For decades, the White House has represented the people of the United States and our democratic values. Until now, the public could only dream of owning a physical White House replica for their home. But now, you can own a piece of history—and home decor—via an NFT, powered by Next Earth.
Who Owns a Piece of History?
Many famous landmarks are of historical significance to their respective cities. Someday, perhaps, you might be able to “buy” a piece of the Great Wall of China or a spot on Mount Rushmore. But with the purchase of an NFT on Next Earth, the public now has that opportunity. You can own land tiles of the White House on the Ethereum blockchain, simply by selecting it from a map of Earth.
How much is it worth? Since the concept of the digital real estate replica is still in its infancy stage, no one really knows how this phenomenon will evolve. But in previous virtual worlds, virtual properties have been sold for handsome amounts. Therefore, it’s quite possible that an NFT version of the White House could be sold for a significant sum—similarly to a house—one day.
Building a Virtual Estate Portfolio
The White House may be the seat of the President of the United States, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable as a piece of real estate. The same can be said for other notable properties on the planet, whether they’re political landmarks or not.
Take a look at any major city on the planet and you’ll see that they have their share of prized properties, be they virtual or physical. And what’s more, land is where it’s at, given that you can build almost anything on it.
So what if you could buy a parcel of land somewhere in a major city? A plot of land that would be yours to develop – yours to do with as you please – in a world where everything is now a piece of digital real estate? That’s exactly what Next Earth is building.
Implications For the Metaverse
The White House NFT is just one example of a series of high-profile real estate assets that can be acquired in the metaverse. The metaverse represents the ability to own digital real estate in virtual worlds. The metaverse offers the ability to own, develop and monetize virtual real estate.
We have already seen a number of major business leaders who have tweeted about buying NFTs and other virtual real estate assets like sports collectibles in the metaverse. This trend will only continue to grow as more businesses and individuals get on board with investing in digital real estate.
The Future of the Metaverse
The metaverse craze is a hot topic these days and virtual real estate is no exception. One of the potential futures of the metaverse is akin to Ready Player One, minus the dystopian elements. NFT-based virtual real estate is already a reality, and it’s being pioneered by Next Earth.
Metaverse 1.0 was pioneered by the likes of Second Life and Sims, which are centralized virtual worlds that you can explore, build in, and play with. At the end of the day, your assets would be controlled by the centralized company in the middle.
Metaverse 2.0 combines blockchain technology with a digital replica of Earth for the first time ever, offering ownership of scarce digital assets that can be brought to life. Users form communities within the metaverse that offer opportunities to interact with other users as well as build virtual buildings within the metaverse.
Metaverse 3.0 is the future: It’s a combination of virtual reality with metaverse 2.0 and blockchain. This is a digital representation of what our home planet would be like if we had built it into virtual reality. People would be able to interact with the real world through digital avatars, chat as if they were in person, and build things that could only exist in virtual reality. Blockchain, the technology that allows bitcoin to function as money rather than just a digital currency, provides the necessary infrastructure for this new version of the metaverse to exist safely, securely, and transparently.
Next Earth is currently selling parcels of virtual land in their metaverse. With many exciting developments in the pipeline, like pixel-based land art, the NFT-based metaverse is already an exciting development and yet another example of how blockchain and NFTs are reshaping our lives.
Photo by Srikanta H. U on Unsplash