In the open-world metaverse game Decentraland, a virtual plot of land sold as an NFT for a record amount: more than $913,000, based on the price of the game’s Ethereum-based MANA money at the time.

For 1,295,000 MANA, the estate NFT, also known as a LAND token in the game, was sold. According to NonFungible’s data, this is the highest-valued LAND sale to date in terms of money. However, sales for greater MANA have occurred in the past when the currency was significantly less valuable. In November 2018, the record was set with 2,772,000 MANA, which was valued little under $211,000 at the time.

Republic Realm, a firm that invests in virtual real estate in crypto games, has claimed the new record purchase. Republic Realm is a division of Republic, an online investment platform that itself has notable investors, including AngelList, Binance, and Galaxy Interactive. Republic Realm has not yet disclosed how it plans to utilize the Decentraland estate, which is located in the game’s Dragon Kingdom district.

The business tweeted, “We can’t wait to disclose our enormous plans for this estate.” “We are more committed than ever to constructing and expanding the metaverse.”

Decentraland is an Ethereum-based online metaverse where players can freely explore the realm, engage with other players, and play games. The 3D game resembles a hybrid of virtual world pioneer Second Life and blocky sensation Minecraft, but with a blockchain-based twist of actual item ownership and a player-driven economy.

Decentraland isn’t the only blockchain-based game that revolves around digital land plots marketed as NFTs. Other Ethereum-based games that have made millions of dollars selling virtual real estate include The Sandbox and Axie Infinity.

In this example, Decentraland shattered an estate sale record set only a few weeks prior. Boson, a blockchain protocol, said earlier this month that it had purchased a Decentraland estate in the game’s valuable Vegas City sector for roughly $704,000, with ambitions to develop a virtual shop to market its decentralized infrastructure products.

Tezos has been named as McLaren Racing’s Official Blockchain Partner in a new multi-year technological cooperation spanning Formula 1, INDYCAR, and esports, according to a press release.

McLaren will establish a non-fungible token platform with a focus on the fan experience, using the energy-efficient and upgradeable Tezos network.

Tezos NFTs

Tezos is an open-source asset and application blockchain that is constantly expanding and upgrading itself through efficient on-chain governance.

McLaren will create a specialized platform that will bring together its illustrious racing history and famous driver lineups across all of its teams to provide an unsurpassed NFT fan experience.

Tezos and McLaren believe that innovation is the key to long-term success. By embracing clean NFTs and energy-efficient networks, the impact of this new medium for sharing creative expression will not be diluted by excessive energy usage.

Tezos’ pioneering Proof of Stake mechanism is a substantially more energy-efficient technique to securing its network than typical Proof of Work blockchains, consuming two million times less energy than Proof of Work networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

This enables Tezos to run in an environmentally friendly manner, with little energy use and a low carbon impact.

Teams With Tezos Branding

Tezos will be represented across the McLaren Formula 1 and Arrow McLaren SP teams as part of the agreement, including on the race suits of McLaren F1 drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Riccardo, as well as AMSP drivers Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist.

“Tezos and McLaren Racing joining forces to build a unique fan-focused NFT platform is an exciting and quickly evolving industry,” said Lindsey Eckhouse, McLaren Racing’s Director of Licensing, eCommerce, and esports.

She went on to say that the new relationship allows McLaren to enter a market where fans can own essential components of the team, and that the firm is excited to launch the platform with Tezos to create bespoke NFTs with our Formula 1, INDYCAR, and esports teams.

In the meantime, Hubertus Thonhauser, Chair of the Tezos Foundation, issued the following statement:

“We are pleased that McLaren Racing has opted to extend their NFT fan interaction platform to the Tezos blockchain, as it has one of the longest and most prestigious legacies in Formula One racing.”

“Blockchain as a concept is changing, getting faster, more secure, and more efficient,” he continued. This necessitates a blockchain capable of keeping up with the current rate of innovation. Tezos, the first and fastest-evolving blockchain, stays at the vanguard of innovation, providing real-world solutions in a robust and fast-growing ecosystem as brands explore for new ways to engage with their fans.”

Digital files such as music, video, and artifacts are represented by NFTs, which are one-of-a-kind collectibles. On June 23, the NFT for the code, which was created by British computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989, will go on sale, with bids starting at $1,000. Berners-Lee has signed this NFT, which includes his original time-stamped files.

“What is the purpose of an NFT? It’s a natural thing to do when you’re a computer scientist and you’ve been writing code for a long time.” He went on to say, “It feels natural to digitally sign my autograph on a purely digital item.”

The NFT also includes an animated visualization of the code, a letter written by Berners-Lee about the code and his process of creating it, and a digital “poster” of the entire code generated from the original files using Python, which includes a graphic of his physical signature and is all digitally signed.

The NFT files comprise around 9,555 lines of code, which incorporate components of the three languages and one protocol established by Berners-Lee: HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), and URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) (Uniform Resource Identifiers).

Berners-Lee said in a statement, “Three decades ago, I built something that, with the subsequent cooperation of a great number of partners around the world, has been a significant weapon for humankind. NFTs, whether they are artworks or digital artefacts like this, are the most recent playful creations in this area, as well as the most acceptable method of ownership. They’re the perfect method to package the origins of the internet.”

The entire sale earnings will go to causes that Berners-Lee and his wife support.

The auction is Sotheby’s third featuring NFTs. In April, the auction house sold its first NFT by unknown digital artist Pak, and only last week, it sold its second NFT, a rare CryptoPunk, for nearly $12 million.