[Xangle Digest] 
By Moon Bit
Translated by elcreto

Summary

• Terra's first metaverse Terra World is currently in the alpha testing stage and will officially be launched in 2H 2022.
• Similarly to Gather.Town, Terra World will build its metaverse focused on work platform.
• As the battle heats up over metaverse, Terra World’s success hinges on how well it leverages Terra’s ecosystem and its edge as Metaverse for Work.

Terra's First Metaverse, Terra World

Terra World is the first metaverse platform built on the Terra blockchain. Instead of focusing on fun factors like The Sandbox, the development is aimed at creating a co-working platform like Gather.Town. Basically—just like other metaverse blockchain games—Terra World requires users to create avatars linked to the Terra wallet to access the service.

Under the motto of MFW (Metaverse For Work), Terra World rewards users’ activities in the metaverse with TWD, the native token for Terra World. Further, many objects in the metaverse, such as land, buildings, decorations, and avatars, will be published and become available in the form of NFT. Terra has a roadmap to finish the ongoing alpha test in 1Q and beta test in 2Q to kick off its official release within 2H.

Terra World Land NFT

Terra World land is divided into small (9 parcels), medium (36 parcels), large (144 parcels), and x-large (576 parcels) estates, totaling 181,603 parcels. The land is used for building NFT buildings, mining TWD from leases and for trades. Terra World will later introduce a feature to allow users to consolidate the estates by burning TWD. Currently, the minting of land NFTs for an airdrop and the first round of land sale has ended but will continue until the official release. The minted NFTs are currently traded at the Terra World Factory, which is Terra World’s own NFT exchange.

TWD (Terra World Token)

TWD will be used for NFT trading, governance participation and Terra World users’ conducting of business using smart contract and airdrop. It is designed to prevent inflation in the token economy by burning 50% of the cost at the time of the initial minting of the NFT. On top of that, Terra World is planning to reward metaverse activities like playing P2E games with TWD. While details remain unannounced, it is believed that TWD will be circulated, created, and burned through various channels, such as activities in Terra World, transactions between users and NFTs minted by users.

Initially, Terra World’s high APR (Annual Percentage Rate) without the risk of losing principal earned it the spotlight. Although the APR is slightly lower now, Terra World has gained traction within the Terra community in that it enables a DeFi where stablecoin UST, which is hardly volatile, can be deposited in a pool for a lockup period while the principal is left intact. An IEO (Initial Exchange Offering), ICO (Initial Coin Offering), or other types of infant-stage investment is often regarded as similar to venture capital investment. Terra World is, in a sense, a high-risk venture capital investment without risking the principal.

Surviving the Battle for the Crown Jewel

There seems no dispute over the growth prospect of metaverse. Facebook, one of the 5 FAANG companies, has changed its name to 'Meta,’ and many other tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Apple are taking over metaverse-related enterprises.

The pie of the market will very likely grow, but metaverse is obviously a platform-based business and only a handful of platforms will survive and reign unless platforms are synced to each other. In the looming era of war in the metaverse industry where the throne will constantly be challenged, Terra World’s success hinges on how well it leverages Terra’s ecosystem and its edge as Metaverse for Work. By doing so, Terra World will be able to secure a large group of users as well as a better position in the market—which is key to winning this battle.