Virtual real estate is on a tear.
A plot of virtual land in the online world known as Decentraland sold this week for a whopping $2.43 million, more than double the previous record set for the price of virtual real estate.
Decentraland is a popular online environment where users can exchange cryptocurrencies for land and buildings. Users can also walk around the digital world and meet other users through customizable avatars.
Decentraland exploded in popularity last month after Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta, to reflect the company’s commitment to growing its offerings in the so-called Metaverse, which has become the latest corporate buzzword to reflect what some executives think will be the next iteration of the internet.
Metaverse Group, a subsidiary of Tokens.com, bought the “116 parcel estate in the heart of the Fashion Street district” of Decentraland for 618,000 mana, the cryptocurrency used in the digital world.
That was equivalent to $2.43 million at the time of purchase, Metaverse Group said in a press release.
The company said it will use its new virtual real estate to support its expansion into the digital fashion industry.
“Fashion is the next massive area for growth in the metaverse,” Sam Hamilton, head of content at the Decentraland Foundation, said in a statement.
“So it’s timely, and very exciting, that Metaverse Group has made such a decisive commitment with this land purchase in the heart of Decentraland’s fashion precinct.”
Various luxury fashion houses, including Gucci Burberry and Louis Vuitton, have flirted with the so-called Metaverse, releasing NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which are one part of the trend.
Other retailers like Nike have been explicit about their commitment to capitalizing on the Metaverse movement, though it’s still unclear exactly what that will look like.
This week’s multimillion dollar purchase of digital real estate far surpasses the previous record set in June, when a real estate investment firm paid more than $913,000 for property in Decentraland.