TON Foundation announced Tuesday that Animoca Brands, the Hong Kong-based company advancing digital property rights for gaming and the open metaverse, has become the largest validator of The Open Network (TON) Blockchain.
The duo said in a statement that Animoca Brands has been assisting with the growth of third-party gaming and GameFi projects within TON’s ecosystem as projects endeavor to scale.
With this collaboration, facilitated by the strategic efforts of Manuel Stotz from Kingsway Capital, Animoca Brands is further enforcing its commitment to TON’s ecosystem.
According to the statement, Animoca Brands undertook extensive research before deciding to invest in TON’s ecosystem.
Two research papers were developed as a result, exploring the potential of TON Blockchain to accelerate the mainstream adoption of crypto.
The user-friendliness of TON-based dApps and TON Blockchain’s scalability were highlighted as two elements central to the community’s growth and the TON Foundation’s vision of putting crypto in every pocket.
According to the statement, the ongoing collaboration between TON and Animoca Brands will help to seamlessly onboard existing Web2 users into new, exciting, and intuitive Web3 mini-apps with strong use case value.
This commitment highlights the importance that both Animoca Brands and TON Foundation place on facilitating a seamless transition from Web2 to Web3.
It is noted that TON Play is one TON-based gaming infrastructure project earmarked for Animoca Brands’ support.
TON Play provides the necessary infrastructure and solutions for gaming projects built on TON to launch directly onto Telegram and for developers to port any existing web game directly inside Telegram via a web app.
This process occurs as simply as possible, with the TON Play Toolkit ensuring that the development of blockchain-based games is intuitive for developers of all skill levels.
By delivering new and exciting projects directly to Telegram’s users via their Telegram Web App and @playdeckbot, TON Play provides game developers with an unrivaled opportunity to harness Telegram’s active user base of over 800 million.
TON Play also offers the necessary infrastructure and solutions for launching new gaming projects on TON and enables Animoca Brands’ portfolio of over 400 Web3 projects to be smoothly ported directly into Telegram.
“Animoca Brands’ investment in The Open Network is a pivotal step towards the next era of blockchain-based gaming,” said Justin Hyun, Director of Growth at TON Foundation.
“Its new analytics platform and in-depth research reports represent alignment with TON Foundation’s mission,
“Together, we will infuse Web3 seamlessly into the daily experiences of Telegram users, particularly in gaming, for a global audience to enjoy,” he added.
TON is a global, decentralized blockchain community focused on putting crypto in every pocket.
By building the Web3 ecosystem in Telegram Messenger, TON’s vision is to empower 800 million users to own their digital identity, data, and assets by 2028.
Yat Siu, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Animoca Brands, said that this strategic investment in TON is a key part of the firm’s broader commitment to help onboard the next million Web3 users by facilitating a seamless transition from Web2 to Web3.
“Taking part in the network’s validation underlines our faith in the successful realization of the vision behind the TON project as it looks to bring Web3 into the mainstream,
“We have already seen significant growth potential in games with TON, and we’re looking forward to working with the other innovative teams building exciting TON-based games,” he added.
Animoca Brands is a firm involved in digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification that is working to advance digital property rights and contribute to the establishment of the open metaverse.
The company develops and publishes a broad portfolio of products including original games such as The Sandbox, Phantom Galaxies, Life Beyond, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes, and products utilizing popular intellectual properties including Disney, WWE, Snoop Dogg, The Walking Dead, Power Rangers, MotoGP™, and Formula E.
It has multiple subsidiaries, including The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Forj, Lympo, Animoca Brands Japan, Grease Monkey Games, Eden Games, Life Beyond Studios, Notre Game, TinyTap, Be., PIXELYNX, and WePlay Media.
The firm has a growing portfolio of over 400 Web3 investments, including Colossal, Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Yield Guild Games, Harmony, Alien Worlds, Star Atlas, and others.
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