Metaverse ecosystem builder Animoca Brands will invest US$30 million in Web3.0 financial super app and ecosystem hi as part of its partnership to expand the utility of fungible tokens and NFTs within the Web3 space.
Animoca said in a statement that the partnership is expected to lead to deep integration between its ecosystem and hi’s services that are driving Web3.0’s mass adoption.
It will also support hi in delivering real-world use cases for cryptocurrencies and utility tokens, allowing users to directly spend and be rewarded with certain tokens used in the Animoca Brands ecosystem, including SAND, EDU, APE, REVV, GMEE, and others.
With over 3.5 million users with 1 million KYC-ed users, hi had rolled out debit cards featuring NFT avatar customisation powered by Mastercard in 2022.
With the first cards shipping in Q3 2023, eligible cardholders will be able to personalise the face of their debit card with an NFT avatar they verifiably own, and spend their fiat and digital currencies at more than 90 million locations worldwide.
Animoca Brands’ portfolio companies could benefit from this customisation feature.
Yat Siu, 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.”
Sean Rach, Co-founder of hi said,
“hi is proud to work closely with Animoca Brands, especially given its experience in backing some of the earliest and most prominent Web3 companies.
By teaming up with Animoca Brands, we will be able to boost the adoption of hi products and services, helping to drive mass adoption for blockchain technology.”