JP Morgan is going to be the first bank to enter the metaverse with its virtual Onyx lounge. Here’s everything you need to know about this.
What is the Onyx lounge?
On Tuesday, JP Morgan opened the Onyx lounge in the metaverse. It is a virtual lounge inside Decentraland’s blockchain-based world. Inside Decentraland, users can buy virtual land plots in NFTs. They can also make purchases using cryptocurrency that is backed by Ethereum. According to several users on Twitter, the Onyx lounge has pictures of Jamie Dimon, the CEO with a tiger lurking in the area. JP Morgan also released a paper that the firm is exploring the virtual world.
According to them, they are operating as a bank in the virtual space just like their real world. Additionally, the ‘worlds’ in metaverse have their own currency, GDP, and population. Hence, they can help in facilitating foreign exchange, cross-border payments, the creation of financial assets, etc. The bank is also helping with trading and safekeeping of the assets with the Onyx lounge. The report reveals that due to these, JP Morgan is planning to “play a major role in the metaverse”. They can also start helping issues such as transaction status, preventing fraud, and validating accounts. Their experiences with these issues in the real world are an asset to the metaverse.
More about JP Morgan’s work in the metaverse
JP Morgan is also showing interest in serving content creators. This will help those who want to commercialize their creations inside the metaverse. Their services is ranging from lending money for financing to establishing virtual wallets for collecting commissions. The Onyx lounge can also help in providing a foothold to the bank for exploring and establishing its role in the metaverse.
“There is a lot of client interest to learn more about the metaverse. We put together our white paper to help clients cut through the noise and highlight what the current reality is and what needs to be built next in technology, commercial infrastructure, privacy/identity, and workforce to maximize the full potential of our lives in the metaverse,” stated Christine Moy. Moy is the head of metaverse and crypto at JP Morgan. The move also makes the bank the first lender to reach the metaverse.