Alibaba, the Chinese tech and e-commerce giant, just made another big move in Web3. Yesterday, its digital technology and intelligence division announced it partnered with the Layer 1 blockchain Avalanche to create a metaverse launchpad called ‘Cloudverse.’
Cloudverse will provide an end-to-end platform for companies that want to build, customize, launch, and maintain metaverses on the Avalanche blockchain, as well as create customizable blockchain solutions using Avalanche’s node network. Developers will receive support for visuals, interactive functions, events, meta-economics, continued operations, and more.
For the launchpad, Avalanche will provide the Web3 technology for creating virtual spaces, and Alibaba’s cloud division will offer computing and storage services. MUA DAO, a metaverse middleware infrastructure, will implement the integration and customization for metaverses.
John Wu, president of Ava Labs, said the launchpad was created because clients were eager for tools to help them build in Web3. Now with Cloudverse, the time for launching a live metaverse space will be reduced to about a month after the initial outreach, and about 10 million developers and 4 million Alibaba Cloud customers will have the chance to become node operators.
Surprisingly, so far, the news has a had little effect on the price of AVAX, Avalanche’s native cryptocurrency. At the time of writing, the coin was up just 2.0% over the past 24 hours.
Avalanche Continues to Land Top Notch Partnerships
Avalanche’s latest partnership Alibaba isn’t just a win for the blockchain, but for the entire Web3 space. However, for fans of Avalanche who’ve been paying attention, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. In recent months, we’ve reported on several partnerships with the layer 1 blockchain. Here are some of the top stories.
First, about four months ago, the price of AVAX soared after Ava Labs partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate blockchain adoption among enterprises, institutions, and government entities. The partnership also aims to support developers in Web3 and help individuals launch and manage blockchain nodes.
Next, Shopify, another e-commerce giant, teamed up with Avalanche to let users design, mint, and sell NFTs on its platform. Using the Venly Shopify app, sellers can use NFTs to offer token-gated communities and experiences, or to attach them to physical products.
Lastly, Avalanche partnered with The International Chess Federation (FIDE) in a move that could onboard up to 500+ million chess players to Web3. The partnership will integrate the tournament data and player rankings on-chain, as well as sponsor IRL chess tournaments around the globe.
Although Avalanche isn’t in the news as much as some of the other L1 blockchains, when it does make headlines, it’s because it’s making enormous moves. This latest partnership with the biggest e-commerce company in Asia is another giant step for the rising blockchain. At Rarity, we’ll be on the lookout for any developments in the story.
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