Philippine blockchain gaming startup raises $12.5m via public crypto token sale

Yield Guild Games, a blockchain-powered gaming startup based in the Philippines, announced that it has sold 25 million of its native YGG cryptocurrency tokens in just 31 seconds. In total, the company raised almost US$12.5 million in USD Coin – a digital cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar – via the public sale.

With the conclusion of the token sale, Yield Guild Games will begin establishing its decentralized autonomous organization. One of the group’s first tasks would be to distribute tokens to active community members as a reward via airdrops, which is designed to promote a new virtual currency by sending it to participants’ crypto wallets.

The gaming startup has reserved 45% of one billion tokens in total for the YGG community. The tokens will be dispersed steadily over four years, the company said. Another 40% of the tokens will go to investors and founders, while the remaining 15% will go to the company’s treasury and its advisers.

Virtual land in The Sandbox is an NFT asset on Yield Guild Games’ platform / Image credit: Yield Guild Games

Yield Guild Games is a community of decentralized game players and investors who earn from non-fungible tokens (NFTs) used in virtual worlds and blockchain-based games. The platform has gained popularity amid the pandemic as people became more willing to engage in play-to-earn games.

The Philippines-based gaming firm has partnered with and invested in a few such games, including Axie Infinity, The Sandbox, F1 DeltaTime, Guild of Guardians, and Zed Run.

One of the ways Yield Guild Games brings in revenue is by renting out or selling its own NFT assets. For example, the company earns from the resale of virtual land in The Sandbox or from renting out axies or digital monsters in Axie Infinity to players as part of a profit-sharing model.

See also: Explaining Axie Infinity and its mercurial rise

Prior to the latest token sale, Yield Guild Games had secured US$1.3 million in a seed round led by Delphi Digital and US$4 million from a series A raise led by Bitkraft Ventures.