Japan’s game blockchain builder Oasys raises $ 20 million in private token sales – TechCrunch
Veterans from the established gaming world flock to web3. Whether they do so for fear of missing out on something or true belief in blockchain technologies, the trend seems to be irreversible at least for now, as investment continues to flow into the industry.
Oasys, a Japan- and Singapore-based startup that is building a blockchain for game developers, has just raised $ 20 million. The round was led by Republic Capital with the participation of Jump Crypto, Crypto.com, Huobi, Kucoin, Gate.io, Bitbank and Mirana Ventures.
Instead of a traditional stock round, the capital came in a private token sale, which “does not dilute the equity in our project that we have great faith in” and “allows us to reach a wider base of supporters than a traditional stock fundraiser will”, says Daiki Moriyama, CEO of Oasys, for TechCrunch.
The founding team is deeply rooted in the Japanese gaming industry, but chose Singapore as the company’s second home because Japan “has regulatory issues regarding cryptocurrencies,” the leader said. Singapore has emerged as a cryptocurrency hub in Asia in recent years.
Some of the biggest obstacles for blockchain-based applications are slow transactions and high gas fees, the costs that accrue when a transaction is added to a blockchain. Infrastructure developers such as Solana, Avalanche and Polygon are trying to make blockchain services more scalable.
Oasys, just five months old, shares the same goal. For most games to be “fun” or “good” in the blockchain, they must be highly scalable with high transaction speeds and low or zero gas charges for users, Moriyama suggests.
With a focus on blockchain gaming, Oasys has attracted a list of well-known names in the gaming world to be “validators” of the blockchain. The network uses the “proof-of-stake” consensus mechanism, a less energy-intensive alternative to the “proof-of-work” method used in the Bitcoin chain. In PoS, a validator “sets” its tokens in the network and is responsible for ensuring that the data stored in the network is valid.
Oasis’s early validators include Bandai Namco Research, a research branch of the Japanese entertainment conglomerate; SEGA, a Japanese console giant; The French gaming group Ubisoft; South Korean video game companies Netmarble, Wemade and Com2uS; as well as Yield Guild Games, an a16z-backed outfit in the Philippines that allows users to play games to earn payable tokens.
Eventually, Oasys hopes to allocate more governance to the community and move to what is called a decentralized autonomous organization. Unlike a traditional company with a board that shapes the company’s direction, a DAO has no central authority and relies on blockchain-based smart contracts to execute decisions agreed upon by the community.
With the new financial infusion, Oasys plans to strengthen partnerships with game developers, digital asset exchanges and others in the gaming and crypto industry. It will also be spending the money on marketing, business development and hiring. The company has approximately 20 employees throughout Singapore, Japan, South Korea and the United States
Asked about potential collaborations with Oasys’ crypto exchange investors, Moriyama explains “there is naturally a firewall between the investment team and the listing team, but the fact that the investment team has considered us worth investing in is likely to be highly valued by the listing.
Oasys is actively working to list its tokens on several crypto exchanges.
