Standard Chartered Bank has become the latest major bank to join the metaverse. The bank has acquired a virtual piece of land in The Sandbox.
In a recent announcement, Standard Chartered Bank said that its subsidiary, Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong (SCBHK), has partnered with The Sandbox to create the metaverse.
Standard Chartered is a British multinational bank. The bank has 776 branches globally and about 87.000 employees.
The bank claims that it is the first bank to acquire virtual land in the Mega City area of The Sandbox.
“The bank will actively engage its customers, partners, employees and tech community to explore co-creation opportunities in the metaverse.”
The bank aims to test and build new experiences for customers, as well as bring “the sports and arts communities into the metaverse,” the announcement added.
Alex Manson, head of SC Ventures at Standard Chartered, commented:
“Over the past few years, we have built business models in crypto and digital assets and see the rise of the metaverse as an important milestone in the evolution of Web3.0.”
Other major banks and financial services firms that have also joined the metaverse include JPMorgan, HSBC and Fidelity Investments. HSBC also partnered with The Sandbox to enter the metaverse, while JPMorgan and Fidelity chose Decentraland.
Metaverse is expected to grow significantly. This could be a $13 trillion opportunity with 5 billion users by 2030, with global investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley both believing the metaverse could be an $8 trillion opportunity.