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Wall Street is joining the metaverse, and JPMorgan is taking the lead by launching a virtual office on Decentraland. Decentraland is a virtual world based on blockchain technology. Decentraland has been ranked as one of the largest metaverse projects.
Decentraland ventures into the metaverse
JPMorgan Chase is the first US bank to have a virtual office. Through the Onyx Lounge, customers can access Ethereum-based services. In a paper, JPMorgan said that immense opportunities lay in the metaverse.
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Christine Moy, the head of crypto and the metaverse at JPMorgan, said that the launch of this virtual space stemmed from increased customer demand. The bank has also released a white paper to allow its clients to learn about the metaverse. According to Moy, the virtual world had much potential to transform the lives of its customers.
In the whitepaper, JPMorgan said that the value of parcels of land inside virtual worlds had significantly increased. During the second half of 2021, the value of virtual real estate almost doubled from $6000 to average at $12,000 by year-end.
According to the banking giant, the value of the virtual real estate would soon reach the value of physical real estate. It also added that real estate services such as mortgages, rental agreements and credit could soon become a reality in the virtual world.
JPMorgan also says that immense profitable opportunities lay in the metaverse. These include advertising in the virtual world, which JPMorgan estimates will be valued at over $18.41 billion by 2027.
The metaverse boom
The metaverse has become quite popular across different industries. The metaverse is a virtual world that allows people to access digital currencies, virtual meetings, e-commerce and gaming. Some popular metaverse worlds include Decentraland, The Sandbox, Somnium Space and Cryptovoxels. Due to the increased popularity, brands are taking a chance to invest in the metaverse. Samsung, an electronics company, based in South Korea, announced opening a virtual store on Decentraland. The virtual store is similar to its flagship store in New York. Last year, Barbados launched a virtual embassy on Decentraland.