinGecko, Axie returned over 30000% last year while SAND and MANA have returned over 15400% and 5200% respectively in the same period.

However, as AMBCrypto analysis had previously pointed out, there is an inverse correlation between Axie Infinity, and Sandbox along with MANA. Therefore, AXS’ recent consolidation in that period was accompanied by MANA and SAND rallies. 

In a recent interview with the Insider, Michael Sonnenshein, CEO of Grayscale stated that investors need to get educated on the metaverse, adding, 

“I think because the idea can be quite abstract, it really comes down to learning.”

Meanwhile, IOHK’s Charles Hoskinson also believes that the category will be “humongous” in the next 5-10 years.