By opening a lounge in Decentraland, an Ethereum-based metaverse built on blockchain technology, JPMorgan, one of America’s largest banks, becomes the first major banking behemoth to establish itself in the Metaverse, as it seeks to profit on metaverse’s ‘limitless’ opportunities. JPMorgan’s Onyx Lounge is located in Metajuku, a virtual version of Tokyo’s Harajuku shopping district. On the first floor, a tiger roams the halls, while a portrait of the bank’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, hangs on the wall. The second floor is reached through a winding staircase, where a person’s avatar can watch experts discuss the economics of cryptocurrencies. Besides unveiling its Onyx Lounge which refers to the bank’s suite of permissioned Ethereum-based services, JPMorgan has also presented a paper analyzing how businesses can discover opportunities in the metaverse. The report states, “The Metaverse will likely infiltrate every sector in some way in the coming years, with the market opportunity estimated at over $1 trillion in yearly revenues.” Further continuing that $54 billion is already being spent on virtual goods each year. The report mentions that the average price of the land multiplied from $6,000 to $12,000 between June and December last year. The report also predicts the in-game advertising spending that will reach approximately $18.4 billion per annum by 2027. The widespread acceptance of new use cases in the crypto space, such as the NFT...
