- Blockchain game developers and licensers Animoca Brands will receive $3.6 million in funding from Korean crypto assets fund accelerator, Hashed
- The funding will go towards transforming Animoca’s popular mobile game The Sandbox to a decentralised blockchain platform
- The deal will be paid in 40 per cent cash and 60 per cent bitcoin cryptocurrency
Animoca Brands, a blockchain company consistently making headlines and deals, has just received $3.6 million in funding for its popular mobile game, The Sandbox.
The deal, paid in 40 per cent cash and 60 per cent Bitcoin cryptocurrency, was offered by South Korea’s largest crypto assets fund and accelerator, Hashed. Deal transactions will go through Animoca’s wholly owned subsidiary TSB Gaming.
The Sandbox is playable on Android and iOS and was released in May 2012. The app has had over 40 million installs and currently boasts 1.2 million monthly active users.
The money will be used in funding development for upgrading The Sandbox’s play style and fundamentals to a blockchain version.
Gamers playing on The Sandbox’s new decentralised, community driven platform will have full ownership of their in game creations, making it a leader in the young blockchain game market.
Blockchain gaming is an emerging platform of entertainment that allows players full ownership of game tokens, assets and creations that hold in-game marketplace value.
Blockchain game developers usually engineer the game to tie-in with its own cryptocurrency, similar to widely known Bitcoin.
Blockchain games are also decentralised, meaning the player has full digital ownership of their in-game assets. Game information isn’t stored on central servers, giving new security to the valued assets and tokens.
The new version will be distributed in partnership with blockchain platform Klaytn. Klaytn is a subsidiary of Kakao, a US$9.2 billion market cap South Korean messaging app with over 50 million monthly active users.
Animoca Brands Chairman Yat Siu says it’s an honour to work with Hashed and Klaytn.
“This is a major milestone for the company, validating our blockchain strategy and the [non-fungible token]-centred blockchain and brand partnerships on which we have been working recently, such as Formula 1,” he said.
Earlier this year, Animoca Brands made major headlines when they sealed a deal for the Formula 1 brand name and assets for blockchain mobile game, ‘F1 Delta Time’.
“We are very excited at the opportunity to bring The Sandbox to the Korean gaming market; this game is one of the first of its kind, allowing for user-generated non-fungible tokens to be traded in-game,” said Project Head Jason Han,
AB1 shares have remained unchanged in the market today. They continue to trade for 15 cents in a $117.6 million company market cap.