How SuperWorld Plans to Turn Every Location on Earth into a Digital Economy

\ The concept sounds odd at first. You cannot physically own the Eiffel Tower or Times Square. But in the digital layer being built by SuperWorld, you can own the virtual real estate tied to these locations and earn from all digital activity that happens there. Think of it as owning a piece of internet real estate, except instead of a domain name, you own a geographic coordinate on Earth.

\ This is the premise of what SuperWorld calls "phygital" content, which combines physical and digital interactions. The platform divides Earth's surface into 64.8 billion plots, each covering 0.1 x 0.1 degrees of latitude and longitude. Users can purchase these plots as NFTs on the Base blockchain by Coinbase, then activate various monetization methods tied to that location.

\ The company, backed by Tim Draper’s blockchain fund DraperGorenHolm, SOSV, Moon Pursuit Capital, RedBeard Ventures and other venture firms, has already recorded $5.2 million in virtual real estate sales across 23,000 plots. What makes this noteworthy is the average spend: $1,500 per paying user. This suggests users are making calculated bets on specific locations they believe will generate returns, rather than speculative purchases across random plots.

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The Market Context: Virtual Real Estate Goes Mainstream

The broader metaverse real estate market provides context for SuperWorld's approach. According to Precedence Research, the global metaverse in real estate market is projected to grow from $4.12 billion in 2025 to $67.40 billion by 2034, expanding at a CAGR of 36.55%. This growth is driven by blockchain-backed transactions, virtual property experiences, and increasing global interest in digital real estate investment.

\ However, most platforms in this space, such as Decentraland and The Sandbox, create isolated virtual worlds with no connection to physical geography. SuperWorld's differentiator is anchoring every virtual plot to an actual location on Earth. This means the value proposition is not about building in a fictional metaverse, but about layering digital commerce and experiences onto real places where people already go.

\ The AR and VR market is projected to reach approximately $300 billion by 2025, which suggests the infrastructure for viewing and interacting with phygital content is maturing. As AR glasses and mobile AR become more common, the ability to see digital content tied to physical locations becomes more practical, not just conceptual.

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Understanding Phygital Content: Bridging Digital and Physical Worlds

The term "phygital" might be new to many readers, so let me explain with an example. Imagine walking down a street in Miami. You open the SuperWorld app on your phone and see AR art floating above a storefront, a video tutorial about the history of a building, or a QR code that gives you a discount at a local restaurant. All of this content is tied to that specific location and appears only when you are physically there or viewing that location on the platform.

\ This is different from social media geotags, which simply label where a photo was taken. Phygital content is interactive, can be monetized, and creates a layer of digital information and commerce directly tied to the physical world. Users can create this content and monetize without owning the virtual real estate, but virtual real estate owners can earn from all activity that happens at the locations where they own virtual real estate.

\ The model draws comparisons to how YouTube creators earn from ads on their videos, except in this case, the "channel" is a geographic location represented on the map. If someone books a hotel, buys event tickets, or views an ad associated with your virtual real estate plot or on your map, you earn a portion of that revenue. SuperWorld has integrated 10 million bookable venues and 250,000 events from Sports Illustrated Tickets, creating multiple revenue streams beyond just land sales.

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The Creator Platform: From Digital Tours to Physical Experiences

SuperWorld is preparing to launch what it calls the Creator Platform, which empowers anyone to create and monetize experiences tied to real-world locations. This goes beyond AR art or digital collectibles. The platform will support both digital experiences (premium content accessible at a location, AI-powered guides, immersive storytelling) and physical experiences similar to Airbnb Services and Experiences.

\ For example, a chef in Miami could host a cooking class that is discoverable and bookable through SuperWorld's map. An artist in Lisbon could lead an art walk. A photographer in Tokyo could arrange a family photo shoot. These are real-world activities that use SuperWorld as the discovery and booking layer, with the creator earning from sales, a World creator benefitting when their audience discovers creators or experiences on their map and the virtual real estate owner of those locations earning from the activity.

\ This triple-earning model is a key part of SuperWorld's economic design. Creators have an incentive to produce quality content and experiences because they earn directly from engagement. World creators benefit from recommending their favorite creators and businesses on their map. Virtual real estate owners benefit from all activity in their location, creating a network effect where popular locations become more valuable as more creators and users interact there.

\ The platform is also integrating AI through a strategic partnership with the Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) Alliance, announced in August 2025. This partnership will bring AI-driven discovery tools, generative AI for creating phygital content, and autonomous AI agents that can plan real-world activities and itineraries for users.

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#Premium Virtual Real Estate and the $SPWR Token Economy

SuperWorld is launching its native token, $SPWR, on Coinbase's Base network and recently opened a pre-sale community round on the Republic platform. The token serves multiple functions: facilitating payments, enabling staking to promote local businesses, rewarding user activity such as referrals, location check-ins, and content creation and providing governance to enable users to help shape the platform’s growth.

\ One of the most interesting features is Premium virtual real estate. Users can stake approximately $100 worth of $SPWR to upgrade a plot to Premium status, which unlocks  benefits from global virtual real estate sales. This creates a two-path system: users can either purchase plots directly with traditional payment methods (Web2) or stake tokens to unlock premium features (Web3).

\ This design is deliberate. By not forcing token dependency for basic functionality, SuperWorld aims for broader adoption beyond crypto-native users. However, those who do engage with $SPWR gain deeper economic participation, enhanced creative tools, and governance rights. The company emphasizes that Premium status requires active participation, such as check-ins, content creation, and interactions, to discourage passive farming.

\ The token also addresses a common criticism of earlier metaverse projects: passive ownership with no real utility. In SuperWorld, simply owning a plot does not guarantee returns. The system rewards activity, contribution, and engagement, aligning with the platform's stated mission to "empower creators, entrepreneurs, and communities to earn from real-world engagement."

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Who Is Actually Buying Virtual Real Estate and Why?

The data from SuperWorld provides insight into buyer motivations. High-profile purchases include tourist destinations like the Eiffel Tower, Times Square, and the Statue of Liberty. These might seem like speculative bets, but they follow a logical premise: high foot traffic in the physical world could translate to high digital engagement.

\ More interesting are the business use cases. A Miami restaurant owner purchased their own property's location to monetize digital bookings and attract visitors. A London culture enthusiast acquired museum plots to curate art experiences. These buyers are not speculators hoping to flip virtual land. They are using SuperWorld as a tool to extend their existing business or passion into the digital realm and integrate with these real world locations.

\ The 200,000 community members have generated 125,000 pieces of content on the platform, which suggests active participation beyond just land ownership. This content ranges from 3D content, recommendations to restaurants and hotels to photos, videos and event listings and real world assets, all tied to real geographic locations.

\ The advisory board adds credibility to the project. Dr. Bob Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet and Turing Award winner, Stephen Wolfram, creator of Mathematica and Wolfram Alpha, NFL legend Larry Fitzgerald, Nitin Gaur, Founding Director of IBM Digital Asset Labs, and Sebastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox, all bring expertise in technology, media, and metaverse platforms.

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Market Risks and Adoption Challenges

Despite the growth projections for metaverse real estate, several challenges remain. The primary risk is adoption. For SuperWorld's model to work at scale, two things need to happen: users must regularly interact with phygital content in the real world, and businesses must see measurable ROI from participating in the platform.

\ The metaverse real estate market saw a speculative boom in 2021-2022, followed by a cooling period as hype subsided. Platforms like Decentraland saw a drop in active users after the initial excitement faded. SuperWorld's advantage is that it is tied to real-world locations people already visit and integrates with real world businesses at those locations, which could provide more sustained engagement than purely digital worlds.

\ However, the user experience must be seamless. If checking in to a location, viewing AR content, or making a booking feels clunky or requires multiple steps, users will not adopt it. The mobile app (launched on iOS and Android) will be critical for demonstrating that the platform works in everyday scenarios.

\ Another challenge is the regulatory environment. As governments grapple with digital property ownership, data privacy, and cross-border transactions in virtual spaces, regulatory clarity remains uncertain.

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Using Technology for Good

One aspect that sets SuperWorld apart from pure investment platforms is its commitment to social impact initiatives. The company has previously launched AMAZONIA, a geo-pinned exhibition supporting indigenous communities in Brazil, and Disaster Fighters, a collaboration with the World Bank and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) that uses Web3 to fund hurricane preparedness.

\ Hrish Lotlikar, co-founder and CEO of SuperWorld, stated,

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\ These initiatives suggest SuperWorld is positioning itself not just as a commercial platform, but as a tool for community building and social good. Whether this translates to meaningful impact will depend on how well the platform integrates these initiatives with its core business model.

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A Bet on the Future of Location-Based Digital Commerce

SuperWorld is making a bet that the future of commerce and content consumption will be location-aware and phygital and is creating a phygital platform powered by Web3, immersive technology, AI, real-world assets (RWA), and DePIN. SuperWorld is pioneering a new category called Real World Locations (RWL), which bridges digital ownership with real-world utility and monetization. As someone observing this space, I find the approach more grounded than earlier metaverse projects. By anchoring virtual real estate to actual geography, the platform creates a tangible connection between digital ownership and real-world value.

\ The integration with decentralized AI through the ASI Alliance partnership could be a differentiator. If the platform can use AI to personalize discovery, recommend experiences based on user preferences, and generate content tied to locations, it solves a real problem: helping people discover what to do and where to go. This moves beyond speculation on virtual land and into practical utility.

\ However, the success of SuperWorld will depend on execution. The platform needs to demonstrate that people will regularly use it, that businesses see real returns, and that the phygital layer adds value to real-world experiences rather than being a novelty. The data so far (125,000 pieces of content, 23,000 plots sold, partnerships with major brands) suggests early traction, but scaling to millions of active users will be the real test.

\ The broader metaverse market's projected growth to $67.40 billion by 2034 indicates investor confidence in virtual real estate as an asset class. SuperWorld's approach of connecting digital ownership to real geography could capture a portion of this market, particularly as AR technology becomes more mainstream and wearable devices make viewing phygital content more natural.

\ If SuperWorld succeeds, it will prove that the most compelling version of the metaverse is not a separate digital world you escape to, but a digital layer that enhances the physical world you already inhabit.

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:::tip This author is an independent contributor publishing via our business blogging program. HackerNoon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. #DYO

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