Portuguese-born former Victoria’s Secret and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue model Sara Sampaio has paid 25 Ethereum — $71,445 at the time — for a virtual private island on the Sandbox platform in the so-called metaverse.
We last wrote about Sampaio last fall, when the model — who has 7.9 million followers on Instagram — listed her East Village digs at a $60,000 loss.
She had bought the three-bedroom pad at 438 E. 12th St. for $3.51 million in 2018 and then listed it for $3.45 million following a price chop.
Since then her ask has fallen to $3.35 million and is now in contract — all within 90 days according to StreetEasy.
The listing broker was Nick Gavin, of Compass.
Maybe she’ll have more luck in the metaverse? Sampaio bought the private islands” at full ask from Exclusible.com, which is “next to Snoop Dogg’s land,” the company said.
The massive public sale of digital real estate, which included 150 villas and 25 private islands, was “on a first come, first served basis” and was finished in five hours, Exclusible’s CEO and co-founder, Thibault Launay, tells Gimme Shelter.
Other buyers that got in on the digital island sale on the Sandbox metaverse platform include Paris Saint-Germain FC soccer star Marco Verratti and tennis star Ana Ivanović.
Exclusibles estimates its total sales haul from the digital private islands, when converted to US currency, to be $2.9 million for the island and $1.6 million for the villas.
They advertised through social media to their 50,000 strong community, Launay said.
As for Sampaio, she’s enjoying her current $4 million home in the real world of Los Angeles.