Ripio Credit Network, the global credit network based on consigned smart contracts and blockchain technology will soon integrate its credit protocol to Decentraland, the virtual reality platform. With this new alliance, Decentraland users who own plots of land will be able to sign up for loans within the virtual world. Content and institutions created within the same platform will also be eligible for the said loans. Plans are expected to roll out in the second quarter of 2018 when both companies will start to develop the virtual loans network. The announcement came about last week, with Decentraland’s own Terraform Auction Event that saw users contribute MANA – Decentraland’s own token – to buy land.
Decentraland, RCN’s new partner is a virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain that allows users to create, experience, and monetize content and applications. The firm provides infrastructure to support a shared virtual world, also known as Metaverse2. Decentraland will operate under its own decentralized ledger for land ownership, which is the protocol that will be used for describing the content of each land parcel, and a peer-to-peer network for user interaction powered by its own token, MANA. Users will be able to claim ownership of virtual land on the blockchain based ledger.
Land in Decentraland is permanently owned by the community. This gives the community control over the publishing of their creations. Decentraland proposes a new concept that seeks to establish a network that will allow content creators to own and control the publication and distribution of their content while maintaining the full value of their work to online communities. Land – in this sense can be considered the new age in web domains and it allows discovery of new content and the creation of districts based on content genres or theme. This will enhance targeted traffic for content creators while giving a themed experience to the end user.
While Virtual Reality enthusiasm has exploded through 2017, control over the nature of content to be produced for the VR audience has remained centralized among Silicon Valley behemoths. The decentralized nature of the Decentraland opens up the unlimited number of possible applications VR will find. The platform is expected to attract various content creators, developers, and advertisers among others. For example, the Decentraland scripting language will allow for the development of applications, games, gambling, and dynamic 3D scenes. It will be designed to handle a range of capabilities such as encoding user interaction and sound among other, including demands to meet the ultimate virtual reality experience.
Exactly how the RCN-Decentraland partnership will play out is yet to be seen. However, we can anticipate the number of independent VR content creators to skyrocket now that financial backing has been brought to their doorstep. This access to credit – yet another move to decentralize content creation – will enable creators to invest in their own content. This will help promote the open standards which are at the core of Decentraland values.
