The Apple Vision Pro mixed reality (XR) headset is seen at the Apple Store in New York, USA on February 3, 2024.
Fatih Aktas | Anadolu | Getty Images
Online brokerage firm eToro is exploring ways to bring its retail trading app to Apple and Meta’s augmented and virtual reality headsets, CEO Yoni Assia exclusively tells CNBC. Ta.
EToro operates a trading platform that allows users to buy and sell a variety of assets, from stocks and exchange-traded funds to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, and is considering launching with Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest. .
If eToro is successfully integrated into the Vision Pro and other VR devices, it would be a rare step for a financial services company to effectively open a storefront in a virtual reality environment.
Artificial intelligence is a big focus for the company, Assia said, and the company is looking to integrate features focused on allowing users to interact with apps using voice.
However, AR and VR are also priorities for the company.
“We’re going to be looking at how we think about eToro in the realm of natural language and voice and actually AR VR as well in 2024,” Assia told CNBC last week.
He did not provide a timeline for when eToro plans to launch AR experiences, but added that this is still an experiment the company is exploring at this time.
But he suggested it will become a serious focus for the company in 2024.
Financial companies such as JPMorgan and Citi are making a big splash about the “metaverse.” But this is relevant to desktop environments like Decentraland. Still, the hype surrounding such digital real estate platforms has fallen off a cliff in the last few years.
It has not yet been fully fleshed out as a service.
But on a simple level, the eToro experience allows users to select stocks to buy or sell by touching a digital screen within Apple’s Vision Pro and Meta’s Quest devices.
“You can now actually talk to the eToro app through your speakers. [of your VR headset]”Asia said.
“I don’t think many people are used to asking questions into their phones yet.” But Asia expects this to become more mainstream.
Financial companies are holding back on taking big steps into virtual reality because the technology has not proven its usefulness in areas such as banking and wealth management.
There are some technical limitations to consider.
Modern VR and AR headsets have gotten better at tracking a user’s eye movements, but images can appear blurry if display settings aren’t fine-tuned.
EToro said its augmented reality app will likely be a service used by more advanced traders, not necessarily casual retail traders or day traders.
“We’re starting to experiment,” Assia told CNBC in an exclusive interview. “Do you think it will be hugely popular in 2024? Probably not. It’s still too early.”
“But I think in the world of trading and investing, given the sheer amount of information, you’re always trying to check the information to make smarter decisions,” he added.
Assia pointed out that augmented reality experiences are likely to be powered by artificial intelligence, with personal AI assistants assisting users with the investment process.
“This is still in very early discussions,” Assia said, but added that the company would be ready to show off a prototype “within a few months.”
