Polkacity pitched a virtual city where players buy NFT assets such as taxis, gas stations and shops that pay them a share of in-world revenue. The marketplace sold and traded those assets, paid in its POLC token. The idea is easy to copy; making it sustainable and legally sound is the hard part, and that is where this guide focuses.
What Polkacity was
Polkacity launched in 2021 as a "contract-based" virtual city. Instead of selling empty land parcels like Decentraland, it sold functional businesses inside the city. Each asset was an NFT (ERC-721 style), each type had limited supply, and owning one entitled you to a share of income the platform attributed to that asset type. POLC, an ERC-20 token, was used for purchases and rewards. The project built a 3D city client and expanded to other EVM chains to cut fees.
Like most income-pitched metaverse tokens from 2021, POLC lost most of its value after the market turned, and activity faded. Before using it as a model, check the project's current status directly.
The income-asset model, and why it is fragile
The appeal is obvious: a taxi NFT that "earns" is easier to sell than a picture. The problem is where the earnings come from. In practice, rewards in these systems were funded by:
- new asset sales to later buyers,
- token emissions from a reward pool, or
- a small amount of genuine in-world spending.
If the first two dominate, payouts shrink as soon as growth slows. There is also a regulatory problem: an asset sold with an expectation of profit from the efforts of the platform looks a lot like an investment contract under US securities law, and similar tests exist elsewhere.
A more defensible design
| Element | Polkacity-style | Safer approach |
|---|---|---|
| Asset purpose | Passive income share | Gameplay function: a shop players run, a vehicle that unlocks routes |
| Revenue source | Token emissions and new sales | Real in-world spending, ads, sponsored venues |
| Payout | Automatic yield | Earned through active use, if at all |
| Currency | Native token | Stablecoin or chain-native token for pricing |
| Marketing | ROI framing | Utility and ownership framing |
Marketplace components
- Asset contracts per category (ERC-721 for unique buildings, ERC-1155 for vehicles with many identical units).
- Primary sale contract with supply caps per asset type and phased pricing.
- Secondary marketplace with filters by district, asset type and upgrade level.
- Map integration so buyers see where an asset sits in the world before buying.
- Revenue distribution, if any, through a claimable rewards contract rather than pushing payments, so gas is paid by the claimer.
The 3D world is a separate, much larger build. Our guides on metaverse 3D space development and metaverse NFT marketplaces cover that side; for land-based worlds, compare with the Decentraland teardown.
Primary sales and pricing
Income-asset worlds usually sold assets in tiers: a fixed supply of each asset type, priced by how much in-world activity it was supposed to capture. If you sell functional assets, a few rules keep the primary sale defensible:
- Price on utility, not projected yield. Describe what the asset lets the owner do in the world, and avoid published return figures.
- Release in phases. Sell more assets only as the active player base grows, so new supply has users to serve.
- Keep treasury rules public. State what primary-sale revenue funds (development, servers, events) and how much, if any, flows back to holders.
- Enable upgrades and maintenance. Assets that need upkeep, or can be upgraded by playing, create ongoing sinks and reward active owners over passive holders.
Effort
The marketplace and asset contracts are a modest build: as a reasoned estimate, two engineers can deliver audited contracts and a filtered marketplace in two to three months on one EVM chain. The 3D city client, simulation of in-world activity and content pipeline are the expensive part and can run well over a year with a game team.
Build sequence
- Define what each asset does in the world, before any pricing.
- Model the economy under low growth, not just launch demand.
- Get legal review of how assets are described and sold.
- Build contracts and marketplace on a low-fee chain; audit them.
- Ship a playable slice of the world before selling large numbers of assets.
Frequently asked questions
Is Polkacity still active?
Its token and activity declined sharply after 2021, as with most income-pitched metaverse projects. Check its official channels for the current state.
Can NFTs legally pay their holders income?
Sometimes, but income rights make an NFT more likely to be treated as a security. Structure and marketing matter, and the answer varies by jurisdiction.
Should assets be ERC-721 or ERC-1155?
Use ERC-721 for unique items like a specific building, and ERC-1155 for classes of identical items like a vehicle model. Many projects use both.