By Anshul Dhir, Co-Founder/COO  & Ankitt Gaur, Founder / CEO , EasyFi Network
March 3, 2022: “Metaverse” the word seen fluttering around all our social media accounts and everyday lives. Something relatively unknown for the last couple years has sprung to existence allowing people to capitalise and ideate. The metaverse is essentially a virtual world. Just like our world this one is characterised primarily by land and then all the other NFT’s that accompany it. Land is and will always be an important investment for any individual! With the scarcity of habitable physical lands coupled by the prices, a new world of virtual lands has erupted allowing investors to have their eyes set on new and historically more profitable assets over the last year.
Backed by cryptocurrency, the metaverse is  the future of real-estate in the world. People are thronging to buy these assets as part of an investment or possibly some future practical use. The important point to note is the valuations and buying prices set for some of these virtual lands. The enormous amounts being splurged by people and conglomerates alike only go to validate the fact that the Metaverse is here to stay.
Lands in metaverse
Each plot of land in the metaverse is distinctive and can vary based on the metaverse that they are located in as well as the significant properties that might be located right next to them on the map. Just like regular land there are certain factors that play a vital role in driving up the price and valuation of the plot
The price valuations of land are absolutely absurd leaving people speechless in recent times. Some plots in the metaverse can go as high as over $4 Million. Then, there are plots available for affordable prices too. Not all plots are as expensive and some can even start from a few hundred dollars. However, just like the real world, everyone wants to be part of the best locations in famous metaverses like the Sandbox and Decentraland.
Some of the top metaverse projects that have attracted real estate are the Sandbox (SAND), Axie Infinity (AXS), Decentraland (MANA), Enjin (ENJ), etc. All of these projects are built on the Ethereum blockchain and use cryptocurrency for transactions that can be used in the metaverse. Apart from the above there are plenty of metaverse projects headed by gaming companies like Atari and Roblox.
While there are plenty of plots available on different metaverses, the most famous Decentraland metaverse project has been divided into exactly 90,601 plots and the Sandbox is divided into 166464 lands.
Land is a great investment in the real world but does the same apply to its virtual counterpart? The answer would lean more towards a strong affirmation due to the high ROI’s seen by investors in a very short period of time. With the craze setting in coupled by the investments made by top conglomerates there is no saying where these valuations might settle in a couple years.
Why buy Land in the Metaverse?
Before we delve any further it is essential to understand the advantage of buying virtual land over physical land. Imagine being part of a world that is absolutely revolutionary and allows people to connect in a 3 dimensional and life-like form with no boundaries. Imagine a world where you can shop, buy, roam around — and potentially do everything that you do in real life.
Blockchain technology makes it very difficult for any illegal practices to be carried out with respect to the land. Blockchain technology is essentially a distributed ledger, meaning that every transaction is recorded, bringing more transparency to transactions. This minimises any chance of real estate frauds such as forced cancellation, selling without authorisation, fake promises, and delays in possession.
Lending Explained
So, what makes lending solutions over virtual assets like real-estate so special? Well, the important fact is that these virtual lands can only be purchased with the help of cryptocurrencies. Other fiat currencies would simply not comply due to the transaction amounts.
The valuations of virtual real estate in any metaverse has been on an exponential increase with valuations crossing over a million dollars for just a single plot. For someone who wishes to purchase a high valued property, it would be incredibly difficult considering the enormous value of the transaction. Instead, what if there were lending solutions in place to aid the purchase of a virtual piece of land?
To take this a step further let us put this into a practical example envisioning ourselves wanting to buy an expensive piece of real estate but cannot afford it due to lack of funds. However, lending solutions through Decentralised Finance or DeFi changes this landscape completely. What virtual lending solutions propose is putting up a virtual asset in your possession as collateral and borrowing cryptocurrency to purchase the desired plot of land.
This may seem absurd but the fact that it has no third party involved like traditional finance makes it a much more lucrative means of lending and borrowing. Contracts do not need any paperwork to be completed due to the existence of smart contracts that could work out all of the details without any hassle.
In simple words, having a mortgage held up against an NFT for $10,000 owned by an individual investor is always easier than putting down $10,000 USD on a piece of real-estate.
The Potential of Loans in the Metaverse
We must understand that loans in the metaverse are a direct connection when it comes to bridging the gap between traditional and virtual lending operations. There are still many factors that need to be taken into consideration before sanctioning a loan or actually applying for it.
This could be with respect to the value in question or just understanding the operation of paying it back while valuing the collateral assets. The potential is too much to ignore and will allow DeFi to thrive in the coming years if operated and channelled in a regulated and a systematic manner.

EasyFi Network is a developer of a cryptocurrency platform intended for digital assets.