China Extends Gold Buying Streak as Reserves Surge Despite Volatile Prices 
Global Markets Slide as AI, Crypto, and Precious Metals Face Heightened Volatility 
OpenAI Expands Enterprise AI Strategy With Major Hiring Push Ahead of New Business Offering 
U.S.-India Trade Framework Signals Major Shift in Tariffs, Energy, and Supply Chains 
CK Hutchison Launches Arbitration After Panama Court Revokes Canal Port Licences 
Russian Stocks End Mixed as MOEX Index Closes Flat Amid Commodity Strength 
Trump Endorses Japan’s Sanae Takaichi Ahead of Crucial Election Amid Market and China Tensions 
Bank of Japan Signals Readiness for Near-Term Rate Hike as Inflation Nears Target 
U.S. Stock Futures Slide as Tech Rout Deepens on Amazon Capex Shock 
Uber Ordered to Pay $8.5 Million in Bellwether Sexual Assault Lawsuit 
Hims & Hers Halts Compounded Semaglutide Pill After FDA Warning 
Fed Governor Lisa Cook Warns Inflation Risks Remain as Rates Stay Steady 
Baidu Approves $5 Billion Share Buyback and Plans First-Ever Dividend in 2026 
South Korea’s Weak Won Struggles as Retail Investors Pour Money Into U.S. Stocks 
CU Store is building an e-commerce platform on the metaverse and this was revealed last week. The South Korean convenience store chain will set up its virtual stores on Jeff World, a community-type metaverse platform.
It said late last week that through its digital stores, it would launch a meta-commerce service where various online business activities would take place. This project is being carried out in collaboration with Jeff, an affiliate of Danal Co. Ltd. payment service firm based in Korea.
As per The Korea Economic Daily, Jeff World will be available to users early next year. CU is planning to make an ecosystem that links everyday consumer experiences with virtual reality through its metaverse stores.
The company said it would set up more than 30 CU stores on Jeff World and make use of digital assets to trade items bought online for physical versions offline. Aside from non-fungible tokens or NFTs, various CU intellectual property rights will also be launched. The brand will also create a dedicated community for the owners of digital assets.
Moreover, CU will offer delivery service and online shopping where customers can receive the items they ordered on Jeff World through their avatars. Later, they can have these purchased items delivered to their homes in the real world.
It was noted that the company has been working with different metaverse platforms to open its own virtual reality stores. BGF Retail which owns the CU store chain, will open the virtual stores so people can engage in shopping and enjoy leisure activities in the virtual space, Aju Business Daily reported.
"Consumers can receive items purchased through Jeff World through delivery or by visiting nearby offline stores," Kim Seong Mo, spokesperson of BGF Retail, told the publication last week.
To make the activities possible in the virtual space or metaverse, BGF Retail has already tried hard to use different platforms. Currently, it is said to be operating an online convenience store on ZEPETO, which is a popular mobile metaverse app. The app is also used to invite customers to visit the virtual version of a CU store in a riverside park in Seoul.
