Binance and Animoca Brands look to fast track the growth and development of blockchain-based games with insight from leading experts.
Prominent crypto exchange platform Binance Smart Chain, and Hong Kong-based game software company Animoca Brands are partnering on a $200 million investment program. This initiative is set up to develop, foster, and grow early crypto-based gaming startups. It also has the ultimate objective of facilitating mainstream adoption of blockchain tech.
According to reports, the collaboration between Binance and Animoca will support projects in the decentralized gaming finance space (GameFi). Weighing in on this development, Animoca Brands executive chairman Yat Siu said:
“Early GameFi projects currently require funding for a runway to build their products. They need support to increase their industry expertise for open-world gameplay. Also for networking opportunities to establish growth in the blockchain gaming and open metaverse.”
Pursuant to the collaborative agreement, Binance Smart Chain will put up half of the $200 million investment program from its $1 billion growth fund. This will serve as the accelerator arm of the platform. Animoca Brands, on the other hand, will provide the other $100 million fund.
BSC Accelerator Fund investment director Gwendolyn Regina said her platform stood to gain immensely from Animoca’s wealth of experience. She also added that insight from the Binance Smart Chain community would further serve the project. As she put it:
“With the co-investment, projects building on BSC will get the opportunity to gain insights and expertise from leading gaming giants such as Animoca Brands, along with collaboration opportunities with blockchain experts from the BSC Community. We look forward to working together with GameFi projects to build next-gen scalable blockchains and onboard the next one billion new users into crypto.”
Binance and Animoca Brands Plan to Leverage Increasing Mainstream Acceptance of Blockchain
Binance and Animoca are looking to capitalize on the massive explosion of blockchain games. This explosion has led to the emergence of powerhouse gaming companies that use non-fungible tokens or crypto. So far, platforms like Axie Infinity and Animoca Brands, to name a few, have commanded hefty seed capital from several investment rounds. For instance, Animoca recently raised $65 million in a round from October, which valued the gaming platform at a staggering $2.2 billion.
BSC has had more than 2.1 million daily active addresses over the past several weeks. It currently has one of the largest blockchain ecosystems, featuring several games and play-to-earn opportunities. BSC set up its $1 billion growth fund back in October in a bid to fund initiatives that attract more users to the crypto and blockchain space.
Animoca Brands, meanwhile, has an extensive portfolio of blockchain partnerships and investments featuring scores of NFT companies. Notable among these are Axie Infinity, Dapper Labs, OpenSea, Bitski, Alien Worlds, Star Atlas and Harmony. In addition, some subsidiaries of Animoca Brands are The Sandbox, Quidd, Blowfish Studios, Gamee, nWay, Bondly, and Lympo.
The blockchain space continues to cover several disparate industries, including finance (crypto) and entertainment/media (NFTs). However, it still remains largely unregulated, an issue that authorities have repeatedly called attention to.
Tolu is a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast based in Lagos. He likes to demystify crypto stories to the bare basics so that anyone anywhere can understand without too much background knowledge.
When he’s not neck-deep in crypto stories, Tolu enjoys music, loves to sing and is an avid movie lover.
