Ripio Credit Network (RCN) last week announced plans to partner with Decentraland, in a move that seeks to extend a line of credit to Decentraland users against their virtual land. RCN will implement its credit protocol into Decentraland’s network so that users who own land parcels, as well as content and institutions created in it, will have access to loans within the virtual world. The partnership, which is expected to take effect during the second quarter of 2018, will drive up the purchase of land through the Ethereum blockchain, while improving conditions for both the lenders and borrowers within RCN’s ecosystem.
Land – in this context – is a non-fungible, transferable, and scarce digital asset stored on an Ethereum smart contract. Established in 2015, a team of developers have been working on Decentraland infrastructure, to help realize a network that allows content creators from around the world to own and retain full control over their creation through ownership of land. This will help creators to capture the full value of their contribution.
Powered by the Ethereum blockchain, Decentraland users will use the platform to create, experience, and monetize their content and applications in a decentralized ecosystem. This content can range from static 3D content to interactive systems such as games on a virtual reality platform.
The partnership announcement was made during last week’s Terraform auction event, where users contributed MANA (Decentraland’s own token) to buy land from the Genesis City or a variety of Districts. MANA serves as a proxy to access the price of a new parcel of land. The land is bought on the network only by burning MANA, facilitated by the burn function in land contracts. By doing so, new entry will be created in the land registry, recording the ownership. The token can also be used to buy goods and services within the virtual world.
The partnership anticipates that a number of potential users would be attracted to the opportunity of owning virtual real estate whose adjacency makes it a better option to web domains, accompanied with the option of ‘content financing’ while retaining control over their content. An added advantage to owning land on the Decentraland network is the concentration of targeted traffic that is fed to the user’s land. This allows end users to discover themed experiences as they move through neighborhoods and interact with various applications. The Decentraland scripting language will allow for the development of applications that will enable encoding of user interaction.
RCN applauded Decentraland for its open standards. Unlike other virtual reality platforms, Decentraland will implement a decentralized governing system that will eliminate the need for a single authority with the power to modify the rules of the software, the content of land, economics of the currency, or prevent access to the platform. While this would be the case for Silicon Valley virtual reality platforms, funding has always been the defining factor that attracts creators to centralized options. With RCN throwing its huge financial weight behind Decentraland, the network will soon easily empower its users to create content capable of competing with other industry players.