Balthazar CEO John Stefanidis Debuts on CNBC: Gaming as a New Use Case for Crypto

“BALTHAZAR IS LOWERING THE BARRIER TO ENTRY FOR PEOPLE WANTING TO PLAY TO EARN” – MANDY DRURY, CNBC

Balthazar’s CEO John Stefanidis debuted on CNBC Street Signs Asia on December 22, 2021, discussing the explosion of NFT gaming, how it’s set to disrupt the video game market and how Balthazar is lowering the barrier to entry for people wanting to play to earn.

Co-hosted by Mandy Drury and Tanvir Gill, John explained the rise of NFT games and why it’s having such a massive impact on regions including South East Asia particularly the Philippines, India and South America.

There are over 170 play-to-earn (P2E) games currently live, according to L2Y, and we’re seeing hundreds of millions of dollars being invested into these games and NFT gaming platforms.

Trading volume for blockchain-based games grew 762% in Q3 2021, to US$2.32 billion, according to Dappradar. It also reports that Axie Infinity accounted for over US$2 billion or ~90% of total trading volume.

John mentioned that the blockchain gaming NFT market is estimated to be worth just under US$10 billion. For context, it’s about 6% of the US$173 billion gaming industry.

A sustainable stream of supplementary income

John explained the new ecosystem that’s being created where more and more people will play these games, companies will start to invest in marketing and advertising to these people, games are generating revenue from taking a fee for in-game purchases of NFT assets, and depending on the utility of the token for each game, there are different ways that gamers will make money in the games such as breeding their characters and using them to sell or battle.

People are earning money that is not tied to their local economy, which also has a significant benefit in countries with unstable economies and hyperinflation.

NFT platforms removing the barrier to entry

NFT gaming platforms are investing in these game NFT assets and lending them to people to be able to use them to play the games and earn money. This is what we’re doing at Balthazar, which offers scholarship programs for players who can’t afford the upfront cost to buy the NFTs needed to play.

Balthazar has over 1,000 scholars playing with NFTs and over 30,000 on its waitlist who want to play. Balthazar also launched a rent-to-earn service where people with NFTs can rent them to Balthazar and it will lend them to players.

It’s a very exciting space and Balthazar is looking forward to partnering with more P2E games and building the best community of gamers to help more people access opportunities in the metaverse.

Watch the full interview here.

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