The KuCoin Metaverse Fund goal is to speed the evolution and maturation of blockchain-based metaverse projects.
Cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin has announced a $100 million fund to support and incubate early-stage metaverse projects, as well as GameFi, NFT, decentralized infrastructure, and other innovative projects.
Announced on November 17, the KuCoin Metaverse Fund was launched by KuCoin Labs, the exchange's investment and research arm. It will also support metaverse education programs, the company said.
The term metaverse was coined by cryptopunk author Neal Stephenson in his cult classic Snow Crash. It refers to an immersive virtual reality — a land in which people's avatars can interact with each other, as well as businesses, entertainment, and marketing.
The metaverse fund comes on the heels of KuCoin's April 2021 launch of a $50 million fund to support early-stage crypto projects. KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu said:
"As the next chapter of the internet, metaverse is poised to change the way we work, connect, shop, entertain and have social interactions. KuCoin Metaverse Fund will be launched to accelerate the evolution of the Internet industry. We hope to mature the emerging blockchain industry by further strengthening the application of blockchain technology to the metaverse projects."
Citing the need to balance the demands of privacy and technology KuCoin Labs head Lou Yu said the company also intends to "establish a more private and secure Metaverse ecosystem based on Web 3.0."
21st-Century Land Rush
The news comes on the heels Animoca Brands' November 16 announcement that the long-awaited Sandbox Metaverse will open with a Sandbox Alpha play-to-earn event on November 29.
A limited run of 5,000 Alpha Pass NFTs are available via raffle and daily contests, or can be bought on NFT marketplace OpenSea. These will open 18 experiences, but any player will be able to run three experiences, although without play-to-earn access.
Blockchain-based metaverse projects like Sandbox and Decentraland are gaining growing attention, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg brought the technology into the mainstream — and sent metaverse tokens soaring — last month when he renamed the social media company Meta and said metaverses were its future.
