Asus, the world’s 6th largest PC vendor, enters the Metaverse with the NFT platform
With a market value of around 5.7 billion dollars, Asus is the world’s sixth largest manufacturer of personal computers. As of October 5, 2022, Asus will be the latest major company to join the Web3 space after launching an NFT platform. However, Asus’ new NFT marketplace only allows a group of invited artists to list their NFTs at the moment, with plans to launch a secondary market soon.
Asus unveils ‘Art Black hole’ as it enters the metaverse
Asus, a Taiwan-based electronics and hardware manufacturer, announced the launch of its non-fungible token (NFT) platform on Tuesday. The move marks the company’s first push into the growing Web3 space, following in the footsteps of fellow Taiwanese manufacturers Foxconn and Ennoconn Corp.
The platform, called ‘Art Black hole’, was launched under Asus’ new Web3 business Asus Metaverse. The Ethereum-powered NFT platform is currently only open to a select group of artists, the company’s spokesperson said in a statement.
Art Black hole also does not currently support secondary trading, but the laptop maker plans to launch it soon, according to its official website. Buyers can purchase NFTs in New Taiwan dollars, the spokesperson added.
“Asus is closely following the latest developments in emerging industries, and we are particularly attracted to the potential of the Web3 industry.”
– Joe Hsieh, chief operating officer at Asus
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Metaverse welcomes several big players
The launch of Art Black hole comes with Asus’ new Web3 arm, the Asus Metaverse. Asus’ new subsidiary seeks to integrate the company’s cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain capabilities to delve deeper into the metaverse.
Earlier this year, Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn, which makes Apple’s iPhones, also entered the metaverse by partnering with and investing $100 million in virtual reality (VR) device maker XRSPACE.
Recently, Facebook owner Meta Platforms has also been focused on bringing NFTs to its two biggest platforms – Facebook and Instagram. Starting September 29, Facebook and Instagram users can link their wallets and cross-post NFTs to both platforms.
“To post a digital collectible, all you need to do is connect your digital wallet to Instagram. Starting today, we support connections with third-party wallets including Rainbow, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, and the coming soon Dapper Wallet. Supported blockchains at this time include Ethereum, Polygon and Flow.”
Introducing digital collectibles to showcase NFTs on Instagram
The tech giant has rebranded from Facebook to Meta in 2021 to focus on building the metaverse and “the next chapter of social connection.” The company also unveiled a $50 million fund in September 2021 to research and develop the metaverse.
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About the author
Tim Fries is the co-founder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate in the investment team at RW Baird’s US Private Equity division and is also a co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.
