Kucoin Labs Launches $100 Million Metaverse Investment Fund

Kucoin Labs, the investigative and investment arm of Kucoin, a cryptocurrency exchange, has launched a $100 million fund to incubate early metaverse related projects. These include blockchain gaming initiatives, NFT platforms, and decentralized platforms, among others. The support will also include direct involvement with the projects selected, including counseling about branding and marketing.

Kucoin Invests in Metaverse

Kucoin, one of the leading exchanges in Asia, has taken the first step to hop on the metaverse train. The investment and investigation arm of the exchange, Kucoin Labs, has launched a $100 million fund to invest in metaverse-based initiatives, including blockchain-based games, decentralized structures, NFT platforms, and other similar projects.

The support of Kucoin won’t be limited to just economic incentives. These incubated projects will also get help in the form of counseling about branding, market management, exposure, and other important aspects of starting a company. While the company aims to extend this program to all regions, one of the main objectives is to increase adoption of these technologies in emerging markets like South America and Africa. Part of these funds will also go to education programs for younger generations exploring the concept of the metaverse.

Importance of the Metaverse

To companies investing in metaverse initiatives, this concept will have notable significance in the years to come, enabling activities and options that would be impossible today. About the importance of the metaverse for the future, Kucoin CEO Johnny Lyu stated:

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.

Kucoin is just the latest exchange to jump on the metaverse investment bandwagon, with other big companies like Microsoft and Facebook — which changed its name to Meta — already making arrangements to include metaverse elements.

But the exchange has a different conception of the metaverse and wants to include privacy measures for people to be safe in the upcoming alternate universe. Lou Yu, the head of KuCoin Labs, stated that this metaverse establishes a “dilemma between individual privacy protection and technological advancement.” This is why the exchange will be studying ways of achieving a more privacy-friendly metaverse ecosystem. Solana, FTX, and Lightspeed also established a $100 million blockchain gaming fund in recent weeks.