This Ethereum-based metaverse is letting crypto fans own land on the Red Planet, even though international space laws would disagree

• Mars4 is new metaverse based on Ethereum that will let users buy plots of land on the Red Planet in form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
• The metaverse has been built on a 3D map of Mars’ terrain from NASA.
• The game, not unlike Decentraland or The Sandbox, is looking to fill a void where, according to international law, nobody can claim ownership of Mars or of land on Mars, or do so with any other celestial body.

There’s a new metaverse in town, and it wants you to buy land on the fourth rock from the Sun — Mars. International space law prohibits anyone from actually having land rights in space, but the blockchain-based Mars4 metaverse is looking to bend that law in the virtual world using Ethereum.

“Best components of Axie Infinity and Decentraland,” is how the company describes itself. The Mars 4 metaverse also claims to be the first blockchain project that allows people who buy plots of land on the Red Planet to earn passive income through their non-fungible tokens (NFTs), kind of like rent.

But, that feature will only go live once the game launches next year. The developers are hoping to open doors between January to March 2022, provided the hype behind NFTs doesn’t die out by then.

What does owning land on Mars look like?

The team behind the Mars4 project modeled the metaverse using a 3D map of Mars’ terrain from NASA, so it’s about as accurate as it can be given what we know about Earth’s next-door neighbour.

And, the entire planet has been divided into 99,888 unique plots, each represented by a unique NFT. In that sense, the metaverse isn’t unlike The Sandbox or Decentraland — it’s just not based on Earth. Users can bid for these plots once they go up for sale using the Mars4 cryptocurrency, which can be bought on crypto exchanges SushiSwap or Bittrex.

How do you make passive income by simply owning land on Mars?

NFTs are like the deed to your land. They represent ownership. The second aspect of the tokenomics on Mars4 are the MARS4 dollars.

There’s an initial supply of 4 billion MARS4 tokens. A third of this supply will be used to mint the NFT land plots. The rest is up for grabs by users.

The tokens can be used to change the name of your property, build new avatars, set up branding and other in-game assets.

According to the developers behind the metaverse, owners of land on Mars will be able to put their NFTs — deeds of ownership — for staking and liquidity mining, resulting in returns in MARS4 tokens.

Just like in The Sandbox, and in real life, the more people who buy property on Mars, the higher the price becomes for the plots of land still available. Simply put, as the supply reduces, prices get higher — economics 101.

Another world based on another planet

Looking at the white paper, the project doesn’t sound like anything more than a Mars-version of Google’s Earth 3D — at least visually. Its tokenomics of NFTs representing land on the Red Planet, aspects of gamification and token redistribution aren’t groundbreaking either.

That being said, other metaverse projects like The Sandbox, Decentraland, Axie Infinity and Alien World have gone on to become unicorns. The success of Mars4 depends on how excited users are about Mars and how well the metaverse can cater to the fantasy of living on another planet.

According to international law, nobody can claim ownership of Mars or of land on Mars, or do so with any other celestial body. Even the US’ recent SPACE Act says that private companies will be able to set up shop on Mars, mine it and lay claim to those resources, but won’t be able to own the land. So giving fans a sense of ownership, even if it’s just online, just fulfil a demand gap.

It’s a little surprising that tech billionaire and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk did not come up with the idea first considering his love for the Red Planet and cryptocurrencies alike.