NFT Platform Cryptoys Pulls $23M to Develop NFT for Kids

OnChain Studios, the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) platform developing the Cryptoys platform has raised the sum of $23 million from venture capital firms to build a digital collectibles platform for kids. The new capital raise comes after an initial $7.5 million in October last year and was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Crypto. 

This latest round was also backed by Mattel, Dapper Labs, Draper & Associates, Acrew Capital, CoinFund, Animoca Brands, and Sound Ventures. While the transaction volumes of NFT platforms have tapered down for the past few months drawing on the slump in the broader market, innovators have continued to push the boundaries of the growing sentiment in the space.

The emergence of Cryptoys, a blockchain gaming startup for kids is a test of this growing sentiment. While a lot of questions come off the with the idea of NFTs for children, the innovation Cryptoys is championing will help institute the tenets of blockchain and Web3.0 in players who would grow up seeing the technology as a normal invention.

While the minimum age to access the Cryptoys game is pegged at 18 for now, OnChain Studios’ CEO, Will Weinraub said the platform is developing an avenue whereby parental control provisions can be integrated. This he noted will broaden access to the platform to enable more kids learn about blockchain and NFTs.

“You have to take a step back from all of this web3 maximalism,” Weinraub says. “You’ve got to take baby steps to getting millions and millions of people to these new paradigms.”

Cryptoys NFT Platform is One of its Kinds

It is safe to say that the Cryptoys NFT platform for kids is one of its kind outfits as the majority of startups today are entirely focused on adult gamers. Understanding the uniqueness of the platform accounts for why a16z backed the project in the two rounds and also reveals how much resonance the mission sits with the other investors.

Besides the crypto native offerings, Cryptoys will also explore other avenues by which users can interact with the platform beyond NFTs. This, Weinraub notes will enable the firm to be deployed on iOS which is critical of crypto protocols.

The Cryptoys NFT gaming platform, which is built on Dapper Labs’ Flow protocol, is billed to be launched in the next couple of months.