What happened: Virtual land tokenized as an NFT just sold for $19,321, which is 8.17x the current floor price of 1.755 Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) ($19,321 USD). The collection consists of over 97,000 plots of land –– at the current moment each plot Land parcels are 16m x 16m, or 52 square feet. Land in Decentraland and The Sandbox skyrocketed after Facebook's rebrand to meta, as more investors become aware of what the metaverse is. Most of the time, virtual land sells at a premium due to the size of the lot and its proximity to the center of the metaverse.

Ethereum's blockchain is home to open world metaverses, with the 2 largest being Decentraland (CRYPTO: MANA) and The Sandbox (CRYPTO: SAND). Brands like Adidas (OTC:ADDYY) and Atari (OTC:PONGF) have bought virtual land in these blockchain-based metaverses, and some companies believe that much of retail will eventually happen within the metaverse.

The term metaverse is used to describe the evolution of human's interaction with the internet. As we spend more and more of our time on the internet, the gap between the real world and our online identities declines. Eventually, the metaverse is intended to be an immersive virtual world where people enjoy digital ownership and can interact with their peers.

Why it Matters: After Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) announced its rebrand to Meta, investors began to pay attention to platforms that are building metaverses. Smart contract blockchains can secure ownership of digital assets, so these networks play a crucial role in building out the metaverse.

See Also: NFT Release Calendar and Best NFT Projects of 2021

Data provided by OpenSea.

Checkout the full The Sandbox collection

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This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and reviewed by an editor.