Thailand’s largest bank by market capitalization has become the latest bank to seek a foothold in the metaverse frenzy, with a unit announcing its plans to open a center in a still-developing version of the internet.
SCB 10X enters the world of Metaverse with Sandbox
SCB 10X Co., which oversees Siam Commercial Bank PCl’s investments in technology startups, announced on Monday that it is a blockchain-based virtual platform. at The Sandbox (SAND) announced that it will become the first global banking group entity to develop a headquarters. With its physical head office in Bangkok, the SCB 10X team announced that the Virtual space will be available for public visits by the fourth quarter of this year.
Bangkok-based bank Siam Commercial, of which Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn is the largest shareholder, stepped into the metaverse world and joined HSBC Holdings Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Still, it’s not clear what tangible benefits there would be from building a store in the metaverse, which advocates envision as a more immersive version of the internet accessible through virtual or augmented reality glasses.
@SCB10X_OFFICIAL in HQ @TheSandboxGame metaverse
We are ready! pic.twitter.com/sLFqF3Zkua
— SCB 10X (@SCB10X_OFFICIAL) March 11, 2022
Increasing corporate interest in Metaverse continues
With the crypto boom in 2021, we have all witnessed an increased interest in the blockchain and metaverse sector. The increase in interest in this new industry attracted the attention of several large financial institutions, and institutions competed with each other to enter the world of the metaverse.
As mentioned above, Wall Street bank JPMorgan, one of the major institutions, recently established a lounge in Decentraland, while PwC Hong Kong, a subsidiary of PwC, one of the world’s four largest accounting firms, also purchased virtual land from The Sandbox and provided virtual announced that they think the reality industry will be worth $1.5 trillion by 2030.
PwC Hong Kong is not the first major company to buy land from The Sandbox. Previously, Adidas also bought land in its VR game in late November. The platform has also collaborated with many big names such as The Walking Dead, Atari, South China Morning Post and Snoop Dogg, as well as family brands The Care Bears and The Smurfs.
SCB 10X virtual headquarters
According to the company, SCB 10X’s virtual headquarters will consist of three distinct service zones, including a space for partners to collaborate on activities and projects, as well as a hub to support local artists through a non-fungible token marketplace and gallery.
Siam Commercial established SCB 10X in 2020 with a mission it calls the “lunar mission” to drive growth through technology innovations and investments, according to its website.
Sandbox’s native cryptocurrency, SAND, is trading at $2.91 at the time of writing, up over 7 percent in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinGecko.
You can check the price movements here.
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