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On the heels of a record-setting sale of metaverse “land” and the first mortgage in the virtual world, JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock are exploring business and investment opportunities in the immersive digital world.
"There is a lot of client interest to learn more about the metaverse,” Christine Moy, managing director of crypto and the metaverse at JPMorgan, told Yahoo News in an email.
JPMorgan has planted a flag in the metaverse by launching a virtual lounge decorated with a portrait of CEO Jamie Dimon and a free-range tiger. At the same time, the Wall Street bank also released a report detailing how businesses can capitalize on metaverse moneymaking opportunities, with digital real estate among them.
This comes as an increasing number of companies focus specifically on metaverse real estate, while some brokers are dedicating their time to so-called trophy properties in the digital world.
“Virtual real estate is a growing market,” the report states.
In another metaverse report published this week, investment firm BlackRock signaled its bullishness on the platform.
“The metaverse might sound futuristic, but the investment opportunities are here and now,” Reid Menge, co-portfolio manager of the BlackRock Technology Opportunities Fund, wrote in the report published Monday.
The average price of a parcel of virtual land doubled in the second half of 2021, JPMorgan’s report notes: A digital parcel that cost $6K in June 2021 cost $12K in December across four main metaverse platforms: Decentraland, The Sandbox, Somnium Space and Cryptovoxels.
Part of that jump is due to brands buying space to build virtual stores and other digital experiences. The JPMorgan report predicted that the virtual real estate market in the metaverse could, in time, support physical world products like credit, mortgages and rental agreements.
While a lot of questions remain regarding the metaverse, BlackRock is confident it will definitely affect the way people work and play.
“Virtual meetings will take on new life,” Menge wrote.
For now, BlackRock said, those opportunities are mainly for companies that supply elements for cooler-looking VR glasses and headsets. Once that piece is in place, “we also like companies poised to play a key role in ‘building’ the metaverse, designing and creating virtual worlds,” BlackRock said.
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