Virtual Universe or Metaverse is becoming a trend in virtual reality. You might want to consider joining Decentraland if you want to experience a metaverse where you can purchase land, interact with other users, and live and explore a life in a three-dimensional world. Decentraland is a three-dimensional (3D) virtual reality platform that was the first to create a metaverse where users can create, experience, and monetize digital assets, content, and applications. The digital universe operates on cryptocurrency with Ethereum at its base.
Users can purchase NFTs (Non-Fungible Token) in the form of LAND, a digital real estate property which cannot be recreated, just like real land. Getting a mortgage is also an option and users can also sell or lease their lands to other users in Decentraland. Moreover, Decentraland allows users to create and monetize apps or games within the platform. Users can, for example, organize events or activities where other users can participate. Decentraland is using DAO for governance, which means that token holders can vote on policies within the virtual world.
Items within Decentraland are priced in the platform’s cryptocurrency, MANA. Transactions are also processed with the same crypto token.
Decentraland’s Currency
MANA is an ERC-20 crypto token native to Decentraland used to drive its economy. MANA is used to get wallets, purchase LAND, virtual goods like wearables, and services. The token is also used to get a mortgage and to earn money within the platform by selling or auctioning properties. MANA is not only limited to Decentraland. Outside the platform, it is used for crypto trading. In fact, major crypto exchanges allow buying and selling of MANA even if one does not have a Decentraland account.
Just like any cryptocurrency, the value of MANA is volatile and usually depends on the positive or negative trends within the Metaverse. For example, if there’s a huge purchase of land in Decentraland, there is a noticeable spike on the market value of MANA.
Regardless of MANA’s performance, it is still essential within Decentraland. Users need the token to get most of what Decentraland has to offer. As such, it is always good to earn more of this fungible token. Staking is one option that token holders participate in to earn more coins without buying them, but it can only be done on a blockchain that operates on a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Before we find out if we can stake MANA, let us first understand what PoS is.
Proof-of-Stake
Proof-of-Stake is a consensus mechanism used in blockchains that keeps the network secure despite the presence of misbehaving nodes. Just like Proof-of-Work, PoS is used for processing transactions and adding blocks to a blockchain but using a simpler, more efficient, and power-efficient method. A minimum amount of token is required for those who aspire to be a validator. Validators earn the right to add a block to a blockchain once they’ve been randomly selected by the network. They then earn rewards when the block they’ve added is verified as valid but lose their tokens when the transaction was invalid. This incentivization is an effective way to secure the network as there’s less chance that validators will add invalid blocks when their tokens are at stake.
Oftentimes, it is expensive to set oneself as a validator, not to mention the knowledge and expertise required. Fortunately, crypto exchanges offer staking services where they will do all the hard work for a fee. All users need to do is open an account and stake the minimum required amount for a certain lock-up period. This is a passive and easy way for users to earn more coins. However, this is only applicable for blockchains that operate on the PoS mechanism.
Decentraland operates on a Proof-of-Work mechanism thus, directly staking MANA isn’t possible. However, there are ways to earn MANA rewards similar to staking.
Earning MANA
In staking, the tokens are deposited by the token holders, locked-up for a certain period, and then unstaked after the staking period. While the tokens are staked, users earn more tokens as rewards for contributing to the network’s security. Since MANA is not a PoS token, technically, it cannot be staked. Thanks to some crypto exchanges, MANA token holders can deposit their coins in their platform to be used for other services. In turn they will earn rewards for lending their coins, a process akin to staking. Here are five crypto exchanges that let you ‘stake’ your MANA.
Binance
One of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance, allows MANA owners to earn more of the token through their Binance Earn service. Binance Earn is a savings bank account service where token holders can deposit their tokens and earn rewards right after the next day of deposit. Binance offers a flexible lock-in period which means that users can withdraw their funds anytime. Other details such as the APY and the interest earned can also be viewed from one’s account once the ‘staking’ has started.
Celsius
Celsius is another popular crypto platform that offers rewards for those who lend their tokens. MANA is on the list of their supported tokens. There is no minimum MANA required for lending, but they only accept ERC-20 MANA. Like Binance, the lock-up period is flexible in Celsius, and earning starts as soon as you’ve deposited your tokens.
Crypto.com
Another great platform for lending MANA is Crypto.com. They also have their native ‘Earn’ service for token lending. Unlike Celsius and Binance, Crypto.com not only offers Flexible terms but also a fixed 1-month or 3-month lock-up period that allows users to earn more interest than the Flexible term. A minimum of 750 MANA is required to start ‘staking’.
Gemini
Gemini Earn offers a faster way to lend MANA on the platform. Once the token owner already has MANA in Gemini, they simply have to tap Earn and it will automatically be deposited in Gemini Earn. The lock-up period is flexible and there’s no minimum MANA required. Aside from depositing MANA, you can also buy the token from Gemini’s platform.
AAX
AAX offers a high-interest rate for MANA lending. The interest would depend on the terms used which are offered in Flexible, 7 days, 14 days, and 30 days. Users are required to deposit at least 160 MANA to start earning rewards. The interest rate can be as high as 4% for the 30-day lock-up while the lowest interest is 2.5% for Flexible terms, which is still higher than what the other platforms offer.
Conclusion
Although MANA can’t be staked, the crypto exchanges mentioned above offer ways for users to earn rewards by lending their MANA coins. Just like with staking, there’s also a lock-up period where the interest that users will earn depends. Before you invest your hard-earned coins, it is best to research on the crypto exchange and what they offer in order to maximize your earnings.
