Global Investment bank which is also the biggest bank in the US, JPMorgan recently announced the opening of a lounge in Decentraland which is an Ethereum-based metaverse, created based on blockchain technology. It is going by the name ‘Onyx lounge’ to provide "limitless" opportunities in the virtual world known as the metaverse. Thus becomes the first major bank in the Metaverse.

The Onyx lounge resides in Metajuku, a virtual version of Tokyo's Harajuku shopping district. The bank’s blockchain unit has open space on the ground floor. The visitors upon entering the lounge are welcomed by a digital portrait on the wall which morphs into the image of JPMorgan bank’s head of crypto and CEO Jamie Dimon and a tiger walking around. A winding staircase leads to the second floor where the lounge is located a person's avatar can watch experts talk about the crypto market. There is a big table with documents on it and large monitor screens. In the lounge, visitors will hear the bank’s blockchain accomplishments and can watch a video of Chase’s eCommerce and Fintech Forum from June 2021.

Recently JPMorgan also has published a report titled “Opportunities in the metaverse” explaining how businesses can find opportunities in the metaverse. The author of the report is Christine Moy who is the global head of Link, Crypto & the Metaverse at Onyx by J.P. Morgan, and Adit Gadgil who is again the head of e-commerce solutions at J.P. Morgan Payments.  In a tweet as per Christine Moy, this paper will help clients to understand the current reality and what needs to be built next in technology, commercial infrastructure, privacy/identity, and workforce, so as to grow in the metaverse space. As per JPMorgan, the market could eventually generate $1 trillion in annual revenues.

From $6,000 in June to $12,000 by December 2021, the average price of virtual land has doubled across the four main Web 3 metaverse sites: Decentraland, The Sandbox, Somnium Space, and Cryptovoxels, according to JPMorgan's paper.

It was also mentioned that decentralized finance (Defi) collateral management could play a role, and that decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) could be used instead of traditional finance companies.

The JPMorgan report details, “The metaverse will likely infiltrate every sector in some way in the coming years, with the market opportunity estimated at over $1 trillion in yearly revenues. “The report cites research by Grayscale Investments which states: “The metaverse is estimated to be a trillion-dollar revenue opportunity across advertising, social commerce, digital events, hardware, and developer/creator monetization.”

Indrani bose

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA