On 7 March 2024, the members of the Swiss Metaverse Association met at the Metaverse Academy in Zurich for the first members’ event in 2024. Here a few highlights and key takeaways:

Dr. Daniel Diemers, Head of Expert Tribes at the Swiss Metaverse Association, and Dr. Mattia L. Rattaggi, lead of the working group “Regulation, Tax, and Legal Policy,” offered a glimpse into their ongoing collaboration on a regulatory paper focused on the metaverse. Their position paper, currently in development, explores the creation of legal and regulatory certainty for the metaverse in Switzerland. This forthcoming publication is a significant milestone, as regulatory concerns stand out as a major focus for our members.

Sascha Münger was wearing two hats at this event. In his role as the co-lead of the working group “Insurance, Banking, and Payments”, he explained how face-to-face meetings help the working group to get things done dynamically and presented the audience with their latest project: a soulbound token with Web3 ID stored on the blockchain – including a physical card. It can be used as an entry point for all kind of Web3 services. As Head of Competence Center Crypto Related Products & Metaverse at Worldline, Sascha pointed out why Worldline, one of the world’s biggest payment providers, is active in the metaverse. Since Worldline believes that the metaverse could be the next commerce channel, they have invested in the Worldline Metaverse Shopping Hub. Here clients can book space and open their stores to sell their products and services. However, for Wordline it is clear, that to make the metaverse mainstream, technological innovation and regulations are key.

Last but not least, Roger Oberholzer, host of the event and CEO of the Metaverse Academy, set up the thesis that these days, digitalization is not just about new technologies, but the transformation of everything. He supported his statement by showcasing how AI-powered avatars can be trained to interact with human beings and by presenting how easily everyone can create virtual worlds within less than five minutes, thanks to Blockade Labs.

After these valuable insights, attendees had the pleasure of enjoying a delicious apéro and fostering deeper connections among participants. Many thanks to Roger and the team of the Metaverse Academy for having us in Zurich Binz and to everybody who contributed to this event and made it a success!