Metaverse ETFs are booming in South Korea amid retail trader demand

• Metaverse ETFs are booming in South Korea with retail traders pouring into the funds.
• Four South Korean metaverse ETFs have risen more than 24% since October.

South Korea has become a booming marketplace for metaverse funds, according to a report from Bloomberg.

So far this year, the country's market for metaverse ETFs has garnered $278 million of inflows, with much of that coming in just the last week alone, Bloomberg wrote, noting that demand has been driven by retail investors.

The Mirae Asset Tiger Fn Metaverse ETF and Samsung Kodex K-Metaverse Active ETF have both rallied more than 45% since going public in October, while the NH-Amundi HANARO K-Metaverse MZ ETF and KB KBSTAR iSelect Metaverse ETF have jumped 25% and 34%, respectively.

The top stocks in the Mirae Asset Tiger's fund, the largest in the country by market value according to Bloomberg, include music company Hybe and film and content creator WYSIWYG Studios, as well as LG.

South Korea's metaverse funds could pass $600 million in assets by the end of 2021 with retail investors contributing 90% of the flows, Bloomberg said, citing one of its analysts.

The US also has a metaverse fund. The Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF is up 11% since launching in June. And on Wednesday, the fund announced it surpassed $500 million in assets under management. Some of its top holdings include chipmaker Nvidia, gaming platform Roblox, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Amazon.

In a press release, Roundhill noted the increase in metaverse interest over the last year, saying 160 US regulatory filings in 2021 mentioned the word "metaverse" compared to just seven the year before.

The so-called metaverse, considered to be the next iteration of the internet or Web3, has become a mainstream term recently after the company previously known as Facebook rebranded as Meta Platforms.

The term engenders thoughts of a virtual reality world, not unlike a video game, where people establish virtual lives with the help of non-fungible tokens and cryptocurrencies. It's like the internet, but instead of being on phones and laptops, it'll be all around us, according to metaverse "godmother" Cathy Hackl.