Fidelity, one of the largest financial service providers in the world, announced on Thursday that it had inaugurated a virtual building in the metaverse that offers financial education and dancing classes.
According to Reuters, the manoeuvre seeks to attract younger investors to its platforms. “We’re trying to make sure we’re staying current for the next generation,” David Dintenfass, the Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Emerging Customers at Fidelity, commented in an interview.
The Fidelity Stack was built on Decentraland, a web application that mimics a metropolitan area, with commerce districts, offices and event spaces. It is open to all but targets people 18-35 years old. As part of the 'Fidelity Stack', Fidelity launched its Fidelity Metaverse ETF, giving investors access to companies involved in virtual environments such as the metaverse, where users can work, socialize and play on different devices.
“The learning by doing - that’s consistent with the metaverse. This is the next step in the long line of things we’re trying to do to reach that next generation,” Dintenfass pointed out.
According to Fidelity, users can explore the building’s interior, including a dance floor and rooftop sky garden, and are challenged to learn the basics of ETF investing while collecting 'orbs' along the way. Fidelity purchased Decentraland’s virtual space for an undisclosed amount.
Metaverse and the Economics
Citi recently released a report on the future of metaverse. The report noted that the economy around the metaverse has the potential to hit the mark of $13 trillion by 2030. Dubbed ‘Metaverse and Money’, the latest report highlighted the growing interest in emerging technologies. According to Citi, the interest in metaverse has jumped substantially following a spike in the sales of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Additionally, big technology players have entered the Metaverse ecosystem in the past few months. In March, the financial services giant, HSBC announced its partnership with The Sandbox to enter the Metaverse space.
