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KuCoin Ventures, the exchange’s VC arm dedicated to crypto investments, and its NFT marketplace Windvane are putting out $100 million as a “Creators Fund” to support and incubate early-stage NFT projects, according to a media release issued by KuCoin.
The announcement came after Coinbase’s earlier statement of launching its NFT marketplace soon and the Japanese social media giant Line releasing such a product called Line NFT. As the industry attracts investments from financial institutions, major crypto exchanges have all doubled down on their marketplaces to acquire a more significant share of the quickly growing NFT market.
- The $100M fund will be allocated to incubate fledging NFT projects from various fields, including art, sports, GameFi, celebrities, and many more.
- This project will invite 99 NFT creators to join the Windvane NFT marketplace to accelerate the growth of Web 3.0, the release stated. Given the support from the fund, young artists and creators will be able to showcase their talents in a “democratic, decentralized NFT marketplace.”
- Windvane will support mainstream NFT blockchains such as ETH, BSC, and FLOW, allowing users to select and purchase all digital collectibles on KuCoin cross-chain aggregators. By leveraging the user traffic of KuCoin, the marketplace will help promote projects INO (Initial NFT Offering).
- Johnny Lyu, the CEO of the exchange, considered this investment a critical expansion into the Metaverse, deepening the KuCoin ecosystem and consolidating its Web.3 infrastructure.
 “Windvane would like to bridge Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 by supporting more creators to launch their NFTs or projects and creating a more integrated NFT world with a lower barrier to entry for users.”
- KuCoin already launched a $100M fund focused on supporting teams working on metaverse projects in November 2021. The fund also aims to promote the mass usage of blockchain technology, with the primary focus on emerging markets like South America and Africa.
