While the Ethereum blockchain has the community advantage, the competition with Solana is heating up thanks to the rise of blockchain-based play-to-earn games, which is now simply called GameFi. Founded by Scopely and Glu Mobile veterans, game developer and publisher Faraway announced that the studio has raised $21 million in a Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and major crypto exchange FTX. Along with the $8-million seed round, Faraway now has $30 million in total funding from renowned crypto ecosystem investors a16z, Sequoia Capital, Pantera Capital, Jump Capital and Solana. The company is developing its flagship title, …

Blockchain gaming platform Enjin is establishing a new fund to support the development of the metaverse ecosystem and make it more decentralized. Enjin, a startup behind the nonfungible token (NFT)-focused blockchain Efinity, has formed a $100 million fund to support Efinity adopters as well as other related projects, the startup announced Thursday. “It is now time for us to turn this into an official, public, and conscious piece of our growth strategy, and support a free, open, and decentralized Metaverse,” Enjin said, adding that it will consider equity investments in seed funding rounds and token purchases to nurture the ecosystem. …

Wider adoption for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and play-to-earn games appears on the horizon as one of the biggest names in the gaming industry sees both as the future of the industry. Speaking at an earnings call, Andrew Wilson, the CEO of the major video game company Electronic Arts (EA), said that NFT and play-to-earn games are the gaming industry’s future even though it’s still early to figure out how that would work. Widely known as a business-oriented company that utilizes the pay-to-win model in several games, EA has not yet tried its hand at the play-to-earn games. However, EA hinted …

The blockchain gaming ecosystem has seen explosive growth over the course of 2021 as nonfungible tokens (NFT) and the play-to-earn gaming model helped create new income opportunities for people around the world while also ushering in a new cohort of users to the cryptocurrency sector. One project involved in gaming and the building of the Metaverse is The Sandbox (SAND), a blockchain-based virtual world where users to create, build, buy and sell digital assets in the form of a game. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $0.70 on Oct. 27, the price …

It's no secret that video-game streaming platforms, such as Twitch, have made it possible for players to earn money by broadcasting their gaming experience to an audience of gaming enthusiasts. But now, the tokenomics of blockchain-powered digital games like Axie Infinity have made it possible for users to make money by simply playing the game. At time of publication, Axie Infinity has over 360,000 concurrent players. Based on data from ActivePlayer.io, while the U.S. ranks third in terms of active Axie Infinity players, all other countries on the list are developing nations. An estimated 40% of players are based in …

Twitch Rivals, an esports tournament host featuring Twitch streamers and pro gamers, has onboarded crypto trading platform Crypto.com as a global marketing and cryptocurrency platform partner. The multi-year partnership will see Crypto.com as an official partner of Twitch Rivals in the Asia-Pacific region, aiming to increase local crypto adoption in the esports landscape. According to Kris Marszalek, co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com: “With well-over 1 billion gamers worldwide, fans of gaming and esports are digital natives, for whom cryptocurrency is inevitable.” The deal also entitles Crypto.com to have category exclusivity, in-stream branded segments, media placement, and activations at Twitch events, …

U.S. tech giant Microsoft is taking the plunge into the Metaverse via updates to its Teams and Xbox gaming console services, along with a new product called “Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces.” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the firm’s Metaverse plans for Teams and Spaces on Nov. 2 during the Microsoft Ignite conference. “The Metaverse enables us to embed computing into the real world and to embed the real world into computing. Bringing real presence to any digital space. What’s most important is that we are able to bring our humanity with us, and choose how we want to experience this …

During bull markets, altcoins tend to accrue gains when Bitcoin price consolidates and at they run in tandem with BTC price during breakouts. This dynamic appears to be at play today because multiple altcoins went parabolic at the same time that BTC made a run at $64,000 and Ether (ETH) hit a new all-time high above $4,500. According to data from Messari, 31 tokens have established new record-highs in the past 24-hours and the total cryptocurrency market cap increased from $2.619 trillion to $2.732 trillion overnight. Let's take a closer look at the motivating factors behind the rallies in LCX …

Blockchain-focused investment firm Sanctor Capital has raised $20 million to fund emerging projects in the cryptocurrency space, offering the latest evidence that venture capital continues to flood the market. The investment fund will be used to bootstrap projects in some of crypto’s hottest segments, including DeFi, GameFi and cross-chain infrastructure development, Sanctor announced Tuesday. In addition to funding early-stage companies, Sanctor will also provide guidance to blockchain founders on how to launch and scale their products. DeFi, which stands for decentralized finance, has become one of crypto’s most valuable industries with over $245 billion in total value locked. GameFi, meanwhile, …

Video game publisher MetalCore Foundation has unveiled a new open-world game that incorporates nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, into the gaming experience, highlighting the continued innovation underway in the GameFi sector. On Tuesday, the foundation unveiled MetalCore, a massively multiplayer combat game that combines traditional gaming with the GameFi features of blockchain technology. Developed by Studio 369, the game allows players to collect rare weapons, cosmetic meshes and skins that can be used in battle and traded as NFTs in an open market. MetalCore players will have the opportunity to earn in-game rewards and become virtual landowners, through which they’ll be …

The AFR’s list contains 87 of Australia’s richest entrepreneurs aged 40 and under, with each boasting a net worth greater than AUD 36 million ($26.9 million). The list is topped by Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, the co-founder and chief operating officer (COO) of popular graphic design software providers Canva. The married couple has an estimated net worth of AUD 16.5 ($12.3) billion between them. Seven crypto luminaires have debuted on the Australian Financial Review’s (AFR) “Young Rich” list of 2021, including the minds behind some of the leading protocols in the decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible token (NFT) sectors. …

"Uptober" is over but as Zhu Su tweeted earlier today, the crypto market rally could extend through "Upvember, Upcember" and beyond. The month of October was stellar for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) primarily because each hit new all-time highs and even though the prices are consolidating now, traders are still wildly bullish. Uptober, Upvember, Upcember — Zhu Su (@zhusu) November 1, 2021 The steady emergence of the Metaverse is also driving excitment within the crypto sector as it promises to be one of the driving forces behind development in the cryptocurrency space. The concept of a Metaverse is also …