On Friday (September 9), Singapore-headquartered DBS, which is a leading financial services group in Asia, announced a partnership with Ethereum-powered virtual world “The Sandbox” ($SAND), which is a subsidiary of Animoca Brands.
Here is how Binance Research described The Sandbox back in August 2020:
“The Sandbox is a virtual world built on the Ethereum blockchain, where players can build, own, and monetize their gaming experiences… The SAND token is an ERC-20 utility token that is used for value transfers as well as staking and governance… Players can create digital assets in the form of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), upload them to the marketplace, and integrate into games with Game Maker.“
The purpose of this partnership is to create an interactive metaverse experience called “DBS BetterWorld”. The press release stated that “the partnership makes DBS the first Singapore company to seal a partnership with The Sandbox and the first bank in Singapore to make a foray into the metaverse.”
It also mentioned that “DBS will acquire a 3×3 plot of LAND – a unit of virtual real estate in The Sandbox metaverse – which will be developed with immersive elements.”
Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS, had this to say:
“Over the last decade, the biggest changes in the world of finance have been catalysed by digital advancements. In the coming decade, driven by new technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain, these shifts have the potential to be even more profound. Metaverse technology, while still evolving, could also fundamentally change the way banks interact with customers and communities.
“Given the speed of change, experimenting and learning-by-doing enable us to best test the potential of various technologies. Our partnership with The Sandbox and Animoca Brands marks the start of an exciting collaboration as we push the boundaries of what is possible in the metaverse. We also look forward to harnessing it as an additional innovative platform to spread the word on important ESG issues and to shine a spotlight on communities and partners doing good work to address them.“
And Sebastien Borget, COO and Co-Founder of The Sandbox, stated:
“We welcome DBS to The Sandbox as the first bank in Singapore to step into the open metaverse and join our efforts to create the SingaporeVerse, a neighbourhood on our virtual map that will bring the culture of Singapore to life in the metaverse in a very engaging, equitable, inclusive way that is open to all. ESG issues are important to us, and we look forward to collaborating on an experience that invites our audience to make a positive global impact, to discover the creative possibilities of our platform, and maybe to find their next life-changing opportunity in the metaverse.”
DBS says that it wants DBS BetterWorld to be “an additional engagement platform as it continues to advance these causes by providing an avenue for visitors to The Sandbox to learn more about prevailing ESG concerns.” Furthermore, DBS will “work with partners and collaborators from the Government, community, business, and technology sectors to develop meaningful concepts to enrich the DBS BetterWorld experience.”
Also, DBS will “purchase carbon offsets such that the land and production on DBS BetterWorld will be carbon neutral.”
According to a report published on September 6 by Financial Times, “Singapore’s biggest bank plans to grow its cryptocurrency and digital assets business despite the crypto bear market, saying it wants to expand its digital exchange and offer services to more of its 300,000 wealthy clients in Asia.”
