Canadian cryptocurrency startup Tokens.com has closed its acquisition of a 50 percent stake in Metaverse Group for $1.68 million CAD since it first announced its intent to purchase on September 29.
Launched in Toronto last year by Andrew Kiguel, Tokens.com leverages “staking technology” to generate revenue from its inventory of cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi)-based tokens. Through its inventory of digital assets, Tokens.com provides public market investors with channels to access cryptocurrencies, DeFi, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The startup is currently publicly traded on the NEO Exchange, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and the OTCQB Market.
Tokens.com being a major stakeholder in Metaverse is part of its strategy to expand its offerings to the NFT space, as Metaverse claims it is one of the world’s first virtual NFT-based real estate companies.
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Metaverse Group was founded as a joint venture between GDA Capital Corporation and Wolfest Woods, with a board that consists of Michael Gord and Jason Cassidy; the pair claim to be amongst the earliest adopters of blockchain technology in Canada. Both Gord and Cassidy will continue as partners with a focus on building out the Metaverse business.
A metaverse is an online world where people can work, play games, and communicate in a virtual environment as avatars.
The company, which has its global headquarters in the virtual world “Crypto Valley” from “Decentraland,” consists of several firms focused in different areas of the metaverse industry including real estate acquisition, development, real estate investment tut management, metaverse district development, metaverse capital markets, and other related services.
Metaverse also offers additional services including virtual property development, property management, and assisting companies with marketing and advertising in the metaverse.
As a result of the purchase deal, Tokens.com and Metaverse are working together to develop the Metaverse REIT, where REIT is meant to be represented by an NFT token with each token representing a relative ownership of the total portfolio of assets under management. The more NFT tokens that are owned, the larger percentage of the REIT an investor owns. Gord and Cassidy will be leading the initiative as executive management.
The Metaverse REIT offers virtual properties in metaverses such as Decentraland, Somnium Space, Cryptovoxels, Sandbox, Upland, and others.
Decentraland, one of the largest metaverses, has hosted virtual fashion exhibitions with Adidas, where designs were auctioned as NFTs. Musicians also perform in the space through virtual concerts, selling tickets and merchandise as NFTs.
According to Kiguel, who is also the CEO of Tokens.com, “land parcels” in several metaverses can be purchased, which can be developed as storefronts, billboards, museums, or used to replicate anything that exists in the physical world.
“Both physical and virtual real estate have scarcity as each metaverse has a limited number of NFT ‘parcels,’ which are like acres of land but in the NFT sphere,” said Kiguel. “As more people congregate, the land becomes highly sought-after because of the increased visitor traffic.”
From October 21 to 24, there will be a music festival in Decentraland featuring acts such as Paris Hilton, Wale, deadmau5, Alison Wonderland, and more.