How to Buy MANA Tokens in Canada

“Welcome to Decentraland: The First Decentralized Metaverse that is Built, Governed, and Owned by its Users.”

Decentraland was founded by Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano in 2015. They created a 3D virtual platform in the Metaverse and opened it to the public in February of 2020. Now the game is run by a global community of game developers and animators who have continued to build and expand Decentraland, making it the first digital platform that is completely user-owned. Inside Decentraland, users can travel, gather, attend events and more. 

Players can use MANA tokens to purchase plots of LAND as well as pay for in-world goods and services. If you want to join the fun, look no further than Netcoins. With 0% funding fees, free cash withdrawals, and live customer support service seven days a week, we make it simple for Canadians to buy Decentraland (MANA) and other cryptocurrencies.

What is Decentraland and How Does It Work?

Decentraland is a 3D, virtual reality game built for people who are looking for a new type of artistic medium, a new business opportunity, or simply a new source of entertainment. The game plays a little like a cryptocurrency-enabled version of other popular games like Second Life (Sims) or Minecraft.

In Decentraland, players use MANA tokens to purchase plots of land as well as pay for in-app goods and services. Interestingly, the game hosts 90,000 plots of virtual land, called LAND, and each plot is its own unique non-fungible token (NFT for short).  Once you own a plot of LAND, you are free to do with it as you wish. You could build virtual casinos, art galleries, concert halls, and theme parks like some players have done. Other players have even created LAND-based services around education, professional development and tourism.

It’s pretty fascinating to see how a virtual world is being built right before our own eyes. Although there are lots of different projects creating virtual reality games, Decentraland is one of the oldest platforms and has collaborated with large businesses like Samsung and Australian Open (AO) in the past.

What Can You Do With MANA Tokens?

For starters, Decentraland offers two tokens: MANA and LAND. MANA is an ERC-20 token, meaning it exists on top of the Ethereum network. MANA tokens can be used to buy LAND tokens and they can be used as a form of currency within the game. In fact, MANA tokens can even be used to pay for a range of avatars, wearables, names, and more inside the Decentraland marketplace.

Given Decentraland is one of the first projects building a new kind of virtual world, MANA holders are actively building out an entire world within Decentraland. Players (and MANA holders) can vote on or propose new policy updates, have a say in the specifics of upcoming LAND auctions and even participate in conversations surrounding the types of content that are allowed to be displayed within the Metaverse. Players have a lot of control over the future of the game, unlike traditional online games whose rules and regulations are dictated by corporations.

Even though MANA was designed to be used in the Decentraland game, it is possible to buy, sell, hold and store your MANA tokens within any Ethereum-supported crypto wallet. Canadian investors can buy or trade MANA on crypto trading platforms, like Netcoins. However, it’s always recommended to pull out your crypto from trading platforms and transfer them to wallets in order to protect them from being lost or stolen.

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What Makes Decentraland (MANA) Unique?

The Metaverse can be thought of as a network of 3D virtual worlds. Metaverse worlds and games are powered by a digital economy that aims to build and strengthen social connections between people.

Meta (formerly Facebook) has been very vocal about building the metaverse. However, they are not the only game in town. Some notable games include Somnium Space and The SandBox. In these games users can buy land using an in-game currency. Players can also dictate the rules and regulations within the game, similar to Decentraland.

While on the surface level Decentraland works like any other virtual reality (VR) game in that players can explore, communicate, and immerse themselves in social experiences; what makes Decentraland unique is its use of blockchain technology and decentralized tendencies. Imagine having contributed to building an amazing creation in Minecraft that you were proud of and able to monetize from – that’s the power of Decentraland. It gives the control and financial power back to the player.

Why Buy MANA Tokens?

The metaverse is widely talked about as the next phase in human evolution. That’s because people will be working, living and playing in a new virtual reality. With companies like Meta investing 10 billion USD to build its metaverse, we can expect to see the demand for VR-related games and platforms grow. As a result, Decentraland may benefit from the excitement, with its currency, MANA, potentially growing in value too.

Because Decentraland is one of the first projects to build a decentralized world, MANA token holders have control over how the Decentraland world behaves. That’s because, if you own MANA you can vote on policy changes, specific land auctions and even participate in conversations surrounding the types of content that are allowed in the Metaverse.

On top of that, MANA token holders can also acquire more MANA by participating in Decentraland, like attending events or buying/selling land and NFTs. The incentive for earning more MANA pushes players to work harder to develop their worlds and entice others to join in on the fun. Decentraland also offers artists, animators, content creators, or any other participant the opportunity to build upon Decentraland if they have a great idea. This helps create hype and excitement, which in turn can help create demand for MANA – which is a good thing.

As the world continues to go online, cryptocurrencies like MANA are set to benefit from the digital world.

How Do I Securely Store My MANA?

You can buy MANA from crypto trading platforms, like Netcoins, and leave your MANA inside the platform. But in order to use your MANA in Decentralnad, you’ll need to transfer them into a crypto wallet, which is an application that lets you interact with your crypto holdings.

There are four different types of crypto wallets: hardware wallets, desktop wallets, mobile wallets and web wallets.

Hardware wallets look like a USB device. They are considered to be offline wallets because they’re not connected to the internet. The fact they’re offline makes them more difficult to find and to hack. As such, they’re typically considered the safest option to store your MANA.

Desktop wallets on the other hand are programs that store your MANA on your computer’s hard drive. Mobile wallets perform the same function as a desktop wallet but on a mobile device instead.

Finally, a web wallet is an online service that sends and stores your MANA on your behalf anywhere, anytime. Similar to checking your email.

Desktop, mobile and web wallets are all connected to the internet (and referred to as “hot wallets”). Like mentioned earlier, they are more susceptible to potential risks. On the other hand, hardware wallets (or “cold wallets”) are considered safer options as they are not connected to the internet.

This is why it’s often advised that Canadians pull out their MANA tokens from crypto trading platforms and send them directly to a hardware wallet. Only in this way, are they in full possession of their MANA.

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What are MANA’s next steps?

With major projects venturing into the metaverse, the demand for metaverse-related tokens will likely rise. Seeing that MANA is the first and most popular metaverse-related token, MANA is positioned to benefit from the growing demand for a virtual economy. Given the innovation and positive feedback on Decentraland, MANA could continue to sustain its strong position over the long-term.

If you are interested in buying MANA in Canada, Netcoins provides a simple and easy way to get started. Like any investment, it is advisable to do your own research before investing in MANA. Remember to never invest more than you are ready or willing to lose.

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This post is for informational purposes only. For proper financial advice, we recommend you speak to a financial advisor.