Rangers Protocol plans testnet launch for mid-July

Describing itself as a provider of “virtual worlds blockchain infrastructure,” the Rangers Protocol will open its testnet to users starting in July.

In a Thursday announcement at the Global DeFi Summit, Rangers Protocol co-founder Mary Ma said the project would be aiming for a mid-July launch of its testnet following $3.7 million seed and private equity funding rounds. According to Ma, the protocol will have decentralized apps, or DApps, on its network, and will include a cross-chain protocol, nonfungible token protocol and Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible system.

"In the past three years, we have solved many problems by tackling down tons of technical problems,” said Ma. “Now it is time to show the world what we are made of.”

The announcement of the planned testnet follows the protocol rebranding to include a nonfungible token, or NFT, platform, based on the team’s assumption that the NFT market will “explode soon.” Rangers Protocol claims to achieve “real-time block generation” at a block per second, allowing entrepreneurs and creators to build NFTs, games, and DApps on top of the platform in a permissionless environment.

Related: Ethereum’s ‘London’ hardfork set to go live on testnets starting June 24

With a valuation of $63 million following two rounds of financing, Rangers Protocol has an impressive list of venture funds backing the project, including Pantera Capital, Huobi Ventures Blockchain Fund, Framework Ventures, Alameda Research, AU21 Capital, Hashkey Capital, SevenX Ventures, SNZ, Spark Digital Capital, and others. The project said the funds are to be used for its “technology development and the construction of ecological communities and the foundation.”

A China-based crypto company, Rangers was originally branded as the Rocket Protocol.