Former TikTok executive launches blockchain gaming start up

TikTok’s former executive Jason Fung is venturing into the blockchain space with a gaming startup where he will serve as a co-founder. 

Fung, who worked as TikTok’s head of gaming unit until two months ago, noted that his venture dubbed Meta0 seeks to solve some of the gaps in the blockchain games space, especially around infrastructure segregation, Reuters reported on July 5. 

“Right now, if you look at any developer when they implement NFTs or blockchain in their games, they have to choose a single blockchain, be it Polygon or Solana or Binance Smart Chain. But imagine a more interoperable option,” he said. 

Fung claimed that the company, with six members, has closed the first round of funding so far.

Increased interest in blockchain games 

Interestingly, Fung’s new gaming blockchain company comes as TikTok increases its inroads into the gaming sector in a bid to catch up with competitors like Tencent. 

The interest in blockchain games is driven by the industry’s nature, where gamers can play online while trading items like non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which tech giants such as Tencent have pledged to ban.

“We’ve built a protocol for game developers, and we take a flexible, blockchain-agnostic approach to their game development. With a protocol that we’re developing, developers can easily build their game-leveraging strengths of different blockchains, and allow the user the flexibility of transferring their NFTs cross-chain,” said Fung.

Fung is experienced in building gaming content

During Fung’s tenure at TikTok, the company owned by China-based ByteDance expanded its gaming content alongside conducting new trials like hosting mini-games on the app. 

Furthermore, the company acquired a $4 billion purchase of gaming studio, Moonton. The inroads by ByteDance saw the firm’s mobile games segment generate over $1 billion in revenue within 12 months.

Blockchain games are generally considered revolutionary through the distribution of game ownership backed by cryptocurrencies. However, the games have been called out for risks such as increased scams. 

Despite the game’s potential, leading players in the space, including Tencent, Sony and Microsoft, have not incorporated blockchain into their programmes.