Today DBS Bank unveiled its DBS Betterworld gamified experience that it plans to launch in The SandBox web3 metaverse. The aim is to highlight global food waste.
“DBS believes that it is possible to leverage the metaverse as a force for good,” said Karen Ngui, Head of Group Strategic Marketing and Communications at DBS, and Board Member of DBS Foundation.
“It can be harnessed as an interactive platform to increase awareness of important ESG issues and creatively spotlight those who are finding innovative ways to address them. As metaverse technologies mature, we hope to create mechanisms for communities and businesses to translate the outcomes of their virtual initiatives to real world impact.”
Around 30% of food produced is lost or wasted every year, according to the United Nations. To address this problem, DBS started an initiative in 2020 which had generated an impact of 2,000 tonnes of food by the end of last year. That includes reducing waste, recycling and redistributing food.
For the metaverse game, it selected five Hong Kong and Singapore organizations supported by the DBS Foundation for their impact on food waste. Their activities include using surplus bread to brew beer, selling food close to sell-by dates to lower income groups, and using urban areas for farming.
Each is represented as a gamified challenge in The Sandbox. It’s just waiting for the platform to launch its Alpha Season 4 for the game to commence.
Several banks have created metaverse presences, but this one is more creative than most. There’s been a bit of an East-West divide with Asian-focused financial services firms selecting The SandBox (HSBC, SCB 10X, Standard Chartered) and others choosing Decentraland (JP Morgan, Caixabank, Fidelity, Mastercard). Meanwhile, Japanese banks and other enterprises have created the Japan Metaverse Economic Zone (JMEZ).
