Infinite Fleet publisher launches STO led by $1M investment from Tether

Exordium, the publisher of the upcoming sci-fi strategy game Infinite Fleet, has announced a public security token offering, or STO, on the STOKR platform, starting Jan. 18.

The $8 million sale to raise funds for the long-touted blockchain-powered MMO (or massive multiplayer online game), is being led by a $1 million investment from Tether International, the issuer of the largest stablecoin Tether (USDT).

The public portion of the STO will have a hard-cap of $1 million and be limited to select European countries. This will include the majority of the European Union, with the notable exceptions of Germany and Belgium, due to regulatory restrictions.

However, unlike the majority of pre-sales to raise funds for upcoming games, participants will receive equity in the game’s publishing company and a share in future profits. The security tokens in this $8 million raise will represent a pro-rata right to 20% of Exordium's profit.

Hope Fan, chief marketing officer of Infinite Fleet developer Pixelmatic, told Cointelegraph why Exordium chose to take the STO route, rather than hold a pre-sale of utility tokens or NFTs:

“We are trying to build a sustainable business with a long time horizon, while at the same time driving the adoption of crypto for both gaming and capital markets. Utility token sales also often fall in a regulatory grey area and hence it's something we want to avoid. With an STO and a public filing, we are able to offer equity to the average person who supports the project, which is pretty cool.”

Investors will be able to invest as little as $100 equivalent to buy EXOeu security tokens, representing shares in the Exordium parent company, using a variety of currencies including euros, Bitcoin (BTC) and Tether.

The STOKR model democratizes public access to venture capital projects and integrates the Blockstream AMP platform on Bitcoin’s Liquid sidechain to issue the security tokens. Tether chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino explained the company’s interest in the blockchain gaming market:

“As a former MMORPG game developer myself, I see great potential in the application of crypto assets to multiplayer online games. It is a perfect match of two rapidly growing digital sectors with tremendous upside.”

Infinite Fleet first announced its intention to raise capital through securities sales on STOKR in April 2020, although the Samson Mow-helmed game raised $3.1 million through a private STO fundraising round on an alternative platform, BnkToTheFuture, in August 2020.