Blockchain has been steadily coming into various parts of our lives, not being restricted to just financial transactions and the world of cryptocurrencies. That is one of the biggest advantages behind blockchain – that it has various applications, not just related to finance and financial services, but ranging from healthcare to entertainment, sports to data storage. This is why many firms, businesses and investors are looking at blockchain as the next big technological ‘fix’, with a lot of investment taking place in this area. It is also why Ethereum is being considered more important than Bitcoin in terms of its wider impact. While Bitcoin is based on a blockchain network which is only good for verifying transactions, the Ethereum network has many more applications, especially due to the use of smart contracts. One quick example of this can be seen in the online gambling industry, a sector which one would hardly associate with cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Blockchain is helping improve the online casino experience, while also supporting those online casinos where users can play with cryptocurrencies, which are now being known as crypto casinos. Bitcoin online casino is using blockchain to secure its transactions, which is helping improve the confidence that users have in their systems, while also helping to keep user data safe. Games based on blockchain are also tamper-proof, which earns the trust of players and thus improves players’ engagement with those games, and therefore with the site. This is just one in a variety of examples where blockchain is having an impact in the wider world outside of the financial sector, and a recent announcement by Atari, the video game giant, further illustrates this.

Atari has signed a three-year deal with Virtually Human Studio, the entertainment startup, to bring Atari into NFT and blockchain gaming. Virtually Human Studio (VHS) have gained popularity through their games such as Zed Run, which is a game running on the Ethereum network, where users can interact with non-fungible tokens in the form of unique racehorses, for example. The deal will see Atari and VHS work together to introduce rare collectible in-game items for some of Atari’s most iconic and famous games, such as Asteroids, Missile Command, Pong, Centipede and many more. Through this deal, VHS will have full access to Atari’s entire catalogue of licensed game assets, logos and brands, including in-game sponsorships across the Zed Run gaming platform.

In an attempt to further showcase the way in which blockchain gaming can improve traditional gaming, Atari will also use its own cryptocurrency, known as Atari tokens, at Zed Run events. These official events, sponsored by Atari, will have qualifiers along with a weekly schedule of main event racing sessions, with tokens being awarded to players based on their performance in the qualifiers as well as the main event, which will further boost the visibility and usage of these Atari tokens as well. Along with this, Zed Run, which is a horse racing game, will also offer players the chance to use the Atari Breeding Program, where a series of rare racehorses will be available for players to use and breed offspring for in-game use for a limited time. Each of these digital Atari-branded racehorses will then be auctioned to the highest bidder at the conclusion of the Breeding Program.

This partnership shows how the world of gaming is coming to embrace cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks, with a number of applications and partnerships coming to life over the last few months. These will be vital to show how blockchain can enhance the traditional gaming experience, and thus pave the way for blockchain to have a greater influence on the entertainment sector. This partnership shows how the world of gaming is coming to embrace cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks, with a number of applications and partnerships coming to life over the last few months. These will be vital to show how blockchain can enhance the traditional gaming experience, and thus pave the way for blockchain to have a greater influence on the entertainment sector.