Ethereum is known as the main competitor to Bitcoin and has gained popularity following its meteoric rise in value.
It is a blockchain like Bitcoin, but has added functionality – such as smart contract creation.
Unlike most blockchains, which only act as a distributed ledger, Ethereum gives users the ability to send computer code in addition to currency.
Users can therefore use the Ethereum blockchain as a decentralised virtual computer consisting of nodes around the world.
Developers have built numerous decentralised applications (dapps) on the Ethereum blockchain, many of which are funded by Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) and reward backers with tokens.
These dapps are built on transparent code stored in the Ethereum blockchain and activated by user transactions.
Decentralised Virtual World
Many types of dapps have surfaced since the creation of Ethereum, which aim to provide services in exchange for ether.
However, the developers behind the Decentraland project have a unique idea – building an open, virtual world controlled by its users.
Decentraland is a public virtual world ruled by open standards and controllable only by public consensus on the Ethereum blockchain.
Users can walk around the world in a 3D environment using either a virtual reality headset or classic PC gaming controls in a web client.
The world comprises a finite number of 10mx10m tiles of land, each with its own coordinate and hash.
Participants can purchase plots of land with MANA, an ERC20 token built on Ethereum, with a real monetary value measured in ether.
Once you have purchased your plot of land, you can create anything you want on it, including virtual casinos, games, shopping malls, and more.
The virtual world will support a number of graphics rendering engines and custom scripts, meaning there will be almost no limits as to what you can create.
Decentraland will also support P2P multiplayer and in-game communication, letting players host services for free instead of a centralised company charging for them.
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Source: MyBroadBand