Phemex CEO: I firmly believe in the metaverses’ success

Metaverses are drawing increasing attention from major investors: in February Apple’s Tim Cook declared the sector’s ‘great potential’, and financial holding JPMorgan opened a showroom on the blockchain platform Decentraland.

In January, the cryptocurrency exchange Phemex listed 12 tokens, including metaverse-native currencies. We discuss the sector’s prospects and the projects the exchange has selected.

Focus on Metaverses

Phemex — a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange with spot and futures trading, operating since 2019. The platform was founded by eight former Morgan Stanley bankers. It trades 52 crypto assets and futures contracts with leverage up to 100x.

Last month Phemex listed tokens from projects that create and develop interactive virtual spaces.

The CEO of the crypto exchange Jack Tao is confident the sector will significantly influence everyday life:

“I firmly believe in the success of the metaverses. They will help create a world where people interact closely in three-dimensional virtual reality. We will continue to explore this market and plan to expand the list of supported tokens.”

According to Tao, humanity will have to rethink the very notion of ‘digital ownership’. People are learning to use a new class of assets, and metaverses play a key role in this process.

“Yield Guild Games and Axie Infinity have become among the largest play-to-earn platforms in the blockchain ecosystem. Through them I see great potential in metaverses and GameFi,”

As of publication, seven metaverse tokens are traded on Phemex, including The Sandbox, My Neighbor Alice, Yield Guild Games and Axie Infinity.

The Sandbox

Description: a multiplayer sandbox game for buying and selling virtual land as NFTs and in-game assets on the Ethereum blockchain.

Token: SAND ERC-20 token with a supply of 3 billion. It is used to pay for in-game transactions.

Developer: Pixowl, which released the mobile game The Sandbox in 2011 and its 2016 sequel The Sandbox Evolution. In 2018 the team decided to integrate the game into the blockchain ecosystem.

Project development: at the end of 2021 The Sandbox attracted $93m. In January Warner Music Group entered into a partnership with The Sandbox, and in February fashion house Gucci purchased a virtual land plot in this metaverse.

MyNeighborAlice

Description: a game that allows players to buy lands on six virtual islands. Residents of the islands can create NFT houses, lakes and animals on the EVM-compatible Chromia blockchain. Each player has a customizable avatar.

Token: ALICE with an issuance of 100 million. It is used to acquire in-game items, for staking and governance.

Developer: Swedish studio Antler Interactive. In 2019 it was acquired by ChromaWay, which integrated the game with the Chromia blockchain.

Development: My Neighbor Alice raised $2.1m in two rounds of funding with participation from Coin98 Ventures, Kyros Ventures, and $100,000 in an IDO on DAO Maker.

Yield Guild Games

Description: a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) for investments in metaverse non-fungible tokens.

Participants vote on proposals to invest in virtual assets and use in-game items. The aim is to create a virtual economy and distribute returns from investments among users.

Token: YGG with issuance of 1 billion. It is used for voting on member initiatives and profit payouts.

Founders: Gabby Dizon, Beril Li and Owl of Moistness. They previously participated in the development of Axie Infinity and Yearn Finance communities.

Axie Infinity

Description: the action in the online game takes place in a fictional metaverse. Players create fantastical creatures called Axies, fight for rewards, trade characters and virtual land.

Tokens: Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) and Smooth Love Potion (SLP). AXS holders govern the platform via a DAO. For winning battles or creating new Axies, players earn SLP.

Developer: Vietnamese studio Sky Mavis. The company presented the game’s concept in 2017. In 2019 the project raised $1.5m in seed funding from Pangea Blockchain Fund, Hashed, ConsenSys and Animoca Brands, and in 2020 raised $2.97m in an IEO on Binance Launchpad.

Conclusions

Goldman Sachs describe blockchain as the backbone of the metaverse: the technology enables users to securely own digital assets and move them between different platforms.

However, before making investment decisions, users should carefully analyse projects. The Phemex CEO advises paying attention not only to key metrics such as token supply and the content of the white paper:

“Pay particular attention to security. Last year we witnessed major hacks of DeFi protocols. I believe centralized exchanges with robust security measures can better protect users’ funds.”

Jack Tao notes that the exchange uses Amazon Web Services Cloud Security to protect against external attacks and operates in accordance with the information security standard ISO/IEC 17799. All user assets at Phemex are stored offline.

Subscribe to the ForkLog channel on YouTube!