Solana, Lightspeed, and FTX announce web3 gaming investment initiative

Solana Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and FTX have announced a $100 million investment initiative centered around Web 3 gaming.

The investments in the initiative will be allotted for blockchain-based games and tech. The first studio to benefit from this is Faraway, a new Web 3 (a reference to the decentralized web powered by the secure and transparent digital ledger of blockchain) gaming studio that raised $21 million on Thursday. Faraway is preparing to launch its first game, Mini Royale: Nations as the first live multiplayer title on the Solana blockchain.

Anatoly Yakovenko, CEO of Solana Labs, said in a statement: “In the last few months we’ve seen talented game builders leave their jobs at Riot, EA, Scopely, and other established gaming firms to build Web 3 games on Solana. We are excited to collaborate with Lightspeed and FTX to support and accelerate this new wave of builders.”

Amy Wu, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, added that gaming is likely to bring the next wave of users to Web 3: “High-performance blockchains like Solana are now capable of delivering the kind of web2 experiences gamers expect while providing the advantages of decentralized Web 3 systems. We are excited to partner with FTX and Solana Ventures to play a leading role in growing this ecosystem.”

By using platforms like Solana, game companies can speed up their transactions and use less energy associated with the blockchain transactions on platforms such as Ethereum.