• South Korea’s investment in the metaverse might inspire other countries to invest in it.
• The nation’s investment of about $177.1M indicates a serious commitment to this new technology.

Despite being known for its tight regulation of the crypto industry, South Korea is showing huge support for the metaverse. The government has announced an investment pool of $177.1M (nearly 224B Won) into several metaverse projects.

This action means that South Korea is one of the first national authorities to invest in this new technology. This investment is one of the new investments by the ‘digital new deal’ initiative. The government set up this initiative to invest in new technologies with great potential.

According to the head of the initiative, Lim Hyesook, the metaverse has limitless potential, which no one is yet to explore. Her comments hint that the South Korean government wants to be among the first investors and explorers of the metaverse technology.

Hyesook is also the head of South Korea’s Science, Information, and Technology ministry. A recent CNBC report states that the government would use part of the funds to create an urban-like metaverse platform. Through this platform, citizens will have a virtual look at several government-planned services and actions.

Other nations might take similar steps

South Korea’s investment in the metaverse could inspire other countries to take similar steps. The government first hinted at interest in investing in the metaverse in February. At the time, top industries and public services rolled out metaverse and ai integration apps for their platforms.

Their goal was to improve their customers’ experience. South Korea is known for always supporting new technologies. Hence, it is no surprise that it was one of the first authorities to launch blockchain-related use cases for its agencies.

Many other nations have launched similar use cases since then. The metaverse is a virtual world with NFTs acting as the product or service. A plot of land, an avatar, and a funds exchange platform are examples of such products and services. Even though it isn’t new, the metaverse is one of the most discussed concepts in the crypto space apart from NFTs.

There is general excitement about the potential of the metaverse

All of the leading tech firms are trying to be a part of it. Google, Apple, and Facebook have piloted one idea or another related to the metaverse. Facebook even went to the length of changing its trademark name to Meta.

The speech of many speakers at last week’s World Economic Forum was the opportunities in the metaverse. The speakers generally agree that the metaverse would be of huge benefit to nearly all industries. They also agree that many medical and rescue operations would benefit greatly from the metaverse because there are some of their tasks that humans cannot carry out.

Nevertheless, any nation willing to explore the metaverse (including South Korea) needs to solve those minor issues that come with using new technology. However, South Korea is planning for that already. It has established a body consisting of members from different agencies. Their primary goal is to monitor and solve those minor issues such as data privacy issues and stealing of intellectual property.

Related: Developing nations eager about the metaverse but rich nation’s approach still measured: WEF Survey