FTX To Bring NFT-Integration To Mainstream Gaming

FTX.US is making a leap in the blockchain game industry.

Earlier this week, US-based cryptocurrency exchange FTX announced its launch of a new blockchain gaming unit.

The unit is currently in works and is expected to officially launch the coming months.

FTX Gaming is Here

The new unit, dubbed “FTX Gaming,” represents FTX’s aspiration of bridging the gaps between mainstream game publishers and everything that matters in the blockchain world.

This includes the underlying technology, cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

From this perspective, FTX.US is working on creating its “NFT as a Service” product to stimulate blockchain engagement and NFT-integration among game studios.

As part of the strategic plan, FTX.US will be the service provider that offers token issuance and in-game NFT support to game makers.

In addition, FTX.US is also recruiting for the positions of software engineers with experience using the C# programming language and the Unity game engine.

The exchange’s spokesperson shared the company’s thoughts on this launch,

“We are launching FTX Gaming because we see games as an exciting use case for crypto. There are 2 billion+ gamers in the world who have played with and collected digital items, and can now also own them.”

Not a New Market

This is not the first time FTX has dabbled in blockchain gaming, which has already been predicted to be one of the most prominent trends in the crypto business by 2021.

FTX.US hinted its interest in blockchain games by the end of 2021 as the president Brett Harrison said in a statement that gaming would become an important part of the exchange’s growth strategy in 2022.

The news shows clearly the exchange’s ambition of realizing the strategy.

To wit,

“Of all the awesome things on this thread, this one’s worth highlighting: FTX and gaming in 2022…Excited for the tech challenges this will bring for us – integrating NFT, crypto trading, and wallet tech directly into in-game economies at massive scale.”

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried also predicts that blockchain gaming will remain a prominent trend in the crypto sector this year.

In November 2021, FTX teamed up with Solana Ventures and Lightspeed Ventures to launch a $100 million fund to invest in blockchain game studios.

The exchange then announced the formation of FTX Ventures, a private investment fund with an initial budget of up to $2 billion, to focus on incubating Web3 operability for blockchain gaming.

Founded by Alameda Research, FTX.US is a leading exchange specializing in providing derivative products related to cryptocurrencies.

Blockchain gaming was the beginning of NFT’s journey.

The digital asset had a blooming year, becoming the talking point of public media and sweeping the Internet.

After a one-year ride across other industries and aspects, NFT continues to be the focal point of gaming industry’s development.

It’s like reemerging from the ground up, backed by major players such as KuCoin, Hashed, Solana Ventures, The Sandbox, and Binance Smart Chain, etc.

These are just a few prominent names in a long list of businesses that put their efforts in blockchain gaming.

Probably a Big Part of Blockchain’s Future

In the early days, blockchain games had several disadvantages in terms of network speed and scalability despite providing players with many benefits.

The blockchains were considered slower compared to centralized networks and in-game transactions were not optimized.

Furthermore, since blockchain was still a nascent technology, the games built on it were still quite simple, low budget and not yet widely adopted.

However, as more high-profile players jump in the space, the future of blockchain games in general and in-game NFTs are more promising.

With the advent of the Metaverse, a game-like 3D virtual environment to which anybody may connect, the Play-to-Earn model has the potential to play a significant role in enticing people to explore the metaverse.