Punjabi pop star Daler Mehndi has bought virtual real estate on the Indian metaverse platform called PartyNite and named it Balle Balle Land.

This land, which will house the Daler Mehndi Store, will be used to sell merchandise as non-fungible tokens or NFTs, host films, events and music concerts. It was inaugurated on Holi.

Daler Mehndi was the first performer from India to conduct a concert on PartyNite Metaverse on Republic Day this year. “I really enjoyed performing on PartyNite and I wanted a permanent presence and, hence, created Balle Balle Land,” the 54-year-old singer said.

PartyNite is an Indian metaverse platform developed by Hyderabad-based gaming studio Gamitronics. The digital parallel universe powered by blockchain allows users to create avatars of themselves, hang out and party with others, sell or buy NFTs, dance and listen to music.

Who else bought plots?

Although a first in India, the real estate sector on metaverse is gaining traction across the world. Earlier this month, banking giant HSBC agreed to buy a plot of virtual real estate in a San Francisco-based online gaming space ‘The Sandbox’ for an undisclosed sum, Reuters reported.

Last month, JPMorgan Chase became the world’s first bank to enter the Metaverse by creating a lounge in Decentraland. Rapper Snoop Dog has also snapped up plots in the virtual space for a variety of purposes.

How to buy land on metaverse

Land on metaverse is bought with cryptocurrencies and Ethereum is most commonly used, Forbes reported. Apart from Ethereum, the SAND, a currency associated with The Sandbox, an MANA, associated with the Decentraland platform, are also popular currencies. Hence, if anyone is looking to buy land on these platforms, getting hold of these currencies is the first step to buying virtual property.

While many plots are available on different metaverses, Decentraland and Sandbox are the most famous metaverse projects which hold 90,601 plots and 166,464 lands, respectively. The two platforms are currently the favourites as they have a well-established infrastructure and house celebrities.

Land purchases can be done directly from the platforms and the sale is recorded via transfer of NFTs. The buyer will also need to have a wallet to make the transaction. For becoming Daler Mehdi’s neighbour, one has to purchase land at PartyNite metaverse.

In the US, there are decentralised estate agents like in the real world, with platforms like opensea.io and nonfungible.com being the most popular agents for the digital domain. These platforms help buyers negotiate the price and sellers list their property.

However, it is important to remember that buying virtual land is a high-risk investment like cryptocurrencies and NFTs as the market is largely deregulated.