Welcome to Cryptonite - NFT games boom in India 🚀
1GM, this is Cryptonite, your weekly dose to stay updated about the crazy world of crypto. We serve you with what’s relevant, upcoming and funny — minus the FUD.
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Indians love P2E games 🎮
A report from Finder.com on NFT gaming adoption revealed that 34% of Indians had played a play-to-earn game, making India the most popular destination for NFT gaming.
Wait, what are play-to-earn games? If you’re a little behind schedule, play to earn games reward users either with ownership of in-game content like images, music or player avatars in the form of NFTs or cryptocurrencies. Users can then trade or sell NFTs or coins and make fiat money.
The most popular P2E game worldwide is Axie Infinity — with about 2.8 million daily active users and $3.8 billion in trading volume.
What does it mean for India? Gaming saw a 40% growth in India in 2020 — more than OTT, TV and other social platforms. Blockchain and NFTs can help increase the adoption and unlock the massive earning potential for every gamer and creator.
Binance raised a war chest 💰
What’s cookin’ — Binance Labs, the venture arm of the world’s biggest crypto exchange, raised $500 million from DST Global, Breyer Capital and others to invest in startups building for Web3.
WTF is Web3? Basically, a new version of the internet (built on the blockchain), where your data will be in your control, not Google, Facebook and any other tech company (fingers crossed!)
Binance’s fundraising comes after several other companies announced their funds in the past week:
Andreessen Horowitz: $4.5B
Volt Capital Fund II: $50M
NGC Ventures: $100M
The company will use the money raised for backing more Web3 based startups, increasing innovation, booming new crypto projects and the overall acceptance of blockchain.
Why care — The markets are currently in correction territory, but major investors like Binance and A16z pumping funds despite the downturn, is a hopeful signal for the crypto community.
The Koreans are betting on the metaverse 🥽
In a surprising move, South Korea revealed it will invest over $177 million to build out infrastructure and jobs for the metaverse, becoming the first country to bet on the still-”figure it out” virtual world.
The metaverse, if you don’t know, is a virtual world where users have online experiences that look and feel more real—and potentially replace some real-world activities. It’s viewed as the next big step, moving away from your text websites to somewhat “real” 3D spaces where users interact via VR,AR or avatars.
For now, South Korea plans to include building a metaverse platform in Seoul, which would grant citizens access to government schemes and services, virtually.
What we think - No one really knows how the overall metaverse will look when it becomes a reality. But this move might make other countries or corporations notice and come up with their own plans from socialising to events, gaming, shopping, and even work. Say hello to more jobs and experiences in a new digital world.
Crypto bytes ₿
After asking the world to “stop telling him to do a fucking NFT”, Kanye West has now filed 17 trademarks for digital art and non-fungible assets.
Italian luxury fashion brand, Prada becomes the latest company to drop its NFT collection. Last month Gucci, Balenciaga, Tag Heuer and
Nike sold a virtual sneaker for $134K. Damn!
CoinDCX launches a program to let users earn interest on their crypto holdings.
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DISCLAIMER:
None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.