The Sandbox

The Sandbox is a virtual world and creation platform where users build, own, and monetise voxel-based experiences and assets. SAND is the utility token underlying transactions across its ecosystem. The project developed from an earlier mobile game of the same name before moving to blockchain, and it became one of the most prominent metaverse platforms during the 2021 wave of interest.

How The Sandbox works

The platform has three main creative tools. VoxEdit lets users build voxel models that become ASSETS as NFTs, the Marketplace allows those assets to be bought and sold, and the Game Maker lets creators assemble experiences without programming. Virtual land is divided into LAND parcels, also NFTs, on which those experiences are hosted.

SAND is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum with a fixed supply of 3 billion, all of which is issued and in circulation. It is used to purchase LAND and assets, to pay for platform services, and for staking and governance. Most transaction activity has moved to Polygon to reduce fees, with SAND bridged accordingly.

Role in the ecosystem

The Sandbox is closely associated with Animoca Brands, and it secured a large number of partnerships with entertainment and consumer brands during the metaverse period. Alongside Decentraland it is the most frequently cited example of a blockchain virtual world. Sustained daily user activity in these platforms has been considerably lower than the attention and land prices of 2021 implied, and both projects have continued development at a smaller practical scale since. The fixed supply with no ongoing emissions means the platform funds incentives from existing allocations rather than by issuing new tokens, which is worth noting when assessing its economics.