Animoca Brands, the forward-thinking VC company pioneering digital rights within the gaming and metaverse space, recently confirmed a strategic partnership with ‘hi,’ a financial super app in the Web3 ecosystem. As part of this strategic alliance, Animoca Brands will inject a significant $30 million investment into ‘hi’ and collaborate on numerous exciting projects. The combined vision of these firms focuses on enhancing the usefulness of fungible tokens and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) in the Web3 environment.
Investment and Strategic Partnership
The partnership paves the way for the integration of Animoca Brands’ vast ecosystem with ‘hi’s groundbreaking services that are championing the mass adoption of Web3. These services include the hi App and the hi Protocol (hiP), innovations that are propelling the hi ecosystem. The hi App is an advanced financial super app for Web3, while the hiP is a scalable, Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible, Sybil-resistant layer-2 sidechain for Ethereum. The collaboration will equip developers with a unique-human authentication method through the hiP’s innovative Proof of Human Identity (PoHI) solution.
As a prominent player in the NFT arena, Animoca Brands will back ‘hi’s mission to establish real-world use cases for cryptocurrencies and utility tokens. This partnership will enable users to directly spend and receive rewards with specific tokens used in the Animoca Brands ecosystem, which includes SAND, EDU, APE, REVV, GMEE, among others.
Yat Siu, the co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, said: “We are looking forward to investing in and partnering with hi, which is committed to bridging the gap between the fiat and cryptocurrency worlds. As part of this partnership we will collaborate with hi on its continued development of the hi App and the hi Protocol to drive positive impact for the broader Web3 ecosystem.”
Innovation and Expansion
In 2022, ‘hi’ made waves when it unveiled the world’s first-ever NFT avatar-customized debit card, powered by Mastercard. Having already attracted over 3.5 million users, with 1 million KYC-ed users, ‘hi’ is slated to start shipping the first cards in Q3 2023. Eligible cardholders will have the unique opportunity to personalize their debit card with an NFT avatar they officially own, expanding their ability to spend both fiat and digital currencies at over 90 million locations globally. Companies in Animoca Brands’ portfolio stand to benefit from this unique customization feature.