FINTECH NEWS STORIES FOR THE WEEK (9 APRIL 22)

Google Trends data shows “NFT” and “metaverse” hype is fizzing out in 2022

• In the last 12 months, the most popular combinations according to Google Trends are “Metaverse” and “NFT”.
• “Metaverse” was the most searched term in Turkey, followed by China and Singapore. “NFT” was the most searched term in Singapore, followed by Hong Kong, China, Canada, and the Philippines.
• “NFT” appears to have outperformed “Crypto.”
• According to Cointelegraph research, NFT sales increased 60-fold in three and a half years, from $41 million in 2018 to $2.5 billion in the first half of 2021.

Out of Nowhere, NFTs Now Constitute 16% of the Global Art Market

• $2.8 billion was spent on crypto art in 2021, compared to $14.6 billion on traditional art.
• There were approximately 212,500 art NFT collectors, with about 150,000 of them having active wallets.
• Over 3,500 artists contributed over 427,000 new NFTs in 2021, bringing the overall number of NFTs to over 1.6 million.
• Art NFTs were held on average for 33.3 days and sold for an average of $3,282.

New Hong Kong NFT project sells shares of virtual land in the metaverse

• Metaverse is a digital world where people can interact and trade their assets using blockchains.
• People are being encouraged to invest in shares of premium virtual land generated in the metaverse by a new non-fungible token (NFT) enterprise based in Hong Kong.
• Approximately 6 million Meta users in Hong Kong which consider ready audience for new content.
• According to market tracker Nonfungible.com, virtual land on The Sandbox sold for an average price of US$10,854 in the past 30 days.

South Korea is betting big on metaverse too — plans to spend $187 million to build its national ecosystem, form a Digital New Deal

• South Korea’s information technology ministry has promised $186.7 million to develop a metaverse ecosystem for the country.
• By 2026, South Korea intends to be the world’s fifth-largest metaverse market.
• Seoul aspires to be the world’s first metaverse city.
• The government plans to train 40,000 profesionnals and establish 220 enterprises in metaverse technologies.

Amazon launches Customer Carbon Footprint Tool to meet its sustainability goals

• Customer Carbon Footprint Tool implemented to AWS customers for free and the report shows their carbon emissions statistics and how the AWS path to 100% renewable energy will have a positive effect on their carbon emissions over time.
• AWS client receive benefits from Amazon’s efforts to decarbonize and attain 100% renewable energy use by 2025.