Animoca Brands Invests in TON Play, Becomes Largest Validator on TON Blockchain

cryptonews.com:

Animoca Brands has become the largest validator on the TON Network after its investment in TON Play.

The Hong Kong-based investment firm announced in a press release published Tuesday that it had partnered with the TON Blockchain to provide funding, research, and an analytics platform for third-party TON applications.

With its investment in TON Play, Animoca also plans to deliver an array of blockchain-based games to messaging app Telegram’s 800 million users.

“Animoca Brands’ investment in The Open Network is a pivotal step towards the next era of blockchain-based gaming,” said Justin Hyun, Director of Growth at TON Foundation. “Its new analytics platform and in-depth research reports represent alignment with TON Foundation’s mission. Together, we will infuse Web3 seamlessly into the daily experiences of Telegram users, particularly in gaming, for a global audience to enjoy.”

In particular, the company intends to support TON Play, a gaming infrastructure initiative built upon the TON blockchain. This framework enables the development of gaming applications on TON, facilitating their launch on the messaging app Telegram. Additionally, it provides the capability to seamlessly transfer existing web-based games to the messaging application.

With its investment in TON Play, Animoca also plans to deliver an array of blockchain-based games to messaging app Telegram’s 800 million users through its web app and mobile app’s PlayDeck bot, which contains a selection of mobile games for users to browse through.

The exact amount of Animoca’s investment was not revealed in the press release. However, it is understood that a portion of the investment was directly allocated to Toncoin, which has been staked as part of the validator