Amid the ongoing metaverse mania, financial giants are establishing themselves in the virtual world to gain a first-mover advantage in the up-and-coming web3 evolution. Following this, the latest update saw South Korea’s leading commercial bank, KEB Hana Bank, partner with the Sandbox to open a virtual branch in the metaverse.
With the most extensive range of foreign exchange products in South Korea, KEB Hana Bank aims to launch its metaverse franchise through the blockchain-based world, the Sandbox partnership. In light of this, Sandbox’s virtual world will allow the Korean bank’s metaverse arm to facilitate primary banking services. KEB Hana also unveiled its plans to encourage and enable investments and collaboration opportunities for its users with existing Sandbox partners. Subsequently, to target its Gen-Z clientele, the Hana Financial Group declared its launch in the K-verse, a virtual space containing all kinds of Korean content.
The Deputy President of KEB Hana Bank, So Jung Kim, asserted that “the metaverse is the way people will experience Web3, and we want to be a part of this new trend. This partnership can open a door for a brand-new type of service, especially for the young generations.” Following So Jung’s remarks on the partnership, the CEO of Sandbox Korea, Cindy Lee, also pointed out that as KEB Hana Bank enters the metaverse to create new kinds of content, it commences “the next frontier of easy-to-use metaverse banking service for users.”
Sandbox Vs. Decentraland
The Sandbox stepped up its financial partnership model soon after its competitor, Decentraland, onboarded the largest bank in the US, JPMorgan. Earlier this year, JPMorgan became the first bank to enter the metaverse via the launch of its lounge, ‘Onyx’ in Decentraland. A month after Decentraland’s banking initiatives, Sandbox announced its partnership with one of the world’s largest international banking and financial services providers, HSBC.
Sandbox COO and Co-founder Sebastien Borget asserted that “this is the beginning of a broader adoption of Web3 and the metaverse by institutions driving brand experiences and engagement within this new ecosystem”. Furthermore, the HSBC Asia-Pacific region’s Chief Marketing Officer, Suresh Balaji, added to Borget’s expectations noting that “the metaverse is how people will experience Web3, the next generation of the Internet — using immersive technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and extended reality”.
Industry giants across sectors view metaverse as the entry point into the inevitable web3 evolution. Along with the traditional financial sector, the entertainment industry is diving head-first into the metaverse. The latest update saw Playboy partner with Sandbox to build a ‘MetaMansion’ and bring NFTs into the metaverse. The media company will launch the virtual version of its legendary party mansion in Sandbox’s virtual world.