# About Decentraland
Welcome to Decentraland.
What is Decentraland?
Decentraland is where you hang out online. Every week you'll find movie screenings, live music, streaming parties, campfire hangouts and other community meetups—the kind of experiences where familiar faces keep showing up and newcomers always find their crowd. Founded in 2015 and publicly launched in 2020, Decentraland is a community-driven virtual space supported by the non-profit Decentraland Foundation and guided by its users through transparent governance. Everything in Decentraland is built and owned by the people who show up: the parcels, the scenes, the avatars, and the experiences. The infrastructure is decentralized, so no single company can take away your space, your identity, or what you've built. Decentraland is available as a high-fidelity desktop app, with a [mobile app](https://decentraland.org/blog/announcements/mobile-the-next-chapter-for-decentraland) launching in early 2026. Come hang out at [decentraland.org](https://decentraland.org/)
What can I do in Decentraland?
* **Show Up for What's Happening**: Every week there are screenings, game nights, and other [community events](https://decentraland.org/events/). Come for one and stay because your people are there.
* **Connect**: Meet people from around the world. The regulars become your crowd. Show up enough times and you'll recognize faces.
* **Express Yourself**: Customize your avatar with community-designed Wearables and Emotes. Make it look like you, or whoever you want to be.
* **Build and Own**: Claim [your own virtual space](https://decentraland.org/blog/about-decentraland/decentraland-worlds-your-own-virtual-space) with LAND or a World. Create a venue, a game, an art installation, or anything else you can imagine. It's yours.
* **Earn and Trade**: Create Wearables and Emotes, sell them in the [Marketplace](https://decentraland.org/marketplace), and keep 97.5% of your earnings—one of the highest revenue shares in the industry. Trade digital assets with the community and build something of value.
* **Shape What Happens Next**: You're part of a community that decides the platform's direction. Through the [DAO](https://decentraland.org/dao), you can propose changes, vote on initiatives, and contribute to projects that matter to you.
Is Decentraland free?
Yes. You can explore, connect with the community, and attend events without spending anything. Show up and complete weekly in-world goals to earn [Marketplace Credits](https://decentraland.org/blog/announcements/marketplace-credits-earn-weekly-rewards-to-power-up-your-look), which you can spend on community-made Wearables, Emotes, and NAMEs, or use to publish your own creations. If you want to buy something right away, you can pay with a credit card or crypto. There's no barrier to showing up.
Decentraland is community-driven—what does that mean?
Decentraland belongs to the people who use it. There's no central company controlling the platform or deciding what happens next—that's all decided by the community through the DAO.
The content you see, from the builds on LAND to the Wearables in the [Marketplace](https://decentraland.org/marketplace), is created by the community. [Events](https://decentraland.org/events) happen because members organize them. The platform evolves based on what the community votes for. This isn't just rhetoric. Decentraland's code is open source, its content is stored on a distributed network, and it can never be shut down by a single company.
The economy is designed to support creators first. 2.5% of all Marketplace sales fund community initiatives through the DAO, while creators keep the rest. Anyone can submit an event, build something, or contribute to the world's future.
How was Decentraland started?
The idea for Decentraland started in 2015 with a simple question: what if you could actually own your digital space? In 2020, it officially launched as the world's first fully decentralized virtual world. Since then, it's become a place where you show up, hang out with people, and come back because something's always happening. Today, thousands of creators and community members shape what Decentraland becomes.
Learn more [White Paper 1.0](https://decentraland.org/whitepaper.pdf) | [White Paper 2.0](https://decentraland.org/whitepaper2.pdf)
What is Decentraland DAO?
The [Decentraland DAO](https://decentraland.org/dao) (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) is how you shape Decentraland's future. You can propose and vote on decisions that matter, from policy changes to updates on how the Marketplace works. If you own MANA, LAND, or NAMEs, you have voting power.
The DAO controls the smart contracts that power Decentraland: LAND, Estates, and the Marketplace. That's what makes Decentraland genuinely decentralized—your community controls what matters most. Your votes decide how the economy works and what gets built.
The DAO also manages Decentraland's treasury, funding community-driven initiatives, events, and development.
What is Regenesis Labs?
[Regenesis Labs](https://decentraland.org/blog/announcements/introducing-dcl-regenesis-labs) is the execution arm of the DAO. It's the team that turns community decisions into real delivery: hiring globally, signing contracts, and coordinating long-term projects on behalf of the community, all aligned with what you vote for. The DAO debates and decides; Regenesis Labs makes it happen. Right now, that includes [building Decentraland's mobile client](https://decentraland.org/blog/announcements/mobile-the-next-chapter-for-decentraland), bringing the experience to where you already spend your time.
What is Decentraland Foundation?
Decentraland Foundation builds and maintains the software that makes Decentraland run. Every week, people show up to movie screenings, live music, and other [community meetups](https://decentraland.org/events/)—the kind of immersive social hangouts you don't find elsewhere on the internet—and the Foundation's job is to make sure the infrastructure behind all of it is solid, secure, and open. That means contributing to the platform's codebase, maintaining smart contract security, protecting the community from scams and misinformation, and stewarding the Decentraland brand.