The Financial Services Commission (FSC) Mauritius has unveiled a significant development with a consultation paper focusing on the metaverse’s strategic implications for the local financial services industry.
The document offers an introduction to the metaverse concept, explores the underlying technologies, and outlines crucial policy and regulatory considerations for Mauritius.
FSC Mauritius is taking proactive measures to prepare the regulatory and business landscape for the financial sector’s entry into this new digital realm. Key priorities identified include consumer protection, data protection, infrastructure resilience, content moderation and safety, and addressing false information and manipulation in the metaverse.
The paper poses a series of questions, encouraging industry stakeholders and the public to contribute their insights via email until November 30, 2023.
Some of the questions raised include, “Are there specific financial services you would like to see implemented in the metaverse, that are currently unavailable in the physical world?” and “How do you envision the impact of metaverse on the financial services industry, in the next 1 and 3 years respectively?”
FSC Mauritius plans to establish a collaborative “Working Group” with the financial services industry to define Mauritius’ future policies regarding the metaverse.
The document also references noteworthy international cases, such as Dubai’s progressive strides in the metaverse arena. In 2022, Dubai unveiled a Metaverse Strategy expected to yield $500 million in revenue and create 40,000 virtual world jobs; more recently, it introduced a Self-Governance Framework, emphasizing safety, accountability, privacy, transparency, and inclusivity in the metaverse.
Mauritius has proven to be no stranger to Web3. Back in June 2020, the FSC released guidelines for regulated security token offerings in the country.
Statista’s Web3 market projections emphasize Mauritius’ role in the Web3 landscape, with the cryptocurrency market expected to expand by 13.90% (2023-2027) to reach a market volume of €2.71 million in 2027, and the NFT market forecasted to grow by 17.97% (2023-2027), reaching a market volume of $137.9k in 2027.
