Although many of us focus on the vast social media applications of the metaverse, this new technological landscape extends far beyond socialization and entertainment to include more traditional sectors. The development of virtual and augmented reality has made it possible to buy and sell goods in virtual environments and revolutionized the way consumers conduct online transactions. This, along with many innovations in spending and fintech services, is already starting to bring new optimism for the emergence of open banking.
As an expanding virtual space, fintech firms and more traditional institutions have quickly embraced the metaverse and the technology that drives it. JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM ), for example, has rushed to create its own digital lobby within the Decentraland metaverse, and HSBC recently chose to establish its own space within The Sandbox, stating that “the deal opens the door for other global institutions to follow. Innovating on Web3 as consumer adoption demands a more robust experience in the metaverse through decentralized and gamified offerings.
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Asset management firm Grayscale highlights the potential the metaverse can bring to businesses across a number of industries. In the general addressable market for Metaverse, we can see great potential for more comprehensive payment solutions and financial frameworks. With the metaverse highlighted as a $1.4 trillion market opportunity, it’s certainly worth turning fintechs’ attention to the age of Web 3.0 sooner rather than later.
Although Metaverse is still many years away from reaching its full potential, we can already see it starting to build on the potential offered by open banking solutions. In the coming years, we may not be able to virtually navigate our investment performance charts or digitally transport ourselves to a trading floor to view our cryptocurrency investments, but the emergence of Web 3.0 will fundamentally change the way we relate to our money. Let’s take a deeper look at how the next generation of the web will make this possible:
The future of data visualization
In an age of big data and unprecedented insights, the ability to explore the rich levels of information users generate about their spending habits, investment choices and various assets is key to open banking.
The financial industry is becoming increasingly complex as it adopts new technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrency, and user wealth can be spread more diversely than ever before.
As Metaverse grows, AR and VR solutions will be able to create experiences that can help users decipher complex information about their accounts. With this in mind, Vivek Dubey, author of the 2020 fintech book of the year, suggests looking at the model Salesforce has implemented using the Oculus Rift as a means of creating a 3D space into which data can be dissected.
“Constancy Labs, part of Fidelity Investments, also leveraged the innovation behind the Oculus Rift,” Dubey said. “They created a virtual world called Stock City, where stock portfolios become a virtual 3D city where financial professionals can fill themselves with information.”
Such a move could lead to higher levels of financial literacy among users and more comprehensive control over financial management.
In the age of Web 3.0, we will likely generate larger volumes of big data than ever before. The challenge for fintech firms will be to develop more comprehensive ways to transform the data we produce into manageable visualizations that can offer actionable insights.
Today, it’s still possible to gain insight into users’ spending patterns through platforms like Revolut, which have become innovators in the age of open banking.
The road to accessibility
Metaverse will be the single greatest tool in the development of open banking. This is because it can lay the foundation for the true democratization of finance.
Spanning this new digital frontier, fintechs can help us move from a one-dimensional market to a more voluminous virtual landscape with different dimensions and a creative economy.
By leveraging a global interconnected landscape, the metaverse could eventually pave the way for digital financial access for billions of users – who in turn would contribute to a thriving online economy.
Fintechs such as Revolut, Starling and Nubank (NYSE: NU ) have increased the number of channels already available to users by some margin with their commitment to open banking – making financial services, capital and assets more accessible to users around the world. .
We are already seeing democratizing effects in accelerating the growth of an industry that was initially slow to modernize. This is especially true with Nubank’s success in providing banking solutions for the unbanked in Latin America.
As Metaverse continues to grow, we will see more users doing their banking virtually. In a borderless digital ecosystem, fintechs have been presented with an unprecedented opportunity to grow globally. Harnessing big data insights and promoting financial literacy is likely to be the start of an open banking revolution.