Animoca Brands Corporation Ltd and Hex Trust are partnering to provide institutional digital asset wallets and financial services for online gamers.
Hex Trust, a leading digital financial asset-custodian, will bring its highly secure digital asset wallet technology and custody infrastructure to connect seamlessly with Animoca Brands’ blockchain-based games.
The amazing and expanding metaverse
The open metaverse is endlessly expanding, with some heritage brands – Coca-Cola, The New York Times and Sotheby’s, to name a few – joining the race to build products and services that exist in the digital space.
While the idea of augmented reality is taking off across all aspects of life, gaming is its natural home. Animoca Brands, a player in the digital property space, is well placed to take advantage of game reward models made possible by blockchain.
There are an estimated 3.24 billion gamers worldwide, and the video game industry is projected to be worth more than US$268 billion by 2025.
The partnership between Animoca and Hex Trust will address a current challenge for the blockchain gaming industry – the lack of online wallet solutions to safely store users’ gaming-based crypto tokens while providing access to financial services.
About Animoca
Animoca Brands is an emerging force in blockchain gaming and a leading proponent of the open metaverse. Its gaming portfolio includes various play-to-earn blockchain-based games based on crypto assets, including both fungible utility tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
These games boast millions of daily active users and usher through billions of dollars’ worth of transactions, allowing users to own their in-game content and enjoy benefits from that content.
“Animoca Brands seeks to create a new asset class, play-to-earn economies and a more equitable digital framework in order to contribute to making the open metaverse a reality,” Yat Siu, the executive chairman and co-founder of Animoca Brands, said.
“The joint venture with Hex Trust will enable gamers to access a greater range of financial opportunities and services without the complexity and concerns that first-time blockchain users might encounter when first entering the world of DeFi and GameFi.”
“GameFi is proving to be the second killer app and will further increase adoption of blockchain outside, or in parallel with, financial markets," Hex Trust CEO and co-founder Alessio Quaglini said.
“We believe that GameFi will follow the same process of institutionalisation we experienced in the cryptocurrency market and we want Hex Trust to be at the forefront of this incredibly interesting market. This partnership will be a deep collaboration that will bring cutting-edge solutions to millions of clients.”