Island nation wants to establish a metaverse embassy
Riding high on metaverse hype, Barbados, an island nation with a population of under 300,000, is preparing to legally declare digital real estate sovereign land with the establishment of a metaverse embassy. The Barbadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade has already signed an agreement with Decentraland and will finalize agreements with Somnium Space soon.
Projects such as Somnium Space will be helping them to identify and purchase land, with the aim being to build out virtual embassies and consulates. These facilities will provide services such as e-visas. There is also talk of a teleporter that will move avatars freely between virtual worlds. The move seems to signal an intent by Barbados to shift its government operations onto the blockchain, and into the spotlight. Further progress could see them shift diplomatic, and other events into the virtual world. The move is being led by Barbados’ ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, H.E. Gabriel Abed.
The Barbadian government approved the metaverse embassy in August 2021 and appears to view the move as a unique opportunity. This step into the metaverse could open the door to trade in art, music, and culture. Barbados is also currently among the friendliest countries worldwide for cryptocurrencies. With the release of the embassy, provisionally set for January, Barbados will become the first country to recognize digital sovereign land.
Somnium Space riding high
Somnium Space allows people to fully submerge into a full VR world, hop in casually to attend an event, and visit their favorite parcel. The virtual world has seen lots of traction recently. In the last 30 days, the total value of NFT land sales in the platform has exceeded $1.8 million. More interesting is that over $1.1 million of that figure arrived in the last two weeks. Or in other words, since Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would rename itself to Meta.
As speculators and investors become more involved, land plots are being scooped up, and NFT land HODL’ers are cashing in. Moreover, Somnium Space is starting to attract more eyeballs. The native CUBE token, used by residents of the virtual world to transact and buy and sell items in the marketplace has acted accordingly. Shooting up over 484% in the last thirty days.
News of investments by the Winkelvoss twins in Somnium Space through their Gemini capital fund has sparked a Winkelvoss vs Zuckerberg Part 2 debate after the Facebook debacle. In 2004, the Winklevoss brothers sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, claiming he stole their ConnectU idea to create the popular social networking site Facebook. Setting up now what can only be described as a Hollywood scenario, as the real world Solento and Halliday step into the frame. The metaverse narrative appears to be playing out almost to the letter of Ernest Cline’s increasingly talked about book, Ready Player One.
The above does not constitute investment advice. The information given here is purely for informational purposes only. Please exercise due diligence and do your research. The writer holds positions in ETH, BTC, ADA, MATIC, SAFEMOON, HEX, LINK, GRT, CRO, OMI, USDT, FLOW, ENS, AVASTR, BOSON, GMEE, SAND, MANA, AND OCEAN
