Grab’s Technology Head Departs to Lead Metaverse Gaming Firm Ethlas: Report

Many high-level executives of traditional technology firms have left their jobs to dive into the metaverse, with Grab’s head of technology, Wui Ngiap Foo, being the latest.

Mar 30, 2022 at 10:03 a.m. UTC

Updated Mar 30, 2022 at 2:41 p.m. UTC

Camomile Shumba is a CoinDesk regulatory reporter based in the UK. She previously worked as an intern for Business Insider and Bloomberg News. She does not currently hold value in any digital currencies or projects.

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The head of technology at Asian ride-hailing app Grab, Wui Ngiap Foo, is leaving the company to lead a metaverse gaming firm, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday.

Foo will depart from Grab on March 31, and will join Ethlas as CEO and co-founder, the report said.
He had worked at the Singapore-based company for six years and seven months, according to his LinkedIn profile.
During his tenure, Foo helped Grab combine its business with Uber’s Southeast Asia division in 2018 and later led the collaboration with Microsoft (MSFT). He was also Grab’s head of integrity and oversaw the company's identity, trust and safety functions.
Ethlas was founded in 2021 and is a blockchain-based gaming platform that allows players to accrue crypto tokens.
The metaverse has risen in popularity and has been called a trillion-dollar opportunity by crypto investment giant Grayscale, which is a subsidiary of CoinDesk’s owner Digital Currency Group. Recently, 70 fashion brands held a fashion week in the metaverse and even big banks, such as JPMorgan (JPM) and HSBC (HSBC) have also joined the metaverse.
Foo, Ethlas, and Grab were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CoinDesk.

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