The days when bankers didn’t care about crypto-currencies are over. Even the time when they fight and denigrate them seems to be on the way out. In any case, the major banking group HSBC is among those who have already turned the page, to fully embrace the development of technologies brought by Bitcoin (BTC) and its likes. HSBC intends to invest more and more in metavers.
HSBC offers a metaverse fund to its whale customers
Multinational bank HSBC Holdings clearly showed its willingness to foray into metavers on March 16, 2022, by purchasing a LAND (virtual plot of land) in the digital world of The Sandbox (SAND).
But this first step was merely a harbinger of a greater entry into this new area of crypto-asset application that is the “metaverse”. Indeed, as reported by Reuters, HSBC has just launched a metaverse investment fund for its (very) wealthy clients in Singapore and Hong Kong.
This new investment vehicle, called “Metaverse Discretionary Strategy portfolio” will be managed by the HSBC Asset Management branch of the banking group. This fund aims to offer wealthy investors (professional or accredited) a possibility of indirect exposure to crypto projects such as The Sandbox or Decentraland (MANA).
Metavers, a nascent ecosystem already full of opportunities
In detail, the Metaverse Discretionary Strategy fund will focus on five areas of development in the metaverse ecosystem, namely: infrastructure, computing, virtualization, user experience, and interface.
“The metaverse ecosystem, while still in its infancy, is evolving rapidly (…) We see a lot of exciting opportunities in this [metaverse] space, and companies of different backgrounds and sizes are already flocking to this ecosystem.”
HSBC is not the only banking institution to make a marked foray into the digital worlds of metavers. Indeed, as early as February 2022, the mega-bank JP Morgan opened virtual offices there. And various other players, such as major brands and companies, want to appear in the crypto metaverse – if only for advertising purposes.
