Today Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong announced it is the latest bank to buy a plot of virtual land in The Sandbox metaverse’s Mega City district, with help from the bank’s venture subsidiary SC Ventures.
Acquiring “virtual land in Mega City (was) a natural choice for the Bank
given its distinctive Hong Kong theme, perfectly fits with our promise of strengthening our continued presence in Hong Kong, whether physical or virtual,” said Mary Huen, CEO of Standard Chartered, Hong Kong.
Numerous financial services companies are setting up in the metaverse, currently evenly split between Decentraland and The Sandbox. JP Morgan was the first to take the leap into Decentraland, followed by CaixaBank’s Imagin and Fidelity Investments. The Sandbox was founded in Hong Kong, and the three banks that have set up in the metaverse all have Asian associations, HSBC, Siam Commercial Bank’s SCB 10X, and now Standard Chartered.
However, there is no East-West divide. The Sandbox has numerous high profile virtual landowners, including Snoop Dog and Adidas. It’s a full-blown computer application enabling a rich experience once the platform moves beyond its current Alpha version. In contrast, Decentraland currently works within a web browser, reducing the friction of getting started, but a web browser currently doesn’t provide the same depth of gaming experience. Additionally, The Sandbox is part of Animoca Brands, which has a massive footprint in the crypto gaming world.