Sky Mavis’ backers team up to calm crypto community

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In one of the biggest crypto heists, hackers linked to North Korea stole over US$620 million from the Ronin Network, Sky Mavis’ blockchain system, last month. In response, the developer of the popular crypto game Axie Infinity raised US$150 million to help reimburse players.

The results of the hastily packaged rescue funding have been mixed so far. Axie Infinity Shards (AXS), Axie Infinity’s in-game crypto tokens representing an ownership stake in the game, has slid nearly 30% over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, the sales volume of Axie Infinity’s NFT collection shot up over 350% following the news of the reimbursement.

However, the involvement of crypto exchange giant Binance as a new investor in Sky Mavis’ lightning-quick rescue was of particular interest as it highlights the critical role Axie Infinity plays in the broader crypto industry, which has been rife with scams and hacks. Last year, crime involving cryptocurrencies hit an all-time high of US$14 billion, as per blockchain researcher Chainalysis.

Axie Infinity still has huge brand recall and its potential demise would’ve sent ripples across the burgeoning GameFi space despite no longer being the top play-to-earn game by on-chain assets or user base.

In our premium story pick today, my colleague Deepti explores how backers of Sky Mavis sensed not only the need to quickly reassure the crypto community after the Ronin hack but also a “good investment opportunity” amid the chaos.

Today we look at:

• Whether Axie Infinity is too big to fail
• Singapore-based Thunes taking a majority stake in a local regtech startup
• Other newsy highlights such as Zerodha’s earnings for fiscal year 2022 and Zilingo search to replace a suspended CEO

Also, if you’re an entrepreneur looking for funding, fill out this form to get your company featured on our list of fundraising startups.

Premium summary

All in the name of keeping the faith

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Confidence in the crypto space is understandably shaken. Governments across the world are looking to regulate the sector after billions of dollars have been stolen in recent years through crimes related to cryptocurrencies.

However, in a bid to avoid intense scrutiny and appease concerned investors, VCs and crypto incumbents pulled out all the stops to limit the fallout from the Ronin hack and protect the crypto industry’s latest brainchild: GameFi, which continues to boom even through all the noise.

Dancing to Thunes

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