Cybertino Lab has launched its first community-based NFT marketplace for the trading of digital assets. Digital gifts are commonly used by livestreaming fans to show support for their favorite hosts, and can range from an RMB 20 (USD 3.10) digital ice cream to an RMB 1 million (USD 154,000) luxury sports car.
Cybertino was founded in February 2021. Its marketplace uses blockchain technology to verify the authenticity of digital items and turn them into non-fungible tokens, endowing each NFT with a value that can be traded like tangible commodities. The company had brought on board more than 20 influencers with over 200 million fans as of May, and rolled out its own NFT minting platform in July. The GMV of transactions on the marketplace has reached hundreds of thousands of dollars so far.
After launching its NFT marketplace, Cybertino has been developing a blockchain-based system for 3D digital avatars that can be integrated into video games and other social applications, which it hopes to release by the end of 2021. Linked to an individual’s personal information, these avatars can function as virtual identifiers within metaverses—interactive online environments. Within the virtual realm, Cybertino wants to enable the ownership of personal digital assets in the form of customizations or user-generated content, and facilitate inter-platform transfers through blockchain-powered association with individual avatars.
The company’s management team is led by CEO Winston Wei, who previously founded DLive with Cybertino’s CTO Ryan Li, after the pair graduated from the University of California Berkeley. Investor and entrepreneur Duke McKenzie joined Cybertino’s founding team as chief strategy officer, having previously founded influencer management company Re6l. Although the company’s traffic is largely from North American users, Cybertino plans to open an office in Shanghai to serve as an R&D center.
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KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content published by 36Kr. This article was originally written by the mononymous Ben for 36Kr.