Mapped to the exact specifications of the physical world, Upland Metaverse is a play-to-win (P2E) game primarily known for its virtual real estate. According to DappRadar, there have been over 2.6 million transactions on the Upland marketplace.
Like other metaverses, Upland has established its virtual economy by selling parcels of land as NFTs using UPX as its native currency. UPX cannot be converted into altcoins using crypto exchanges like Coinbase.
Key Points
- The Upland Metaverse offers players the opportunity to buy, sell, and trade virtual property.
- Properties within the virtual world are mapped to addresses in the real world.
- Players can purchase these properties using UPX, the Upland token of the platform’s native currency.
- There are different types of properties available in the Upland Metaverse that you can purchase.
What is the Upland Metaverse?
Launched in 2019, the Upland Metaverse has grown exponentially from a virtual property game to an interactive Metaverse with its own built-in economy. Imagine having your own virtual property in New York. While it might not be possible in real life due to the high prices, the game’s ability to map real-life locations and put them up for sale on its marketplace is one of the main factors behind its success.
The number of properties has also increased over the years, with Upland adding more cities like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and more. While most of the cities within the Upland Metaverse are from the US, there are also international locations such as Rio de Janeiro and Porto. Recently, they added Qatar due to the hype surrounding the FIFA world cup.
The Metaverse is built on the EOS blockchain, and every virtual property on the platform can be minted as a non-fungible token (NFT). The platform is also one of the first to introduce “virtual cars” as digital transportation within its cities. Players can now buy and trade virtual cars, offer ride sharing on the platform, race in developed cities, and much more!
How to Enter Upland Metaverse?
There are two ways to enter the Upland Metaverse: register directly through the website or through a referral link. The benefit of signing up via referral links is that you can get around four thousand UPX or more as soon as you sign up!
After watching the initial tutorial, you can choose which city to start from. There are different status levels that users can obtain, which require a specific net worth. For example, to upgrade to a “Pro” status from “Uplander”, a net worth of 100,000 UPX is required.
If your current status is “Visitor”, you must update your Upland “visa” every seven days. This is done to prevent game resources from being recycled repeatedly.
What Properties Can Be Bought in Upland?
The main goal within the Upland Metaverse is to buy, trade, and sell property. Similar to properties in real life, the value of these virtual properties depends on their location within the Metaverse. For example, plots of land within populated capitals will be much more expensive than properties in unpopulated areas.
Properties will play a more complex role as time goes on. Upland properties now only exist as consumables that players can buy, sell, and trade. Each farm is given a market rate that may be higher or cheaper than the initial mintage value depending on availability and demand. Considering the initial minting cost, each property allows the owner to collect a rent of 17.3% per year. Upon completion of collections, the base rent could increase. Right now, rare and unique properties have a lot of potential to generate a great return on investment. Smaller, more ordinary homes will likely be closer to the riskier end of the economic spectrum for Upland.
In Upland, buying a home is pretty simple. However, you may have noticed that property in Upland has distinctive color markings. Each tone has a unique importance and purpose. Therefore, you must understand each of these shades before purchasing any property.
The two parts below are used to classify Upland properties:
- Minted – Minted properties are owned by other players, but can also be purchased by other users after negotiating with the owners.
- Uniminted: Unmited properties have never been owned by anyone and are available for immediate purchase directly from Upland.
When you log in to Upland, you will be able to see the land categorized by different colors. Let’s talk about what each color means.
Bright Green Properties
The bright green properties are unminted unlocked assets that you can buy directly from Upland and start minting. Analysis of data from the physical world market is used to calculate the price of properties. To buy a property, you must have enough UPX tokens in your wallet.
Dark Green Properties
Dark green properties signify minted creations available to purchase on the secondary market. People must pay the list price using Upland tokens to purchase these properties. Another method of purchasing property is to participate in Upland Auctions to place bids on properties that are not on the secondary market.
FSA: The Fair Start Act
Many properties in Upland will have FSA markers. FSA properties can only be purchased by new users (visitors and Upland players). You will not be able to mint FSA properties when you go Pro, defined as having a total value of one hundred thousand UPX or more. However, you can still buy these properties on the secondary market.
Gray Properties
Sealed and unminted assets that have not yet been unlocked for minting are gray properties. Also, each city has some locked properties that are reserved for upcoming purchases and historic deals.
Blue Properties
Minted properties that have not been listed for sale are shown in blue. You can still make a purchase proposal to the owner of these properties even if they are not advertised on the resale market. They can choose to accept or reject your offer.
Dark Blue Properties
These are the coined properties you currently own.
Rarity of Land in Upland
Each property has a rarity factor that determines its price. Consequently, many investors in the Upland Metaverse do not understand the rarity of certain items and make investments without prior research.
Properties in Upland have been grouped into five groups based on their rarity:
- Standard: These are the most common properties with little or no historical significance.
- Limited: Includes wide, huge, and well-known regions, such as well-known streets or neighborhoods.
- Exclusive: Includes popular streets or communities with few available homes.
- Rare: These Upland properties typically include the city’s top neighborhoods.
- Ultra-Rare: Properties in each city that are incredibly rare and exclusive. This can consist of custom creations and include famous nightclubs and other venues. Since these properties generate high traffic, they have high valuations within the Upland Metaverse marketplace.
How Can You Enjoy The Games and Earn Money in Upland?
You can play and earn money in Upland by taking advantage of one of the many opportunities present in the game. Below are some of the ways you can make money on Upland.
Buying and Selling Real Estate
You can collect properties to resell them for income to other users. Costs are determined by the square footage of the land (UP2) and local market circumstances at each location. The only way to acquire start-up properties is by using UPX. Once you reach Uplander level, you can list land on secondary markets for US dollars or other currencies.
Earn From Own Land and Collections
Owning a home entitles you to passive UPX income. Also, you can earn extra money if you organize collections to increase profits. By meeting the conditions of the collection, you can earn passively. An example is having three houses on the same street, collectively known as “King of the Street”, which increases income 1.3 times. There are different “levels” of collections depending on the type of properties. For example, you can reach the ultra rare “curator” level if you own two museums in Upland.
Target Highly Populated Lands
You receive UPX and can decide on an entry fee each time someone enters your property. For example, airports, train stations, and bus terminals are valuable as thousands of players use these locations to travel within cities.
Collect Non-fungible Upland Tokens in The Game
In-game NFTs, including souvenirs, Block Explorers, third-party marketing campaigns, and more, can be purchased using UPX. These in-game NFTs can be traded on the market. In addition, Upland collaborates with cryptocurrency companies to provide special promotional tokens that players can earn in-game. For example, block explorers are also popular selling items.
At the time of writing, Upland has recently launched FIFA NFT in honor of the world cup. These NFTs contribute to FIFA’s “Fan Score” and allow users to trade souvenirs after each round. So naturally, the more points you get, the better souvenir you can get.
Use of the Upland Token System not Fungible to US dollars
Uplander status allows players to participate in the NFT to US dollar scheme, which is still in testing. It allows you to advertise properties for dollars instead of UPX so that a player who buys your property will pay you in real money. Please read the terms and conditions carefully as the program has certain restrictions.
Urbanization with Spark
Spark (refers to man-hours) is required to develop structures on your land. It is not transferable, and these structures may include large Metaverse companies of one-day houses. The inclusion of operating arcades, marketplaces, businesses, exchanges, and community management on the sites is something developers aspire to achieve as it could lead to more revenue-generating options.
A modern luxury house requires 3000 Spark Hours (SpH) to build. As per Upland’s instructions, you will need 1000 hours to build your impressive house if you own three Spark. Users can build the NFT structure faster if they have more Spark.
Treasure Hunt
To fully enjoy Upland, it is recommended to participate in Treasure Hunts. There are three levels:
- Standard: Available to all Upland users and others. You must finish the hunt within a certain period of time, and respawning within the game costs 100UPX.
- Limited: Accessible to visitors and accounts with ranks of Uplander and above.
- Exclusive: Only available to people with a status higher than “Uplander”. Another fun element in this level is to obtain the Treasure; you need to crush a piñata by touching it to get the UPX.
The treasure is hidden in your region after the treasure hunt has started or you have entered it. You must send to explore minted properties for the Treasury if you want to find out. When the treasure is near, it is shown as a red dot and the arrow pointers point it in the right direction. You can take advantage of it once you are close enough.
Is Upland Metaverse a Good Investment?
Due to its large active user base and rising virtual property prices, Upland is considered a relatively smart investment for a great ROI. However, it is important to note that there are several risks associated with your investment. For example, while NFTs provide proof of ownership, there is no government or bank backing if the platform suddenly fails. Also, the game itself is highly dependent on circulating cash flow. If the majority of users decide to withdraw their UPX, the prices of NFTs on this platform will surely plummet.
Upland NFTs
In-game properties serve as representations for NFTs. Each plot of land is 3m x 3m in size and is called “UpSquares”. These packets are tied to addresses in the physical world and are minted on the EOS blockchain.
Besides properties, other NFTs within Upland are Block Explorers, Map Assets, Upland Gateway NFTs (from other blockchains), and more.
Users can buy own properties with US dollars or UPX depending on the seller’s preferences and legal situation; however, unregistered properties (bright green) must be paid for with UPX. Framework Non-expendable tokens are three-dimensional structures on property that players can collect along with other non-expendable tokens in the game.
When a player reaches Uplander status in-game, an EOS blockchain account is instantly created, with randomly produced keys using the player’s username and password. Players can save and own digital assets because of this. Also, you can quote assets in dollars or UPX.
Upland has introduced a collection of NFT merchandise called Upland Legits, which the company believes allows businesses, athletes, and other entities to have a distinctive identity in the Upland Metaverse. For example, more than two thousand soccer players in the Upland Metaverse have identities thanks to a collaboration between Upland and the National Soccer League Players Association.
In late 2021, Upland partnered with cryptocurrency wallet and blockchain dApp explorer Wombat to award twenty-five non-fungible tokens for completing in-game “quests.” Purchases made in-game with UPX contribute to mission completion or UPX spend benchmarks, which may result in a Wombat NFT award.
Upland Blockchain
Upland Metaverse uses the EOS blockchain which was launched in 2018. One of the best benefits of this blockchain is that it does not charge any “transaction fees”. There are several rewards for the miners who create these tokens. It is not based on a “Proof-of-Work” mechanism, instead adopting a “Proof-of-Stake”, allowing you to perform faster transactions and manage power usage much more efficiently between users.
Upland Crypto
Upland uses UPX (Upland Tokens) as its native currency. Since it is a utility token, players can use it for various things like buying NFTs, minting land parcels, paying for market transactions, and much more. Players can purchase UPX using their credit cards, PayPal, or other cryptocurrencies within the Upland Metaverse store. Additionally, property and other digital assets can be bought with UPX and sold on secondary markets for dollars.
Who Owns the Upland Metaverse?
Mani Honigstein, Idan Zuckerman, and Dirk Lueth are the masterminds of the Upland Metaverse. Based in Silicon Valley, Upland is run by Uplandme, Inc. They have various backers from the real estate, gaming, and tech industries.
Metaverse was launched in 2018, supported by the owners of the EOS blockchain (Block.one) and many others. The three co-founders are all experienced businessmen.
Dirk Leuth
He is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Upland, Author, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3.
Mani Hönigstein
He is a Serial Entrepreneur, Advisor, Executive and Investor. The Upland co-founder specializes in marketing, product definition, business development, team building, fundraising, and finance.
Idan Zuckerman
He is an R&D, product executive, and entrepreneur interested in consumer internet, gaming, blockchain, and smartphones. He is the co-founder and co-CEO of Upland.
All three owners claim to have come up with the Upland Metaverse while playing Monopoly. The premise of virtual real estate with virtual treasures sounded exciting and trendy during this time, which led to Uplandme, Inc.
FAQs
What is the Upland Metaverse?
Upland Metaverse offers players the opportunity to buy, sell, and trade virtual real estate. Land parcels within the Metaverse are assigned to actual cities and can be purchased using the game’s native currency, UPX.
Is UPX a Real Cryptocurrency?
Although the token resides on the blockchain, it cannot be considered a true cryptocurrency. Instead, its primary purpose is to serve as a utility token for acquiring in-game digital assets.
How can You Buy land in the Upland Metaverse?
By signing up, new players can purchase inexpensive FSA properties. But first, players need to purchase UPX through the game market using their credit card, PayPal, or cryptocurrency.
