UnionBank enters Metaverse thru Filipino blockchain startup

Digital banking pioneer, the Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) has entered Metaverse in partnership with Filipino blockchain startup ‘Ark of Dreams’ (AoD).

UnionBank enters Metaverse thru Filipino blockchain startup

“This collaboration with Ark of Dreams gives us yet another opportunity to forge forward in our pursuit of tech-ing up [sic] the Philippines and reinforcing our commitment to deliver superior customer experience across channels; and now, even the Metaverse!” said Henry R. Aguda, Chief Technology & Operations Officer and Chief Transformation Officer at UnionBank.

“We wanted to create an engaging and immersive virtual experience that is seamlessly connected to the real world. That means interacting with their favorite brands while availing of services like e-Commerce and earning rewards and benefits on the platform, which may be redeemable even in the physical world. We are looking forward to a long-term partnership with UnionBank to provide value to our community and to keep innovating in this space,” said Jason dela Rosa, founder of AoD.

The partnership is intended to familiarize everyone into Metaverse thru collaborative ideation and co-creation of experiences and products among AoD, UnionBank, and the SME community.

“With this partnership, the integration of a suite of financial services with UnionBank’s innovations merged with the principles of Blockchain technology through a gamified NFT platform that is Ark of Dreams, there are unlimited possibilities to serve the whole ecosystem. Our imagination is the only limitation,” said Angeline Chii Viray, AoD CEO.

Ark of Dreams is a decentralized blockchain-based, shared human experience NFT game that runs on Binance Smart Chain using ‘Arkonia’ ($AOD) tokens that can be used for real-world transactions.

Interactions within AoD is possible thru exchange of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), social events and gaming, virtual world exploration, and online shopping and activities linked to brands and icons.

This move makes UnionBank the first Philippine bank in the Metaverse, which means that their services can be utilized within the Metaverse beginning with the Ark of Dreams virtual space.

Furthermore, Metaverse is defined by the Binance Academy as “a concept of a persistent, online, 3D universe that combines multiple different virtual spaces.” Also called as Web 3.0, it allows users to interact together within these 3D spaces.

For more information about Ark of Dreams, read their ‘white paper’ here.

via Orange Magazine