About Decentraland

Decentraland was the world’s first fully decentralized, social virtual world, empowering users to own, create, and control their digital assets and experiences. Launched in 2020, Decentraland features an open, traversable landscape filled with user-generated content that evolves and changes in real-time. Built on blockchain technology, it offers a thriving digital asset economy where creators keep 97.5% of their earnings, the highest revenue share in the industry, with 2.5% reinvested into the community through the Decentraland DAO. Governed by its community, Decentraland embodies the core values of connection, creativity, collaboration, and openess. As a dynamic, ever-evolving social world, Decentraland empowers users to shape the platform’s future and fosters a vibrant space where ownership, innovation, and social interaction flourish.

Decentraland is a social virtual world where you can explore, create, connect, and truly own your digital experiences. Here’s what makes it special:

• Explore a Vibrant World: Wander through an open, user-generated landscape filled with unique builds and experiences. Discover art galleries, games, and live events like concerts and fashion shows, all created by the community.
• Find Your People: Connect with a global community from anywhere! Whether you’re attending a party, joining a game, or just exploring, Decentraland offers countless opportunities to make friends and build meaningful relationships.
• Express Yourself: Customize your avatar with community-designed Wearables and Emotes to craft a digital identity that’s truly you. Be whoever you want to be!
• Own and Build: Claim your virtual space with LAND or a World and make it your own. Build anything you can imagine: art installations, interactive games, virtual businesses, or alien worlds—it’s up to you.
• Engage with a Thriving Economy: Trade digital assets like LAND, Wearables, and Emotes in a robust marketplace. As a creator, you can sell your designs and earn the highest revenue share in the industry, keeping 97.5% of your earnings.
• Join Live Events: From multi-day music festivals and art exhibitions to casual hangouts and themed parties, there’s always something happening in Decentraland.
• Shape the Platform’s Future: As a Decentraland user, you’re part of a community that decides the platform’s direction. Through the DAO , you can propose changes, vote on initiatives, and contribute to projects that shape our world.

Whether you’re looking for creativity, connection, or ownership, Decentraland offers endless opportunities to explore and be part of a thriving community. Dive in and see where your imagination takes you! Download Decentraland here .

Because Decentraland is decentralized, there is no central entity that controls the platform or its future—this platform belongs to its users. Decentraland’s operations and future are proposed, voted on, and decided by the community in  governance forums through the DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization). Decentraland’s code is also open source, so anyone can  make improvements  or build on top of it, and its content is stored on a distributed network of servers, so it can never be shut down.

The contents of Decentraland’s virtual world is built by its community, from the builds on LAND parcels to the Wearables & Emotes in the [Marketplace] ( https://decentraland.org/marketplace) , creating a dynamic and ever-evolving environment. Creators benefit from a thriving digital economy, keeping 97.5% of their earnings—the highest revenue share in the industry—while 2.5% is reinvested into the DAO for community initiatives.

Daily events  are also organized by the community, ranging from concerts to art gallery openings and hang outs to game releases. Anyone can submit an event they’ve organized somewhere in Genesis City or in a  World , personal virtual spaces off of the main map.

All this is what makes Decentraland a truly community-driven world.  Download Decentraland  and explore dynamic community content, built side-by-side, or even  contribute  to it yourself!

The concept for Decentraland was born in 2015 as a simple prototype exploring the use of blockchain technology to track digital land ownership. Early experiments focused on using a decentralized ledger to assign ownership of virtual plots and provide a foundation for user-generated content. By 2017, the project published its first white paper , outlining a bold vision for a decentralized virtual world where users could own, create, and control their digital lives. Development kicked off soon after, and in 2020, Decentraland officially launched as the world’s first fully decentralized virtual world. Today, Decentraland has evolved into a vibrant social space shaped by its global community of creators and explorers. Read more about Decentraland’s history in its latest, white paper 2.0 , published in late 2024.

The Decentraland DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) is the governance system that puts the power to shape Decentraland directly into the hands of its users. It allows the community to propose and vote on important decisions that impact the platform’s future, such as changes to policies, funding for community projects, and updates to key smart contracts like LAND ownership or Marketplace operations. The DAO manages Decentraland’s treasury, which is used to support community-driven initiatives, events, and developments. By participating in the DAO, users with Voting Power—earned through owning assets like MANA, LAND, or NAMEs—can directly influence how Decentraland evolves. The DAO is a core part of Decentraland’s decentralized structure, ensuring the platform reflects the values, creativity, and vision of its community.

The Decentraland Foundation is the non-profit organization that oversees the development, security, and growth of Decentraland. It was established at the platform’s launch in 2020 to ensure Decentraland had a strong foundation during its early years. The Foundation plays a key role in building and maintaining the platform’s technical infrastructure, including the desktop client, Marketplace, and creator tools. In addition to development, the Foundation supports Decentraland’s global community through marketing, events, and educational resources, helping to produce iconic events such as the annual Metaverse Fashion Week and Decentraland Music Festival. The Foundation is funded through a portion of MANA that was allocated at Decentraland’s inception, ensuring long-term resources to grow the platform. However, as Decentraland evolves, the Foundation will gradually phase out, with all responsibilities transitioning to the Decentraland DAO, making the platform fully community-driven by 2030.

Yes! Exploring Decentraland and connecting with its community is free. You can create an avatar, play games and discover cool builds, attend events, and interact with others without any cost. Money only comes into play if you would like to purchase digital assets from the Marketplace , such as community-made Wearables & Emotes, LAND, or NAMEs. Additionally, there is a fee associated with publishing your own Wearables & Emotes for sale in the Marketplace.

As there is no centralized entity to benefit from profit in Decentraland, its economy is designed to be creator-first (voted on by the community itself through DAO governance). Decentraland creators keep 97.5% of their sales and earn 2.5% royalties on secondary sales, the highest revenue share in the industry to date (2024). The 2.5% withheld from creator earnings is the transaction fee that is associated with any sale in the Marketplace. This fee is collected in Decentraland’s DAO treasury to be reinvested into the platform through community initiatives or to cover operational costs.