By Therese Tu, Sept 21, 2022
Macau citizens are advised to keep up with the metaverse development trends and take the first step to try it, while local enterprises should capture a larger audience in this new field, a technology start-up founder said at a talk held by the France Macau Chamber of Commerce (FMCC).
Mr. Charles Fauchet, Co-founder of HighCo Metaland, made the remarks today (Tuesday) in the FMCC seminar titled “How Can Brands Leverage the Metaverse TODAY?” which discussed the relationship between Metaverse, Cryptocurrency, and NFT, and how businesses and brands can take part in the development in this area.
A metaverse is a virtual representation of reality where users can use a virtual self to visit places or attend events in these virtual worlds, while cryptocurrencies are used as a medium of exchange and a store of value in these virtual worlds.
Metaverse users can have complete control over their digital assets because of the use of NFT – digital items that can be bought and sold using blockchain technology – , as the blockchain provides immutable confirmation of ownership that underpins these virtual worlds.
The technology company’s co-founder indicated that although cryptocurrencies are not allowed to be provided by banks and financial institutions in Macau as an official financial instrument, people in Macau are still allowed to create a crypto wallet online, and they are suggested to take the first step to try a metaverse platform.
“What I would advise is to create a crypto wallet and connect yourself to a metaverse platform, and you can even get free NFTs on those platforms. By just doing that, you will achieve what 99 per cent of the people don’t do. You will be way ahead of other people by just doing this.” Mr. Fauchet said.
From a business perspective, it is important to capture a larger audience share at an early stage, and start the commercialization process once the platform gets more mature, the speaker added.
“The metaverse helps you to make your brand playable. If you make a playable experience, you can easily retain users for 10, 15, 20 minutes or more. And that gives you a lot more time to tell them about your product, your story, or anything else that matters to your organization.” he said.
Another speaker of the seminar, Mr. Roy Lee, Co-founder of T-Rex Technology, expressed that the biggest challenge for Macau companies in terms of the development of the metaverse is that there are no existing business models that they can follow.
“You don’t know how to earn money in the metaverse. Most of the local companies operate traditional businesses, and they won’t take the risk of trying a new technology,” Roy stressed.
Meanwhile, General Manager MCI Hong Kong & Macau Mr. Olinto Oliveira, who is also a speaker at this event, suggested that brands shouldn’t simply replicate what they are doing in real life when they make the first jump from purely physical events to hybrid events and virtual events.
“The stuff that would never be possible in real life, is what you really need to do,” Mr. Oliveira added.