The Sandbox, a gaming platform built on the Ethereum blockchain to leverage non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies, has become a focal point for major brands entering the metaverse.
As a result, the SAND token price has started to climb again. For example, today SAND rose about 10% to reach $2.97 after HSBC and U.S. celebrity Paris Hilton chose The Sandbox for their metaverse debuts.
Still, SAND remains roughly 65% below its all-time high reached in November 2021.
HSBC partnership with The Sandbox
This morning HSBC, one of Europe’s largest banks, announced a new partnership with The Sandbox.
HSBC plans to purchase virtual land on The Sandbox platform that the bank’s clients can use for developing games and hosting various esports activities.
In a prepared statement, Suresh Balaji, chief marketing officer for HSBC’s Asia-Pacific division, said:
“Through our collaboration with The Sandbox we are entering the metaverse, enabling us to create innovative brand experiences for new and existing customers…. We are excited to work with our sports partners, brand ambassadors and Animoca Brands to co-create experiences that are educational, inclusive and accessible.”
Animoca Brands, the company that helped drive The Sandbox’s success, has invested heavily in games and blockchain assets. Unlike other popular platforms such as Minecraft or Roblox, The Sandbox allows players to customize the environment, avatars and objects, and virtual land parcels can be bought and sold.
Paris Hilton appears at The Sandbox SXSW concert
On Tuesday evening U.S. celebrity Paris Hilton teamed up with The Sandbox for a concert held virtually as part of this year’s SXSW festival.
If you’re attending SXSW and are a virtual LAND owner 🏞, you’re on fast track for The Sandbox private party on Tuesday 03/15, with a special guest and DJ Paris Hilton
DM for RSVP 🤘 pic.twitter.com/L7pBnaDxEp
— Sebastien 🏞 (@borgetsebastien) March 14, 2022
In a press statement she said:
“I’m a big advocate for the metaverse and how Web3 technologies empower creators, gamers and artists… This is an important movement and a community I’m proud to be part of. I can’t wait for people to see the amazing experiences my collaboration with The Sandbox will bring to the metaverse.”
Growing corporate adoption of the metaverse
The expanding popularity of the metaverse has attracted large corporations. A notable example is Facebook, which rebranded as Meta as part of Mark Zuckerberg’s push to build a metaverse presence.
Other brands, including Red Bull, Walmart, Nike and McDonald’s, have filed trademarks covering terms such as “NFT” and “cryptocurrency” for use in virtual worlds where their metaverse initiatives will likely be tokenized.
We’ve also seen top celebrities and major companies enter the metaverse by creating virtual headquarters or launching and selling NFTs.