Huobi Cloud Forms Joint Venture with BlockGames

Blockchain exchange provider Huobi Cloud revealed a bold move into the realm of online gaming Monday, Sept. 17, via an official press release stating the company's intent to partner with BlockGames.

The new project, called BG.top, is hosted by BlockGames and backed by Huobi and, according to its website, aims to bring the decentralized nature of blockchain technology to online gaming.

"The venture is presently a fully-functional cryptocurrency exchange but will, in time, develop into a boundary-less, decentralized environment where game developers, investors, and even everyday gamers can come together to buy, sell, fund, develop and launch video games through the use of blockchain technology."

Huobi has undertaken aggressive and rapid efforts to expand its footprint, recently extending its reach into the Japanese market through its subsidiary Huobi Japan, which became a majority stakeholder in the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange BitTrade last week.

This new venture into gaming seems particularly close to the hearts of the Huobi brass, however.

In a massive Blockchain Industry Special Report published on Medium, the company detailed why it chose to get into gaming and why it believes the industry could be the key to popularizing blockchain in the mainstream marketplace.

"[The] video game industry is one of the most lucrative internet-powered industries that saw the rise of Tencent, Blizzard Entertainment and Steam.

The traditional video game industry today is suffering from divisions caused by centralization.

Huobi goes on to say in its report that it hopes to solve these problems using blockchain to, among other things, give ownership of assets back to the players via the security of blockchain and allow games to reach players on self-distributed networks.

The exchange maintains that blockchain's integration into the gaming market will start small by offering developer tools to traditional video game companies and helping to meet their infrastructure needs, which will allow more games from publishers like Blizzard and Steam to be "Distributed on-chain."