Terra incognita (Sandbox)

Terra incognita

In recent years, metaverses have been attracting increasing attention. More and more companies and individuals have tried to set their foot on virtual land and explore the opportunities it provided. As the crypto winter was coming, this interest waned a bit. However, this new world still remains appealing and promising.

Though more people have become familiar with digital platforms and cryptocurrencies, the virtual land is in many ways still terra incognita for the general public. This project, using The Sandbox platform as an example, tries to shed more light on what the virtual land is, what companies and private investors are now involved in the metaverse, which countries show the greater interest in developing this new field, and what are the use cases of the virtual land.

The visualization below provides some basic definitions, general financial data, as well as information on The Sandbox testing phases called Alpha seasons.

The Sandbox LAND information

A plot of virtual land in The Sandbox metaverse is called LAND. The Sandbox's first public LAND sale took place on February 11, 2021, with a total of 1,740 unique LANDs for sale. The LAND price was set at 1011 SANDS for a normal parcel, and 4683 SANDS for a premium one. The SAND price on February 21 was $0.14, meaning you can get a regular parcel for about $141 and a premium for $655.

Sandbox's LAND floor price has gone from less than 1 ETH in Q3 2021 to an all-time high of 5 ETH in January 2022 to a consolidated level of 1.4 ETH in October 2022. The SAND price on February 21 was $0.14, meaning you can get a regular parcel for about $141 and a premium for $655.

To understand who invests in virtual land, more than 12,000 posts on Sandbox Twitter were reviewed mentioning #partners. 222 partners were identified. The partners were further grouped by country of origin and field of activity.

The Map a little bit closer

There are 3 main centers in the world investing in The Sandbox: North America, Europe and Asia. The most active countries are the US, Hong Kong (China), South Korea, UK, France and Japan.

The last step is to understand the variety of these goals.

Quite expectedly, they are actively minting and distributing NFTs, including in the field of art, developing games, and creating platforms for the interaction of various interest groups. Also new promising solutions are emerging as companies from the sports, music and fashion industries enter the virtual world. The relevant projects not even duplicate, but in some ways complement and expand their activities in real life.

So, how about going to a virtual skatepark, attending a concert in the metaverse, or taking a stroll through Hong Kong's iconic district Kowloon, which no longer exists in the real world?