While not everyone is convinced that cryptocurrency is the future of finance, celebrities aren’t looking back when it comes to buying in. Today, one of the greatest tech and crypto frontiers is the concept of the ‘metaverse’. The most popular virtual worlds today are The Sandbox and Decentraland, along with global platforms like Roblox.
What began with cryptos like Ethereum and Bitcoin has since snowballed into other pursuits—namely NFTs. From Johnny Depp to Jimmy Fallon, celeb-NFTs are still growing… even if the future of non-fungible tokens looks a bit iffy. Regardless of whether the Bored Ape Yacht Club survives to 2025, it seems like there’s another huge crypto investment that’s making headlines: virtual property.
But will purchases in Decentraland and The Sandbox pan out in the future? And which celebs are staking their claim?
Waiting on the Boom
If you’re a little confused about the appeal of buying virtual property in a world you can only access via AR or VR technology, then you’re not alone. The idea is that these metaverses provide a fully virtual world that mirrors real life. For now, there might not be too much to do in Decentraland or The Sandbox—but that’s slated to change rapidly.
Let’s use an example of casino gaming. Casinos are some of the most popular and lucrative businesses in the world. But if a roulette player, for example, wants to spin the wheel, they’ll have to head to a brick-and-mortar establishment or an online platform that offers different variations of the game.
They can’t do both at the same time. However, if a virtual casino set up shop in The Sandbox or Decentraland, someone who owns virtual property could head to this virtual casino. It would bring them the ‘best of both worlds’ in terms of remote convenience and experience. And roulette is just the beginning, as these venues could also host major events—from concerts to eSports matches.
Snoop Dogg’s ‘Snoopverse’
Not everyone wants to buy property in a virtual world. Rapper and social icon Snoop Dogg is looking to craft and launch his own ‘Snoopverse’, which is located in The Sandbox. This is the same VR world where Exclusible, an NFT marketplace, sold 25 private islands for around $2.9 million.
So, what’s the Snoopverse all about? For now, it’s all about a theoretical future. For now, investors who get in on the ground floor will have exclusive access to… whatever Snoopverse ends up doing. For now, NFT baubles go for around $15-$500.
Paris Hilton’s ‘Paris World’
While Snoop is busy setting up shop for a virtual career expansion in The Sandbox, Paris Hilton has focused her plans on Roblox. ‘Paris World’ is designed to include plenty of microtransactions that allow fans to get closer to the fashion and lifestyle icon. However, visitors can come and explore Paris World for free.
It closely mirrors Beverly Hills where the starlet first became world-famous… except this version includes plenty of neon lights and flash. Her goal is to create a platform where she can interact with fans, as mentioned above. While she plans on doing things like throwing NYE parties in Paris World, she most recently conducted a perfume signing. Rather than actual signings, it seems that selfies and pet accessories were the main focus of the event.
Virtual Concerts Gaining Steam
Not all celebrities are going all-in on virtual property—at least, not yet. It seems many musical artists are instead testing the waters with various special events and songs. Justin Bieber, for example, has been active in a variety of ways. In 2022, he performed his song ‘Ghost’ during a virtual Metaverse concert. He also released a fully virtual music video for his son ‘Beautiful Love’, a cross with the mega-popular eSports game Garena Free Fire.
Others, including Ariana Grande and Lil Nas X, have also recently performed in fully virtual formats. Lil Nas X performed a full concert on Roblox in a setting that mirrored Colorado’s Red Rocks venue back in 2022. A year earlier in 2021, Ariana Grande performed a concert on the Fortnite platform as part of her Rift tour.