Taiwanese electronic maker Asus has announced a new Web3 arm and unleashed a nonfungible token (NFT) platform to dive into the metaverse.
With a market cap of around $5.7 billion, Asus is the world’s sixth biggest producer of personal computers. As of October 5, 2022, Asus has become the latest major firm to join the Web3 sector after it launched an NFT platform. Nonetheless, Asus’ new NFT marketplace authorizes just a group of invited artists to list their NFTs currently, with plans to launch a secondary market soon.
Asus Introduces ‘Art Black Hole’ As It Joins The Metaverse
Asus, a Taiwan-based electronics and hardware maker, announced the launch of its NFT platform on October 4. This move marks the firm’s first push into the ever-growing Web3 space, going in the footsteps of other Taiwanese manufacturers Ennoconn Corp and Foxconn.
This platform, named ‘Art Black hole‘, was launched under Asus’ new Web3 business Asus Metaverse. The Ethereum-powered NFT platform is now open only to an exclusive group of artists, the firm’s spokesperson said in a statement.
Furthermore, Art Black Hole does not support any secondary trading currently, but the laptop manufacturer wants to launch it soon, based on the official website. Buyers can acquire NFTs in New Taiwan dollars, as highlighted by the spokesperson.
Joe Hsieh, chief operating officer of Asus, said:
“Asus pays close attention to the latest developments of emerging industries, and we’re particularly drawn by the potential of the Web3 industry.”
Metaverse Welcomes More Big Players
The unleashing of the Art Black hole comes with Asus’s new Web3 arm, Asus Metaverse. Asus’ new subsidiary aims to integrate the firm’s cloud computing, blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to move deeper into the metaverse.
Earlier in 2022, Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn, which makes Apple’s iPhones, also dived into the metaverse by partnering with and investing up to $100 million in XRSPACE, the maker of various virtual reality (VR) devices.
In recent months, Facebook owner Meta Platforms has also been focused on introducing NFTs to its two largest platforms – Instagram and Facebook. As of September 29, Instagram and Facebook users can link to their wallets and cross-post NFTs to both platforms.
“In order to post a digital collectible, all you need to do is connect your digital wallet to Instagram. As of today, we support connections with third-party wallets including Rainbow, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Coinbase Wallet and Dapper Wallet coming soon. Supported blockchains at this time include Ethereum, Polygon and Flow.”
The tech behemoth already rebranded from Facebook to Meta in 2021 to focus on building the metaverse and “the next chapter of social connection.” The firm also introduced a $50 million fund in September 2021 to research and develop the metaverse.
