Saudi Arabia Partners with The Sandbox on Metaverse Development
- Metaverse gaming platform The Sandbox has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Saudi Arabia Digital Government Authority.
- The partnership will see The Sandbox and DGA “exploring, advising and supporting” each other on future metaverse projects.
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Metaverse gaming platform The Sandbox has entered into a partnership with the government of Saudi Arabia on a future metaverse project, The Sandbox co-founder and COO Sebastien Borget said via LinkedIn on 7 February.
According to the announcement, the metaverse company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Saudi Arabia Digital Government Authority (DGA) during the LEAP conference in Riyadh on Tuesday. Borget did not reveal much details around the deal — stating that more will be made available in the “coming weeks” — but noted that The Sandbox and DGA will be “exploring, advising and supporting” each other on future metaverse projects.
While it remains unknown what the focus of this metaverse project will, the government website of the DGA states that it is the “authority concerned with everything related to digital government”. Following the news, the native token of The Sandbox — a virtual gaming world where players can “build, own, and monetize their gaming experiences” — SAND jumped in price by more than 20%, and is currently trading for $0.83 per token.
Over the past year, both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been working on policies and investments related to Web3, cryptocurrencies, and the metaverse. Last year, the emirate of Dubai even launched a “Metaverse Strategy” — aiming to become one of the “world’s top 10 metaverse economies” — with the goal of attracting more than 1,000 blockchain and metaverse companies by 2030.
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