Metaverse

South Korea’s top internet company Kakao and leading game developer Com2uS are sizing down their metaverse teams after large losses.

Oasys, a blockchain-based game development platform, will team up with non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace αU market and cryptocurrency wallet αU Wallet – a crypto wallet by KDDI, one of Japan’s top three telecom companies – for users to trade NFTs on the αU market. See related article: Weekly Market Wrap: ETF developments bolsters Bitcoin above […]

Animoca Brands announced Monday that it has raised US$20 million to accelerate the development of Mocaverse, its flagship project.

Socializing in a virtual world has been around for 20 years but remains a niche pursuit. Will AI and the new generation of digital natives make it mainstream?

From forays into the metaverse to blockchain-based sales and financing, the fine art world is now at the forefront of profound technological change.

Concerns arise over Worldcoin’s free crypto. NFT market does a crabwalk. Japan’s next big thing for the metaverse.

McDonald’s Hong Kong has joined the likes of Adidas, Coca-Cola, Gucci and other global brands with Thursday’s launch of its own metaverse.

The value of crypto is typically tied to its correlation with fiat money. What if tokens can be earned only through good deeds and helping others?

China’s Zhejiang province, the home province of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group,has established a metaverse industrial association.

As stores of our identity, customs and creativity, NFTs will drive Web3 adoption and become central to the new digital economy, writes Yat Siu, executive chairman of Animoca Brands.

Welcome to Forkast IQ, presented by Angie Lau, where we look beyond the headlines to get you insights that power smarter decisions. Coming up on today’s show:

China Mobile, a leading telecommunication company of China, launched a metaverse alliance on Wednesday, whose members include Huawei, Xiaomi and Unity China. 

Shanghai on Wednesday released a three-year plan to build its culture and tourism metaverse.

As Ripple receives an in-principle approval for Singapore’s digital payment license, institutional investors continue to look toward Bitcoin ETFs.

In this week’s Forkast IQ with Megha Chaddah, we dive into the U.S. SEC’s crypto crackdown and the state of the East Asian metaverses.

The final story in a three-part series on Asia metaverse developments looks at China’s national strategy, which has seen dozens of cities and provinces release spending plans and training schemes to adopt this digital world in real-world industries. China’s initiatives, however, face challenges from regulation and global competition.

South Korea, China, Japan — East Asia’s three industrial powerhouses are taking their economic rivalry to the virtual world. Each is developing a domestic metaverse in a race to become the region’s industry leader. This first account in a three-part series takes a look at what’s happening in South Korea.

Jiangning, a district in China’s Nanjing city, released a metaverse plan on Saturday that includes training thousands of professionals for the industry.

Sebastien Borget of The Sandbox and Yehudah Petscher of Forkast Labs discuss the promise of the metaverse, the role of NFTs and the potential impact of Apple’s Vision Pro.

Welcome to Forkast IQ, presented by Forkast’s Megha Chaddah, where we look beyond the headlines to get you insights that power smarter decisions.

Japan’s All Nippon Airways, or ANA Group, has launched a non-fungible token platform known as “ANA GranWhale NFT MarketPlace” to trade art and photograph collectibles through its metaverse subsidiary ANA NEO, the company tweeted on Thursday.

Beijing’s local government on Saturday released a white paper outlining plans and challenges for development of the city’s Web 3.0 industry.

China’s Zhengzhou city issued a set of policy proposals Wednesday to support metaverse companies, including a 10 billion yuan (US$1.42 billion) metaverse fund.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Asia’s crypto hub race. Is US debt ceiling fight a boon or a bane for crypto? China’s red carpet for metaverse investment.

China’s Nanjing City launched a state-backed organization on Monday to promote and enhance metaverse studies throughout the nation.

Only 4.2% of South Korean citizens have said that they regularly use metaverse services, a recent survey results show.

The metaverse is still a clunky world that makes users feel like they’re in a cartoon, writes Darin Myman of DatChat. How can we make it more inviting and useful?

Henan Cultural Tourism Investment Group, a state-owned investment enterprise in Central China’s Henan province, has set up a 150 million yuan private equity investment fund to finance metaverse ventures.

Sotheby’s, which accounts for 24% of global art auction sales, has launched an online secondary marketplace for its curated NFTs as the 279-year-old auction house for fine art expands its push into digital assets.

Welcome to The Daily Forkast – April 27, 2023 – presented by Jeff Cheung. The crypto markets suffered from a minor heart attack earlier today when unsubstantiated rumors surfaced, claiming Mt Gox and US Government wallets had allegedly moved large amounts of Bitcoin.

Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said the social media giant is not moving away from its metaverse focus despite reporting repeated losses in the billions of dollars at its division dedicated to developing the virtual reality online world. 

The French government announced a public consultation on “virtual immersive universes,” or the metaverse.

Meta is investing heavily in artificial intelligence and this will benefit its metaverse businesses, Meta’s Andrew Bosworth told Nikkei Asia.

Entertainment conglomerate Walt Disney Co. has reportedly scrapped its metaverse plans as part of its decision to lay off 7,000 employees and reduce US$5.5 billion in expenses. 

The conversation hasn’t died down, and the potential is still there. But what about the ambition?

Japan’s been a little behind in the Web3 space, but their new Metaverse Economic Zone could be a game changer.

South Korea is investing 27.7 billion Korean won (US$21 million) into local services looking to utilize the metaverse, the ministry of science announced Wednesday, following Tuesday’s news that it would establish a US$30 million metaverse fund to help startups expand their businesses. See related article: Japanese tech, finance firms sign pact to build metaverse economic […]

Look for blockchain, self-reliance in technology discussions in China’s biggest political meetings of the year as China’s President Xi Jinping’s aims to build a digital economy.

The metaverse has the potential to make the real world more just and inclusive, writes Sébastien Borget of The Sandbox. Here are the key ingredients for its future success.

Chinese smartphone maker Huawei partnered with multiple overseas Web3 firms, as part of the company’s blockchain and metaverse venture.

About 10 Japanese companies, including Fujitsu, Mitsubishi and Sumitomo Mitsui, have agreed to advance Japan’s metaverse plans with the establishment of the “Japan Metaverse Economic Zone”.

China technology giant Tencent said its reshuffling staff in its metaverse unit, but denied it was being disbanded, as reported by local media.

China’s Beijing Guoan Football Club has launched its first NFT collection, while building a virtual replica of its stadium.

Suzhou has laid out plans to attract at least 200 companies in working with VR technology by 2025.

Meta Platforms Inc., the former Facebook, said losses at its Reality Labs division developing virtual reality technologies widened last year, but the company’s Q4 earnings beat expectations and it projected overall stronger growth into 2023, according to its earnings report released Wednesday.

S. Korea’s capital city opened the first stage of ‘Metaverse Seoul’ on Monday, which it claims is the first city-backed public metaverse in the world.

Shanghai Two Sessions’ delegate urges stronger supervision in the metaverse industry, as metaverse fever continues.

Indian music composer A. R. Rahman, who won Best Original Score at the Oscars for the movie Slumdog Millionaire, has launched the ‘Katraar’ metaverse platform to promote new music creations and other art forms.

South Korea took a real shine to the metaverse in 2022, with the central government, regions and cities all interested in getting a piece of the virtual reality pie, despite criticism that the technology has a long way to go.

Japan-based game company Gumi has announced a business alliance with Square Enix SBI Holdings to grow its metaverse business.

India loves religious festivals, but are its citizens ready to attend such celebrations in virtual reality? An Indian startup reckons they are and launched its first effort this year, saying 20,000 avatars showed up.

Top blockchain and crypto news: US senators push for crypto KYC. SBF faces the music in US courts. Alibaba Cloud to launch blockchain node.

With highly anticipated blockchain games set to hit the shelves in 2023, Animoca Brand’s Yat Siu sees the next opportunity to onboard the generation of crypto users.

South Korea’s Gyeongbuk Province plans to use the metaverse to expand economic and other relations with Vietnam.

NFT investors seemingly see opportunities in a month full of surprises and headwinds for the broader cryptocurrency market.

Daesung’s venture capital subsidiary recently established a fund worth 110 billion Korean won (US$84.5 million) for expanding investments into metaverse startups.

Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg said that he remains optimistic about the future of the metaverse over a “five-to-ten-year horizon” despite widespread skepticism of his company’s venture into the technology.

Shinhan has opened a metaverse to provide financial and non-financial services, claiming to be the first bank in the country to provide such a platform.

Sony Japan unveiled Mocopi, a set of wearable motion-tracking sensors that captures user movements that are reflected by virtual avatars

South Korea’s science ministry released a guideline of core ethical principles for metaverse application participants.

The metaverse has the potential to improve access to opportunities and create a better version of the offline world. How do we prevent it from perpetuating society’s ills?

Companies based in the U.S. and South Korea have filed for more than 75% of patent applications related to the metaverse, VR and AR.

South Korea’s telecommunications giant SK Telecom (SKT) is launching its Ifland metaverse in 49 countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Meta Platforms Inc. is planning its first significant mass layoff later this week that may affect many thousands of employees.

HashKey Capital Singapore, an investment arm of Hong Kong-based HashKey Group, said on Friday that it received an in-principle approval for the Capital Markets Services license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Naver Z Corp. announced its partnership with INHOPE to protect youth from sexual abuse and exploitation on the virtual platform.

It is the one-year anniversary of Facebook’s rebrand as Meta, a major step in the company’s foray into virtual reality and Web3. However, in actual reality, not everything has gone to plan for the platform’s new parent company.

Meta’s metaverse division Reality Labs lost US$3.7 billion in the third quarter of this year, bringing its accumulated losses in 2022 to US$9.4 billion.

Meta shareholder Altimeter Capital’s CEO Brad Gerstner wrote a letter to Mark Zuckerberg suggesting a cut in headcount and in metaverse investments.

The international police organization Interpol has launched its own metaverse to assist law enforcement in protecting communities in virtual realms. The development comes after wanted Terraform Labs cofounder Do Kwon quietly slipped from Singapore to Dubai and possibly elsewhere. See related article: India police launch blockchain-based complaint portal on Polygon  Fast facts Interpol claims theirs […]

South Korea is mulling the uploading of headshots of sex offenders rendered on the three-dimensional metaverse, to help the public identify offenders, said Minister of Gender Equality and Family Kim Hyun-sook on Tuesday in a local radio interview. See related article: S.Korea’s science ministry announces ethical principles for the metaverse Fast facts Kim mentioned the […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Mark Zuckerberg’s empty metaverse. South Korea to roll out blockchain IDs. Macau bets on digital money.