BUD, the global virtual UGC (user-generated content) and Web3 gaming platform that allows everyone to create and share their own 3D interactive experiences for free, today launches on Polygon, an Ethereum scaling platform onboarding millions to Web3. Following the integration, BUD will launch an upcoming NFT airdrop which provides access to ongoing token-gated gameplay features using Polygon infrastructure.
BUD recently added a new airdrop feature, allowing any project, creator, and artist to airdrop anything on their communities — which saw the number of its active wallet users skyrocket from around 5,000 to over 80,000, a roughly 1,500% increase in just a few days. BUD users don’t need a coding background or skills and can let their imagination run wild thanks to a highly accessible drag-and-drop interface.
The platform’s utilization of token-gated experience attempts to resolve long-standing issues native to Web3 gaming, allowing creators and brands to create their own parameters around entry to an experience or game zone. BUD also plans to launch a collection of 1,000 special Gold BUD Passes which will enable access to special events, unique avatars, unique NFTs, and more. By making access to games and features exclusive to NFT holders, BUD engenders customer loyalty, secures long-term engagement, and prevents the likelihood of bot accounts becoming prevalent on the platform — a problem that has plagued many Web3 games.
“We are excited to welcome BUD to Polygon’s thriving, diverse, and inclusive ecosystem,” said Urvit Goel, Head of Global Games Business Development at Polygon Studios. “Since BUD’s mission fully aligns with Polygon’s own vision of a world in which communities and creators thrive, unconstrained by artificial borders and archaic regulations.”
Founded by two former Snap engineers, Risa Feng and Shawn Lin, in 2019, BUD lets users create bulbous 3D characters, cutesy virtual assets, and richly colored experiences.
To date, BUD users have already created over 15 million custom experiences, such as gamified virtual spaces that other people can join. Since its launch, last November, innumerable assets, including costumes and accessories, have been traded more than 150 million times on BUD’s marketplace — without any monetization on the app’s behalf so far.
Thanks to being inclusive and truly free to use, BUD has already claimed its place among the top 10 consumer apps in nearly 40 countries across North America, Southeast Asia, and South America.
Rise Feng, co-founder of BUD, said: “Polygon is the blockchain best-equipped to handle our rapidly growing user base and process the wealth of transactions and interactions triggered on BUD on a daily basis. Polygon’s speed, efficiency, and commitment to environmental goals — which sees its NFTs minted without incurring any carbon output — makes it the best home for BUD.”
The Singapore-based start-up recently closed a $36.6 million Series B funding round led by Sequoia Capital India and with participation from ClearVue Partners, NetEase, Northern Light Venture Capital, as well as existing investors such as GGV Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, and Source Code Capital. Shortly before that, the startup also secured a Series A extension in February, bringing the total amount of funds raised to more than $60 million.
About Polygon
Polygon is the leading blockchain development platform, offering scalable, affordable, secure and sustainable blockchains for Web3. Its growing suite of products offers developers easy access to major scaling solutions, including L2 (ZK Rollups and Optimistic Rollups), sidechains, hybrid, stand-alone and enterprise chains, and data availability. Polygon’s scaling solutions have seen widespread adoption with 53,000+ decentralized applications hosted,1.94B+ total transactions processed, 164M+ unique user addresses, and $5B+ in assets secured. The network is home for some of the biggest Web3 projects such as Aave, Uniswap, OpenSea and well-known enterprises including Meta, Stripe and Adobe. Polygon is carbon neutral with the goal of leading the Web3 ecosystem in becoming carbon negative.
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