GGRAsia – Blockchain gaming’s Alphaslot gets Silicon Valley help

Blockchain gaming’s Alphaslot gets Silicon Valley help

Dec 05, 2018 Newsdesk Industry Talk, Latest News, Top of the deck, World

A partner at a Silicon Valley-based blockchain investment fund has joined Hong Kong’s Alphaslot as an advisor, after the latter completed what is described as a “multimillion U.S. dollar” round of funding.

Alphaslot is promoting the use of blockchain technology and digital tokens associated with blockchain as an effective and secure way to transact authorised gambling and gaming business.

The company said in a Tuesday press release it would use the new funds “to expand operations in Hong Kong,” and to “speed up the launch” of its “tokenised blockchain entertainment platform in the gaming industry”.

Paul Veradittakit, a partner at Pantera Capital in Palo Alto, California, in the United States, is now advising Alphaslot, the firm added in the announcement. Pantera Capital was founded in 2013 and includes former bankers at Deutsche Bank among its leadership, according to its website.

The Alphaslot funding round – said to be the second such exercise – was led by Sora Ventures, a venture capital firm from mainland China, with participation from Hong Kong’s Credito Capital and Shinobi Capital; Singapore’s Spartan Group; the Netherlands’ TRG; Silicon Valley’s Primitive Ventures; and other companies, said the press notice.

“We have seen tremendous growth in visitation to gaming destinations worldwide with over 39 million visitors to Las Vegas and 32 million to Macau last year. There is strong demand for new entertainment experiences that attract new players and a blockchain ecosystem is the catalyst,” said Raymond Chan, founder and chief executive of Alphaslot, in a prepared statement contained in the press release.

Macau’s financial regulator, the Monetary Authority of Macau, had previously noted that cryptocurrency – forms of digital token commonly associated with blockchain – was neither regulated in Macau, nor “a financial instrument subject to its supervision”.