Barbados becomes first country with virtual embassy in Metaverse

Barbados, the tiny Caribbean island nation, has decided to expand its diplomatic reach by becoming the first country to set up a digital embassy following a deal with metaverse platform Decentraland. Barbados Department of State and Foreign Trade has officially signed an agreement to establish a digital embassy in Decentraland, a user-owned Ethereum-based digital environment. The construction of this virtual headquarters was approved by the country’s operator in August and is expected to officially launch in January 2022.

Decentraland as a platform seems to have a different beginning reverse companies . It already has an ecosystem that allows users to buy plots of land that they can navigate, build, and earn. Based on CoinDesk, Barbados has no plans to limit the idea of ​​a virtual embassy to Decentraland only. The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is close to signing notable agreements blockchain Projects include Somnium Space and SuperWorld, as well as other metaverse platforms.

While the specifics of each agreement are still being discussed, the agreements will assist in drawing up a road map for land acquisition, designing virtual embassies and consulates of other countries to follow. This is expected to continue to evolve into the development of infrastructure to provide services such as “e-visas” and the construction of “teleporters” that allow users to move quickly with their avatar on the blockchain world.

The Caribbean nation has been working on the proposal for a virtual embassy for quite some time. As this move marks a number of precedents, the government of Barbados had to hire legal counsel to ensure the virtual embassy complies with international law as well as the Vienna Convention.

Barbados Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sir Gabriel Abed, said in an interview with CoinDesk that the government plans to grow rapidly beyond this initial effort to develop new services. structures and digital land purchases in multiple virtual worlds. “We don’t want to pick a winner because the metaverse is still young and new. Also, we want to make sure everything we build can ship through supermarkets,” he explains.

The concept of metaverse has been making a lot of noise since Facebook decided to rebrand Meta, as it shifts the focus away from social media to augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). While Decentraland has seen its share value skyrocket since Facebook announced its rebranding, we’ve seen several other names join the fray. These include things like Axie Infinity, Enjin, Sandboxand Iluvium.