The Metaverse and NFTs Alive and Well in…Wan Chai, Hong Kong?
As we all are well aware by now, Facebook has decided to put a considerable amount of financial and staff resources behind building a “metaverse” — a virtual world filled with avatars, or a dystopian sci-fi vision (depending on your view) and transition from a social media company to a metaverse company. This transition, says Mr. Zuckerberg, will happen in the “coming years” followed by “ubiquitous” augmented reality (“AR”) systems within a decade. Zuckerberg has also stated that advertising, payment transactions using digital currencies, and teleporting from one experience to another will also be “a meaningful part of the metaverse.”
It all sounds so grand, futuristic and frankly: well out of reach any time soon for the average business. This is where Facebook, Apple and Microsoft fear to tread.
But this actually isn’t the case.
By chance, two companies in offices next door to each other in Wan Chai, Hong Kong are driving forward the Metaverse concept — one by hosting a first of its kind virtual event where customized avatars teleport from venue to venue engaging with each other via their webcam visors; the other by working on a solution that will allow assets to be acquired at virtual events or stores, galleries, showrooms. Each has a Metaverse of its own — and if need be, their respective digital assets can engage and interact with one another.
So enter Asian Sky Media, one of those two companies. It partnered with US start-up GathR Virtual Studios, Inc., the creator of Mytaverse to host ASGVEC — the Asian Sky Group Virtual Exhibition and Conference between September 14–16, 2021 www.asgvec.com. ASGVEC’s design deliberatively mimicked the experience attendees would get if they were to attend an in-person trade show and conference. Featuring over 50 exhibitors, including Dassault Aviation, Leonardo Helicopters, Textron Aviation, Embraer Executive Jets and many other recognized names in business jet support and services like NetJets, JSSI, Sino Jet Group and Metrojet, the Mytaverse platform which uses Epic Games Unreal Engine 4 and PurWeb pixel streaming, enabled visitors to free themselves “physically” from the travel restrictions of the past 18 months and engage with each other virtually.
ASGVEC enabled the nearly 1,300 unique visitors to walk around, meet
face-to-face and “teleport” from hall-to-hall. There were four exhibition halls in total, filled with exhibition stands of varying sizes. In the auditorium, there were more than 12 hours of panel discussions, with industry experts discussing the future of business aviation in Asia.
One of ASGVEC’s unique selling points was that it was entirely self-contained, meaning that attendees do not need to rely on external tools to complete what should be simple everyday tasks, without the need for VR goggles or AR glasses. This included being able to talk face to-face with exhibitors and colleagues through ASGVEC’s built-in webcam functionality which can be started with just the push of a button.
For Asian Sky Group, creating a virtual exhibition became a necessity after many in-person events were cancelled. According to the company’s CEO Jeffrey C. Lowe, “the last time that the business aviation community in Asia was able to get together on a large scale was in April 2019.”
MOVE NETWORK
Just 15 steps away from the Asian Sky Media office is the MOVE Network office.
A relative newcomer to the digital space, MOVE Network is a blockchain software engineering company that was founded in 2020 to democratise and tokenise NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens). NFTs allow digital code to be recognised as unique assets — assets that can be bought and sold. This would allow you to buy and own something in a Metaverse and then transfer it into another Metaverse. If that item is then paired as a tradable NFT and has real-world monetary value, things suddenly become even more interesting.
According to MOVE Network, NFT aggregating is just the start of what it plans to offer and says that it is looking past the current hype around NFTs to see what NFT 2.0 and even NFT 3.0 might look like. According to the company, NFT 3.0 could solve real-world issues like music royalties by implementing trustless smart contracts; delivering entertainment content through on/off-chain distribution, as well as using NFT/NFC to provide digital certificates of authenticity for handbags and other luxury items.
“At MOVE Network, the Metaverse is not some lofty idea. It is real. We are making it happen. The future of the Metaverse is being activated now.” says Edwin Lun, Group CEO of MOVE Network.
The MOVE Network founders view NFTs as the key to unlocking and creating a fully interactive Metaverse where The Matrix meets Ready Player One and where the digital world converges into the physical world. As an essential part of its roadmap, it is planning the launch of a Metaverse digital wallet — creating an interoperability payment solution across NFTs, cryptocurrency, digital assets, fiat currency, and reward points.
So now combine the resources of both companies and imagine attending an event or visiting a store or being shown a new car, aircraft, or yacht all recreated on the Metaverse, but all from the comfort of your own home or office.
Fully immersive. Fully interactive.
Listening to speakers represented by digital avatars. Talking to one another in real-time via webcams embedded in each avatar’s visor. Visiting a store, buying both physical and digital products. Your Metaverse digital wallet acting as your ticket, access key, and your intelligent payment solution. Your wallet automatically applies the best method of payment, and your digital purchase is conveniently dropped into your digital wallet.
Perhaps it may all seem a bit à-la-2040 and theoretical to most. However, for Asian Sky Media and MOVE Network, this idea of a metaverse layering across every segment of our lives is something very real, ready to be deliver and produce returns for businesses today.
If we were talking about Menlo Park, Cupertino or Redmond then the locational proximity of two companies driving forward the Metaverse concept may not be too much of a coincidence. But nobody could have predicted that Wan Chai, Hong Kong would be at the very centre of the Metaverse available today.
ABOUT GathR Virtual Studios, Inc.
Founded in 2020, GathR Virtual Studios, Inc., created Mytaverse to meet demand for hybrid and augmented reality meetings and workspaces. As a fully immersive platform using Epic Games Unreal Engine 4 and PurWeb pixel streaming, Mytaverse offers dynamic experiences for business, job simulations, education and more. The hardware-agnostic approach enables users from anywhere to enter through only a browser on their PC or Mac. Next up is the mobile version further strengthening the commitment to from anywhere, anytime.
www.mytaverse.com
ABOUT Asian Sky Media Ltd.
Asian Sky Media is an award-winning media company based in Hong Kong which specializes in serving the global aviation market and in providing unique, multilingual branding solutions for the Asia-Pacific region to an existing client base of over 100 companies. Our available platforms include a wide range of industry recognized digital publications, on-line & digital multimedia services, and virtual trade shows and conferences. Clients can choose and have customized campaigns designed across various mediums including sponsorship, editorials, advertisements, audio, video or even fully immersive, virtual events in the Metaverse.
www.asianskymedia.com
ABOUT MOVE Network
MOVE Network is a leading NFT aggregator covering a wide spectrum of NFT products. MOVE Network allows enterprises and start-ups to integrate blockchain technologies to enhance their existing businesses. Users can utilize MOVE Network to own and trade NFT across a variety of sectors including entertainment, music, artwork, and esports.
Join the MOVEment!
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