In this educational guide, we’re going to explore the altcoin called The Sandbox (SAND). We’ll cover its fundamentals and planned roadmap, so you can use it to make your own price prediction.
What is The Sandbox and how does it work?
The Sandbox is a virtual world wherein players can participate by building and monetizing their own gaming experience using the utility token SAND and with NFTs for tokenized in-game and metaverse items and assets.
On The Sandbox protocol, players can create digital assets using NFTs, upload them to the platform’s marketplace, and integrate them into games using the tool known as The Sandbox Game Maker. There are also digital pieces of real estate in The Sandbox metaverse that players can own as virtual land.
The Sandbox project took off in terms of price action and notoriety in 2021, but it developed its blockchain gaming ecosystem in 2018 for players to be able to conduct their own virtual gaming experiences on the Ethereum blockchain.
The goal of the project is to make blockchain gaming ubiquitous and offer significant advantages over the traditional gaming business model. With blockchain gaming, most notably on The Sandbox platform, players can retain ownership of their in-game assets that are certified as theirs on the blockchain ledger, and there are more opportunities for monetization and interoperability across games.
The Sandbox project as a whole was started in 2012 on mobile and achieved over 40 million global installs on mobile devices. The greatest benefit for players in The Sandbox is that they retain 100% ownership of their in-game NFTs and purchased LAND.
As far as how the protocol works, the metaverse and platform itself run on the Ethereum blockchain network. Hence, the recording of token ownership, and the selling and buying of tokens are also done on the Ethereum ledger itself. The protocol uses IPFS, InterPlanetary File System, which is a peer-to-peer network for the storage and sharing of data in a distributed file system. IPFS is used to store information related to assets in The Sandbox.
While the ERC-20 token standard is used for the SAND token itself, the ERC-1155 and ERC-271 token standard is used for the storage and trading of LAND and affiliated assets. To support its web frontend itself, the protocol used the centralized service provider AWS. Because of how the protocol works, once the UGC asset is minted, The Sandbox backend releases the asset on IPFS so it becomes publicly tradeable.
Governance of The Sandbox protocol is done via on-chain voting at the moment, but treasury assets and “Foundation Funds” are currently managed by The Sandbox Company. But in the future, there are plans for all aggregated SAND (for the Foundation Funds) to be governed by SAND token holders, which would involve on-chain governance and SAND voting.
The Foundation itself also manages a Game Makers Fund and a Creators Fund that are used to support the ecosystem by funding high quality game production and content on The Sandbox platform. Examples of initiatives that have been funded include over 17 game projects, grants to over 100 artists, supporting play-to-earn tournaments and cross-gaming with activities to promote broader adoption of the SAND token, and lastly for supporting marketing to grow awareness of the metaverse, NFTs as a whole, and for SAND adoption.
The Sandbox’s SAND Token
The SAND token is the primary token for the protocol. SAND allows players to create, play, govern, own, trade, and earn within the entire Sandbox virtual world and its gaming platform and metaverse.
The SAND token itself serves the purpose of being a medium of exchange for payments—SAND tokens can be spent to play games and collected via gameplay. Creators can spend SAND tokens to purchase ASSETS and LAND (below). Artists on the platform can spend SAND tokens to upload ASSETS to the Marketplace.
The SAND token is also used for governance—holders of SAND can participate in governance decisions. SAND owners can vote themselves or delegate their voting rights to other players they can choose.
The SAND token can also be staked to earn rewards, as well as to earn GEMs and CATALYSTs for ASSETS creation.
However, there also exist other tokens such as GEM, and other “CATALYST” tokens.
There are five other token types in The Sandbox gaming environment…
- LANDS - the worlds in which players play that are created by the community
- ASSETS - these are ”voxel models” created by players of The Sandbox and they can be traded in the platform’s marketplace
- GEMS - these tokens are burnt to give attributes to ASSETS. These are also ERC-20 tokens like SAND.
- CATALYSTS are burned to mint ASSETS. These are also ERC-20 tokens.
Token Distribution
There were 560 million SAND tokens initially issued, but the total supply of SAND tokens today stands at 3 billion SAND. 37.82% of the initial exchange offering (IEO) and private sale proceeds went to founders and the project, and 21.18% went to investors. The remainder of the proceeds are unclear or not documented.
In terms of the use of sales proceeds, 45% were used for project development of The Sandbox metaverse, 45% were used for marketing and IP Licensing, 7% were used for security, legal, and compliance expenses, and 3% were used for operational and administrative expenses.
To finance development of The Sandbox, the development team held funding rounds which included a seed round in November of 2019, a Strategic Sale in July of 2020, and an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) in August of 2020.
The Sandbox (SAND) Price History & Technical Analysis
As of the time of writing, in April 2022, the price of SAND is at $2.53, with a market capitalization of $2.93 billion USD. Its circulating supply at the time of writing is 1.16B SAND tokens, which means that 39% of its total supply is currently on the open market.
Since the SAND token itself is integral in the activity of The Sandbox metaverse, it follows that the total value of the SAND token and its associated ecosystem tokens in turn grows as the user adoption of The Sandbox product suite grows.
As more players on The Sandbox protocol create and play games, purchase and trade in-game assets and those in the metaverse of The Sandbox, use of the SAND token goes up. Additionally, as more creators use SAND tokens to purchase other assets in The Sandbox, or as more artists spend SAND tokens to upload ASSETS to The Sandbox marketplace, usage of the SAND token increases.
According to Metcalfe’s Law, the value of a network is directly related to the number of users of that network. Thus, as long as The Sandbox and its entire ecosystem continues to innovate and expand, the SAND price will continue to do well longer term, since there will in turn be more demand for the SAND token.
What Expert Analysts say about The Sandbox:
- Wallet Investor maintains a bullish opinion on SAND on a 5-year time horizon, saying that “Based on our forecasts, a long-term increase is expected, the price prognosis for 2027-04-24 is 20.088 US Dollars. With a 5-year investment, the revenue is expected to be around +693.99%. Your current $100 investment may be up to $793.99 in 2027.”
- Coinpedia also gives a bullish outlook for the SAND token as well for 2022-2023, even with its alternative bearish case: “If The Sandbox picks up 2023 with a positive note and sees a growing user base from the launch of its mobile version. Followed by more games, partnerships, and land sales, the price could rise to its potential high of $21.773.
Whilst usual buy and sell orders could take the price to an average target of $18.266. Negative social sentiments and volatility in the market could drag the price to $16.139.” - DigitalCoinPrice also maintains a moderately bullish prediction on SAND for 2022: “As per the forecast data analysis, the price of SAND is expected to cross the level of $3.16. By the end of the year, The Sandbox is expected to reach a minimum fee of $3.07. In addition, the SAND price is capable of getting a maximum level of $3.31.”
The Sandbox Partnerships
As a major blockchain gaming and metaverse project, The Sandbox has forged over 60 notable partnerships to develop content on the platform with brands such as the Smurfs, Care Bears, Shaun the Sheep, dApp game studios such as Dapper Labs, as well as with major venture capital crypto investors who are keen to see the future of this protocol from Animoca Brands’ subsidiary.
Even some legacy gaming companies like Atari have partnered with The Sandbox. The protocol has also partnered with names such as Skybound Entertainment, to bring The Walking Dead game into its virtual world, for example.
The Sandbox has also partnered with famous electronic artists like deadmau5 and Richie Hawtin, as well as with rap icon Snoop Dogg, who set up his mansion and NFT collection in The Sandbox’s metaverse to be able to perform live concerts and interact with players. Even the South China Morning Post partnered with the protocol to bring a new series of cultural experiences to The Sandbox’s metaverse.
Other notable partners on The Sandbox’s website include Adidas, Avenged Sevenfold, RollerCoaster Tycoon World, Hell’s Kitchen, and more.
The Sandbox Price Prediction: 2022-2026
The SAND token first saw major bullish price pressure during the beginning of 2021, like the rest of the crypto market. That time period saw SAND go from less than $0.03 to almost $0.90.
Along with the rest of the crypto market at that time, the price saw overwhelmingly bearish pressure in May of 2021 and retraced all the way back down to the $0.10 area. Later in the year in the fall of 2021 when Facebook (Meta) announced its metaverse initiative, metaverse tokens like SAND took off suddenly.
This catalyst created an explosion for the SAND price, sending it from $0.75 to almost $8.5 within the span of a few weeks.
However since this peak in November of 2021, the SAND price has been on a continued downtrend and currently trades at $2.5. It continues to see lower lows and lower highs on the weekly chart as shown above.
Now it’s a given that the crypto market has been turbulent in 2022 so far, yet the price of SAND has done mostly nothing except consistently bleed out during 2022. The good news is the price is currently at a previous point of support around $2.5 which last held behind a bounce that created a macro lower high in February of 2022.
As of the time of writing, the price of SAND remains in this large area between $2.5-3. As long as the SAND price remains above the $2.5 area, it is possible that SAND will regain price strength but this is also dependent on the bearish trend changing into a bullish trend first. So, this may not happen relatively soon unless there is another metaverse-related catalyst.
It’s uncertain to say when investors can expect the previous all-time-high to be breached again, and fundamental factors will also have a play in this, since SAND is a major contender in the metaverse sector and is backed by leading blockchain game development company Animoca Brands.
It is also possible that a greater economic contraction will occur that leads to overall losses in the cryptocurrency markets to continue. If a contraction occurs and the SAND price loses the $2.5 area where it currently remains, we expect it to take longer for a new high to be reached, even several years. If this current support area is lost, it is very likely that the SAND price will retrace back to the point of the last major resistance at around the $1 area.
The Sandbox Price Prediction 2022
Many analysts predict that SAND will not see below $2 in 2022, and instead continue to maintain its current support structure around $2.5. This is very dependent on the overall trend in altcoins and metaverse tokens, as well as the Bitcoin price of course.
We think it is reasonable that if bullish price pressure for SAND can resume despite the overall lull in the crypto markets at this time, SAND can see above the $3 area again in 2022, but to see higher than that, it will need to go above the previous weekly high at around $3.8. As long as the current downtrend continues, this does not look very likely to happen anytime soon.
The Sandbox Price Prediction 2023
If The Sandbox’s adoption and usage of its metaverse continues, it will be a good overall fundamental sign for the protocol. The good news is that this does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon, and partnerships keep expanding. It is possible that SAND sees almost $5 again by 2023, if the metaverse tokens do not go into a greater bear market.
The Sandbox Price Prediction 2024
The overall growth of the cryptocurrency markets, especially that of the metaverse sector which SAND is a part of, is uncertain to say by 2024.
The market capitalization remains at $2.9 billion in April 2022, and a reasonable (but still large) 5-7x to reach $14.5 - $20.3 billion in market cap by 2024 would put the SAND price at $12.7-$17.8 price range or higher by 2024.
It’s not unreasonable to see SAND hit these prices or higher by 2024 with continued innovation and development of its metaverse suite of products and more adoption.
Of course, positive price pressure in turn is also provided the overall crypto market remains bullish and we can avoid an economic downturn and bear market overall.
The Sandbox Price Prediction 2025
2025 is still far away at the time of this writing and longer term blockchain and metaverse adoption trends are impossible to predict with certainty. As with any new technology, the first wave does not necessarily translate to the winners that remain by the end of a 5-10 year period.
However, the growth of user adoption of blockchain overall, of crypto, of the metaverse becoming a more integral part of our lives will only increase.
We predict we will see SAND at $15 or above by 2025 provided no catastrophic economic events happen in the meantime and all goes well with metaverse adoption.
The Sandbox Price Prediction 2026
The crypto market overall could be worth $10T or even as high as $15T in total market capitalization by 2026. Depending on regulations and the overall economic cycles, we may see SAND as high as $20-$25 by 2026, provided development of The Sandbox continues.
None of these predictions are financial advice, and are educated guesses as to where SAND’s price may be at each time interval. It should be noted that any black swan events such as a catastrophic hack of metaverse assets, a cease in development, or other black swan events could impact these predictions significantly.
The Sandbox (SAND): Conclusion Price Prediction
The Sandbox is known for building a unique and novel virtual world, called a metaverse, where players can build, own, and monetize their gaming experiences using NFTs and the SAND token for purchasing and exchanging in-game assets.
Players in The Sandbox can play, govern, trade, and earn their own assets in the form of NFTs, upload them to the marketplace of the protocol, and also integrate them into games with the native Game Maker of the protocol.
As the metaverse becomes a more central topic of everyday life and work, The Sandbox protocol continues to see growing interest and partnerships. For now, its SAND token, an Ethereum-based token, continues to hold price support above the $2.5 area, but is in a greater downtrend alongside the rest of the metaverse sector and the greater crypto markets.
Whilst The Sandbox network itself continues to actively see user growth, new partnerships, and more key innovations that are planned by its development team and Animoca Brands, it can certainly be a key part of the metaverse economy overall and make for a great investment in the years to come.
Of course, the long term outlook of any cryptocurrency is hard to say for certain, however provided that SAND sees continued development and user growth, it is likely to remain a strong choice of investment for the foreseeable future.
Some may be hesitant to commit their money into an asset for an extended period of time due to the extreme volatility and risk of the cryptocurrency markets. Plus, it is impossible to say for certain which metaverse will win the virtual real estate competition longer term, or if they all have a place in different sectors of the market. The Sandbox (SAND) investors should keep tuned to the continued development of the protocol and its usage.
FAQs
How is The Sandbox gaining traction?
The Sandbox and its SAND token is gaining traction thanks to being one of the major metaverse platforms and tokens today that is backed by prominent VC funds and developers. The project has achieved over 17 game projects, has provided grants to over 100 artists, and allows players to create digital assets using NFTs, and upload them to the platform’s marketplace.
It is mainly gaining traction due to the metaverse catalyst that Facebook, or Meta, brought into mainstream consciousness and the news. With the advantages of blockchain gaming that The Sandbox offers, players can retain ownership of their in-game assets and there also are more opportunities for both players and artists of the NFTs alike to monetize their efforts.
Where can I buy The Sandbox (SAND)?
SAND can be purchased and traded on many exchanges including Binance, Huobi, Gate.io, FTX, KuCoin, Gemini, Kraken, Bybit, and others. This means that both US and international investors can invest in SAND.
In comparison to other cryptocurrencies, how can The Sandbox secure privacy?
As far as privacy goes, The Sandbox runs on the Ethereum blockchain, which is a public blockchain, so privacy should not be expected by default. All transactions are recorded in the Ethereum ledger of transactions. Privacy is not guaranteed, especially in comparison to other blockchains that are especially known for securing privacy, such as Monero.
Is it possible to stake The Sandbox (SAND) tokens?
Yes, SAND tokens can be staked for token rewards that are given to stakers and validators. SAND tokens can be stored on either the Ethereum network or on the Polygon network, using the Polygon version of the token, mSand. Staking information can be found here.
Why is The Sandbox on the rise?
The Sandbox is on the rise as a platform and token due to the overall rise of the metaverse in popularity and the public consciousness. The Sandbox offers significant technological opportunities in the form of a virtual world wherein players can participate by building and monetizing their own gaming experiences using the SAND token with NFTs for tokenized and in-game metaverse items and assets.
The SAND token took off in the Fall of 2021 after Facebook (now Meta) announced its metaverse initiatives, given that The Sandbox was one of the prominent metaverse tokens on the market at the time. However before that, the project was started in 2012 on mobile and achieved over 40 million global installs on mobile devices.
Is The Sandbox completely anonymous?
No, using SAND tokens or using The Sandbox metaverse is not fully anonymous to use, since it runs on a public blockchain. It is, however, pseudonymous, but depending from where users obtain their SAND and/or ETH or MATIC tokens for gas fees, blockchain forensics can track the user’s identity.
Is The Sandbox considered a currency?
Yes, the SAND token is considered a currency that is used on The Sandbox platform and metaverse for the purpose of purchasing and selling NFTs and other assets.
The SAND token itself serves the purpose of being a medium of exchange for payments—SAND tokens can be spent to play games and collected via gameplay as well. Creators can spend SAND tokens to purchase ASSETS and LAND (below). Artists on the platform can spend SAND tokens to upload ASSETS to the Marketplace.
The token itself can be bought or sold for fiat or other cryptocurrencies and its value may fluctuate.
Is it possible to generate profits with The Sandbox?
Yes, assuming the SAND token increases in price over time with the continued development of the metaverse and The Sandbox ecosystem.
As more players on The Sandbox protocol create and play games, purchase and trade in-game assets and those in the metaverse of The Sandbox, use of the SAND token goes up. Additionally, as more creators use SAND tokens to purchase other assets in The Sandbox, or as more artists spend SAND tokens to upload ASSETS to The Sandbox marketplace, usage of the SAND token increases.
According to Metcalfe’s Law, the value of a network is directly related to the number of users of that network. Thus, as long as The Sandbox and its entire ecosystem continues to innovate and expand, the SAND price will continue to do well longer term, since there will in turn be more demand for the SAND token.
All investors must do their own research, due diligence, and ensure that they are comfortable with the amount of risk they are taking. All cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and risky. Always proceed with caution.
Why do people believe in The Sandbox?
Many analysts and investors believe that The Sandbox metaverse and ecosystem can become and remain a major metaverse and blockchain gaming ecosystem and hub for players, gamers, and artists to thrive in. If this happens, the SAND token will do well in turn. Investors value that players on the platform can create digital assets using NFTs, upload them to the platform’s marketplace, and integrate them into games using the tool known as The Sandbox Game Maker. There are also digital pieces of real estate in The Sandbox metaverse that players can own as virtual land. As the metaverse and digital real estate becomes more ubiquitous, The Sandbox should continue to do well.
Is The Sandbox supply limited?
The supply of The Sandbox’s SAND token is currently capped at 3 billion tokens. Yes, this is a finite, limited supply.
How does the The Sandbox team investigate suspicious or fraudulent transactions?
The Sandbox is a ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain, and as such The Sandbox team has no control over the immutable Ethereum public ledger itself.
It is not clear at this time if The Sandbox team Labs investigates suspicious transactions, but fraudulent or suspicious activity can be noted on any of the public Ethereum blockchain explorers, since all activity is performed on a public ledger. Blockchain forensics agencies such as Chainanalysis can also use methods to surveil public blockchains such as Ethereum and track the inflows and outflows of SAND tokens.
DISCLAIMER
This is not financial advice, only observations and speculation. All investors should do their own research and due diligence. The crypto markets are extremely volatile and losing your investment is possible.
