Even Virtual Real Estate Is Setting Price Records

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Virtual land in the online world of Decentraland grabbed international headlines after recently selling for more than $900,000, a record purchase on the platform, the Decentraland Foundation announced.

Ownership of some virtual land is bought and sold with nonfungible tokens, a type of cryptocurrency that records the ownership status of digital items on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, Reuters reports.

Blockchain-based real estate in virtual worlds has surged in price as part of an NFT market frenzy that began earlier this year, Reuters reports.

The virtual land in Decentraland was the most expensive purchase of land using NFTs as currency, Reuters reports citing DappRadar, a website that tracks NFT sales data. Decentraland transactions are based on the Ethereum blockchain, according to the site's frequently asked questions page.

Republic Realm, a digital real estate investment fund owned by U.S. investors, purchased the virtual land in Decentraland. The virtual land is comprised of 259 units or panels of land. It represents 66,304 virtual square meters, or 16 virtual acres. It’s the largest Decentraland purchase in virtual size.

In virtual worlds, users purchase land to show off their NFT art collections, walk around with friends, visit buildings, or attend events.

Earlier this month, a unit of virtual real estate sold for about $650,000 in the blockchain-based virtual world called The Sandbox.