Huobi Ventures, the investment arm of cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, today announced the launch of a US$10 million “GameFi” fund to invest in early-stage projects that integrate blockchain gaming and decentralized finance (DeFi).
Fast facts
- Huobi’s new GameFi fund follows the launch of its US$100 million DeFi fund in May and comes amid increasing mainstream interest in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse. GameFi, where users can earn while playing games, has the potential to transform business models based on digital assets, such as with the trading of in-app purchases and equipment, Huobi said in its media release.
- According to Huobi Ventures, projects incubated under the fund will be able to access marketing and PR support, financial and legal advice, technical support for deployment on the Huobi Eco Chain (HECO) as well as assistance with token listings.
- “This $10 million fund aligns with Huobi Ventures’ goal to grow the blockchain ecosystem for a digital economy, and to support and promote developers who work on cutting-edge GameFi projects,” Unica Yin, director of strategic investments at Huobi Ventures, said in a statement. “We will provide support and resources to help these projects scale and take advantage of Huobi Group’s ecosystem.”
- Buoyed by the surge in popularity of DeFi, NFTs and blockchain play-to-earn games like Axie Infinity, an increasing number of crypto exchanges including Binance and OKEx have jumped on the GameFi bandwagon as they battle for users and grow their ecosystems.