Here’s what Decentraland, Sandbox had to say about low active user claim

Ethereum-based metaverse platforms Decentraland and Sandbox have responded to claims made by users on Twitter regarding the daily active users (DAU) on the platforms. 

30 DAU with billions in valuation?

It all started with a tweet last week from one of the data aggregators. As per the tweet, Decentraland had a mere 30 DAU.

Users were quick to correct this claim. One user cited data from Decentraland’s Github catalyst monitor to show more than 500 active users on the platform. 

Another Twitter user pointed out that the data shared only reflected the number of users who interacted with the contract on-chain. “You don’t need to interact with the contract when you launch and play Decentraland on your PC, unless you make a purchase” the tweet read. 

Well, the accuracy of these claims depends on how one defines what constitutes an active user on these platforms.

Response by Decentraland and Sandbox

Decentraland soon corrected the “misinformation” regarding its DAU. The platform recommended that all data about its user stats be derived from one of its DAO grantees, DCL Metrics. 

Decentraland also provided an accurate version of user stats for the month of September, as per which it saw more than 56,000 monthly active users, and 1,074 users interacting with smart contracts. 

Given the debate around Decentraland’s DAU, users also pointed out that the numbers for rival Sandbox were questionable as well. 

At the time of writing, data from DappRadar’s showed a little over 600 users in the past 24 hours. The gaming platform has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion. 

Sandbox also provided its version of on-chain metrics, as per which it recorded 39,000 DAU along with 200,000 monthly users. 

Sandbox CEO Arthur Madrid weighed in on the debate, clarifying that on-chain transactions do not mean active users. 

The crypto subreddit also got involved in the DAU debate. Redditors were quick to compare the Web3 platform with their Web2 equivalents like Second Life. 

Some Redditors also pointed out the losses they had incurred in Decentraland by purchasing land in the game during last year’s bull run. 

Play-to-earn games initially attracted a lot of users with the prospect of earning crypto but this year’s bear market has affected the popularity of such platforms.