Cryptocurrency exchange FTX has announced the launch of its ‘crypto-as-a-service’ gaming outfit dubbed FTX Gaming. The service will help developers launch in-game tokens and integrate non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into their gaming projects.

It will operate via the exchange’s US arm, FTX US, and push to bring blockchain-based products into the gaming space. The move comes just months after FTX announced that it would co-invest USD 100 million with Lightspeed Venture Partners and Solana Ventures to develop crypto gaming projects.

“We are launching FTX Gaming because we see games as an exciting use case for crypto,” an FTX spokesperson said to Bloomberg. “There are 2 billion+ gamers in the world who have played with and collected digital items and can now also own them.”

Also Read

| Explained: How investors can participate in crypto airdrops

FTX successfully closed a massive round of funding and garnered USD 400 million in January 2022. According to The Verge, it has now become “one of the most valuable private crypto firms in the world”. FTX has also been spearheading the launch of the Coachella Festival, wherein pictures, posters and lifetime-validity passes were sold in the form of NFTs.

FTX Gaming will take its platform to organisations and projects that are focused on leveraging web 3.0. Previously a partner at Lightspeed, Amy Wu jumped ship to FTX and will be managing a USD 2 billion web 3.0 venture fund. “We can provide all of that white-labeled (FTX-as-a-service) for the largest gaming companies in the world and new indie studios that are looking for a turnkey solution,” she said. “We’re super excited to be a major player in providing and being a technology vendor for the gaming industry.”

This crypto-gaming marriage is an attempt by the crypto exchange to venture out of mainstream crypto trading and into the world of blockchain-based gaming. Play-to-earn (P2E) games are gradually gaining traction as 60 percent of US, and UK-based game developers have started incorporating blockchain technology into games.

“There’s a future where two billion gamers get to own what they earn, and we want to help build it,” FTX tweeted. P2E games reward players with in-game NFTs as they complete certain objectives. These NFTs can then be traded over an exchange for other cryptocurrencies, thus making them a sought-after source of revenue.

Also Read | How crisis-hit Afghans are using crypto to pay for daily needs

“As game studios seek ways to bring ownership, transferability, and price discovery to their in-game economies, we intend to partner with them to provide backend exchange technology,” said Brett Harrison, CEO of FTX USA, in a tweet.

Over the last year, NFT sales have shot through the roof as investments continue to pour in. According to Jefferies research the NFT market is expected to touch a valuation of USD 35 billion in 2022 and skyrocket to USD 80 billion by 2025.

Recently, the metaverse gaming platform Axie Infinity broke all records and generated NFT sales worth a staggering USD 4 billion, according to the data from CryptoSlam. It was the first platform with an NFT collection to achieve this milestone. The number is twice as CryptoPunks, which raked in USD 2 billion through various ape avatar NFT sales.

(Edited by : Priyanka Deshpande)

First Published:Feb 28, 2022 4:25 PM IST