Both DeFi and NFT markets took a big hit in the first half of 2022. At the same time, a large part of the capital and trade volume left these sectors. But investment firms are flocking to these altcoin projects, while crypto investors are going crazy for “monkey pictures” and 20% APY.
VCs invested $1.2M in this altcoin industry
In the first quarter of this year, venture capitalists invested more than $1.2 billion in the industry. Despite the collapse of the cryptocurrency market, a total of 128 companies received funding from institutional investors.
As Messari suggested, no crypto investment sub-segment received as big an inflow as GameFi did during the bear market. The main reason for this may be that it is different from the cryptocurrency market as it does not depend on the performance of giants like Ethereum or Bitcoin.
The target audience of the GameFi industry is not necessarily similar to the groups of people who use decentralized finance applications or even NFTs. Majority of GameFi users are those who play mobile and browser games. One of the most prominent representatives in the industry, known to most crypto investors, is Axie Infinity, which was recently hacked for $625 million due to the Ronin Network exploit.
The company started successfully recovering users’ funds and retained its market image by returning the bulk of stolen funds.