On February 15, America’s largest bank, with assets under management of more than USD 2.8 trillion, opened “Onyx lounge” in the blockchain-based world of Decentraland, within which users can acquire virtual plots of land in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
A recent report by Onyx, J.P.Morgan’s blockchain arm launched in 2020, estimates the market opportunity of the metaverse at over USD 1 trillion in yearly revenues. According to the banking sector giant, “the metaverse will likely infiltrate every sector in some way in the coming years.” J.P. Morgan’s main rival, Goldman Sachs, on the other hand, forecasts that the metaverse may turn into a market with a size of more than USD 8 trillion.
Data speaks for itself. For instance, the average price of a parcel of land on the four major Web 3.0 metaverse platforms doubled in the last six months of 2021 – from USD 6,000 in June to USD 12,000 by December. This was driven mainly by companies which invested in virtual space so that they could launch their stores and other experiences in the metaverse.
For instance, in June 2021, Everyrealm (formerly known as Republic Realm) bought a plot of land on Decentraland for USD 913,000. The land has been transformed into the Metajuku shopping district, where J.P.Morgan’s Onyx lounge is actually located. There, visitors are greeted by a digital portrait of Jamie Dimon, J.P. Morgan’s Chairman and CEO, and a roaming tiger.
The investment bank sees a huge market potential in the metaverse and more specifically in bringing the physical world there. According to J.P. Morgan, “the virtual real estate market could start seeing services much like in the physical world, including credit, mortgages and rental agreements.”
What will be the first products the American multinational investment bank would release in the metaverse is yet something we do not know but are impatient to find out.
