The Most Expensive Purchase of NFT Land to Date

A patch of virtual land in the blockchain-based online world Decentraland sold for more than $900,000 on Thursday, in a record purchase for the platform, the Decentraland Foundation said. In Decentraland, ownership of virtual land is bought and sold in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). An NFT is a kind of crypto asset which records the ownership status of digital items on blockchain. The buyer was an investment vehicle called Republic Realm, a digital real estate investment fund, the Decentraland Foundation said. Republic Realm is owned by Republic, a U.S.-based investment platform backed by investors including Binance and Prosus. It was the most expensive purchase of NFT land to date, according to DappRadar, a website which tracks NFT sales data. Made up of 259 units or "parcels" of land, the plot of virtual real estate represents 66,304 virtual square metres (16 virtual acres), making it also the biggest Decentraland land purchase in terms of virtual size. The purchase was made using MANA, Decentraland's own cryptocurrency. The land cost 1,295,000 MANA, which was worth $913,228.2 at the time of sale.