Is the virtual real estate market the new frontier thanks to the metaverse? Investors are now looking at metaverse real estate, an online platform where people can buy, sell, and lease virtual property, according to recent article in the New York Times. A general contractor and NFT (nonfungible token) collector, Gabe Sierra, in Miami, offered his latest creation, an 11,000-square-foot mansion, but to spice up the deal, he provided the exact twin home in the metaverse. The property hits the auction block this month, and Sierra is hoping for a sale price of around $10 million. “It’s a project that blends the line between physical and digital to the furthest extent that I could go on a residential home,” said Sierra. “It pairs a real-world build and expands on it in the digital space. It will make much more sense as these technologies get more immersive.” Financial transactions in the metaverse are handled in cryptocurrency and powered by the blockchain, a digital distributed public ledger that eliminates the need for a third party like a bank. According to Technavio, the metaverse real estate market is expected to grow by $5.37 billion by 2026. In the Sandbox, one of the most popular metaverse worlds, much of the virtual land has been purchased by global corporations like Adidas, which is there to sell products. The total land value in The Sandbox was estimated to be $167 million last year. While a parcel is sold for about $400, there is a secondary market where prices can be many times that. Proximity to land owned by celebrities and big-name brands drives up prices. One buyer paid $450,000 to become Snoop Dogg’s neighbor in “Snoopverse.” “Land is becoming the infrastructure of the metaverse,” said Sebastien Borget, co-founder of the...