--- title: "Man Uses Life Savings to Buy Nonexistent Metaverse Land" description: "He dropped $18,000 on the Khorum Coast, a virtual property found in Entropia Universe, saying he hopes to see a return on his investment in just four years." date: "2022-07-06" modified: "2022-07-06" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/man-life-savings-metaverse-land" categories: - "Future Society" - "Metaverse" - "Virtual Reality" tags: - "entropia" - "investing" - "metaverse" - "the digest" --- # Man Uses Life Savings to Buy Nonexistent Metaverse Land ![He dropped $18,000 on the Khorum Coast, a virtual property found in Entropia Universe, saying he hopes to see a return on his investment in just four years.]() *\Image: MindArk\* ## Lord of Khorum A Texas man named Justin Reed [told Austin's *KXAN News*]() that he dropped $18,000 — his entire life savings — on a piece of virtual "land" called the Khorum Coast, located within a videogame called [Entropia Universe](). "I know it sounds like a lot, and it's a crazy thing to tell someone that, you know, I'm a virtual landowner, and I put my life savings into it. But I believe in Entropia," said Reed, who goes by the alias "David Joker" online. Reed says he's been playing the MMORPG for about 20 years and has made some money from it before. Now, amid the looming expansion of an immersive, [Big Tech-driven Metaverse](), he's betting — and big — on the [fruits of digital land](). ## Boardwalk Bucks Entropia employs a micropayment model in which players are able to [make real-world money from in-game transactions](), mostly by way of virtual real estate. It's sort of like a complicated version of Monopoly, only those colorful dollar bills have a fixed exchange rate to US dollars. Make that boardwalk money honey — after, of course, you buy the boardwalk with IRL funds — and you can trade that digital income for an actual check. In Reed's case, he says gets a tax revenue on anything that a player finds when mining on his land. He also claims to have already made $1,200 since he bought the Khorum Coast in March, and likens the investment's risk to that of starting a real-world brick and mortar. "I could have went out and started a bakery with my money, and no one could have bought my bakery rolls," he said. "With this, I just feel that I have more control." ## Gambling Honestly, Reed's done his research, and his conviction is almost inspiring. But at the end of the day, a studied bet is still a bet. "If you like the risk, and you're willing to gamble, which is basically what's happening in this digital world," said Paul Toprac, Game Development and Design Program associate director at the University of Texas at Austin, to *KXAN*. "It's a good place for gambling." And heck — in an economy where almost nobody can afford to buy actual land, maybe this is the closest we can get anymore. **READ MORE:** *[Central Texas man puts life savings into buying virtual property]()* \[*KXAN*\] **More on Metaverse adjacents:** [*Robots Now Delivering Vr Porn Headsets to the Terminally Lonely*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()