- JPMorgan is the first bank to set up a metaverse office.
- Luxury brand Gucci has purchased land on the same platform to develop a space to host “immersive experiences” and offer digital fashion items for purchase, targeted at Gen Z.
- The Sandbox has already cultivated over 200 partnerships with companies, brands and individuals including rapper Snoop Dogg, sportswear firm Adidas and Japanese gaming company Atari, says the report.
- The average price for a parcel of virtual land doubled in just six months last year, surging from $6,000 in June to $12,000 by December across the four main metaverse platforms, says the report.
JPMorgan Chase, the investment banking behemoth, has opened a branch in the Metajuku shopping mall as reported by Fortune.
Metaverse platforms
The bank’s lounge features a spiral staircase, a live tiger, and an illuminated portrait of CEO Jamie Dimon.
JPMorgan’s newest digs aren’t located in the real world, but in Decentraland—one of the world’s most popular metaverse platforms.
The bank’s metaverse launch coincided with the release of a paper by Onyx, JPMorgan’s blockchain arm launched in 2020, which explores the opportunities offered by the metaverse.
And JPMorgan is bullish: The bank predicts that the metaverse will become a $1 trillion market opportunity in yearly revenues, given that its virtual worlds will “infiltrate every sector in some way in the coming years,” says the report.
Metaverse office
JPMorgan is the first bank to set up a metaverse office.
But it follows on the now well-trodden path of big brands, businesses, and influencers entering the metaverse.
Users use digital avatars to explore these virtual lands, where they can socialize, play games, purchase real estate, browse the art, or go shopping.
Retail and entertainment brands from Walmart and Nike to Disney and Warner Music Group all joined the rush.
Luxury brand Gucci has purchased land on the same platform to develop a space to host “immersive experiences” and offer digital fashion items for purchase, targeted at Gen Z. The Sandbox has already cultivated over 200 partnerships with companies, brands, and individuals including rapper Snoop Dogg, sportswear firm Adidas, and gaming company Atari, says the report.
Finance & tax
But companies from a wide array of industries are now finding use cases for the metaverse, including smaller firms from the architecture, real estate, and even tax and accounting sectors.
The U.S.-based Prager Metis accounting firm, for instance, opened its three-story metaverse headquarters in Decentraland last month.
The company has been “constantly fielding inquiries from…clients trying to understand the metaverse from a financial and tax compliance perspective,” says Jerry Eitel, partner at Prager Metis.
“Every tax and accounting issue [applicable to businesses] in real life is also applicable to the metaverse,” he says.
Real estate has also boomed in the metaverse economies.
Providing infrastructure
Last June, developer Everyrealm (formerly known as Republic Realm) bought a piece of Decentraland land for $913,000.
The development of the metaverse economy has created jobs both online and offline.
In a Bloomberg interview, Onyx’s global head, Christine Moy, said that its unit is now focused on “providing infrastructure” like blockchain and payments tech to clients, which include game publishers.
Dimon’s bank isn’t the only one optimistic about the metaverse’s trillion-dollar opportunity: JPMorgan’s Wall Street rival Goldman Sachs forecasts the metaverse will become an $8 trillion market.
Still, metaverse bulls have been hit hard this year.
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Source: Fortune
