Banco Português de Investimento (BPI) today launches D-verse, a digital collectibles marketplace based on blockchain technology, taking the first steps in the management and custody of digital property.
BPI thus becomes the first Portuguese Bank to invest in an NFT (non-fungible token) offer exclusively for customers.
D-verse debuts with the launch of the first digital art collection authored by the French artist Julien Raffin and curated by Ephemeral Ethernal, Web3 project founded by the Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto. The "Shifting Horizons" collection comments on the voracity of human beings to achieve the ideology of progress at any cost. The collages were physically created and then digitised and animated, present micro-narratives and macro-narratives about the transformations of the landscape in the Atlantic Coast region of Portugal. There are 20 NFTs in this collection, which are now available to buy at auction on D-verse.
"This BPI initiative contributes significantly to democratising access to digital art and represents an important step for Ephemeral Ethernal in its mission to explore new horizons in the digital age," comments Eduardo Quinteiro Lopes, Head of Ephemeral Ethernal.
On D-VERSE, BPI Customers have access to a primary market where collectibles are auctioned directly by the artists and to a secondary market where they can buy and sell collectibles to other users. D-verse distinguishes by its simplicity to join and use, and by its familiarity with the digital transaction experience.
Francisco Barbeira, Director of BPI, emphasises: "The solutions that existed in this market did not allow the democratization of this type of asset. With D-VERSE, the experience of custody of collectibles on the platform, their denomination in euros and the dimension of curation, are highly distinctive factors compared to the existing market offer and critical to allow a greater number of customers to access this market. I would also add that, with DVERSE, we began an important learning process and developed a technological asset that allows us to explore the very broad space of asset tokenization. With this initiative, BPI shows, once again, its clear commitment to leading Innovation in the digital economy space”.
Afonso Eça, executive director responsible for the innovation area, said: "As a financial intermediary that wants to remain relevant to Clients in the digital economy ("Web3"), BPI has been present on these platforms to understand how we are going to position ourselves in the future regarding the emergence of phenomena such as Metaverse/Web 3.0 and digital assets. The first step was the launch of the first virtual branch, BPI VR, and now D-verse, a digital collectibles marketplace based on blockchain technology, which allows us to explore new tools that could have countless uses for the Bank of the Future. The digital collectibles transactions are recorded in the blockchain, which guarantees the authenticity of the information and the traceability of the data," concludes Afonso Eça.
BPI developed D-verse in partnership with Celfocus, a company that has experience in developing blockchain projects for various sectors of activity and which aims to help its clients create disruptive solutions for their business based on this technology. According to Daniel Moura, Director of Business Development at Celfocus, "We've been investing in blockchain for a few years now, and our portfolio includes sustainability projects, data monetisation, process efficiency, and now asset tokenisation. D-verse represents a new business opportunity for BPI to participate in tokenised asset markets and thereby diversify our revenue sources."
BPI pioneers Web3 projects in Portugal
D-verse is another of the disruptive products launched by BPI's Centre of Excellence for Innovation and New Business, created in 2022. The Centre's mission is to support the design of BPI's vision of the future of BPI, identifying relevant trends in the financial sector and new opportunities to generate value for customers and the Spanish shareholder CaixaBank Group.
The Centre is focused on promoting collaborative ecosystems that facilitate and accelerate the implementation of business opportunities in areas such as open banking, sustainable financing (ESG), metaverse/Web 3.0, blockchain and digital assets, and decentralised finance (DeFi). With more than 900,000 Digital Banking users, BPI has made significant investments in improving the Customer experience and launching pioneering projects, such as the first virtual reality branch, BPI VR, in 2022, and now D-verse.