Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong partnered with The Sandbox and buys virtual land in metaverse


On Tuesday,
Standard Chartered Bank announced that its subsidiary, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong
Kong) Ltd. (SCBHK), has partnered with The Sandbox a popular decentralized
blockchain virtual gaming platform. The company further added that it has
acquired virtual land at the latter’s metaverse Mega-City district, a culture
hub based on or inspired by Hong Kong talents.
StanChart is the
first bank to acquire virtual land in the district. SC Ventures, Standard
Chartered Group’s innovation, fintech investment, and ventures arm have led the
initiative. As per the bank, clients, partners, staff, and the tech community will
be actively engaged by the bank to explore co-creation opportunities in this new
area and exciting space. It has the aim of experimenting and building new
experiences for clients, including bringing the local sports and art
communities into the metaverse. to enter the metaverse Standard Chartered Bank
has become the latest major bank. According to the announcement, the bank aims
to experiment and develop new experiences for clients and bring the local
sports and art communities into the metaverse.
Mary Huen, chief
executive of Standard Chartered, Hong Kong further added their involvement in
the metaverse will reimagine their relationship with existing and potential
clients on this new platform and will enhance their approach towards client
journeys. Acquiring virtual land in Mega-City gives a natural choice for the
Bank with its distinctive Hong Kong theme that perfectly fits with
strengthening its presence in Hong Kong, whether physical or virtual.
To make an
investment in metaverse Standard Chartered joined with HSBC, CaixaBank's
Imagin, Siam Commercial Bank, and JPMorgan. This may lead to a thriving virtual
economy. Analysts from Citibank believe that by 2030 it could value at $13
trillion.
JPMorgan, HSBC,
and Fidelity Investments are other major banks and financial services firms
that have entered the metaverse. To enter the metaverse HSBC also partnered
with The Sandbox. JPMorgan and Fidelity partnered with Decentraland for the
same purpose. As per prediction made by Citi last month that by 2030 metaverse
could be a $13 trillion opportunity with 5 billion users. metaverse could be an
$8 trillion opportunity believed both by Global investment banks Goldman Sachs
and Morgan Stanley.
About
Standard Chartered
Standard
Chartered is a leading global bank with 776 branches globally. It serves customers
to 150 markets worldwide and consists of 85,000 employees. According to the head of
Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures Alex Manson, the company was focussing on business
models in cypto, and digital assets and sees the rise of the metaverse as a
critical milestone in Web3.0 evolution for the last few years.

Indrani bose
CBW - External Analyst
INDIA