WJR Business Beat: Big Business Transactions in the Metaverse (Episode 331)

Good morning, Paul! This morning on the Business Beat, we’ve got a blockbuster deal to announce that is simply groundbreaking. What is it? It’s a real estate transaction in which a parcel of land just slightly bigger than a basketball court has been acquired for about $2.4 million. Now wait, transactions like land selling for $2.4 million, not sounding like such a big deal. Well, that’s because there’s more to the story. And here it is, Paul. This particular parcel of land is a parcel of land that is completely virtual. It doesn’t really exist in the real world. What? You bet. It exists in the metaverse. Last week, tokens.com corporation, a Canadian investment firm, announced it had closed on the largest metaverse land acquisition in history and Vanessa Bates Ramirez writes in Singularity Hub that people and companies are betting on life becoming more digitized and the much-hyped, little-understood metaverse is indeed taking off. Virtual land is becoming as much of an investment as physical land. What exactly is going on in decentral land, this emerging metaverse? Well, users of the platform can create avatars to represent themselves as they engage in activities. There they can purchase property, play games, purchase wearables, and even attend events. What’s going on? Well, just when you think you have it all figured out, Paul, along comes the metaverse and you know what? As crazy as it may seem to some, or even most of us, those who are buying into it, mean business. I’m Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of startupnation.com, and that’s today’s Business Beat on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes, WJR.