The Block: Banking giant HSBC partners with metaverse firm The Sandbox

HSBC is the latest corporate giant to enter the metaverse through a partnership with The Sandbox.

According to a blog post published by The Sandbox on Wednesday, the British bank has acquired a plot of land in the metaverse startup’s virtual world — space that will be developed to entertain sports, e-sports, gaming and finance professionals.

Details about the exact nature of the initiative were scant, but HSBC’s Suresh Balaji, chief marketing officer for the Asia-Pacific region, said in the statement that the metaverse “is how people will experience web3, the next generation of the internet.”

“At HSBC, we see great potential to create new experiences through emerging platforms, opening up a world of opportunity for our current and future customers and for the communities we serve,” he continued.

An image attached to the blog post depicts a pixelated plot of land, complete with an HSBC-branded rugby stadium.

The Sandbox is a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, the Hong Kong gaming company. The firm raised $93 million in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 in November last year.

Alongside HSBC, companies such as Gucci, Warner Music Group and Ubisoft have flocked to The Sandbox’s metaverse.

Its co-founder and COO Sebastien Borget said the interest of companies like HSBC in the metaverse signals “the beginning of a broader adoption of web3 and the metaverse by institutions driving brand experiences and engagement within this new ecosystem.”

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