Please note that I am not a financial advisor. The following article is for the sole purpose of providing educational information on the topic discussed.

In a previous post dedicated to the videogame The Sandbox, I explained that this is a game/platform based on the Ethereum blockchain in which players can create their own virtual worlds, games, characters, and objects to later monetize and share them with other users.

Play-to-Earn videogames based on blockchain technology and the Metaverse have important differences and advantages over other similar games such as Minecraft or Roblox since they are decentralized games in which all your digital assets really belong to you, besides that, you can also financially benefit from them.

In this continuation post about The Sandbox, I’ll show you what you need to know to start making money with this great game, and what are the options available for this insha’Allah (God willing).

How to make money with The Sandbox

The first thing you need to start making money on The Sandbox platform is to own some of its native cryptocurrency, $SAND.

In the previous post, I mentioned that this is an ERC-20 utility token that is used for all important in-game transactions. These activities can include everything from buying digital objects, participating in challenges to win more $SAND tokens, to creating new objects that you can then sell on the platform’s marketplace.

In addition, $SAND is also essential for you as a player, since if you want new equipment and items for your avatar, you’ll have to pay with $SAND for these. It’s also necessary if you want to play the games created by other users.

Basically, The Sandbox has its own virtual economy developed in its own metaverse and based on its own native cryptocurrency. The best thing is that you can earn money both actively and passively while having fun. A gamer’s dream come true.

Although there are different ways to acquire $SAND within The Sandbox, if you are a new user, it is best to buy some $SAND to start. You can buy this at any reputable exchange, Binance being one of the best options available. Let’s now see the most popular methods to earn money with The Sandbox.

Create and publish games

You have to assume that modern everyday life is not very exciting at times: wake up in the morning, go to work, return home, maybe get some rest on the weekend and repeat the process all over again. Every – day – of – your – life…

But how about becoming a secret spy, a soldier in World War II, or an adventurer in the Amazon jungle?

Well, thanks to the technology developed by the videogame industry and if you are a creative individual with some design skills, you can create adventures that other users can enjoy within The Sandbox.

Thanks to the Sandbox Game Maker design tool, you can create these experiences and publish them in portions of LAND for other users to enjoy by paying a small fee in $SAND tokens, generating passive income for you that will increase as more and more users are part of The Sandbox.

Buy and sell land for a profit

Today, and thanks to the growing interest of investors in the Metaverse, virtual lands can be worth as much as lands in the real world. In fact, parcels of virtual land have been sold for millions of dollars. In The Sandbox, LAND works as an NFT token that can be shaped to offer different virtual experiences to other users, as we saw above.

Based on this, buying portions of LAND and then selling them when they have increased in value, can be a very lucrative business. These operations can be carried out directly through The Sandbox Marketplace or through a third-party NFT exchange. Keep in mind that the price of a portion of LAND may vary depending on a number of factors, such as its size or other additional features.

Rent your LAND

Another good way to earn money if you own one or more portions of LAND, is to rent these virtual spaces to other users who want to create, publish, and monetize games and other similar experiences. Keep in mind, however, that any gaming experience built on your portion of LAND will remain the property of its designer.

Regarding the price you can charge for the rental of your LAND, as I mentioned above, this will depend on several factors, including the size of the virtual land portion, as well as its proximity to other popular communities and gaming experiences within The Sandbox metaverse.

Play to Earn

The Play-to-Earn model is here to stay. Gone is investing time and money in videogames that won’t pay you anything for your hard work and dedication. The Sandbox joins games like Axie Infinity and Decentraland in the Play-to-Earn model to allow its users to earn money in the form of cryptocurrency just by playing and participating in the playful creations of other users.

The best part is that, since these transactions are made through the Ethereum network, people can exchange their earnings for fiat money or other cryptocurrencies with relative ease.

Buy and sell ASSETS in The Marketplace

While you can create ASSETS – the objects used within the game, such as weapons, vehicles, etc. – with the VoxEdit tool and then sell them, an easier way to earn money with them is to buy ASSETS created by other users and then resell them to obtain profits.

Take into account that a single article can belong to several categories, so the possibilities are almost limitless:

• Creative art
• Collectible rarities
• Investment objects
• Commemorative items
• Certifications of participation
• Badges supporting a cause
• Skins

These are all reasons for people to purchase virtual items with gaming utility.

Uniswap liquidity pools

You can also participate as a liquidity provider in the Uniswap $SAND-ETH pool to generate passive income in the form of $SAND. Additionally, if you own LAND and use yield multipliers, you can increase the amount of $SAND you earn, as well as get rare and exclusive NFTs.

However, when it comes to liquidity pools, you should make sure that the way you are earning money is permissible (halal).

Other alternative ways to earn $SAND and NFT tokens

Here are some alternate ways you can try to give yourself more chances to earn rewards in the form of cryptocurrency tokens.

The Sandbox giveaways

From time to time, the team behind The Sandbox organizes events and giveaways that any member of the community can participate in to win lots of $SAND tokens. These events are usually carried out through official livestreams on networks or on the official website.

Community-hosted events

You can also earn $SAND tokens and NFTs by participating in contests and competitions run by LAND owners. These owners hold such events as a way to promote their games and activities hosted within their portions of LAND. Keep an eye on social media.

When it comes to earning money through competitions, please be aware that the ulema has guidelines on what types of income are permissible through competition.

I discuss this in the following blog post, Axie Infinity Overview and is Axie Infinity Halal?

Ambassador Program

If you have a website, YouTube channel, or blog, you can participate in the Ambassador Program to earn rewards by helping to promote the game. The more active you are answering questions, writing great articles, and creating videos, the more likely you are to earn cool rewards.

The Sandbox Marketplace

The Sandbox Marketplace is the portal where users of this great gaming metaverse can buy or sell game objects created by the users themselves, as well as virtual lands in the form of NFTs. This marketplace is a key element that has contributed to further expanding the interest of users and investors in The Sandbox, and it’s a very dynamic and continuously growing component that you’ll have to go through sooner or later, either as a buyer or seller.

In the marketplace, it is possible to buy and sell all kinds of ASSETS in the form of buildings, weapons, characters, vehicles, and other items, as well as GEM tokens. However, it’s also possible to buy or rent portions of LAND directly from the portal.

Bear in mind that this is a free market that works based on supply and demand, so asset prices will change constantly, and all operations are carried out in the native currency $SAND. It is also necessary to have some Ether to pay the Ethereum gas fees in addition to the fee that the marketplace takes, which is 5%, for the amount of each transaction. The fee applies to sellers.

One of the most attractive aspects of this marketplace, especially if you are a 3D artist, is that the 5% fee that is applied to each sale goes directly to a fund that is used to finance the projects of the most talented artists that bring value to the platform.

In general terms, The Sandbox Marketplace is a fairly intuitive and easy-to-use platform, and more and more users are taking their place on it, so the quantity, variety, and quality of assets are guaranteed.

Final words

The Sandbox metaverse has its own very well developed digital economy, and it’s just one small example of the direction in which the Metaverse and the digital economy, in general, are heading. It’s no longer simply about playing and exploring, but with the entire ecosystem developed based on blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, we are seeing a whole new world of opportunities before us.

And the best thing is that anyone who wants to participate can do so without being limited by their geographical location or economic position.

And the best thing is that anyone who wants to participate can do so by complying with the corresponding requirements, without being limited by their geographical location or economic position.

As I said at the beginning, a gamer’s dream come true…

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Please note that I am not a financial advisor. The following article is for the sole purpose of providing information on the topic discussed.

In recent months, videogames based on non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and that are also somehow related to the metaverse and the Play-to-Earn model, such as Axie Infinity, Decentraland, and today’s topic, The Sandbox, have quickly become trends in the crypto industry.

So, what is The Sandbox metaverse?

In an innovative, fun, and attractive presentation, The Sandbox is a gaming blockchain platform that allows users to own, create, play, and monetize their gaming experiences as well as earn SAND – the platform’s native cryptocurrency – by owning, selling, or renting plots of land or by simply selling their ideas in the platform’s marketplace.

In this article, we’ll cover The Sandbox ecosystem and the variety of components that are making it so popular; the possibilities within this new metaverse, the utilities of its tokens, the variety of resources available for its users, and if it is halal. Let’s get started.

What is The Sandbox?

As I already mentioned, The Sandbox is a gaming platform that allows users to create their own virtual worlds, similar to the popular Minecraft and Roblox games.

This videogame has been available on iOS and Android mobile devices since 2012 – the original version was in 2D – gaining a lot of popularity among the public, reaching 40 million downloads in 2018.

However, in the same year 2018, Animoca Brands bought the rights to the game from the original company, Pixowl, to develop The Sandbox platform with Voxel-style graphics quite similar to the aforementioned games. However, Animoca made one major change to the original game:

They placed The Sandbox game on the Ethereum blockchain.

As with games like Decentraland, this feature now allows users to build their own virtual worlds and develop a digital economy within the game that can also be extended outside of the game, taking The Sandbox to a whole new level. Thanks to blockchain technology, The Sandbox players have total freedom to monetize their digital worlds through the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with all the possibilities that this entails.

The Sandbox was implemented on the Ethereum network to give it the security and strength of the world’s second-largest blockchain, which in turn creates the opportunity for its users to create games independently on its platform around the world and without a central regulatory authority.

Currently, The Sandbox has a hybrid structure that hosts the virtual world partly on centralized servers, while the processes related to tokens and other collectibles, run on a decentralized blockchain. This ensures broad freedom for developers while ensuring that players have ownership of their collectibles, characters, and other digital items at all times.

How does The Sandbox work?

The Sandbox is possible thanks to the implementation of smart contracts on the Ethereum network. This also facilitates the creation of tokens and NFTs through a series of processes and interactions very similar to what is seen in other Play-to-Earn games based on this blockchain. After that, we have three elements that are key for The Sandbox ecosystem to function properly:

1. The powerful VoxEdit 3D editor

Animoca has resorted to the use of the VoxEdit design tool; a powerful software that allows the generation of all kinds of graphics and 3D environments, as well as animations and even NFTs. These elements can then be associated with all types of polygonal content – of the Voxel type – that use blockchain technology.

The advantage of the VoxEdit editor is that users can create absolutely anything they can think of, be it people, tools for the game, monsters, or architectural structures. These objects can then be animated and converted into NFTs to be exported to The Sandbox Marketplace, allowing users to easily sell their creations.

As you can see, it is a powerful tool that is being used even by large and renowned companies in the industry, such as Atari or Square Enix.

2. The Sandbox Marketplace

In this marketplace, users can buy, sell, and exchange their designs created with VoxEdit. The Sandbox Marketplace is a decentralized marketplace that supports Ethereum’s ERC-721 and ERC-1155 tokens. In this open market, players can sell unwanted assets or those created specifically for profit, so it is possible to find thousands of different assets with all kinds of designs, which users can filter by rarity, categories, and themes.

In addition to the above, the marketplace is also available for those users who wish to explore, discover, and acquire new assets to add to their LAND tokens in the metaverse of the game – more on this shortly.

3. The Sandbox metaverse

This is without a doubt, the most active component of the gaming ecosystem. In The Sandbox metaverse, players can design, buy, and own digital assets within their virtual properties.

In addition, in “Play” mode, players can explore LAND elements – the virtual plots owned by other users – and enjoy the game experiences created by other players and interact with other people in these activities.

This is very similar to what we can see in games like Decentraland, but The Sandbox ecosystem has the added benefit of the great flexibility provided by the simple but powerful VoxEdit editor to unleash creativity without limits.

What is Sandbox crypto used for?

Although there are several tokens within the universe of The Sandbox, there are two that are essential for the operation of the platform. These would be the SAND and LAND tokens.

SAND

This is the native token within The Sandbox platform. It is an ERC-20 token that has a maximum supply of 3 billion SAND. I’m speaking about a utility token that is used to perform different types of activities and transactions within the game ecosystem, such as:

• Play
• Modify avatars
• Buy LAND tokens
• Exchange assets on the marketplace

And it even grants its holders a governance power that allows users to propose and vote on different aspects related to the future of the platform through a system based on DAO.

SAND will also offer its holders the possibility of earning additional rewards by staking their token within the platform in addition to a percentage of the profits from in-game transactions made through SAND.

Staking SAND also increases the chances of finding GEMs and CATALYSTs tokens necessary to create ASSETS tokens with a high level of rarity.

Staking on the platform will be a feature offered in the future and there is no set date on when this will happen at this time. However, staking SAND is currently possible through liquidity pools on Uniswap.

Before staking in liquidity pools, first read my blog post, 4 Types of Yield Farming and is Yield Farming Halal?

Finally, the best part is that it’s possible to get SAND simply by participating in different types of activities within the game. Although it’s also possible to buy SAND on different reputable exchanges on the Web.

LAND

LAND is the other essential part of The Sandbox. I’m talking here about parcels of virtual terrain that are what form the playing field as such. Without LAND, users wouldn’t have a place to put their VoxEdit creations and not even a place to play.

LAND is an ERC-721 type NFT token that users can purchase to build their own games or virtual environments and combine them to create ESTATES and DISTRICTS, which are nothing more than combinations of two or more portions of LAND.

The LAND token allows users to monetize their creations, either by charging other players to visit them or to participate in their games. They can also earn SAND tokens by charging for the rental of their land to host virtual events and even earn money from renting advertising space.

There is currently a total of 166,464 portions of LAND in the game’s metaverse, and some can be purchased through public offerings from time to time. However, it is also possible to buy LAND from other players using the Marketplace or specialized NFTs sites, such as OpenSea.

I already mentioned that in addition to these tokens, the game has additional tokens required for certain activities within its metaverse. They are the following:

ASSETS

These are NFTs that users can create using the VoxEdit tool and then upload to the Marketplace for sale. These assets can be any type of object that users wish to create, including buildings, weapons, animals, or people, each generating a unique game experience for each user and situation.

GEM and CATALYST

GEM tokens are ERC-20 tokens that serve to define and improve the attributes of ASSETS tokens and that burn as they are used.

On the other hand, CATALYST are tokens of the ERC-20 type that are also used to generate spaces in which to place GEMS. That is, they serve to create spaces to improve our ASSETS by applying various GEMS that enhance specific properties of certain ASSETS.

Learn more about GEM and CATALYST tokens here.

Is The Sandbox halal?

Is The Sandbox halal? Yes, The Sandbox game would be considered halal. The Sandbox is a platform that allows the user to build or play games as well as buy, sell, and rent assets in what is called the metaverse, and this is not seen as haram. It is how the user utilizes the platform that will be seen as either halal, haram, or makruh.

However, when it comes to playing videogames, there is still a general consensus among scholars that even though it is permissible to play and/or earn money from videogames, it is not highly encouraged as there is a concern that by someone occupying their time in regular gameplay, this may lead them to neglect the rights of Allah, others, or even their self.

In addition to this, there are certain fatwas that discuss what income is permissible or not permissible to earn from playing sports or games.

See my previous article on Axie Infinity as I discuss this in more depth in that article – Axie Infinity Overview and is Axie Infinity halal?

As for SAND crypto, scholars who generally rule that cryptocurrency is halal would also consider SAND as halal and see it as a utility token. Scholars would normally classify SAND as an asset and not a currency.

Is The Sandbox a good investment?

As has happened with many similar games, recent announcements made by Facebook – now Meta – around the metaverse, have marked a turning point in the history and price of SAND, the cryptocurrency of The Sandbox.

Before the announcement, SAND hit an all-time high of $1.15 in August 2021, after trading at $0.05 for months until the end of January 2021, when it joined the bullish trend that most cryptocurrencies were following.

Although the rise to $1.15 was impressive, it was still in its infancy compared to the price reached in November, when it soared to $3 in a matter of days. After this event, the price of the cryptocurrency has continued to rise, rising above the $8 mark, and accumulating a market capitalization of around $5B.

Right now, this all makes perfect sense as more and more people are learning about cryptocurrencies and the metaverse, which is driving a huge adoption of existing platforms. However, Meta will undoubtedly be a huge competition for The Sandbox and other similar platforms.

Until the announcement of Meta’s metaverse, Decentraland was probably The Sandbox’s biggest rival. Both are games based on the metaverse, built around a cryptocurrency, and have an economy based on NFTs. However, The Sandbox allows its users to create almost anything with its innovative 3D editing software.

Although Decentraland has many more active users at the moment and has the attention of brands like Coca-Cola, The Sandbox also has the collaboration of some notable partners like Atari and Adidas, among others.

The opening of The Sandbox is approaching

Recently, the company behind the project, Animoca Brands, published a very important announcement on the Twitter profile of The Sandbox, where they reported on the opening date of the metaverse of this promising NFT game – November 29, 2021. After this, the price of the SAND token skyrocketed, as this announcement was a motivation for investors.

This is also due to the fact that the debut of the game will bring a series of rewards to the first 5,000 users who sign up to participate in the corresponding missions.

First place will get a reward of 1,000 SAND tokens, which at the time of publishing this blog post, would be valued at around $6k, plus three more prizes in the form of unique rarity NFTs.

In addition to all of this, many people also know about the collaboration between The Sandbox and SoftBank Group – a Japanese company that works with telecommunications and the internet – with the aim of financing the game’s metaverse, a fact that has also helped drive up the price of SAND tokens.

From all the above, it is easy to deduce that The Sandbox and its SAND token will continue to rise, at least as long as the hype for the metaverse lasts. But if this is as Mark Zuckerberg says, “the future,” then this is probably a good time to invest, considering that prices are still low.

As always, never invest what you cannot afford to lose, and always do your research before investing.

Conclusion

The Sandbox has joined the hype of the “Play-to-Earn” games and the metaverse ecosystem. The platform offers its users the possibility to earn money while they play and interact with the great variety of possibilities offered by their metaverse.

In addition, users can also create other games and experiences without the need for constant maintenance on the platform, which would allow them to earn additional passive income.

If we take into account the large number of users who play games like Minecraft or Roblox, it is very likely that The Sandbox, with its interesting incentives, will be able to further popularize all the ideas and technologies behind blockchain, cryptos, and the like.

It looks like on the horizon of Play-to-Earn games, a bright future can be glimpsed… What do you think?

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When the renowned San Francisco-based crypto exchange Coinbase listed Algorand’s cryptocurrency ALGO in July 2020, its price soared to more than 30% and 400% in just 24 hours, in daily average price and volume, respectively.

And although it has had its ups and downs, in recent months, the cryptocurrency has managed to position itself among the top 20 most popular cryptos in the world, with a market capitalization that already exceeds $12 billion.

But what makes Algorand unique and is Algorand halal?

What makes Algorand unique is its Pure Proof of Stake (PPoS) protocol, its non-forkable blockchain, block transactions that are validated in less than 5 seconds, and being able to stake on the blockchain with just 1 ALGO token. Yes, just one! And yes, Algorand is halal and has sharia approval from a sharia governing body.

So, Algorand isn’t just another third-generation blockchain.

It turns out that Algorand is a blockchain project that promotes the honesty of its users so that they are the ones who decide what functions and what price the coin will have, and it has been developed by Silvio Micali, winner of the Turing award.

Today, you’ll learn what Algorand is, what the project is all about, what are its goals, features, its acceptance in the Islamic world, and its future prospects. Algorand is a really interesting project.

What is Algorand?

The Algorand project, which is currently based in Boston, is a blockchain project that launched its testnet to the general public on April 16, 2019, and also launched its cryptocurrency ALGO for the first time at the end of June that same year while simultaneously launching its mainnet.

As already mentioned, this blockchain was developed by Silvio Micali, winner of the Turing Award, an acknowledgment given each year to those who have contributed significantly to the field of computer science. Micali is also a teacher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a co-creator of the zero-knowledge proof concept.

The developers see Algorand as the “future of finance”, and they are striving to solve the three main problems facing blockchains today:

1. Security
2. Scalability
3. Decentralization

And it looks like they may succeed!

Algorand has a consensus mechanism called “Pure Proof of Stake” or PPoS that allows the validation of transactions by utilizing a technology called Verifiable Random Function (VRF). VRF randomly selects committees – committees are people who are holding ALGO in a non-custodial wallet* on the blockchain – to verify transactions in a manner where the members of the committee have no knowledge of each other. This randomized selection repeats itself every time a new transaction must be validated and this mechanism also provides solid security of the blockchain.

*If you are holding ALGO in a custodial wallet then there may be some differences in how rewards are earned when validating transactions. You must check with the custodian who manages the wallet.

Algorand wants to make it possible for any user who has a minimum amount of ALGO to have the right to participate in the blockchain consensus. A truly democratic and decentralized system.

In addition, Algorand is a “permissionless” type blockchain, which aims to create a transparent system in which all its users can achieve success through their decentralized projects and applications.

The above results in a system that allows solving the aforementioned security, scalability, and decentralization problems, while providing great speed, transaction optimization, and low costs, also avoiding the generation of any unnecessary forks – it’s non-forkable. Yes, you cannot fork the blockchain.

What makes Algorand unique

The backbone of Algorand’s scalability and speed lies precisely in its PPoS protocol. This protocol derived from the well-known Proof of Stake (PoS) used by other cryptocurrencies such as Cardano – and soon Ethreum 2.0 – has the objective of allowing greater resistance to Byzantine failures, while providing great speed in the generation and validation of blocks within the network.

In parallel, PPoS can support a large number of users concurrently and scale seamlessly as the number of validators on the network increases. The result of this is that Algorand is capable of handling around 2,000 transactions per second (tps) on its network without problems.

In fact, the results obtained in some tests show how far this network can go. For example, the highest number of transactions recorded on the network occurred on March 4, 2021, when the blockchain was able to handle almost 40 million transactions in a single day, an average of 451 tps with a peak of 1,153 tps.

If we add to this a block generation time of 4 seconds on average, this leaves us one of the fastest blockchains today.

As already mentioned, any user who holds ALGO in their wallet can participate in the PPoS system; PPoS removes the barrier of having to do forced staking as it’s done today since there is no requirement to leave your ALGO staked for any period of time.

Remember that in PoS it’s necessary to own and block a specific amount of tokens for a specific amount of time to participate in the process of selection, generation, and validation of blocks and transactions.

On the contrary, PPoS allows to diversify and decentralize the block generation process to a greater extent, making this mechanism a much more decentralized system than PoS – something more similar to Bitcoin’s Proof of Work (PoW).

Another additional advantage that this brings is that PPoS eliminates the need for its users to expose their spending keys to reach consensus.

Again, any user who wishes to participate in the protocol to validate transactions and earn rewards can simply create a wallet, put ALGO in their wallet, and they can stake and earn rewards easily. Here is a link to Algorand’s official wallet.

Other key features of Algorand

The main feature of the Algorand project is its public and open-source blockchain. The PPoS consensus mechanism promotes the performance, security, and openness of a decentralized network, making Algorand a project that is able to compete with well-known financial and payment brands. But in addition to this, the development team points out the following characteristics as key properties of the Algorand protocol:

Low calculation requirements

Since the blockchain is PPoS, mining farms consuming large amounts of energy aren’t necessary, so it has a very low environmental impact.

Quick agreement

The entire community agrees to the next block and confirms transactions in mere seconds allowing the blockchain to scale easily to serve many users.

Delegation

Token holders can delegate their assets in order to participate in the network consensus and they can do so with just one ALGO token.

Minimal bifurcation probability

As soon as a new block appears, users can be sure it’s valid. Even if the network is temporarily partitioned, there won’t be divergent views of any confirmed transaction – which means, no forked blockchain insha’Allah (God willing).

True decentralization

The network is not controlled by a few groups of miners or validators, as the validators are randomly selected.

Governance

Token holders can propose changes to the protocols and agree on which direction the network evolves.

Scientific research and influential partners

Algorand has the collaboration of more than 500 organizations that are already developing a whole series of DApps and financial products to build a robust ecosystem.

Total token distribution

It has a total supply of 10 billion ALGO tokens, of which there are already 6 billion in circulation.

Stablecoins

Algorand will favor the implementation of stablecoins within its network as a way to create a bridge between traditional finance and DeFi. In this sense, USDC will be the first stablecoin to make use of Algorand’s scalability and speed features to process its transactions.

The goal is DeFi

In addition to the features that I’ve already mentioned, at the end of 2019, the team behind the project proposed two new features to be implemented on layer 1 of the platform:

1. The generation of fungible tokens
2. The execution of multiparty atomic transfers (AT)

These features become part of the consensus protocol but maintain the original features of the blockchain, exclusive to Algorand. These solutions are essential for the development of applications in the DeFi environment and the tokenization of financial assets, such as derivatives, options, swaps, and other similar securities.

As an example of this, we have the so-called “Dutch Auctions” with which Algorand generated its token distribution. Such auctions were held onchain and on a global scale thanks to this new paradigm. In addition to this, the development team is carrying out a complementary project called “FutureFi” or Future Finance, which is nothing more than the maximization of DeFi properties.

The objective is to create a second onchain layer that allows scaling the capacities for the development and execution of smart contracts on the network, as well as a decentralized data storage system, among other features.

It’s noteworthy that all this work is under construction and is being supported by several recognized companies, universities, and communities that are part of the crypto world.

Aside from DeFi, Algorand is also positioning itself to be a world leader in central bank digital currency (CBDC) development and management for nations worldwide.

Algorand central bank digital currency

Aside from its features that make it a solid blockchain, Algorand is actively seeking out partnerships with governments seeking to develop their own central bank digital currency (CBDC). Outside of China, The Marshall Islands is also a country that has successfully deployed a CBDC for their nation called SOV and the SOV CBDC is built on the Algorand blockchain.

This, in my opinion, is a very important and strategic move made by the Algorand Foundation. They are positioning themselves as the go-to blockchain for government-issued CBDCs while also running their native decentralized ALGO crypto.

There is no doubt that their blockchain’s speed of processing transactions, ability to scale in order to manage a heavy volume of users, and security by having a non-forkable blockchain make it a very attractive blockchain for governments seeking to deploy their own CBDC and it should also prove beneficial to holders of ALGO.

Is Algorand halal?

Yes, Algorand is halal. Recently, Algorand has been certified as a Sharia-compliant project. This certification has been granted by the Bahrain-based Shariya Review Bureau (SRB) and opens the possibility for Algorand to enter a market of more than $70B made up of investors who follow Islamic law.

The reason behind this is that Algorand seeks to be an inclusive project in which everyone can participate, regardless of their beliefs or religion.

Obtaining this type of certification is not within the reach of many similar blockchain projects, since for this it is necessary that the aforementioned project is free of any type of financing or profit from activities prohibited by Islamic law, such as accrued interest on loans, gambling, alcohol, among others.

Algorand is seeking to have every DApp built on the blockchain reviewed for sharia compliance. This is no small task.

Future perspective

Most blockchain projects focus on creating artificial incentives that help regulate user behavior. Instead, Algorand gives users the ability to decide for themselves what to do with the cryptocurrency and what its value will be.

The above statement should give us a clue as to what the future may hold for Algorand: its success will depend primarily on its community.

On the other hand, although the performance of ALGO has not been the best in recent months – especially when we compare it with other similar projects, such as Polkadot – many experts have positive future predictions for this project.

Speaking in numbers, at the time of publishing this blog post, ALGO has managed to climb to position itself among the 20 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, already above $11B and with a fully diluted market of $18B and a current price slightly more than $2.

Algorand is another one of those big next-gen blockchain projects that promise big changes to the ecosystem – all for the better – and the team behind the project is working hard to reward investor loyalty.

This has been reflected in the improvements added in Algorand 2.0 and is one of the reasons why the project has managed to climb positions until it is among the hottest crypto assets of the moment.

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Among the many blockchain projects that exist today that seek to dethrone the powerful Ethereum and its cryptocurrency Ether from its second place hold among the list of most popular crypto assets, there are two that stand out above the others: Solana and Cardano.

In recent months, these two projects have grown in popularity, attracting the attention of more and more investors. Naturally, this sudden interest in both projects has caused both SOL and ADA – the respective cryptocurrencies of these blockchains – to have increased in value significantly, reaching their all-time high prices and a market capitalization of around $50B and $80B respectively.

Based on this, the million-dollar question is:

Which of the two is better?

In this post, “Solana Vs Cardano”, let’s explore and find out.

What is Solana?

Solana is an open-source blockchain project that aims to drive the development of next-generation DApps. The people behind the Solana (SOL) project want to offer a highly scalable, secure, and decentralized platform, which also doesn’t require powerful hardware or a large amount of power to operate.

For this, Solana is based on a third-generation Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus in which it integrates a unique mechanism to achieve a reliable and secure system based on determining the time of a transaction; this is known as Proof of History (PoH).

Solana has been developed from the ground up to be a highly scalable blockchain and through the PoH system, it’ll be able to support thousands of transactions per second (tps) – its developers speak of 50,000 or more.

What is SOL?

As usual, Solana has its native cryptocurrency called SOL, which works as a utility token. SOL is used to pay transaction fees and to display and interact with smart contracts, allowing its holders to become network validators as well.

At present, different DApps are being developed for Solana that seek to provide new uses for SOL, including a DeFi voting mechanism.

What is Cardano?

Cardano is an open-source smart transactions platform that aims to offer scalability and security solutions under a layered design. This feature gives the system great flexibility and makes its maintenance much easier with updates through soft forks.

Cardano is a blockchain with a scientific approach and a rigorous and robust design that will allow the execution of a high volume of financial transactions with a high level of cryptographic security using a PoS consensus mechanism called Ouroboros.

This third-generation blockchain will also allow the development of smart contracts and DApps, and can be used by individuals, organizations, companies, and governments around the world to develop tailored solutions.

What is ADA?

ADA is the cryptocurrency of the Cardano project and it’s the coin that allows users to operate on the network. The ADA token also acts as a management token, as it allows users to vote in order to decide on possible changes to the way the project will work and develop.

According to its developers, ADA represents the future of money, since it’ll make direct and immediate transfers possible, at almost no cost.

How Solana compares to Cardano

Let’s take a look at the differences and similarities between Solana and Cardano, taking into account several key aspects of what is expected of a third-generation blockchain.

1. Scalability

Solana

The Proof of History consensus algorithm used by Solana is a solution that saves time and resources when confirming transactions. PoH is actually an addition to the PoS consensus that helps to validate the order of transactions in extremely short periods of time, making the network much faster.

Through this mechanism, transaction validators have less information to process in each block, which combined with Solana’s ability to execute processes in parallel – as I’ll explain later – significantly increases the scalability of the network. Although it currently supports 50,000 tps, Solana could theoretically support up to 500,000 tps.

Cardano

For its part, Cardano has the KMZ Sidechains protocol. Using KMZ, Cardano can handle a whole series of parallel chains to increase its scalability as needed.

In this way, Cardano allows the movement of funds between its different layers safely as well as external blockchains, thus sharing the workload and speeding up transactions exponentially.

This feature, combined with Cardano’s consensus mechanism called Ouroboros, currently allows it to process between 50 and 250 tps, but according to its developers, upcoming network updates would allow to validate up to 5,000 tps.

2. Interoperability

Solana

Currently, Solana has the Wormhole protocol, a technology provided by Certus One, a provider of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that offers a secure and decentralized bridge that for the moment, will allow Solana to connect with Ethereum.

However, Wormhole will allow Solana to communicate not only with Ethereum but also with many other projects and platforms to move crypto assets without the need for intermediaries to take advantage of the speed and efficiency of its network.

Cardano

Introducing sidechains interoperable with Cardano’s main chain – very soon – will give Cardano immense potential to expand its network capabilities. This will allow the introduction of new features from external projects without affecting the security of the main blockchain.

In combination with the KMZ protocol, it’ll make it possible to move funds safely from Cardano to any blockchain that uses the same protocol, creating interactions without the need to share private data.

3. Smart contracts and DApps

Solana

Solana has the ability to execute smart contracts and validate transactions in parallel. Sealevel is the name given by the developers to this feature.

Sealevel allows Solana to read, execute, and write instructions in parallel within the execution layer of smart contracts. In this way, a single smart contract would be capable of executing multiple tasks at the same time. This is a major difference from Ethereum, which can only handle one task at a time.

Regarding DApps, the idea behind Solana is to provide more efficient support for them, but also for DeFi. To date, the Solana ecosystem has almost 500 projects available, some of which are already operating, while others are still in the development stage.

It’s a healthy ecosystem where you can find all kinds of apps, DeFi, exchanges, NFTs, games, and more.

Cardano

The next era of Cardano, Goguen, will add smart contracts and the ability to build DApps on Cardano’s strong foundation of high-security research, peer review, and development.

The best thing about this will be that any type of user, with or without technical knowledge, will be able to create and execute functional smart contracts on the Cardano network thanks to Marlowe, a high-level language specific for smart contracts – try writing your own Marlowe smart contract here.

In turn, part of this mechanism will also make the creation and interaction of DApps with smart contracts within and outside the network easier.

Speaking of DApps, Cardano recently received the Alonzo update, which already allows it to run smart contracts and DApps on its network, as promised.

However, due to a series of technical problems that have arisen, a large number of developers have delayed the launch of their projects and at present, Cardano doesn’t yet have a robust ecosystem full of DApps, something that has negatively influenced the value of ADA in the market.

4. Tokenomics

Solana

SOL, Solana’s native token, is currently in the top 10 most popular cryptocurrencies in the world, with a market capitalization of $48B, according to CoinMarketCap.

The maximum supply of this asset is 489 million, somewhat low compared to other similar coins. Naturally, this makes SOL’s price higher, especially when compared to ADA.

SOL has a planned inflation with an average rate of 1.5% per year, starting at 8% in 2021. This is good to motivate the adoption of the cryptocurrency, but it causes the price to tend to fall frequently, which is inconvenient for holders.

Cardano

For its part, ADA – which is also among the 10 most popular cryptos – has a market capitalization of $70B, according to CoinMarketCap. This is a position that it has held steadily for months.

The maximum supply of ADA is 45 billion coins, which is one of the factors that keep the price of this crypto asset below the price of SOL.

The ADA inflation rate will continue declining for several years to the point where new supply is so low that it becomes deflationary, which could lead to a significant price increase.

Solana vs Cardano – What are the future projections?

The difference in price and supply of both SOL and ADA is one of the main factors – if not the most important – to think about when deciding on one cryptocurrency or another, considering that both projects belong to third-generation blockchain technology.

In this case, for investors, the best option might be to adopt both cryptocurrencies but with a different approach based on time.

To begin with, both cryptocurrencies have remained with constant rises and falls in price, mainly due to the influence of their different stages of development.

Many analysts agree that the upcoming Ethereum updates will positively influence the price of both assets when a third-generation blockchain war breaks out.

Now, considering that SOL has a lower market capitalization than ADA, this could bring a much higher return on investment in the medium and long term if Solana manages to place itself in a better position than it currently has – but also the risk for the investor will be higher.

Based on this, the best strategy could be to acquire ADA to keep it as a long-term investment, while SOL could be used to carry out swing-trading operations, playing with the constant variations in price. This is a very common strategy when making investments in the crypto world.

Final thoughts

It’s too early to say at this point which of these two blockchain projects is superior to the other. Both Solana and Cardano are third-generation blockchains that promise great improvements to the crypto ecosystem.

Without going into too much detail, the fact is that the market sees these two projects as having a lot of potential, but neither of them is yet fully functional.

Although both projects have been nicknamed as “Ethereum killers,” Buterin’s blockchain continues advancing in developing solutions to its current flaws, so I see it unlikely that any project will wipe it off the map yet – improbable, but not impossible.

Meanwhile, the safest option for crypto investors is to have a varied portfolio that allows them to operate and make decisions with ease and without going to any extremes. As always, this should not be taken as financial advice, but rather, crypto education. Always make sure to do your own thorough research before investing.

And in the end, Allah knows best.

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Videogames have been with us for around 50 years and in all this time, we have seen how this form of entertainment has evolved in a remarkable way; from something as basic as Pong or Tetris to the open worlds of Zelda.

However, we know that the evolution of videogames goes hand in hand with technology, so it was inevitable that a technology like blockchain would sooner or later become part of modern gaming.

Today, thanks to the new “Play-to-Earn” genre, players can earn money while playing and even use such games as a form of investment.

Industry analysts show strong signs that the videogame industry will continue growing and with this growth, will come new opportunities to make money. For that reason, today I present, 9 Blockchain Games to Earn Money. A list of what I consider to be the Play-to-Earn games with the greatest potential of the moment. Insha’Allah, you find one that fits your needs.

1. Axie Infinity

Buy adorable monsters, raise them, put them to fight each other, and earn money with it. That’s what Axie Infinity, the most popular blockchain/NFT game of the moment is all about.

Axie Infinity has a similar mechanic to that of the popular Pokémon, only that instead of gaining experience when fighting – either against the AI or against other players – your monsters (Axies) earn SLP tokens, which you can later exchange for real money.

In Axie Infinity, both the Axies and the game plots are represented by NFTs and that’s the key to this matter. The game runs on Ethereum and uses Ronin, an independent wallet to speed up transactions.

What you need to play Axie Infinity

To start, you’ll need to create a Ronin wallet and also have an Ethereum wallet, transfer ETH to Ronin, create an account on the Axie Infinity website, and download the game on your device.

After this, you’ll need to buy three Axies to form a fighting team. At the time of publishing this blog post, acquiring a “decent” monster for combat costs about $500, so the initial investment can be around $1,500 – although you can also opt for a scholarship to play for free.

Is it easy to earn money?

Although the initial cost can be very high for many players, Axie Infinity is a game with wide possibilities that rewards players the more time and effort they put into it. It also has other options to earn money, such as token staking, Axies breeding, and buying/selling virtual plots.

2. Alien Worlds

Alien Worlds is a game in which players can explore and mine on different planets, use weapons, artifacts, and minions in space battles. In Alien Worlds you can win Trilium (TLM), a cryptocurrency token that you get through real crypto mining represented in the game, in addition to NFTs for free.

TLM is a token that joins the Wax and Ethereum blockchains and allows the economies of both chains to function as one. Subsequently, you can trade and sell both TLMs and NFTs on various exchanges and earn money from them.

What you need to play Alien Worlds

Getting started in Alien Worlds is as simple as creating a wallet in Wax Cloud Wallet and an account on the game’s official website associating your Wax wallet.

It’s also possible to start in Alien Worlds without investing any money. In this case, you start with a standard character and a shovel, then travel to different planets to find Trilium. During mining, there is a chance to find some NFT for free.

Is it easy to earn money?

In Alien Worlds, it’s possible to earn a good amount of money, but this will depend a lot on several factors, including the quality and quantity of your tools, as well as the planet you are mining on. In many cases, at the time of publishing this blog post, there is the possibility of finding NFTs with a value between $30 and $40, and even more valuable ones.

3. CryptoBlades

CryptoBlades is a web browser RPG released on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) that also uses NFT technology. The game revolves around obtaining powerful swords and fighting in an epic fantasy world. CryptoBlades also rewards players with cryptocurrency tokens called SKILL, when they participate in battles against other players and in some in-game challenges.

In addition to that, you can also upgrade your characters and weapons as you progress through the game, which also serves to increase your earnings.

What you need to play CryptoBlades

To get started in CryptoBlades, you only need a web browser and a compatible wallet configured for BSC. Once you have connected your wallet to the game’s DApp, you should have at least 0.5 SKILL on hand, something quite inexpensive compared to other similar games.

Is it easy to earn money?

In CryptoBlades you have the possibility to forge new and more powerful weapons to increase your chances of winning more SKILL. In addition to earning money from battles, you can also claim daily SKILL bonuses, trade in-game, and put your tokens on staking.

4. MegaCryptoPolis 3D

MegaCryptoPolis 3D (MCP3D) is a game that focuses on building cities. As a user, you can run the game through any browser, including your mobile phone, while in-game assets are stored on the Ethereum and TRON blockchains, where the game runs.

As a player, you can create your own buildings or just rent them, produce new construction materials, new generations of citizens, create services, place ads, tour the city, and more. All this while earning money in the form of $MEGA tokens.

What you need to play MegaCryptoPolis 3D

Being based on the Ethereum and TRON blockchains, you’ll need a digital wallet compatible with these networks, acquire some ETH or TRX, depending on the network you choose, and start buying blocks of virtual land on the city map before proceeding to create buildings. Each lot of land is represented as an ERC-721 token that you can transfer and trade as a cryptocurrency on external markets.

Is it easy to earn money?

Each building in MCP3D is represented by an NFT. Take into account that you can do everything in the game related to construction and real estate, so the options to earn money are many. On the other hand, you don’t even need a building or land to play; you can buy game assets on the market and sell them at a higher price when they go up in price, either whole or even in parts to earn more money.

5. The Sandbox

The Sandbox is an Ethereum-based open virtual world that allows players to build, play, own, and monetize their virtual gaming experiences and ideas.

In The Sandbox, you’ll find 3D modeling software tools that will allow you to create your own voxel assets and then move on to animate your creations, which can be anything, including people, tools, monsters, buildings, etc.

Finally, you can export your creations in The Sandbox, to The Sandbox Marketplace, where you can sell them in the form of NFTs.

What you need to play The Sandbox

Once you have created and configured your Ethereum wallet, you need to buy LAND. These LANDs are chunks of virtual land on which you can shape your NFT creations. Once you do this, you get SAND, The Sandbox’s native utility token that is used throughout the ecosystem to perform transactions.

Is it easy to earn money?

The key to making money is in the quantity and quality of your creations: the more of these two factors you have, the more SAND you will get.

Then you can use this SAND as a means of exchange in The Marketplace or other external markets, or invest part of your SAND tokens to earn additional rewards thanks to staking. With SAND’s current price around $1, this may be a very good option.

6. Crazy Defense Heroes

Crazy Defense Heroes (CDH) is a game developed and published by Animoca Brands. It’s the largest and most expanded version of the Crazy Kings game, which was released on iOS in 2017 and Android in 2018.

CDH belongs to the popular “defend the tower” genre, but it has a somewhat more complete gameplay enriched with elements such as resource gathering, new heroes, buildings, and spells.

This app offers you more than 500 levels of frantic gameplay, in addition to the possibility of playing against real opponents in strategic online PvP games. On top of that, being based on Ethereum, you can earn TOWER tokens as you progress in your adventure.

What you need to play Crazy Defense Heroes

For starters, Crazy Defense Heroes is a free-to-play game, so you don’t need to make any initial investment to start playing. What you’ll need is to link your game account to your Ethereum wallet to claim your rewards or buy tokens to make purchases or exchanges within the game.

Is it easy to earn money?

The more time you spend playing CDH, the more TOWER tokens you will earn. Take into account that it’s possible to acquire better weapons, equipment, and cards to advance within the game and for this, users need TOWER tokens. In this way, you can put your surplus TOWER tokens up for sale on exchanges such as Sushiswap or Uniswap.

7. Ethermon

Ethermon is a game built on the Ethereum network in which you can unleash your passion for collecting monsters, in this case, Ether Mons. You must capture them, put them to fight, and exchange them for other monsters to earn $EMON, the game currency.

Thanks to Ethermon’s smart contracts and their programming, you’ll have the guarantee that your monsters are yours and nobody else’s property and since each monster has a unique and unrepeatable personality and characteristics, you can sell and trade them like any collector’s item.

What you need to play Ethermon

As always, an Ethereum wallet, buy Ether on any reputable exchange, and play to win $EMON.

Like “MonSeeker,” you must interact with smart contracts to achieve three objectives:

• Capture Ethermons – There is a limited number.
• Train your monsters – You can even raise hatchlings from them and then sell or rent them to other players.
• Fight other MonSeekers – You know, more $EMON.

Is it easy to earn money?

As you can see, Ethermon’s mechanics are very similar to those of Axie Infinity. You’ll use $EMON to send your Ethermons on adventures for a chance to find new and exclusive monsters, or buy Ethermon eggs from the shop and see what they hatch.

From time to time, new collections of Ethermons appear available in official stores and since the platform has a limited distribution, the more rare and powerful your monsters are, the more valuable they will be.

8. Lost Relics

Lost Relics is an RPG action game similar to the famous Diablo, in which you must explore dungeons full of enemies to meet certain objectives. However, the game also has some roguelike touches, so the difficulty is somewhat higher.

The best thing about this game is that you can find items in the form of NFTs based on the Enjin blockchain, which gives them value in the cryptocurrency market.

You can have several roles within the game including miner, fisherman, alchemist, blacksmith, and depending on which one you choose, you can obtain specific benefits.

What you need to play Lost Relics

You will need to have an Enjin wallet in order to transfer the NFT items you find in the game to sell them on the Enjin marketplace. The game is Free-to-Play, but note that you will need to have a – more or less – powerful computer to play, with a graphics card of at least 8GB RAM.

Is it easy to earn money?

The game requires some time and dedication to gain experience and level points. As you progress, the chances of getting more and better NFT items to sell on the market also increase.

Meanwhile, you can accumulate “gold coins.” This is another type of incentive that you can get by completing an adventure – and sporadically in barrels or boxes – and that are used to carry out in-game transactions – something similar to Runescape gold.

9. Upland

Upland is a Play-to-Earn game based on the EOS blockchain, in which users can build, buy, sell, and trade virtual properties assigned to the real world to earn UPX coins. The project uses blockchain to link each property within Upland to an NFT.

Thanks to its recent partnership with Tilia Pay, Upland users can now sell their NFT virtual assets through the Second Life payment network, which supports PayPal to withdraw their earnings in USD. This should give you an idea of the capabilities of the platform.

What you need to play Upland

You can start the game by registering on the official website and connecting your compatible EOS wallet. The game is also available for iOS and Android.

In addition to this, you’ll need UPX to be able to carry out in-game transactions. The good part is that when you first sign up, the game gives you a welcome bonus of several thousand UPX. But it’s certain that sooner or later, you’ll need to buy more UPX in the game.

Is it easy to earn money?

Each property you build or acquire will generate passive income in the form of UPX. The problem is that they generate a very low monthly income. Another perhaps more profitable option is collections, which are nothing more than a certain number of properties in some specific place on the map. These collections can give you additional benefits in the form of bonuses.

Is playing video games halal?

Is playing video games halal? Yes, scholars say that it is permissible to play video games so long as the focus and/or content of the video game is not on haram things such as murder, stealing, gambling, nudity, etc. Also, the video game must not promote hate towards or the destruction of Islam and if you are earning money from playing video games, then the money should not come from prize money that is sourced from the collection of contestant fees.

And even though playing video games is halal, scholars still do not encourage it as playing video games may lead some to neglect the rights of Allah, others, or even themselves by forgetting prayer times, not giving proper time to one’s spouse, or other necessary obligations.

For a more in-depth perspective on the permissibility of playing video games, please see the article, Axie Infinity Overview and is Axie Infinity Halal?

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Even with all the global problems related to technology — component shortages, bans, hacks, and more — the crypto market continues its unstoppable advance, providing new opportunities for those who are able to see them.

While nothing seems to move Satoshi Nakamoto’s first-born daughter from its top spot in the cryptocurrency rankings, it seems like a whole army of new projects is trying to topple Ethereum from its well-earned second place.

Currently, Solana is one of the most solid projects that are seeking to replace Vitalik Buterin’s blockchain, not in vain, it has earned the nickname of “Ethereum killer.”

But is Solana better than Ethereum as many experts claim?

Let’s analyze the panorama…

Solana vs Ethereum – The Current situation

Solana is an open-source blockchain project that aims to provide a robust, fast, and scalable platform for the development and execution of next-generation DApps that surpasses anything seen so far.

Solana has been developed from scratch using a new consensus algorithm called Proof of History (PoH) that promises to increase the speed and scalability of the network to new levels, potentially being able to process tens of thousands of transactions per second (tps).

In addition, Solana has its own cryptocurrency called SOL, which in 2020 was still valued for less than $10, but in recent months it has seen its price skyrocket, staying close to $200 at the time of this blog posting, with a market capitalization of $406B, according to CoinMarketCap.

Solana has managed to build in a very short time — remember that it was founded in 2017 — a robust ecosystem with a good number of developers giving their support to the project with their DApps, but especially in the NFTs segment.

And what about Ethereum?

Ethereum, the super-popular decentralized open-source platform for programming smart contracts and DApps, has held its position, gaining and gaining value even with the technical problems it faces today.

Still, thousands of developers around the world continue creating smart contracts and DApps on Ethereum and invent new types of solutions, many of which are used by large companies and organizations around the world.

Meanwhile, its cryptocurrency Ether, the “fuel” for operations within the network, hasn’t stopped increasing its value, slowly but firmly, although still staying a long way from the almighty Bitcoin.

With that said, it’s now the time to see in more detail, the position of each project based on several factors that I consider critical for a modern blockchain.

How Solana compares to Ethereum

1. Scalability

Solana

Solana is a blockchain that makes use of the Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm to improve efficiency when processing transactions on the network. This already means a significant saving of resources, both in hardware, as well as in time and energy. But in addition, Solana adds a support algorithm developed specifically for this network and which has been called Proof of History (PoH).

In simple words, what this algorithm does is allow network validators to process transactions as they’re generated, without having to wait for a block to complete.

This simple mechanism allows a greater number of transactions per second to be processed simultaneously, being able in theory to process up to 50,000 tps or more under certain conditions, at the same time that it manages to maintain very low fees with an average price of $0.00025.

Ethereum

For its part, Ethereum currently uses the Proof of Work (PoW) algorithm, the same one used by Bitcoin and which requires a large amount of energy and resources to function.

This system only allows the Ethereum network to process a maximum of 30 tps, which, added to the huge user base of the network and the large number of transactions that take place every day, results in the network becoming frequently congested, also increasing the price of the fees, which in many cases reach hundreds of dollars for a single transaction.

However, the next major Ethereum update, 2.0, will focus on migrating the network from PoW to PoS, which will theoretically increase the number of transactions from 30 tps, up to 100,000 tps.

2. Interoperability

Solana

The development team behind Solana is already working on implementing the Wormhole protocol in its network in collaboration with the company Certus One. Wormhole will act as a communication bridge so that Solana can interact with other networks, but in some first tests, it’ll allow communication with the Ethereum network.

Subsequently, new bridges will be added to the Solana network to enable communication with other blockchains and to be able to carry out asset movements seamlessly and in a fast and efficient way.

Ethereum

Currently, Ethereum doesn’t have its own project to achieve interoperability with other networks, but there are already several third-party projects that are offering to add this functionality to the network, something key for its future growth.

Some of these projects include:

• Chainlink – An interoperability solution especially useful for projects that need to access data from other networks without directly interacting with them.

• Wanchain – A project that will make communication between both public and private blockchains possible through a secure and private system for the exchange of value and data called T-Bridge.

• Aion – A communication system between blockchain networks that will make use of Artificial Intelligence.

• Block Collider – A project that seeks to achieve interoperability between networks using a consensus algorithm called Proof of Distance (PoD) and that doesn’t require validators.

Just to name a few.

3. Smart contracts and DApps

Solana

Solana has a protocol called Sealevel that gives it the ability to create and execute multitasking smart contracts in parallel with the rest of the transactions on the network. This is one of the key features that will allow it to achieve greater scalability.

In addition to this, the Solana network has managed to build, since its foundation in 2017, a robust DApps ecosystem that currently already has nearly 500 projects in its network.

Ethereum

In this regard, there is no doubt that Ethereum is the world’s leading network for blockchain-based solutions. In this sense, the Ethereum network already has more than 3,000 fully functional DApps in all kinds of categories, especially in DeFi and more recently, in the NFT segment.

All this is possible thanks to the use of its standard ERC-20 and ERC 721 tokens, which allow interoperability between different DApps within its network.

4. Tokenomics

Solana

Despite being founded in 2017, Solana already has a market capitalization close to $50B, thus placing its SOL token among the most important cryptocurrencies in the world.

SOL has a maximum supply of 489 million coins, and its market value is close to $200, a significant increase considering that in 2020 it was valued at just $2.

However, it’s important to note that due to certain inflationary elements established by the developers, the price of the cryptocurrency will tend to be somewhat more volatile than other similar assets, with a downward trend in the future.

Ethereum

The problems that Ethereum faces at the moment are scalability and transaction costs, This is one of the factors that have kept its price at bay.

Even so, in the last 12 months, the price of Ether has increased significantly, mainly due to progress in the development of its future updates, already hovering around $3,500 at the time of publishing this blog, with a market capitalization of +$400B.

It is precisely this last factor that is helping to create pressure on the price of Ethereum, both in supply and demand, which added to the great support it has, is attracting more investors to the platform.

Which is better, Solana or Ethereum?

Although Ethereum currently has significant limitations in terms of scalability and transaction costs, this has not prevented the network from continuing to grow at a sustained rate. The platform already has 7,000 nodes and 90,000 validators.

However, this is also due to the use of the PoW consensus algorithm, something that will change shortly when PoS is implemented.

When that time comes, Ethereum is supposed to be capable of processing around 100,000 tps, which is pretty good compared to Solana’s current capacity, which is around 50,000 tps – but could theoretically go up to 500,000 tps.

For its part, although Solana only has about 600 nodes and about 1,000 validators, interest in the network hasn’t stopped growing, especially if we consider that it’s still under development.

The same must be said when thinking about DApps. Solana owns just close to 500, while Ethereum owns 3,000. Still, Solana’s growth has been remarkable in this regard.

While Solana is technically superior, Ethereum has the advantage of being on the market first, so it has a strongly established community and ecosystem that help revalue the network.

Solana is unlikely to replace Ethereum, especially since the development team of Ethereum is not going to be left behind when it comes to implementing improvements that will help it better face its competitors.

Of course, it’s a fact that when Solana is 100% functional, many people will migrate from one network to another, but probably not at a rate that will remove Ethereum from its second place in the cryptocurrency rankings.

I believe that in the future, there will be a fierce war between these two blockchains, especially in the DApps and NFTs sector, but I also believe that there is enough space for both projects to coexist. In other words, both Solana and Ethereum will have their own niche.

And in the end, Allah knows best.

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Nowadays it’s becoming more and more common to hear conversations between teenagers such as the following:

– Hey! Do you play Axie?
– Of course! I can’t complain, Alhumdulilah I make around $900 a month. What about you?
– Yeah. I just started a few months ago, but I’m already close to $400…

It’s the boom of the moment, a new trend in the videogame industry that was birthed from the crypto world.

I’m not talking about a simple game with which to kill leisure time, but about a video game that has already generated more than $400 million in profits and is placed in the top position among “play-to-earn” games.

It turns out that thanks to blockchain technology, it’s now possible to make a lot of money by playing videogames related to the crypto world, and one of the best examples of this is Axie Infinity.

To give you some idea of just how popular and transformative this game has been for some, know that Axie Infinity is already considered by many as the “Bitcoin” of NFT-based videogames, and its popularity has reached the point that in some countries, people are paying their bills and quitting their jobs thanks to the income they earn playing the game. Madness or a playful crypto revolution?

Let’s figure that out today with an Axie Infinity Overview while also exploring, is Axie Infinity halal? Yallah!! (Let’s go!)

What is Axie Infinity?

Axie Infinity is a Player-vs-Player (PvP) and Play-to-Earn online video game developed in 2018 by the Vietnamese company Sky Mavis and based on the Ethereum blockchain technology.

In Axie Infinity, as a player, you can create characters that have the appearance of monsters in the Pokémon style – in fact, Axie is inspired by this famous game – called Axies and that are represented in the form of NFT tokens, thus becoming cryptographic collectibles that you can later improve to put them in battles against other Axies and make some virtual money.

You can later use that money in the form of cryptocurrency tokens to improve your character’s strengths and abilities, get new monsters or sell them on the market for higher profits.

These characteristics have made Axie Infinity one of the most interesting games in the crypto world, already surpassing veteran platforms such as Sorare or CryptoKitties.

What is the goal of Axie Infinity?

The main goal of the game is to collect the best Axies and put them to fight against other players or against the artificial intelligence in the game. In this way, the more powerful your creatures are, the more possibilities you’ll have when facing other players and therefore, to make more money in battles as your level increases.

Axies can be improved because each one has a series of unique features that you can improve as you carry out activities in the game, which include battles, as well as missions, and other extra activities. But as I already mentioned, the most interesting thing about these creatures is that thanks to blockchain/NFT technology, each Axie has a set of unique and unrepeatable features.

This is reflected in the fact that each Axie has unique “digital genetics” that gives it characteristics that make it more or less efficient in combat, depending on each situation. For example, a particular Axie could have been “born” with great resistance to fire attacks. Your duty as a breeder is then raising it in the best possible way so that it develops this ability to the max level.

If you’ve ever played Pokémon, you may notice that Axie Infinity’s dynamic is very similar to that of the popular game by Nintendo.

What are AXS and SLP tokens in Axie Infinity?

Axie Infinity has two unique tokens based on the Ethereum blockchain technology which are called AXS and SLP tokens. Let’s take a closer look at what each one of them consists of.

AXS Token

AXS stands for Axie Infinity Shard and consists of an ERC-20 type token that allows players to receive rewards for their participation in the game. For example, if you wish, you can take all your AXS and stake them and earn extra AXS tokens as a reward for supporting the Axie ecosystem. These AXS tokens also serve to participate in the game’s decentralized governance, in addition to serving as a form of support for the community treasury that helps drive the development of the entire ecosystem.

The AXS token was made public in November 2020, which is one of the reasons why this token is not yet fully functional. However, it’s easy to see that the AXS token was created to offer access to a decentralized finance system to incentivize and make future development and improvement of the game easier.

I should highlight that AXS has a limited supply of 270,000,000 tokens, which makes it a scarce resource with good potential to increase its value in the future insha’Allah.

SLP Token

SLP or Smooth Love Potion, is another token of the ERC-20 type that is used so that players can receive their rewards when winning battles within Axie Infinity. As it’s a PvP game, when you win each battle, you should receive experience points or XP – which is the norm for PvP games – but in Axie Infinity, instead of XP, you receive SLP tokens that you can later use as you wish.

These SLP tokens are essential within the game since, for example, if you want to start breeding an Axie, you must have at least 100 SLP to be able to do so. Each upgrade or enhancement you want to make to an Axie, will have a specific cost in SLP, and the more Axies you’d like to have or the better the Axie you’d like to own, then the more SLP you will need.

Is Axie Infinity safe to play or invest in?

As has happened – and continues happening – with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and more recently with NFTs, a debate directly linked to these two types of crypto assets also falls on Axie Infinity. In this sense, many people wonder:

Is Axie Infinity a financial bubble?

Is it safe to invest in Axie Infinity?

It’s easy to understand that these questions will arise for many, especially every time a new boom appears in the crypto world that generates exorbitant amounts of money overnight, but you should remember that the possibility of making money playing blockchain games is indeed real. After all, we already know that it’s possible to make money professionally by playing videogames such as eSports games.

But in addition to eSports games, for many years, there has also been a gray market on the internet where users of certain games can make an economic exchange that moves millions of dollars a year.

Some of these games that generate millions of dollars in revenue per year would be World of Warcraft or Runescape, to name just a few examples.

Now, thanks to blockchain, developers have been able to create and promote a new business model in videogames. Axie Infinity has demonstrated that it’s possible to generate an entire internal economy in a game, strong enough for players to keep motivated to dedicate more and more time to this activity, even professionally.

In the Philippines and Vietnam, it’s already happening; there are people who have quit their jobs to earn money playing Axie Infinity and other similar games. It’s not the first time that this type of action has taken place, especially with projects that move huge amounts of money.

However, even with the enormous figures that Axie Infinity moves, it’s also true that the economic return can have its terrible ups and downs.

What Axie Infinity has done is take advantage of the NFT trend and the speculation that exists around that sector, to get the attention of the masses. But be that as it may, for many, this is a serious investment, not just a game.

Today, thousands of users pay 20 times more than what a next-generation console game is worth to enter the game in the hope of recovering their investment and obtaining superior benefits. And so far, the business model works.

But what if a strong competitor – or several – arrives overnight and makes the game lose popularity?

The entire game economy could be affected as users lose interest and NFT items lose value. After all, there is a certain level of risk when investing in blockchain games.

So when it comes to playing or investing in Axie Infinity, as always, the key factor here is to be cautious, do your research, and never invest more money than you can afford to lose. Muslims should not take extreme risks with investments; always being mindful of the provision that Allah has given them and who they are responsible for with that provision.

What do I need to play Axie Infinity?

If you’ve already gotten excited about Axie Infinity and want to ride this new wave, here’s a rundown of what you need to get started.

Create an account at Axie Infinity

The first thing to do is create an account with the MetaMask crypto wallet, and another in Ronin Wallet, the latter from the official Sky Mavis website.

In MetaMask you must have funds in Ether – the Ethereum currency – which you must then transfer to the Ronin wallet, which is the one used internally in Axie Infinity.

Then, from Ronin, you must transfer the money to buy the first three Axies necessary to start playing. At the time of writing this blog, the cost would be a total of about $1,200. Although, if you don’t have this amount of money, you can try to get a scholarship to play for free – more on this later insha’Allah (God willing).

After spending some time playing and accumulating victories, you can withdraw Axies to your Ronin wallet in the form of Ether, the second most important cryptocurrency, and exchange this for fiat money or spend it in the many online stores that accept the currency.

How do I play Axie Infinity?

As I mentioned before, the game is similar to Pokémon, only that the abilities of the Axies are reflected in cards. In this case, each monster has a series of features such as:

• Type – fish, beast, etc.
• Amount of damage it can cause
• Health levels
• Skill levels
• Special abilities
• Roles

Among others.

As a player, your goal is to strategically combine cards that reflect the abilities of your Axies to attack your opponents and try to defeat them. The player with the last Axie standing is the winner of the match. It’s as simple as that.

But again, what if you don’t have money to start playing Axie Infinity? Well, you could look into getting an Axie scholarship.

What are Axie scholarships?

A scholarship at Axie Infinity allows a novice user to receive an Axie for rent so that they can start playing and earning SLPs. These earnings will then be divided between the player, the Axie owner, and the scholarship manager, resulting in all users making a profit.

So, Axie Scholarships are comprised of three:

1. A person who owns Axies to lend out to players
2. A Scholarship Manager who manages the players
3. A Player or one who is in need of Axies and is willing to play once they are lent Axies to play with

To qualify for a scholarship, you only need to have enough time to play, a desire to learn, and a commitment to following the scholarship guidelines. Take into account that in this case, both the owner of the Axie and the administrator, or scholarship manager, are trusting you to generate profits and distribute them.

If you are interested in obtaining a scholarship, you can try to apply through the official Axie Infinity Discord channel in the scholarships section. From there you can apply, but you must be prepared to demonstrate your skills and motivation.

And here’s a pretty good article that gives step-by-step details on how to create and manage an Axie Scholarship if you are interested in doing so.

How to make money with Axie Infinity

Currently, there are several methods to earn money playing Axie Infinity, let’s take a look at a few of them.

Fighting

The most obvious method is to fight other players in the arena, or in adventure mode against the AI. Every day, you’ll receive a certain amount of energy to be able to fight and thus earn SLP, which you can then exchange for fiat money, and even other cryptocurrencies. At the time of writing this article, you can possibly generate between $8 to $40 per day.

Breeding Axies

You can also make money by buying Axies and breeding them. Once you get new hatchlings, you can try trading them for Ether. In this case, the price of each Axie will be different depending on its characteristics, as well as the supply and demand in the game – the cheapest Axie costs about $300. You can also offer your Axies in scholarships for other players to use.

Staking

Axie Infinity has plans to allow AXS token holders to stake their AXS tokens within the Axie universe.

Axie Infinity developers would like to see Axie Infinity become a more decentralized ecosystem and has thus developed a reward system that will reward additional AXS tokens to those who not only stake their AXS tokens within the Axie universe, but also actively play Axie Infinity, and also participate in governance initiatives by voting on community projects.

Staking is normally seen as a passive way to earn income, but with Axie Infinity, staking will require some work. The developers would like to see Axie Infinity’s development and growth come from its community and believe that the best way for this to happen is through active participation, and this is why its reward system is designed to reward those who not only stake, but will actively play, and actively vote on project initiatives. So, we cannot say that staking on Axie Infinity is merely passive. It will require some effort from the one who stakes.

At the time of writing this blog post, staking has not been initiated on Axie Infinity so we do not know the following:

• We do not know how long one has to stake their AXS tokens to receive rewards. 3 months? 6 months? One year? We don’t know as of yet
• We do not know how often one has to play Axie Infinity in order to qualify to receive staking rewards
• We do not know how often one must participate in governance voting or voting on community projects in order to qualify to receive rewards

Insha’Allah the developers of Axie Infinity will make this clear in due time as it appears that many people seem eager to participate in staking on Axie.

Buying and selling virtual lands

Currently, it’s possible to buy plots of virtual land within the metaverse of the game and whose minimum prices are close to $12,000, and wait for prices to rise before selling or even renting them. Some of these lands have been sold for $1.5 million and more!

Is Axie Infinity worth it?

Right now, Axie Infinity may be more or less worth it, depending on the strategy you follow. As I said before, it’s an investment linked to the volatility of cryptocurrencies, so you must measure very well which are your best opportunities based on your investment possibilities. If you have the time and you like to play, this may be the best option, either as the owner of your own Axies or as a user with a scholarship. In this way, you could possibly generate more than $1,000 a month, depending on your abilities.

Now, if you don’t want to play, remember that Axie Infinity offers several ways to invest in the game that can be more or less profitable. You can take advantage of the current boom in NFTs by buying or selling Axies or if you have the money, buy and sell virtual lands, and new ways of generating income are sure to come in the future if the game maintains its popularity insha’Allah. Just remember to always do proper research before you invest and never invest what you are not willing to lose.

Is Axie Infinity halal?

Is Axie Infinity halal? When examining a consensus of fatawa (legal opinions) from scholars as it relates to playing video games and earning money from playing video games, then we would say, yes, Axie Infinity is halal but not encouraged. Axie Infinity is not a game of chance, nor is the game structured as a tournament where prize money is given from participant registration fees as a reward, nor does the content and theme of the game conflict with Islamic principles, so we can say that it would be permissible to play and earn income from Axie Infinity but scholars still would encourage players to find another means of earning income.

As for the AXS and SLP tokens, scholars who generally rule that cryptocurrency is halal would consider AXS and SLP as halal. Scholars would consider both tokens as utility tokens and would classify both as assets and not currency.

So now let’s discuss why playing and earning money from Axie Infinity is permissible while at the same time some scholars would still discourage seeking to earn money from Axie Infinity and videogames in general.

Game of Chance

First let’s look at what is called, “game of chance”. “Game of chance” is commonly understood to mean gambling, or getting something too easy, or getting a profit without working for it. This is forbidden in Islam. The ayat in the Quran that clarifies gambling as haram are the following:

“O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone altars [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful. Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. So will you not desist?” – Holy Quran, 5:90-91

“They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, “In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit.” – Holy Quran, 2:219

“Game of chance” does not apply to Axie Infinity as Axie Infinity is a skill-based game where one focuses on building their Axie’s strength and powers through battles and breeding, and in return, they can earn income from selling their Axie NFT or SLP tokens in a marketplace. In other words, Axie Infinity requires effort, strategy, and time. This is not gambling and Axie Infinity is most certainly not a “game of chance”.

For further reading on “game of chance”, please read an excellent Islamic explanation here.

Tournaments and Prize Money

When it comes to earning money, scholars also mention that it is haram to earn money from competition tournaments where prize money is awarded from registration fees paid by those who participate in the tournament. Scholars view this as a form of gambling. The only exception for this is for certain competitions such as horse racing, camel racing, archery, swimming, or activities where the competition could be seen as enhancing one’s knowledge of Islam or training for jihad (defending or protecting the Muslim community).

Earning money from tournament competitions does not apply to Axie Infinity. As mentioned before, the main method of participating in gameplay on the Axie Infinity platform is by purchasing 3 Axies. Once the player has purchased 3 Axies, they can then play against opponents (Arena battle) or the AI (Adventure battle). Money is earned by selling Axie NFTs or SLP tokens or lending out Axies via a scholarship program. There is no registration fee and no grand prize money to win.

For further reading on tournaments and prize money, please read Islamic opinion here.

Theme and Content

Scholars also state that videos games should not go against Islamic principles such as the showing of awrah (intimate parts), using vulgar language, promoting immoral acts such as stealing, cheating, lying, etc., and the game should not promote the destruction of or show hate towards Islam. The theme and content of Axie Infinity do not go against Islamic principles nor does the game promote the immoral.

For further reading, please see an Islamic perspective on electronic games here and another scholar’s opinion on videogames here.

Gharar

However, there are some things to keep in mind for anyone seeking to participate in play-to-earn games. In Islam, it is impermissible to deal in sales, business, or investment transactions that have high or extreme uncertainty. This is commonly referred to as gharar (uncertainty, risk, deception) in the sharia.

It may be that one person invests their surplus money to play Axie Infinity for leisure. This person has a solid understanding of how Axie Infinity works and they are investing money that if they were to lose what they have invested, it would not be of consequence to them or their family.

On the other hand, it may be that you have another person who is desperate and seeking a way to provide for their family. They know only a little of Axie Infinity and have only heard of positive stories of those who are making so much money in the game. This person takes their life’s savings to play with the hopes of supporting his/her family. It is in this situation where a scholar may say that this is impermissible because for this particular individual there is extreme uncertainty and speculation (gharar) as to their investment in Axie Infinity.

So when playing Axie Infinity or any other play-to-earn game, it is important for Muslims to have a proper understanding of what they are getting involved in and to be mindful of how they spend or invest their money, always being mindful of their responsibilities.

Axie scholarships

In Islam it is permissible to receive scholarships, however, it is incumbent upon the Muslim to fulfill their duties of the scholarship they have received assuming the obligations of the scholarship are halal. So, as long as the Axie Scholarship does not request or require the player to engage in what is haram then it is seen as permissible.

Why some scholars do not encourage playing

Finally, when it comes to playing Axie Infinity, or any videogame for that matter, we must always keep in mind how much time we devote to this activity. As Muslims, we know that when we meet Allah, one of the things that we will be questioned on is how we utilized our time.

There are some who will play Axie Infinity for income to support their family and there are others who will simply play for leisure. Regardless of where they fall, as Muslims, we should be cognizant of how much time we spend on this activity being mindful to not let this activity take away from the rights of Allah, others, or even ourselves.

And this is the concern of scholars. Scholars realize that it can be easy to find ourselves consumed in gameplay only to end up wasting time, especially if there is no true benefit of gameplay. Scholars encourage that we use our time to engage in what will benefit us in both this life and the next and see video games as a possible distraction.

This is not to say that one cannot play from time to time for leisure or even to earn income, but even for the latter, scholars recommend seeking other means of seeking income.

Conclusion

In recent years, several games have emerged to take advantage of the boom in cryptocurrencies and NFTs, generating a lot of money for both developers and users. In addition to helping generate real money for players, these games have also contributed to creating an entire ecosystem, a community, and a new economy that is changing various rules in the world, both real and virtual.

And with the growing advent of artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and robotics changing the landscape of the labor market by displacing humans for machines and with the negative effects of fiat currencies leaving nations economically poor, I believe that we will see a growing trend of people trying to find new ways to earn income for their families and they will do so in the metaverse.

The eyes of those who have large investment capital are seeing the enormous possibilities in the world of cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and the virtual world, and in the future, it is likely that more and more games of this type are going to appear in the market, so it’s time for Muslims to have our eyes wide open to the potential halal possibilities and opportunities in this space always remembering that whether it is the “real” world or the “virtual” world, Allah is Rabbil-‘Alamin, Lord of ALL the worlds.

And in the end, Allah knows best.

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Decentraland is probably the most developed and popular digital world when it comes to digital real estate at the moment, where thousands of users buy and sell – for as much as $900,000 – virtual real estate with freedom and ease, in addition to the security provided by blockchain technology.

So, is virtual real estate legit?

Yes! More and more investors are starting to show great interest in digital lands as a new opportunity to generate income because they have it clear; virtual worlds have enormous potential to display advertising, sell products and services, organize events, and more.

Today, we’ll talk about Decentraland and virtual real estate, what they are, what possibilities they offer for investors, and what the future holds for this new technological trend. Let’s get started.

What is Decentraland?

Decentraland users do not like Decentraland being referred to as just another videogame. And they’ve legitimate reasons.

In reality, Decentraland is a virtual reality platform that works on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. It’s a platform that allows you to work, build, and create things.

And what can you create in Decentraland?

Virtual worlds. And this is not a reason for tagging it as another Minecraft clone.

Although Decentraland obviously has characteristics of a videogame, it has greater possibilities; users can carry out a wide variety of actions starting from the purchase of virtual parcels of land and the subsequent construction on them. Just as you would do in the real world when buying a piece of land.

But contrary to what happens with video games like “World of Warcraft” or “Minecraft,” Decentraland doesn’t belong to its developers, but to the users themselves, since it’s a “public” digital platform in which there is no central organization that enforces rules. The entire economy of Decentraland is generated and managed by its users.

This means that any user can freely buy and control the content of their digital lands while generating income through construction and other additional activities.

All of this is possible thanks to the use of blockchain technology which allows for the ownership of any plot of digital land without the possibility of falsification.

The idea for Decentraland originated in the minds of Argentines, Esteban Ordano and Ariel Meilich in 2015, but the project took two years to complete its development. Finally, in August 2017, the entrepreneurs held an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) with which they raised 86,206 ether – 26 million dollars at that time – in exchange for MANA tokens, the Decentraland token.

The funds were managed by the Decentraland Foundation to promote the development of the platform, at the same time that they also put into operation the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to deliver management of the project to its users.

How does Decentraland work?

In Decentraland, users can interact with portions or parcels of virtual land called LAND. These plots of land can be purchased to “build” on in a similar way to what happens in Minecraft – although many users also resell them.

In reality, each portion of LAND is nothing more than a non-fungible token or NFT on which it’s possible to create videogames, 3D objects, applications, digital services, dynamic 3D scenarios, etc. Each LAND parcel measures 16 x 16 meters, but doesn’t have a height limit.

This means that if you want to build a mall in Decentraland, you’d have to acquire a good number of parcels to be able to finish it. In addition, LAND is a scarce resource, something necessary to increase demand and incentivize the creation of quality content.

In order to buy LAND, you must have MANA, Decentraland’s native token, which is used mainly to buy these plots. When many LAND users form communities dedicated to a common theme, these communities are called States or Districts and just like you’d vote in your real-world community, users can also vote in Decentraland to solve any problems that may arise over time.

Now let’s talk about MANA

As I already mentioned, MANA is Decentraland’s native token. It’s an ERC-20 token that is used first of all to buy LAND plots, but which can also be used to pay for goods and services in Decentraland, and the auctions of “Genesis City,” a city created by a group of Argentine developers.

LAND portions were originally sold by Decentraland’s own development team, with a starting price of 1,000 MANA, but now their prices range from 11,000 to several million MANA.

What is virtual real estate?

Before answering this question, it’s important to understand what the metaverse is. Basically, the metaverse is a shared virtual or digital space that aims to imitate or reproduce the characteristics of the real world. This metaverse is packed with millions of possibilities for anyone to fulfill their fantasies. Taking the Minecraft example again, users can do almost anything they can think of, but with the difference that in the metaverse, there are almost no limits.

In fact, Minecraft is a kind of metaverse, only that in this case, the environment depends a lot on the developers in order to for it to evolve.

In the metaverse, users can buy virtual real estate, just as we would when buying a piece of land in the real world, with the difference that the portion of virtual land that you buy in the metaverse, only exists in that specific metaverse.

Many of these virtual worlds have their own cryptocurrencies, as it happens with MANA in Decentraland, and several companies are already working on the possibility of creating a single and global metaverse that allows communication and interaction between all the metaverses out there – a new kind of 3D Internet?

Another difference with videogames is that in the metaverse, there is no predefined goal; the idea is that users can have social and economic interaction with each other in a virtual and open world with near infinite possibilities. The use of Blockchain technology guarantees the legitimacy of commercial transactions, allowing users to be real owners of their own avatar, plot, building, store, etc.

Blockchain and NFT technologies help to give a sense of real belonging to each user. In other words, they are proprietary.

For example, a user can build a house, convert it into an NFT token, and then put it up for sale on the market. If another user buys the house, he can then place it on his own virtual plot and add other NFT objects to it.

And not only that, in these virtual spaces, be it a house or a football stadium, it’s possible to experience the feeling of presence and social interaction at parties, walks, festivals, concerts, sporting events, dinners, games, etc. All of this allows the development of a virtual economy with the potential to extend into the real world, as is the case with cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

Is virtual real estate legitimate?

Many people were asking the same question years ago when Bitcoin appeared for the first time and later other cryptocurrencies followed it – and recently with NFTs.

The short answer is yes. Virtual real estate is a new investment opportunity.

As with real-world real estate, in the metaverse, users and investors can exchange, buy and sell virtual real estate as if it were just another NFT token. The difference is that when you buy a virtual plot of land, instead of acquiring an NFT artwork and a private key, you acquire a digital space to do and create whatever virtual reality allows you.

Thanks to blockchain technology, these virtual terrain tokens have a recognizable value that users can exchange for products or services from the metaverse itself, as well as from the real world. In addition, everything is publicly registered.

I do believe that Decentraland has probably laid the foundations for a new business model of upcoming developments in virtual worlds.

Why are people buying virtual real estate?

Many people still doubt whether they should invest in this. Consider the following: the price of virtual real estate continues growing and there are still no clear signs that the opposite will happen. This is the same that happens with any new technology in which some visionary people see economic potential; there is a race in which everyone wants to get the best positions.

Just look at how the demand for NFTs has increased in the last two years. More and more people want to enter this world, which causes prices to rise due to the shortage of virtual land. In fact, the demand for parcels in central areas in some of these virtual worlds is growing considerably, which is an indicator of where the market is going.

As I said at the beginning, investors know that virtual spaces offer near endless possibilities to monetize them and generate income in the medium and long term. Blockchain, NFTs, and virtual real estate are taking society to the next level of information technology.

It’s more than likely that before long, an increasing percentage of people will spend more time at home visiting galleries, shops, and events in virtual reality.

What can you do with virtual real estate?

As indicated in the Decentraland whitepaper on its official website, users can develop the following activities.

Applications

Users can develop applications in a 3D environment to provide interaction with other users.

Content Curation

This is possible thanks to the development of communities around large concentrations of virtual parcels, such as neighborhoods, parks, etc.

Advertising

Many brands are buying and renting virtual spaces to put up their billboards.

Collectibles

The NFT collectibles fever has spread to virtual worlds.

Social connections

The metaverse presents a new way of interacting and relating that goes beyond ordinary social networks.

But the possibilities are near endless. As with any property in the real world, what makes the difference in the virtual world is what users do with their properties, including:

Art galleries

Where different artists can display their NFT digital artworks.

Videogames

From Tetris clones, to 3D platforms in the style of Mario games.

Musical events

Where your favorite nasheed singer, entertainer, artist, public speaker, or favorite sheikh (Islamic scholar), can perform, teach, or speak in front of potentially unlimited audiences.

In summary; the virtual world offered by the metaverse allows interaction between brands and potential consumers.

Is Decentraland a good investment?

For all the good it has to offer, the world of virtual real estate also presents challenges for investors. As with any type of investment, this is an issue that must be carefully analyzed in order to avoid mistakes.

The market for NFTs continues growing, which augurs the same for digital lands, but there is still a long way to go to achieve the mass adoption of this technology. As with volatility in the cryptocurrency market, the value of NFTs is also volatile. However, the value of a virtual land also depends on how its owner develops it.

In this sense, there is no doubt that Decentraland will continue growing and expanding since virtual real estate represents a new opportunity with a high economic potential that in the near future could be worth much more than it is now.

As always, if you’re planning to invest, just remember to always do research and take proper precautions.

How can you buy virtual real estate on Decentraland?

Currently, there are two ways to buy parcels on Decentraland, either by purchasing directly on its marketplace or through a separate platform. Today, I’ll talk about the first option, since although the second is similar, it depends on the specific platform.

1. Get a wallet

Remember that the first thing you’ll need is a crypto wallet that can be integrated into your web browser and allows you to store ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens. Naturally, you must have some MANA – it can also be Ether in case of buying outside the marketplace – in your wallet to be able to make the purchase. You can buy this with fiat money in one of the many exchanges available on the Web or in Decentraland itself.

2. Sign up for Decentraland

Go to the main page of the platform and register with a valid username and password.

3. Choose your LAND

Once you have registered, go to the purchase section and select a LAND that you liked. Before making the purchase, you’ll be able to see information related to your LAND in the corresponding section, including its price in MANA and its location.

4. Make your purchase

Once you have selected the plot to buy, you must connect your wallet with the Decentraland marketplace by logging in to your Ethereum account and making the payment according to the indicated instructions.

Is Decentraland halal?

Is Decentraland halal? Yes, Decentraland is halal. Decentraland is a platform that allows the user to perform many operations in what is called a “virtual world” as if they were in the “real world” and this is permissible. However, it is important for the Muslim to remember that in the Quran Allah says that He is, “Lord of all the worlds”. This also includes virtual worlds. This means that Muslims must uphold the same Islamic principles of “muamalat” (just dealings with people in a social and economic manner) in any world they participate in.

As for MANA crypto, scholars who generally rule that cryptocurrency is halal would also consider MANA as halal. MANA is the in-world currency for Decentraland. It allows players to purchase land and other goods and services on the Decentraland platform.

At this time, even though MANA is considered currency for the Decentraland platform, scholars would normally classify MANA as an asset.

Conclusion

It looks like virtual universes are here to stay. You can easily verify this thanks to the enormous growth and popularity that the different metaverses, especially Decentraland, are gaining. In fact, since investors and entrepreneurs have realized the enormous possibilities offered by this new trend, it seems that every month new competitors emerge, which are already generating millions – there we have the case of Axie Infinity.

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Blockchain, an innovative decentralized database and network technology, is an invention that started with Bitcoin and has gradually evolved into something far more dynamic over the years.

This technology laid the foundation for a new kind of internet, and this is influencing every aspect of society; it’s not only the basis for the so-called “digital gold” (Bitcoin), but it’s also allowing the creation of new and innovative digital assets: Polkadot, Cardano, Ethereum and more.

Even though “blockchain” is gradually becoming a common word in the finance and supply chain sector as well as proving itself to be one of the greatest socio-technological initiatives that humanity will experience in the coming decades, there are still many people who know nothing about this technological advance.

For this reason, it is most important that we learn, what is blockchain technology and is blockchain halal.

What is a blockchain?

Blockchain is a technology that works both as a database and a public ledger distributed through a computer network.

When we say “distributed”, we mean that it’s decentralized, so it doesn’t need a central entity managing it; this is done by consensus among all the parties that make up the network.

This also implies that the computing power of the network is used both to manage the information in the database and to avoid any type of manipulation that has not been previously agreed upon. This gives blockchain very high levels of security that other technologies don’t have.

How does blockchain work?

First, specific software is necessary – which is usually free or open-source – to allow the different nodes (users + devices) that wish to participate, to create the network for the blockchain to work properly.

This implies that each node must have this software installed, so basically, the information that this software manages is exactly the same on each of the devices that are part of the same blockchain network.

As long as more than 50% of the nodes that make up a network are not under the control of a single person or organization, we can say that the network is decentralized.

Since blockchain works as a distributed database, none of the information stored there can be modified, so that it’ll remain unchanged, forever insha’Allah.

The link that exists – through a series of complex mathematical calculations – between all the network nodes contributes to this, making it impossible to include, modify or eliminate any record that doesn’t match with the rest of the records in the database.

Let’s take a closer look at what are the elements that make up a blockchain.

Blocks

Blocks are the essential components that make up a blockchain – that’s where the name comes from – and each block consists of a package or set of confirmed transactions and other additional data such as:

1. Nonce: A random alphanumeric code used to calculate and generate a hash code
2. Hash: Another alphanumeric code, unique and unrepeatable, that will be linked with the next block

During the process of creating a block, what the base software does is try to calculate the hash code based on the information contained in the nonce code, but this is a very complex mathematical calculation that can only be done by brute force, through trial and error.

Miners

Miners are nodes that have very powerful specialized equipment that provides the necessary computing power to perform the calculations that we already mentioned in the previous point. This power is used to verify and certify as “legal,” the set of transactions that make up a block.

When a miner successfully completes this process, a new block is created and the miner receives a reward, usually in the form of cryptocurrency. This process is known as mining and it’s exactly what happens with Bitcoin. However, the process can vary depending on the consensus algorithm used.

Nodes

A node is basically a user with a device (PC, phone, or tablet) connected to the blockchain through the software that maintains, distributes, and updates a real-time copy of the entire blockchain. Each time a new block is created, it’s added to the chain by means of a copy that each of the nodes stores individually.

All cryptocurrencies follow a similar operation, and although each one of them has its own characteristics, the basic idea is to guarantee the maximum security granted on the blockchain.

The different types of blockchain

Public blockchains

These are blockchain networks that are accessible to anyone who wants to join. We have the first and best example of this in Bitcoin, although later other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Dash, Monero, etc., would arrive.

This type of blockchain is based on the open-source philosophy, so that anyone can review, audit, improve and reuse their software. This also implies that anyone can access the network and be part of it without any type of restriction.

In addition, public blockchains have a good number of high-level security systems to prevent any individual or organization from easily altering their operation. This is necessary because as there is no central authority that regulates its operation, there is also no one who can respond if there is a failure on the network.

This also means that the economic maintenance of these blockchains depends on the software that makes them work. Usually, this software will dictate the type of mining system used as well as the collection of commissions for the transactions that users carry out within the network.

Private blockchains

These blockchains usually have the same components as their public equivalents, the main difference being that private blockchains do have a central point of control, usually a company.

The company or organization is the one that authorizes access to users, in addition to regulating what they can and cannot do within the blockchain.

Private blockchains are usually financially maintained by the organization behind each project since these networks don’t have their own cryptocurrencies or mining systems.

Today, there is an increasing number of private organizations that make use of blockchain technology; Hyperledger and ConsenSys Quorum are good examples.

Consortium blockchains

This is a slight variation on the private blockchain. Unlike the previous one, in a consortium blockchain, there is no single organization controlling the network, but there are several.

This gives it a semi-decentralized character and allows both the administration of the network and the exchange of information to be carried out between several master nodes. It’s very suitable for banks and public organizations.

Hybrid blockchains

The combination between public and private blockchains. In these networks, while access and participation are private elements controlled by an organization, the ledger is usually publicly accessible, so that anyone can observe everything that happens on the blockchain.

This makes hybrid blockchains the perfect type for government institutions and certain companies that need to store data securely, but at the same time need to offer high levels of transparency and trust in their operations to the general public.

As with private blockchains, hybrid blockchains don’t usually have a mining system or cryptocurrencies, and other consensus mechanisms are used to verify and validate transactions. In addition, the fact of being a decentralized network implies that they maintain a high level of security and transparency.

Benefits of blockchain

Now that you’re clear about what blockchain is, let’s explore what makes it the technology of the moment, and possibly, the future.

Transparency

Due to its public and decentralized nature, blockchain offers a clear view of the origin and destination of transactions, since anyone can consult and verify the records in the database.

Efficiency

Due to the absence of a central authority and intermediaries, blockchain allows information to be available to everyone in a much faster way since the data transmission process is simplified.

Digitalization

Thanks to technology, digitalized transactions and documents can be accessed remotely and immediately, which can remain unchanged for as long as needed, even forever insha’Allah.

Lower operational risk

Since it is a decentralized and incorruptible process, blockchain helps reduce operational risks in organizations by allowing real-time process debugging and the use of smart contracts.

Error reduction

The creation of information based on blockchain allows reducing the number of reconciliations required for certain processes, since each block is based on the previous blocks, allowing automatic reconciliations and reducing human error.

Cost savings

Thanks to digitalization and automation, blockchain improves operational efficiency and at the same time, it reduces the cost associated with information generation and manipulation.

Create new markets

This technology opens up a world of possibilities thanks to its versatility and its distributed technology based on mathematical truth. A good example is smart contracts.

Traceability

Since each block in the chain stores information and they are all linked together, organizations can track information more easily and process history permanently, facilitating the unique tracking of any transaction.

Security and trust

Blockchain constitutes a trusted environment based on science and technology, in which the exchange of data is carried out through encrypted operations, protecting the exchange of data and guaranteeing the security of all parties.

Some blockchain use cases

Blockchain is a very versatile technology and we are seeing more and more implementation of this technology in many different sectors of many different industries. Let’s take a look at some of the more interesting use cases.

Supply chain management and monitoring

Thanks to assets digitalization and decentralization, blockchain can significantly improve monitoring and tracking in supply chains.

Each product can be associated with a unique ID number, as well as other additional information that can be tracked and re-verified when necessary. This allows to easily record and access information such as time, location, product status, etc.

Example: Food Trust by IBM and Walmart

Digital identity

With blockchain, each person has only one identity in the entire network and without the need to carry physical documents. This helps protect individuals from identity theft and enables government entities to take full advantage of digital identity.

Example: The UAE Pass

Energy markets

The different aspects related to the energy market, such as the generation, commercialization, distribution, registration, and settlement of contracts, can be carried out in a distributed way and automatically with the help of smart contracts and decentralized registration technology.

People have the possibility to participate in open markets controlled by supply and demand where consumers can also act as producers, and vice versa. And all this with a high degree of efficiency.

Example: Power Ledger

Health care

Blockchain can simplify access to vital patient data for all stakeholders through proper permission control so that only authorized people can access it – even patients.

On top of that, having health data stored in a secure and accessible way can help improve the research effort of medical scientists more efficiently.

Lastly, blockchain can help completely eliminate the counterfeiting of life-saving drugs thanks to improvements in the supply chain.

Example: Patientory

Voting systems

With blockchain, the voting process becomes transparent, secure, fast, and innovative. A distributed storage and security system can ensure that the information presented is protected against any modification, as the data cannot be modified or changed in any way and each vote can be tracked if necessary.

Example: Voatz

Safety

Since data is stored in a decentralized way on a blockchain, there is no single point of failure for hackers. This helps improve DNS security and decrease DDoS attacks. Immutability also means that hackers cannot commit fraud or data theft.

Example: Javvy

And the imagination is the limit…

• Music royalties tracking
• Global payments
• IoT operating systems
• Anti-money laundering systems
• Content creation protection
• Cryptocurrency exchanges
• Real estate processing
• NFT marketplaces
• Blockchain Games

Is Blockchain halal?

Blockchain technology in and of itself is halal. There is nothing about the concept or technology of blockchain that makes it haram. Blockchain is nothing more than digital bookkeeping of recorded transactions and this is no different than an accountant writing down transactions in a ledger.

Blockchain can be used for good. For example, blockchain technology can be utilized to implement best practices in transparency and proper record keeping and distribution of zakat.

We can see that Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani has addressed the need to change the zakat system in Pakistan to help ensure confidence, fairness, and justice in how zakat funds are utilized.

Using blockchain can, insha’Allah, aid in making sure that zakat funds are being used ethically while also instilling confidence in those who give their zakat to organizations where they can trust that their zakat is truly being used as it should.

Blockchain can also be used to assist in tracking our halal food supply chain.

Islam teaches us that animals must be treated with dignity and care even if those animals will be purposed for food. Using blockchain to monitor our halal food supply chain will help Muslims see how animals are fed, farmed, cared for, slaughtered, packaged, and transported.

In other words, Muslims can witness the entire supply chain of the animal and then make informed decisions as to who to purchase food products from and as well as who to avoid.

Of course, utilizing blockchain alone is not enough. People must do their part to be honest and to ensure trust and ethics in the system.

So, is blockchain halal? Yes.

Conclusion

Blockchain is one of the most versatile and powerful technologies available today, and its potential is just beginning to be explored and harnessed. This technology has a wide variety of applications for all industries and is changing the way that things are being done for the better insha’Allah.

There is no doubt that, as its development progresses, blockchain will allow us to be more interconnected, but it’ll also increase the efficiency of computer processes, protect the privacy and security of our systems and data, and create a new type of internet, more secure and efficient.

And we are already seeing Muslim countries either utilize blockchain technology for their citizens, UAE Pass, or at least begin to develop a blockchain strategy for their nation: Saudi Arabia banking and blockchain, Indonesia and blockchain technology, the UAE Ministry of Health blockchain initiative, and Malaysia’s blockchain strategy.

Blockchain is the next evolution of information technology, and we’re already living it. Are you ready?