Decentraland

Decentraland is a decentralized virtual reality platform that allows users to build their own environments, marketplaces, and applications.

MANA is the ERC-20 utility token that is used to exchange goods and services within Decentraland and grants holders the right to participate in Decentraland ecosystem governance.

The Decentraland Foundation, the organization behind the development of Decentraland software was initially founded by Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano in 2015. 

Decentraland is powered by the Ethereum network and users are able to build applications, monetize applications, and participate in governance voting with the use of MANA.

MANA token launched on October 27, 2017 with its first land launch auction in December of that year. The platform launched to the public in February 2020.

According to the official white paper, Decentraland’s protocol consists of 3 separate layers:

• Consensus layer: For tracking ownership of land and virtual items within the game.
• Land content layer: A decentralized storage system for uploading assets and content like audio files.
• Real-time layer: For allowing avatars to communicate and connect with each other in-game.

Players can buy and sell a range of in-game items using MANA, and holders can also convert MANA into wrapped MANA (wMANA) and deposit it into a Decentralized Autonomous Organization wallet (DAO) in order to gain the ability to vote on the future development of the virtual world.