The Sandbox is one of the leading players in the metaverse, a blockchain-based virtual world where users can create, build, buy and sell digital assets, and have a gamified VR experience. It combines the power of DAOs with NFTs to offer a truly decentralized platform for crypto gaming, with a vision to drive mainstream adoption of blockchain technology within the gaming industry.

As of mid-December 2021, The Sandbox (SAND) ranks 38 in terms of market capitalization as per data on Coinmarketcap. According to research by Messari, it is the second most popular gaming based cryptocurrency while in terms of the metaverse, it ranks third in terms of popularity, coming in behind Decentraland and Axie Infinity.

The Sandbox lets users create NFTs, upload them for sale on the marketplace, and integrate them into games using The Sandbox Game Maker. Its ecosystem offers LAND for sale - which can be considered as virtual real estate, which players in The Sandbox's metaverse can buy to develop unique experiences to offer to other users.

SAND, the native token in use within its ecosystem, has given back returns worth over 10,000% in a year since December 2020. The token's value really took off in the past three months ever since Facebook rebranded to Meta and committed to developing its own metaverse, ushering in fresh interest in the concept among investors and traders.

Sandbox Breakdown

The Sandbox is built on the Ethereum blockchain and its native token SAND is an ERC-20 token, giving users the benefits of staking it to generate rewards and earn passive income from their holdings in this cryptocurrency. It leverages a PoS consensus mechanism, making it far more energy efficient as a crypto, unlike PoW leader in the crypto space, Bitcoin.

The Sandbox offers a fixed supply of 3,000,000,000 SAND tokens, of which around 25.82% is maintained in a company reserve and 17.18% was allocated during the seed sale of the token. 31% of the total supply of SAND is held by the founders and team members of The Sandbox. Another 12% of the total supply was maintained for a dedicated Binance Launchpad Sale while 10% of SAND was allocated as rewards to advisors on The Sandbox initiative.

The future looks bright for this cryptocurrency from an investment perspective, especially in 2021 as the world waits to see Facebook's metaverse being developed. In addition, the metaverse is already catching on among leading brands who are looking to develop their own space in the virtual world to engage with users. As a brand engagement strategy, the metaverse offers an interesting platform for brands to explore digital collectibles, NFTs and engage better with consumers, offering more opportunities to drive up the demand for virtual real estate on The Sandbox and other players in this space.

The Sandbox History

The Sandbox was first launched back in 2011 by Pixowl by co-founders Arthur Madrid and Sebastien Borget. It initially started in 2012 on mobile platforms, garnering more than 40 million downloads on mobile devices worldwide. The Sandbox transitioned into the blockchain space in January 2018 when its new version employed a 3D multiplayer format and let users build, own and earn money from their gaming experience.

Since then, The Sandbox has strived to improve mainstream adoption of blockchain technology among the gaming industry, giving gamers the benefits of complete decentralization, transparency, complete ownership and monetization from their gaming efforts. The Sandbox saw its alpha release in December 2018, when its developers also announced a Creator Fund to encourage artists to create collectibles within its ecosystem.

In May 2019, The Sandbox raised $4.5 million in seed funding from multiple investors, including Hashed, True Global Ventures and Square Enix, giving its developers capital to build their team globally. In December 2019, The Sandbox successfully completed its first LAND sale, generating over $25 million in sales within a span of around four hours. The VoxEdit Beta version of The Sandbox released in February 2020, followed by liquidity mining and staking releasing in September 2020.

Sandbox Price Factors

One of the key factors that will drive fluctuations in The Sandbox price will be the adoption and interest towards the metaverse among users, investors and brands. The virtual reality space is likely to see increased adoption not only among gaming enthusiasts and blockchain based gaming but also among mainstream brands who can purchase parcels of virtual land and develop them to build engagement with users in the virtual space.

With leading social network Facebook itself committing to develop this space, the metaverse could very well be the future of online engagement, giving brands a space beyond social media to stay connected and interact with potential consumers. The same can be said about celebrities who will also usher in an increased level of interest in the metaverse as a decentralized and transparent space to interact with their fans. The uptick in the adoption of metaverse based technologies and use cases can drive up the demand for SAND among investors as well and keep The Sandbox rate high in the coming months.

The Sandbox rate can also be affected by the adoption of NFTs. If user preference for NFTs stays strong through 2022, we could see SAND's price rise even higher as the platform is one of the leading ecosystems that can support NFTs.

However, like all cryptocurrencies, the overall market sentiment can also play an important role in dictating the level of interest in The Sandbox. In case leading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum face bearish pressures owing to regulatory concerns or other challenges, we could see a downfall in trading and adoption of The Sandbox, which in turn could keep the SAND rate depressed.

Trading Sandbox

If you are keen on trading The Sandbox (SAND), we recommend that you spend some time on research about various concepts beyond cryptocurrencies, especially focusing on blockchain based gaming, NFTs and the metaverse. Take a look at the latest trends and news in these areas to gauge how popular tokens like SAND are and how they could perform in the short term and long term.

You should also closely monitor key news and developments affecting the overall cryptocurrency market as they can play an important role in dictating the mood of investors towards digital assets in general and towards SAND in particular. For instance, positive news that boosts the adoption of Bitcoin, Ethereum and crypto technology is good for the market and can attract more inflows, keeping the SAND price supported. On the other hand, negative news such as countries enforcing bans on cryptocurrency trading or holding can adversely affect investor sentiment and spark a sell-off across the board, which could potentially drive down the SAND rate.