Blockchain initiatives in play with Modulus, Nexpay, OpenPayd, Skyhi Design House

Year after year, people continue to wonder how long the crypto hype will continue. The volatility of the market and the crashes it has suffered lead some to believe that the time of the digital currency has come to an end, but without fail it always reappears. But why?

This month at Fintech Times we will look at what makes digital currencies, especially cryptocurrencies, so popular, while uncovering the new alternatives to crypto and why the digital future looks so exciting.

We’re kick-starting the month by looking at some of the most popular blockchain initiatives in different sectors, here looking at the world of gaming.

We hear from Richard Gardner, Uldis Teraudkalns, Daniel Belda, Amy Kilner about some of the latest ways blockchain technology is being integrated into games.

Play to earn games

Richard Gardner, CEO of Modulus, which provides high-tech products and services to companies, said: “I think Axie Infinity has definitely shown that gaming to make money is not going anywhere in the short term. As the arena continues to become more competitive, there is going to be a demand for ever-increasing interaction.

“The P2E arena considers blockchain initiatives a critical part of the marketing budget, not so different from the proposal once released by Shelley Levine in Glengarry Glen Ross — why spend a boatload on marketing when you can simply pass that savings on to the consumer? He aimed that argument at potential real estate investors, but why can’t it also work to incentivize gambling? It seems that where the industry is headed is rewarding the community’s most active members and ambassadors, as depositing these blockchain-based rewards pushes players to compete in tournaments and use the marketplace and products offered through the game.

Great investment

Uldis Teraudkalns, CEO of Nexpay, providers of next-generation financial infrastructure, said: “We are seeing some exciting blockchain initiatives through some of our clients in the gaming industry. This area is attracting major investment at the moment: in Q1 2022 alone, investors poured in $2.5+ billion in crypto gaming. This is expected to grow to $9 billion by the end of the year. As with any young industry, there are many challenges, but these are also areas of business opportunity. There is a need for better crypto onboarding, gaming infrastructure, and tournament software, to name just a few a few examples.

“Blockchain-enhanced games have no competition as such, as the traditional gaming industry still refers to blockchain as an incomprehensible or even ‘toxic’ space. This gives small studios, which are not yet able to create big game franchises, a huge head start on development The ability to quickly launch an in-game economy allows developers to immediately fund the continued development of their game.

“Another exciting example is games to earn Blockchain games, which allow players to earn while playing. This is fast becoming an alternative career for many in developing countries. The Philippines has a huge population adoption of crypto games right now and for example accounts for 40 percent of the player base in Axie Infinity.

“Nexpay provides banking infrastructure and services for digital assets and crypto businesses, and we see great potential in gaming for areas such as better onboarding, more transparent regulation and generally building a more robust ecosystem. This is a very exciting and very new industry!”

Metaverse trading

Daniel Belda, head of product strategy at a provider of embedded finance, OpenPayd added: “The killer use case for blockchain is in any setting that requires maintaining a single record of ownership. To date, that has meant fungible use cases like cryptocurrencies, and unique, non-fungible ones like NFTs.”

“So what does it look like in game? Players spend a lot of money within digital metaverses, so cryptocurrencies have a role to play there as in-game currencies. But players also buy and collect digital products, which can be managed on a blockchain. The ability to own, buy and sell unique digital goods is fundamental to the appeal of living in these virtual worlds. It also opens up entirely new markets for goods that can be made and sold – from customized digital clothing to virtual lands.

“An example of this is Snoop Dogg’s Snoopverse built on The Sandbox, an Ethereum-based virtual world. Here he recreated part of his real-life mansion and let other players buy property in his digital neighborhood. Premium users can access other digital services such as concerts and virtual pool parties. It is hard to understate how transformative this is. Snoop went beyond just selling digital services and found a new way for musicians to monetize their presence in the metaverse and create a new class of products that provide real value to users.

“None of this will be driven by traditional finance – you won’t be pulling your credit card out of your wallet and punching in your card details every time you buy a digital good. Blockchains, e-wallets and embedded accounts will be the main enablers of metaverse commerce. »

Value for the chain

Amy Kilner, NFT and Skyhi Design House the founder said: “Within the NFT world, on the eth blockchain, you can find communities that extend the collection’s brand identity into a gaming experience.

“By ‘holding’ NFT, or in other words, buying into or investing in a project, you can use it as access to benefits in existing games. A good example of a brand that does this is Deadfellaz. On their discord you can find different chats for different metaverse game platforms. They recently partnered with Sandbox to bring their characters in as well! It all adds more value to the ethical chain and also the projects, and it’s such an innovative way to grow a brand, and I 100 percent believe that this is the future.”