Singapore-based DigiNation raises $2.4M to let you explore the vast metaverse; plans to launch a Squid Game-like contest starring CryptoPunks

The metaverse craze continues without any sign of slowing down. Since Facebook changed its name to Meta in October, at least 3,700 companies have jumped on the metaverse bandwagon with Invidia, Tencent, Bytedance, and Alibaba leading the way. There are also smaller startup companies like Singapore-based startup DigiNation.

Today, DigiNation announced it has raised a total of $2.4M for its metaverse gaming project. The investment was backed by venture capital firms and strategic players in the industry including Longhash Ventures, OKEx Blockdream Ventures, Huobi Ventures, RareStone Capital, Spark Digital Capital, Yuanyuzhou Ventures, and 21DAO Ventures.

Starting on the Ethereum blockchain, DigiNation is an all-encompassing ecosystem that comprises an extensive virtual gaming client DigiPlayer, playable characters (represented by DigiAvatar NFTs), a 3D design studio called DigiMaker, a web gallery named NFT Live, and an OpenSea-Esque integrated marketplace known as DigiMarket.

DigiNation’s innovation on the NFT starts from making the DigiAvatar NFTs with evolving attributes. In the DigiNation metaverse, DigiAvatars NFTs are the indigenous citizens, and these NFTs’ attributes such as Experience and Fame can grow according to the player’s activities in the game.

The public mint of 950 DigiAvatar NFTs on Ethereum was sold out in 8 minutes on 19 Nov.

With interoperability being a stated goal of the DigiNation team, the hope is that DigiAvatar NFTs can access not only the DigiNation but also other metaverses, whether they are on Ethereum or on other disparate blockchains. Similarly, third-party NFTs can be imported to DigiNation via NFT Live. For example, it will be possible to import a 2D picture NFT such as a CryptoPunk – which DigiNation will convert into an animated 3D avatar for use in the game.

The team plans to kick start DigiNation in December by launching a multiplayer online tournament called Crypto Survivor, a sort of amalgam of the TV series Survivor and Squid Game, inviting reputable NFT projects such as CryptoPunks and Pudgy Penguins to star in the tournament.