On Thursday, Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ (PWC) Hong Kong unit announced that it purchased a land site in The Sandbox metaverse. The PWC Hong Kong branch will be the first internationally recognized professional services brand to enter The Sandbox metaverse.
PWC Hong Kong enters the metaverse
While the land next to Snoop Dogg’s Sandbox lot sold for a lot of money and other companies like Atari bought the Sandbox property, the Hong Kong branch of the big accounting firm PWC also bought a metaverse land in the virtual world The Sandbox.
PWC is a multinational professional services network of firms located in 156 countries. The company is often referred to as one of the Big Four accounting firms alongside EY, KPMG, and Deloitte. PWC’s Hong Kong branch has been into blockchain technology and crypto assets for quite some time and in November 2017, the office revealed it accepted bitcoin payments for consultancy services.
The December 23 announcement indicates that The Sandbox land was specifically acquired by PWC Hong Kong. On Thursday, PWC Hong Kong partner William Gee commented on the land purchase and the metaverse in general.
“The metaverse offers new possibilities for organisations to create value through innovative business models, as well as introducing new ways to engage with their customers and communities,” Gee remarked. The PWC Hong Kong executive added:
We will leverage our expertise to advise clients who wish to embrace the metaverse on the range of challenges presented by this emerging global digital phenomenon.
‘The Metaverse Is Open for Business’ — The Sandbox Team Believes PWC Can Help ‘Brands That May Be Less Familiar With Web3’
The Sandbox virtual blockchain game, that features land and other types of non-fungible token (NFT) assets, has been popular during the last year. The Sandbox’s native digital asset SAND is up 11% during the last 30 days and 11,714% over the course of the last year. The blockchain-based metaverse game also secured an investment of $93 million during the first week of November in a financing round led by Softbank’s Vision Fund 2.
Regarding the acquisition of land by PWC, The Sandbox states that “professional service companies such as PWC Hong Kong can play a valuable role in the growth of the open metaverse.” Specifically, the announcement explains that PWC can help “brands that may be less familiar with Web3”. Sébastien Borget, COO of The Sandbox believes that the Big Four accounting firm is at the forefront of this innovation.
“The metaverse is open for business,” Borget elaborated in a statement concerning PWC Hong Kong’s land acquisition in the metaverse. “We welcome PWC Hong Kong to experience how The Sandbox fosters new immersive experiences and ways for brands to connect with customers. It’s an exciting time – and PWC is at the forefront of this emerging frontier.”
