Right through the period of the global pandemic of COVID-19, the Metaverse has experienced more traction. However, the primary reason had been the restriction on physical meetings and gatherings. Subsequently, more people now flock to the Metaverse due to the great opportunities for virtual interactions.
The Metaverse is a virtual space that allows people to transcend their real-world experience in a digital world. It enables individuals and even businesses to shop, work, purchase property, trade, and even engage in the art within the virtual world.
Recently, South Korea is making a massive investment in the Metaverse. The country’s Ministry of ICT, Science, and Future Planning mapped out 223.7 billion KRW worth about $186.7 million to develop its national Metaverse. The virtual ecosystem will facilitate its planned digital content and business advancement.
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An official statement from the Ministry mentioned utilizing funds to complete four primary objectives of the project tagged ‘Expanded Virtual World.’
Through the project, contents developers will receive support from different points that will enhance the project’s stance in the digital world. Also, the Ministry revealed some activities that it will host on the platform, including a Meta developer contest, some creative activities, and a hackathon.
Moreover, according to the Ministry’s plan, the Meta will serve as a site for expanding the digital growth of education, media, and cities.
Reasons For The Metaverse Project In South Korea
An announcement from Park Yungyu, the Ministry’s Head of Communication and Policy Department, explained the government’s idea of creating a Metaverse platform. He said that is part of South Korea’s expanded move on Digital New Deal, a designed set of policies to empower digital technologies.
Furthermore, the expectation of the Ministry for its Metaverse is for a worldwide expansion that will provide easy access to South Korean companies with time. Also, the project should facilitate corporate growth by enabling technological development and financial support.
In his speech, Simon Kim, Hashed CEO, mentioned that the Metaverse site specifically boosts commercial growth. This will be to ensure that participants receive adequate financial support.
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Kim stated that his opinion that the funding from the government poses no issues as the private sector has already plunged into the metaverse market investment.
However, he said that the government’s involvement should revolve more around the regulatory issues. According to Kim, both token issuance and publishing of NFT games are prohibited in Korea.
Hashed is a crypto ecosystem venture capital and incubator operational in South Korea. Its investment in the Metaverse includes The Sandbox and Decentraland.
Additionally, Jason Ye, co-founder of DeSpread, a multichain ecosystem accelerator, described the South Korean government funding for the metaverse project as a positive signal. However, Ye advised that having such funding demands that opportunists should be sought to create room for outstanding companies supporting and partnering with the government.
Featured image from BBC, chart from TradingView.com