The Sandbox blockchain is a community-driven NFT game where users can create their own worlds and earn cryptocurrency. It is one of the top games that implement the play-to-earn model (P2E), allowing players to develop assets and profit from them.

## What is The Sandbox All About?

The Sandbox is a multiplayer game that allows players to create their own worlds with unique objects. You can draw relief maps, make all kinds of puzzles, build a labyrinth, or visit the created worlds of other users. The Sandbox games don’t require programming skills; you just need to realize your ideas and create your own game. You can create games alone and with friends.

## How does The Sandbox work?

The Sandbox world consists of voxels (pixels with 3-D volume), similar to Minecraft’s cubic graphics. But it gives everyone a chance to create a game, design characters, and earn SAND tokens by finishing quests.

## Where can I play The Sandbox games?

The Sandbox is easily available on the App Store and Google Play Store. It also has a desktop version, only supported on a PC with at least a 64-bit processor, minimum Windows 7 and 4GB RAM.

You can start this creative unique by owning plots of LAND, which is a space to build assets, such as games and building, turning them into profits.

As of April 2022, the value of 1 SAND is $2.96 (£2.27).

## How to earn money in The Sandbox games?

The game’s main idea is to create unique items you can sell. So, you have to be creative to make money in the Sandbox.
One way to earn some SAND is to create artworks and sell them on the market. Another way is to create game designs and charge other players to play them.

If you want to generate passive income, owning LAND can also help you earn as the price of the cryptocurrency increases when more players invest in the game.

The game also allows users to rent out their LAND to other players and earn by participating in competitions and playing platform games.

## How to get started

To play the Sandbox game, you will need to install a wallet as a smartphone app or a browser extension to store your SAND and virtual assets like LAND.

The start can be quite expensive as you will need to invest some money into SAND and LAND. Once you log in with your wallet and buy real estate, you can start trading NFTs and assets. You can start creating your own by using one of the free tools The Sandbox offers:

•	VoxEdit: a free 3D modeling software for PC and Mac.
•	Market: a decentralized NFT marketplace, allowing users to trade assets for profit
•	Game Maker: a basic visual scripting toolbox editor, allowing to design games without coding

If you learn more about these tools, it will help you demonstrate your creativity and make a profit in no time.
What Does the Future Hold for The Sandbox in Metaverse?

One of the most promising NFT projects, The Sandbox, has partnered with over 165 brands, including The Walking Dead, Atari, and Smurfs. It has also raised $93 million so far and is dedicated to establishing its grounds in Metaverse.


Metaverse Sandbox Games: How to Play and Earn?

If 2020 was a breakthrough year for decentralised finance (DeFi), 2021 established DeFi as the hottest sphere in the crypto space. Yes, non-fungible tokens [(NFTs)](/news/category/nft-news/) and metaverse & gaming tokens have a charm of their own but DeFi is the only hero of this story. 

To put it into perspective, at the start of last year, DeFi protocols had a total-value locked (TVL) of $18.71 billion – this grew to an astonishing $250 billion by the end of the year and currently stands at $235.81 billion. The essence of technology is evolution and this year, we will see DeFi take the next step in its unprecedented rise.

Instrumental Finance is DeFi’s solution to a cross-layer, cross-chain future.

## The future of DeFi is in the hands of Instrumental Finance

Incubated by Composable Labs, [Instrumental Finance will correct a fundamental flaw](https://www.instrumental.finance/) in the DeFi industry – siloing due to a lack of interoperability between layer 2 ecosystems and the applications that use them. Yield farmers look for the best opportunities to maximize returns on provided liquidity. 

At the moment, a lack of interoperability between layer 2 protocols translates to several inefficiencies, including high costs and complexities. A cross-layer, cross-chain solution could help liquidity providers (LPs) tap into the potential for yield across different layers and chains. 

## How it works

Instrumental Finance provides a chain- and layer-agnostic solution for LPs that are looking to maximize returns on the liquidity they provide on various layer one and layer two protocols. The protocol streamlines the process of liquidity provision and yield generation. All you have to do is deposit funds into the Instrumental Vault.

Your funds will be deposited into the highest yield-generating pool available, irrespective of the layer or protocol it is on. It is as simple as that. If we dive into more detail, the protocol leverages Composable Finance’s cross-layer asset swapping tool, the Mosaic Bridge. 

The Mosaic Bridge integrates several chains and layer two solutions to provide users the flexibility to freely transfer assets and maximize returns on their liquidity. STRM, Instrumental Finance’s native token, powers the platform. 

## Staking

Currently, you can participate in the staking program. If you stake ETH-STRM LP tokens for a locking period of 3 months, you will receive an annual percentage yield (APY) of 217.53%. Over $1.13 million has been locked already – you are definitely not late!

If you partook in the Instrumental Liquidity Rush Program (ended on Dec. 31), you can lock your STRM rewards to receive veSTRM tokens and revenue share.

Instrumental Finance: the next DeFi generation

Polarity.  Volatility.  Even Mass Hysteria.  A wide array of terms can be used to explain the phenomenon of cryptocurrencies in 2021.  Whatever the term, it’s most certainly the type of phenomenon capable of creating new millionaires, which the market most certainly did in 2021.  Of course, celebrity tweets played a role in promoting the popularity of the market, but what a year it’s been for those with an iron stomach. 

Wall Street has always been fond of saying that “volatility works both ways” and you can ask the investors who bought into altcoins like AXS, SAND, or FTM back in January if truer words were ever spoken.

Though rocky at times with a couple of monumental dips, it was a fine year for the cryptocurrency market as it made huge strides towards mainstream adoption and gained $30 billion in new investments.  Those are remarkable achievements for a market that hasn’t yet adopted a regulatory framework and was all but outlawed by a global superpower (China). Still the popularity of digital assets continues to grow _no matter what_ the world seems to throw at investors. 

## A Look Back at 2021

A look back at the top-performing digital coins of 2021 reveals one thing about the future – get to know **[metaverses](/news/category/metaverse-news/)**.  Facebook's recent re-branding as “Meta” ignited a _powder keg_ that thrust every coin that was metaverse related into the stratosphere.  Essentially, a metaverse is a virtual world where people socialise, go to virtual shopping malls, buy virtual real estate, and do pretty much anything they would do in the _real_ world.  Most of the top-performing coins of 2021 are playing an increasingly crucial role in these metaverses:

### Gala (Symbol: GALA) – Revenue from the global gaming market is expected to reach $200 billion in 2024. At the center of it is a blockchain-gaming platform, GALA – a digital currency that shot up an absurd _51,000%_ in value in 2021.

### Axie Infinity (Symbol: AXS)– Another metaverse-related cryptocurrency that took early investors on a Nantucket sleighride in 2021.  Axie Infinity posted a gain of nearly 19,000% this year. 

### The Sandbox (Symbol: SAND) – Rage on, metaverse coins!  Sandbox has locked arms with mega-boosters, like Snoop Dogg who incidentally built his very own virtual mansion in the Sandbox platform.  Tallying a 14,530% pump in value since the start of the year, SAND enjoys its rightful place as one of our top performers of 2021.

### Fantom (Symbol: FTM)– Best described as a provider of ledger services to global businesses, Fantom has posted a surge of almost 9000% in 2021 and, with its very strong fundamentals, there could be more room to grow in 2022. 

### Decentraland (Symbol: MANA) – [Decentraland](https://decentraland.org/) is a wildly popular virtual world with 300,000 monthly participants (and growing).  Many of them wanting to purchase land or trade their digital wares in the platform.  To do it, they’re using Decentraland's official digital currency, MANA.  The surge in popularity was able to boost the value of MANA by almost 4000% in 2021.

As we march into the new year, we all aspire to discover the next coin best-positioned for a 50,000% gain.  Be prudent about your research, and understand this market is still young, extremely volatile, and oh-so exciting.

Momentum Behind 2021’s Crypto Gaming Coins

Step aside NFTs, the metaverse and GameFi token craze is real. In what has been a dismal week for major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Cardano, largely due to the signing of the US Infrastructure Bill, the rejection of a US spot Bitcoin ETF, crazy Bitcoin profit bookings, further Chinese crypto sanctions and news of the possibility of crypto being banned in India, many metaverse and gaming tokens have experienced considerable growth.

MANA, SAND and GALA in particular have witnessed substantial growth. Public sentiment is so bullish at the moment that a Decentraland patch of real estate [sold for nearly $2.43 million](https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/virtual-real-estate-plot-sells-record-24-million-2021-11-23/) on 23rd November! Following Facebook's rebranding to Meta last month, the world is looking at such projects with keen interest. GALA is a gaming asset worth looking at closely.

## What is GALA and should you buy it?

I am not giving you investment advice but wow, GALA sure is a fascinating investment prospect. In the past year, GALA has surged 200,000+% and reached an all-time high of nearly $0.06 on 25th November. GALA powers the Gala Games ecosystem, an Ethereum-based gaming network.

Gala Games currently offers 2 blockchain-based games and is developing 3 more. The decentralized ecosystem is controlled by its users – all decisions are taken by node holders and players, be it related to the development of a new game or what should be funded by the ecosystem.

Node holders can run nodes (Gala Nodes) via their computer systems and earn rewards such as GALA, limited edition NFTs and much more. You can purchase a Gala Node license for the same. All items that you win in-game are yours and are verifiable assets on the blockchain. GALA represents a long-term investment option, so explore its underlying project at your convenience.



Metaverse tokens and GameFi – a new trend

The adoption of blockchain technology continues apace with new and exciting avenues, presenting themselves on a weekly basis.

There is no more exciting environment than virtual reality and the metaverse right now. It seems as if these two worlds are the perfect fit for blockchain technology.

## GameFI Eco-System Fund

With this in mind, cryptocurrency trading giant FTX released details today of a brand new investment fund targeting [Gamefi](https://hub.gamefi.org/#/), the Metaverse and Web 3.0 companies. As a joint venture between FTX, Solana Ventures and LightSpeed Venture Partners, the ‘GameFi Eco-System Fund’ is allocating $100 million to invest in gaming studios, technology companies and ‘other projects’.

## Web 3.0

Web 3.0 can be thought of as the next evolutionary step of the internet. Through the use of artificial intelligence, decentralised networks and blockchain technology, the internet is set to undergo a revolutionary transformation. With many people viewing the evolution of Web 3.0 as less than 2 years away, the launch of the ‘GameFi Eco-System Fund’ is evidence that large investors are taking this space seriously.

This new version of the internet will be faster, fairer and have less need for central points of control and authority. Now, artificial intelligence and machine learning take the leg work out of administering and authenticating internet content.

## Play to Earn

Amy Wu of LightSpeed Venture Partners said gaming was a massive opportunity to ‘bring the next billion users to Web 3.0’. The global gaming market is currently estimated to be worth around $100 billion. Many analysts are expecting those figures to double in the next two years due to new concepts, which appeal to a much wider audience.

Mobile games like Axie Afinity and HeroFi have shown how blockchain technology and NFTs can be successfully incorporated into the gaming universe. Play to Earn gaming concepts have become huge hits in the Far East. Users can generate, trade and earn cryptocurrency by simply playing games on their mobile phones.

More [GameFi news](/news/category/gamefi).


‘GameFi Eco-System’ Fund $100m launch

Launched in 2015, Decentraland is the fastest-growing role-playing metaverse. You can create your scenes and applications, explore other users’ environments, and even trade some of your properties to earn huge profits.

Decentraland’s economy runs on the Ethereum blockchain with Fungible Tokens, called MANA, acting as the game’s currency. All you need is to invest these tokens wisely and grow your properties to make money in this metaverse.

If you think buying virtual land is crazy, then here’s a surprise for you: investors are shelling out millions of dollars for virtual parcels of land, and Decentraland is THE platform to be on.

## Community

It must be called a community just based on the fact that there are concerts on Decentraland! It’s an awesome way to discover and also support new and talented artists you may have never heard of had it not been for the power of Decentraland.

Concerts are one of an infinite amount of ways to even meet other players like yourself!

Some folks are even living their dreams. The ability to buy virtual land also allows for certain entrepreneurs who are following through on what might not have been possible in the physical.

People are opening art galleries, studios, karaoke bars, live comedy clubs, dog parks, and my personal favourite: casinos!

Owning land within a casino is a very interesting aspect of earning income via Decentraland. Imagine owning a few blocks of space, enough for a few table games. Maybe blackjack, maybe baccarat- but regardless of the game on your blocks, you earn income from the table rake (similar to a real casino) every time you have players on tables. The longer they stay the more you keep earning.

## MANA pricing

The live Decentraland price at the time of writing (Oct. 14, 2021) is $0.77 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of $63,348,346 USD.

The current CoinMarketCap ranking is #76, with a market cap of $1,403,337,839 USD. It has a circulating supply of 1,816,956,991 MANA coins and the max. supply is not available.

If you're intrigued and want to buy Decentraland, the top exchanges for trading in Decentraland are currently Binance, Huobi Global, Crypto.com, OKEx, and FTX.

## Is it worth your time?

If virtual worlds intrigue you and you have plenty of time, go for it and knock yourself out you’re gonna love it.

For most like me, you might not have the time to live out your digital dreams of a comic book store but you will have time to make money. Simply buying and holding MANA is a good start. It ensures that you at the very least are holding a currency for an ever-expanding virtual world. And if you ever want to play blackjack with that MANA, come on by there’s an open seat

Latest Moni

GameFi/Play to Earn News | Page 2

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Momentum Behind 2021’s Crypto Gaming Coins

Metaverse tokens and GameFi – a new trend

‘GameFi Eco-System’ Fund $100m launch

What is Decentraland Crypto?

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