Blockchain technology saw its first successful use case and was popularized by the creation of Bitcoin. Even though the technology was first utilized to construct a trustless and decentralized monetary system and has facilitated the design and execution of cryptocurrencies, to say that blockchain’s sole purpose is to create cryptocurrency is like saying the internet only capable of sending emails.
Gaming and esports constitute a fast-growing industry, especially in Southeast Asia with over 100 million gamers throughout the region. Digital scarcity introduced by the technology and the ability to remove intermediaries and borders are the core strengths that will enable blockchain to capture and revolutionize the active gaming industry by offering innovation in both the areas of design and monetization.
Image Source: The ASEAN Post
Possibilities for blockchain applications are vast as the open-source nature of the technology encourages innovation. Varut, Managing Editor of NewsFirstLine, had the wonderful opportunity to speak to Lex Na, the founder and CEO of Bountie – Singapore’s blockchain-based all-in-one platform for gamers, one of the pioneers of the blockchain gaming industry.
Varut: Can you share some thoughts about the blockchain gaming industry as a whole?
Lex: I’m extremely bullish over the long term about the blockchain gaming industry. If we look back into the history of most major technologies like Personal Computer, Internet or Mobile, one of the first and main use cases would be gaming. Same goes for blockchain, other than payments and data, gaming is one of the next biggest use cases.
Varut: Speaking of use cases, What is the most crucial application blockchain can offer to the gaming industry?
Lex: In the past few years, we had seen successful projects like Enjin and Wax reaching new heights and having massive mainstream adoption. In order to reach the mainstream audiences, it has to be a common denominator. And gaming, with its 2.2 billion gamers, will drive in the bulk of users, whether they know it or not.
It is exciting to see blockchain being used to tie virtual items in games that traditionally have little or no value to a digital asset that gamers can trade. This is huge because we can start to see metaverse forming with the introduction of such functions and technology.
Besides that, esports which was previously a niche in gaming is picking up rapidly over the past decade. A lot of new tools and technologies will be needed to support and grow this booming market. One crucial application will be the identities or profiles for these gamers, gaming teams, influencers, tournament organisers and coaches or to put it simply, the LinkedIn for Gamers.
Varut: LinkedIn for Gamers? Is this what Bountie is aiming to be? Can you give us a brief introduction to what Bountie is?
Lex: Bountie is a platform that empowers gamers to earn a living from gaming. Gamers earn by winning tournaments or completing quests and tournaments organisers earn by creating tournaments. Our mission is to help gamers to monetize their passion and thus Get Paid to Play.
Varut: Can you tell us what is the passion that drives this project?
Lex: We started Bountie because we couldn’t follow our passion and make money as a gamer 15 years ago. The opportunities weren’t there as gaming was still a “waste of time”. As the times change, we start to see a shift in both the sediments of the market and also the professionalism of the industry. Whatever that wasn’t possible back then is now reality. More and more gamers start to make a good, sustainable living as a professional gamer or from the gaming industry. So in 2017, we pulled the trigger and dive in back to our passion.
Varut: I believe that Bountie also has a proprietary token called ‘BNTE.’ Can you tell us more about it?
Lex: We started by raising an ICO and created our own ERC-20 token, called Bountie Token(BNTE). The purpose is to have this currency not only serve as the lifeblood that runs within our ecosystem but also something that our partners and stakeholders can use outside of our ecosystem.
Gamers would be able to utilize these tokens to take part in tournaments and win them when they compete in tournaments, tournament organisers will get paid in BNTE, Quests rewards that are set by brands may also be in BNTE for the gamers and gamers can spend them offline at our physical venue, for instance, Bountie Arena.
Varut: Looking forward, can you show us a glimpse of what we could expect to see from Bountie in the near future.
Lex: We just pushed out a revamp version of our platform on the 3rd week of May after gathering feedback from our gamers and partners in regards to our previous platform. It is now faster, more user friendly and looks even better than before.
The next highly anticipated key features that we will be rolling out in the coming weeks would be our Wallet and Chat systems. This will give our gamers a more integrated experience when they are using our platform without having the need to use external applications to fulfill the similar functions.
Varut: So Bountie aims to be a super App for gamers. Apart from the new features and better functions, what else can users expect to see in the near future?
Lex: In the coming months, you will be seeing lots more activities on our platform because of new partnerships we have established. We’ll be creating a series of in-house tournaments organized and hosted by Bountie. Some of the companies we are working with closely include Kitamen(Esports Agency), Callisto(All Female Esports Team), Multiplayer(Esports Curator) and Zeusx(Global Marketplace for Gamers). We will also be pushing out Tournaments that we organise for Marvel Super Wars(Marvel’s 1st MOBA game on Mobile), it’s super fun, do not try it unless you have lots of personal discipline.
Varut: How do you plan to introduce Bountie to a wider range of audiences?
Lex: Our platform is built with scalability in mind. This means that the tournament organisers will be able to create any kind of tournaments for any gamers, running on any platforms and gamers will have a long tail of choices to join. And although we have gamers internationally, we are focusing a lot in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia where we have our teams and partners there reaching out to the local gaming communities. Southeast Asia is notoriously a difficult market to penetrate, due to the diversity in language and culture. Our strategy is to go local and deep, put in the hours and the hard work to gain our foothold.
Varut: Lastly, if people want to learn more about Bountie, where can they visit?
Lex: Do check out our platform at App.Bountie.io. Gamers and tournament organisers will be able to have some fun and make money. Brands and Advertisers do reach out to me if you are looking to reach out to this massive audience in gaming and esports.
If you are looking for more information about our Bountie Tokens, check out Bountie.io/BNTE/.
And lastly, more information about Bountie Arena at Bountie.cc
Watch the full video interview here
