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A Fully Fenced-In Virtual Playground: What is The Sandbox?
Did you know that, according to Statista, there are currently over 2.4 billion gamers in the world? 😮 That’s about one-third of the world’s entire population! It's safe to say that there is a lot of money moving around in the gaming industry and some cryptocurrencies have been competing to get a slice of this massive pie. One of these is The Sandbox whose SAND token went interstellar 🚀 after Facebook announced its Metaverse push at the end of October 2021.
The Sandbox has positioned itself to potentially be the top 🔝 contender in the Metaverse race for cryptocurrencies. In terms of Play-to-Earn metaverses, there really is none other than The Sandbox that has been taking over the space.
What is The Sandbox?
It's a bit like Microsoft's popular hit Minecraft 👾, which features blocky characters and worlds that resemble retro game pixels transferred to 3D, but The Sandbox has a permanent and shared online map.
If you didn't know the history behind The Sandbox this was actually a game that came up back in 2012 and really refurbished itself into a 3D game in the crypto gaming space 🎮. The Sandbox is a gaming virtual world built on the Ethereum blockchain where players can build, own and monetize their gaming experiences using NFTs. Full ownership distinguishes The Sandbox from traditional games. When someone joins The Sandbox and buys a piece of land 🏞️, they receive an NFT, which is a title to the land. The same goes for in-game items.💍👑
Due to the decentralized nature of the Ethereum blockchain, neither the creators of The Sandbox nor anyone else can take land away from the user. One of the most disruptive 🌪️ elements of The Sandbox is that users can create new items ⚒️, mine them as an ERC-1155 token, and then sell them on The Sandbox marketplace 🛒. This means that it is the players who are financially rewarded for their creativity, not just the makers of the game.
There are 166,464 unique pieces of land in The Sandbox universe. Each plot of virtual land is 96x98 meters in size. Since no more land will ever be created in the game, this makes existing plots scarce and valuable 💎. When the player combines multiple plots of land into one large plot, it is called an estate. 🏰
Landowners can build things like museums 🏛️ and art galleries 🖼️ on their lots, and can choose to monetize the experiences they create by charging visitors an entrance fee. 🎟️
Digital art galleries showcasing NFTs and live concerts are the most interesting use cases for The Sandbox. Rapper Snoop Dogg recently launched 10,000 playable "Doggie" avatars into the game and hosted private parties and concerts.
Even if some events are invitation-only 🎫, anyone can join The Sandbox and roam the virtual world for free. However, in order to fully participate in the universe, the player needs to purchase a piece of land. Only players with land can create new items and sell them on The Sandbox Marketplace.
How does The Sandbox work?
The Sandbox leverages the Ethereum blockchain to track ownership of the digital land and NFT assets on its platform. Users further engage with its ecosystem using Ethereum wallets that hold their SAND tokens. Developers are also free to innovate within The Sandbox platform by designing the animation and interactions experience on their virtual real estate using several tools. 🛠️
Within The Sandbox platform, there is currently a Voxel Editor, a Marketplace and a Game Maker.
The Voxel Editor allows users to create a character, have it become an NFT and sell it on the Marketplace as a digital good. By using Voxel, users can build assets easily. This is the equal of a 3D pixel that can be used to build a lot of assets and have them animated as well.
With the Game Maker, players can create 3D games without coding skills 👨💻. The Sandbox's Marketplace generates in-game assets (NFTs) that can be traded 💱. These NFTs can be objects, buildings, accessories, and more that can be used in the virtual world. Inside the marketplace, assets created and uploaded to the ecosystem are automatically converted into NFTs. The unique nature of NFTs allows them to be sold for money or cryptocurrencies. There are now a lot of players who can create, share and sell game assets on the network to prove ownership and make money. 💸
If you want to get involved in the Sandbox economy, you'll need to know the difference between SAND and ASSET tokens.
Types of tokens in The Sandbox
SAND is the official currency of the Sandbox and players can use it to buy in-game items and purchase new land. SAND coins can also be staked to earn passive income.
SAND provides the foundation for transactions with The Sandbox ecosystem and it is used for the following purposes:
- By spending SAND, players can play games, buy equipment or customize their avatars.
- SAND is used by creators to get assets, lands, and earn passive income by staking.
- Using the DAO structure, SAND token holders can take part in the governance decisions of the platform.
Also, they can exercise their voting rights on key elements such as funding, payments to creators and future decisions on the platform roadmap.
SAND is the soul and heart of The Sandbox economic model that allows you to tie together the processes of creation, sharing and obtaining a gaming experience. With the help of the SAND token, developers and regular gamers can earn money doing what they love.
The second Sandbox-based coin is the ASSET token. ASSET is a term that refers to all of the in-game items people create and upload to the marketplace. ASSETs are represented by the ERC-1155 tokens.
Project Benefits
The Sandbox is a rather specific project that promotes the blockchain in a new direction - gaming. The key benefits of The Sandbox are:
- ✨ Original idea - and it does not even consist in using the blockchain to decentralize the gaming industry, but in building an entire gaming universe based on Ethereum. Functioning tokens are not so much assets, but rights to receive and provide gaming experience.
- 🔄 The use of NFTs - NFTs are a new trend in the industry and The Sandbox has found a worthy use for them. Thanks to NFTs, each site and game object in the virtual world turns into a unique and valuable property and can generate income for its owners.
- 🛠️ Great tools - Game Maker and Voxel Editor can be a good start for novice mod makers or game designers who will not only get the opportunity to improve their skills, but also immediately monetize their work.
How popular The Sandbox will become among gamers, novice developers and game designers, only time will tell. The project is still very young 🌱 and its functionality has not yet been fully disclosed. The full implementation of the roadmap 🗺️ is scheduled for 2023, and only closer to this time will the site reveal its full potential.
SAND in the Market Today
As of writing, Sandbox is valued at $1.295 having declined just under 10% since its recent highs last Sunday where its value reached $1.425, following the general crypto market movements as of the last few days! It is also approximately 85% from its all time highs from November 2021 where it almost reached $8.5.
There is strong support at the $1.25 level which, if it breaks through, eyes will be on the downward trend. However, SAND is in a fairly clear sideways channel at the moment sitting between $1.25 and $1.43. Although it is about 4% down in the week, the sideways channel is indicating capitulation and SAND is in a zone for big movement, whichever the direction.
Zooming out to a higher time frame, we can see an upward trend still in play but as of the last month or so, we can see lower highs and higher lows on the hourly, forming a symmetrical triangle. The closer the price action squeezes in, the closer we can expect a breakout to happen.
Is The Sandbox a good investment?
The Sandbox is applying blockchain technology to the vast global market that is the gaming industry 🎮. While there have been other attempts to use blockchain in games in the past, The Sandbox may be the first project to actually succeed. With a 100% focus on full decentralization, while other projects only use the blockchain to store in-game assets, The Sandbox aims to create a fully decentralized gaming environment where users have the final say in everything. ⚖️
Since The Sandbox ecosystem is completely controlled by users, it can organically expand and evolve at a very fast pace compared to centralized gaming environments. The SAND token is not only an in-game currency, but also a management asset that allows people to make important decisions regarding the development of the project itself.
SAND at NAGAX
The Metaverse is going to play an increasingly important role in people's lives, and cryptocurrency will underpin this new world. Want to know where to buy SAND and invest in a blockchain-based virtual world? Look no further! NAGAX is looking for new ways to make it easy for users to join the Metaverse.
Here are 3️⃣ easy steps to buy SAND on NAGAX:
- Sign up for a NAGAX account.
- Buy SAND instantly with a Debit/Credit Card or USDT through the intuitive NAGAX Wallet or Exchange.
- That’s it - you’re all set! 🤩
When it comes to buying crypto, you have a lot of options. You can directly purchase $SAND with a credit/debit card or other cryptocurrencies in the NAGAX Wallet. To learn more about buying crypto at NAGAX, please click here.
Discover SAND at NAGAX today! 🚀
Summary
- The Sandbox is a ‘virtual gaming world’ based on the Ethereum blockchain where players can create, own and profit from their gaming time.
- The Sandbox has two native tokens that govern the operations in its metaverse: SAND and ASSET tokens.
- The Sandbox is one of the leading metaverses on the market, with over 2 million users.
- Celebrities and brands have supported the space, including Snoop Dogg, Adidas, Paris Hilton, Gucci and others.
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