Banco Santander is planning to hold an awards ceremony in the metaverse.
As blockchain technology and Web3 capabilities expand, major financial institutions around the world are increasingly interested in this space. Banco de Santander, one of the largest banks in Spain, has been working to implement these capabilities for some time.
In this sense, Banco Santander is going to hold a awards ceremony in the metaverse from Decentraland on July 14th, within the framework of the “Santander X Global Challenge | Blockchain”, according to an announcement posted on the bank’s website on July 7.
The ceremony will be the conclusion of the contest held in collaboration with the Oxentia Foundation, to which 400 applications from start-ups and scale-ups from Germany, Chile, the United States, Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Poland, Uruguay and the United Kingdom were submitted, presenting their own Blockchain scaling solutions to improve productivity, employment and offer relevant solutions for society through blockchain technology.
The deadline for submitting applications ended on June 9, 2022, after which the jury of international experts narrowed the list of 400 candidates to just 20 finalists.
Santander X Global Challenge and the metaverse
On July 7, these finalists presented their solutions to Fintech Station, Banco Santander's open innovation team.
Among the 20 finalists –Ten startups and ten scaleups– six will be chosen as the best at offering solutions focused on technologies ranging from blockchain privacy and security to DeFi adoption and tokenization, while also providing solutions that improve and expand digital interactions across Web3 and the metaverse.
At the awards ceremony, which will take place in the Decentraland metaverseThe six winners will receive €120.000 in total; the three startups will receive €10.000 each, while the scaleups will receive €30.000 each.
The winning companies will become part of the bank's global community of entrepreneurs, Santander X 100, which will provide them with access to resources as training, capital, clients and connections.
Santander's plans with cryptocurrencies
For some time now, Banco Santander has been working to implement cryptocurrency-based solutions. In November 2021, some media reported that the entity was planning to launch the first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Spain.
Santander's decision to create an ETF was driven by the strong demand from its customers, who were looking for a way to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies, albeit in a more controlled manner. However, the entity has not offered further details of this product and its current status is unknown.
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