What Is The Sandbox? • Metaverse Crypto • Benzinga – Benzinga

Looking to buy SAND token? You can invest in The Sandbox today on Gemini!

Even before the onset of the global pandemic there were signs that Main Street as we know it is changing, and the focus on e-commerce for brands was going mainstream. 

So how did the slow adoption of buying clothing online evolve to creating avatars and virtual worlds in the metaverse? 

Blockchain, crypto and the global pandemic led to more innovation, more resources and more time to discover the potential of the technology available. The hype around virtual land in the metaverse has exploded in recent months. Today, buying and selling items in virtual worlds is one of the most popular ways to spend cryptocurrency and get involved in the ever-expanding crypto community.

As a blockchain-based metaverse game, The Sandbox is taking centre stage alongside a handful of other big players. It started out as a gaming company in 2021 and has developed into one of the main players in the virtual land boom. More recently, The Sandbox is where famous artists like Snoop Dogg are hanging out. Metaverse tokens like SAND from The Sandbox, MANA from Decentraland and ENJ from Enjin all saw significant gains in popularity after Facebook rebranded to Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: FB).

Now that we are seeing more and more brands enter into unique digital economies via the metaverse, it’s a good time to explore what some of these metaverses look like and how users get involved in creating these platforms. 

Overview of The Sandbox

The Sandbox community thinks of themselves as the open non-fungible token (NFT) metaverse, but to everyone else what does this mean? It means that users can develop and monetize creations in The Sandbox world. With a background in mobile gaming, the founders decided to bring their vision of virtual user-generated gaming content to the blockchain ecosystem. With more than 12,000 unique land owners in The Sandbox, including celebrities like Snoop Dogg and cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance, the platform is well positioned to play a role in the future of the metaverse. 

Within The Sandbox virtual world you can own, buy or rent land using the in-game currency, $SAND. Using the built-in graphics editor Voxedit, The Sandbox founders encourage users to create voxelized versions of their characters, buildings and assets. It features the ability to create a version of your ideal world from scratch using a dedicated toolkit.

The goal: Disrupt existing game makers like Minecraft and Roblox by providing creators with true ownership of their creations as NFTs and reward them for their participation in the ecosystem.

With more than 165 brand partners, including “The Walking Dead,” “The Smurfs” and established gaming companies like Atari (OTCMKTS: PONGF), securing real estate in The Sandbox and $93 million raised in the most recent round of funding, it looks like this metaverse is here for the long haul.

The Sandbox History

To understand The Sandbox today, we need to take a look at its history. The Sandbox was founded in 2012 and launched as a 2D mobile game that’s still available as The Sandbox Evolution. In 2017 it started migrating to a 3D game built on the Ethereum blockchain after closing an initial seed round with a total of $4.21 million.  In 2018, it was acquired by a Hong Kong-based software company called Animoca Brands and is now one of the most coveted metaverse platforms. 

The founders come from a deep-rooted mobile gaming background at a company called Pixowl. Across all of its channels the team stresses the need for things to evolve, improve and expand. This is exactly what happened with The Sandbox as it became The Sandbox Evolution and was subsequently acquired by Animoca Brands. After this period of transition in 2016 a whole new version of The Sandbox was created with a vision for incorporating blockchain technology. 

By 2018, Co-Founder Sebastien Borget and his team were poised to take on the world of NFTs and build a new open metaverse, allowing users to create, own and control their own digital assets within the game. 

The dramatic rise to fame in 2021 is undeniable as the project closed its biggest round of funding to date — $93 million raised by SoftBank Group Corp. (OTCMKTS: SFTBY). 

It constructed an experienced team, including video game experts from top gaming companies and highly qualified blockchain engineers. Now, with a growing community and a toolbox of features to offer users, the company has launched NFT maker Voxedit.

Is The Sandbox Useful?

As with traditional gaming platforms and most online commercial platforms, the utility can be determined by the loyalty of the user base. With a community of more than 750,000 supporting across social channels and 12,000 land owners, there is certainly a portion of the population that deems this metaverse useful. 

As creators continue to monetize their creations using the $SAND token, the utility increases within The Sandbox ecosystem. The Sandbox uses several token types to grow its circular economy within the metaverse. SAND is the main cryptocurrency most investors buy, and it’s an ERC-20 token used as the basis for all transactions. LAND tokens are unique NFTs that denote the virtual piece of real estate one owns, and ASSETS tokens are used as rewards for builders of user-generated content in the marketplace.

There are predictions that real-world assets will be traded as digital assets within the virtual world. However, the existing community is currently in building mode, and SAND will continue to be used to purchase services, trade assets, play games, create assets and govern the virtual world through voting and staking.

Where To Buy The Sandbox

There are many ways for enthusiasts to get SAND tokens. The tokens are listed on the second-biggest cryptocurrency exchange — Binance — and available for trading there. Many users receive SAND tokens through community airdrops, contests and reward programs.  You can also get SAND token on Gemini, which may be ideal for U.S based investors.

With a circulating supply of 913.4 million and a maximum supply of 3 billion $SAND tokens, users of the platform are certainly spending time transacting in The Sandbox metaverse. The Sandbox users can buy $SAND using their credit or debit cards through any Ethereum exchange. $SAND will allow users to buy and sell LANDS and ASSETS in The Sandbox metaverse, reward creators, game makers and LAND holders and provide the opportunity to participate in governance.

Players can also earn $SAND tokens when interacting with different games within the metaverse. 

The Sandbox Versus Decentraland

For any newcomer to the metaverse, the main difference you will notice between these two virtual worlds are the visuals — The Sandbox is pixelated and the other is not.

With approximately 30,000 monthly active users in The Sandbox and 18,000 monthly active users in Decentraland (source), it is fair to say that both metaverses are becoming more popular by the day. Both platforms have built their metaverses on the Ethereum blockchain. There are 166,000 plots of land in The Sandbox in comparison to 90,601 parcels of land in Decentraland. Both platforms allow users to create, build and monetize their land using NFTs and play-to-earn games.

Another similarity is that both metaverses have built-in creative tools. The Sandbox has Voxedit graphics editor and Decentraland has a custom builder tool, allowing users to customise and build unique digital assets for their estates.

Decentralnad has evolved to include many well-known businesses today, including ConsenSys, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and even the Barbados virtual embassy. It also recently sold its Fashion District for a whopping $2.9 million. The Sandbox has targeted famous faces and brands to offer a creative home for the world of NFTs and game developers.

Another difference between the platforms is the team structure. The Sandbox founders have vast experience in the world of gaming and are very involved in the direction of the brand. This gives it a more centralized feel with a dedicated roadmap outlined. Conversely, Decentraland is more community led with the Decentraland Foundation making decisions for the platform. 

SAND and MANA tokens have seen dramatic increases this year. This may continue as more users become familiar with the events and gaming opportunities offered within both platforms. 

How To Store SAND Tokens Safely

There are two types of wallets, software wallets and hardware wallets, and some are more popular than others. Not all wallets will be compatible with Ethereum-based tokens, so users need to thoroughly research the options to understand which wallets support SAND, LAND and ASSET tokens from The Sandbox. 

Software wallets are designed to make it easy for investors to use their cryptocurrencies and are free to use. Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN), Crypto.com and BlockFi offer software wallets. Hardware wallets are physical devices that store crypto offline. These are considered to have a higher level of security and are used as an intended saving mechanism. Ledger and Trezor are the most popular hardware wallets.

The easiest way to keep $SAND tokens securely is to store them in a hard wallet like Ledger. Wallets like Ledger support all major decentralized finance (DeFi) assets, including $SAND as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum. These hardware wallets are specifically designed to protect a user’s digital assets.

Does The Sandbox Have a Future?

The metaverse mania may very well continue into the future with the influx of big brands and individuals who realize the potential of building communities in the virtual world. Companies are seeing workers of all ages reimagining their careers entirely and searching for new opportunities where they can work from home. Perhaps, the metaverse is key to providing these opportunities.

A clear focus on partnerships with leading brands has increased the value and reputation of The Sandbox across numerous industries. Clever collaborations with celebrity names has allowed this innovative platform to differentiate itself from others. 

The Sandbox has managed to carve out a unique selling point as a metaverse housing some of the biggest brands. It has a clear goal to bring the platform to mobile devices before the end of 2022. As it invests in the creation of in-game jobs, continues to monetize the assets and adds features, The Sandbox should have a vibrant future.