Baidu metaverse app would take 6 years for a full launch, VP says

Published at: Dec. 24, 2021

The Chinese internet giant Baidu doesn’t expect to fully launch its XiRang metaverse app soon despite the app’s initial would debut on Monday, according to a senior executive.

Baidu vice president Ma Jie believes that it is still “negative six” years to full XiRang’s launch, CNBC reported on Thursday. He noted that the development of the app started in December 2020.

Ma spoke of “Create 2021,” Baidu’s upcoming annual developers’ event, which the company promotes as the first Chinese conference to be hosted in a metaverse space through XiRang. The app will reportedly handle up to 100,000 virtual members interacting with each other using metaverse avatars at the three-day conference starting on Monday.

The exec noted that Baidu intends to create an open-source platform targeting metaverse developers, providing a building infrastructure in the virtual world.

Despite focusing on digital infrastructure, Baidu's metaverse app will not support digital currencies or trading assets related to virtual property, Ma said. That is despite XiRang using underlying technologies that are similar to blockchain, he added. The plan goes in line with China's renewed ban on cryptocurrencies announced in September 2021.

One of the biggest internet search engine companies in China, Baidu officially joined the metaverse industry by applying for a trademark "metapp" in October 2021. The firm then released its first metaverse app XiRang, translated as the "Land of Hope," with some of the first XiRang's virtual apparently becoming available for users as of early November.

Related: Chinese companies embark on a metaverse trademark race

Baidu is not the only company in China to aggressively develop metaverse technology as local giants like Tencent and Alibaba have been working on their metaverse-related projects. In early November, ​​the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, a think tank affiliated with China’s Ministry of State Security, officially warned about national security risks of the Metaverse, citing potential political and social issues.

Tags
Adoption
Blockchain
China
Metaverse
Baidu
Related Posts
Shanghai includes Metaverse in its development plan
Shanghai, China's most crowded city, is looking for ways to use metaverse in public services over the next five years. Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology's five-year development plan for the electronic information industry listed four frontiers for exploration, and one of them is metaverse. According to a CNBC report, the paper called for promoting the metaverse's use in public services, business offices, social leisure, industrial manufacturing, production safety, and electronic games. The commission plans to encourage further study and development of underlying technologies, such as sensors, real-time interactions and blockchain technology. China's interest in new technology has …
Adoption / Dec. 31, 2021
Beijing announces two-year Metaverse innovation and development plan
The Beijing municipal government on Aug. 23 announced a two-year (2022-2024) metaverse innovation and development plan that would require all districts to adhere to the newly released Web3 innovation plan. The development action plan refers to the Metaverse as a new generation of information technology integration and innovation that would drive the growth of the internet towards Web3. The innovation plan focuses on promoting the development of metaverse-related industries and helping Beijing build a benchmark city for the digital economy. The action plan demands that various districts build technological infrastructure at a city level and promote its use in various …
Adoption / Aug. 24, 2022
Huobi Launches Global DeFi Alliance To Merge East and West
Huobi DeFi Labs has launched a global DeFi alliance, which is set to establish universal protocol standards for the DeFi space and improve communications within the DeFi ecosystem. The alliance will also conduct research on emerging DeFi protocols to help avoid future crises in the community. The alliance’s inaugural members are MakerDAO (MKR), Compound (COM), Nest (NEST), and dYdX (dYdX). In an interview with Cointelegraph, Huobi’s chief investment officer Sharlyn Wu said, “We have to partner with the entire ecosystem. But we want to work with the best of projects out there and make sure our users have access to …
Adoption / Aug. 17, 2020
China’s Forex Regulator Develops Blockchain Trade Finance Solution Pilot
China’s foreign exchange reserve regulator, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), is set to pilot a cross-border trade finance blockchain platform. The news was reported by local financial news agency CNStock on April 24. According to the report, the development of the platform was initiated by SAFE and completed in collaboration with the Hangzhou Blockchain Technology Research Institute. The latter, also known as China Banknote Blockchain Technology Research Institute, has reportedly completed the technical undertaking of the project under the China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation, which is directly affiliated to the People's Bank of China (PBoC). Being largely …
Adoption / April 24, 2019
Argentina’s Dep. Finance Minister: Crypto Adoption Could Reduce Demand for US Dollar
Huobi Group CEO Leon Li met with senior Argentinian finance officials this week to discuss the role of blockchain and crypto in the country’s economy, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on March 29. In a meeting in Beijing, Argentina’s Deputy Minister of Finance, Felix Martin Soto, claimed that the government should address crypto and blockchain tech as a way to promote Argentina’s financial inclusion and reduce state costs. Soto, who leads Argentina’s international financial relations, explained that half of the country’s population does not have bank accounts and operate cash transactions by converting their savings to United …
Adoption / March 29, 2019