JPMorgan Backs Tilia to Advance Payments for Virtual Economies

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Comprehensive payments platform Tilia was backed by J.P. Morgan for an unspecified amount to further develop its payment processing solutions for in-game transactions and virtual economies. 

Tilia converts in-world tokens to fiat currency including USD — the foundation of any virtual economy — for in-game transactions and payouts to creators, according to a press release on Tuesday (Oct. 18). 

Developed for gaming, virtual world and mobile application developers, Tilia’s solution enables profitable in-world economies that help users to buy and sell virtual goods and services that facilitate play-to-earn programs. 

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“We believe that contextualized commerce — such as virtual economies within games and virtual worlds — is an area perfectly positioned for innovative payments solutions to play a critical role in the coming years,” said Drew Soinski, senior payments executive, managing director, J.P. Morgan Payments. 

He added that as a market leader in developing software for gaming payments, Tilia is the right company to back to build the solutions that will drive “these new and exciting marketplaces.”

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Built from scratch to power the online multimedia gaming platform Second Life and its creator-based economy, Tilia’s capabilities were developed over several years.

Related: Building a Metaverse World with a Real-World Economy

“Virtual economies represent a huge financial opportunity, particularly for game, app and virtual world developers,” said Brad Oberwager, executive chairman of Tilia. 

“J.P. Morgan Payments, a worldwide leader and recognized innovator in payments, is the right partner as we continue to expand capabilities in line with these rapidly growing creator-based economies,” he added.

Tilia has secured U.S. money transmitter licenses to support payouts, allowing for secure transactions on a large scale, according to the press release.

In addition to the investment, Tilia is also working with J.P. Morgan Payments to enhance its current capabilities throughout its processing platform.