The combined CryptoSlam and Forkast.news entity will devise creative means to attain profitability.
In a bid to further cushion the growing strain in the digital currency ecosystem, Animoca Brands Founder and Chairman, Yat Siu has engineered the merger of CryptoSlam and Forkast.News, two of the companies in its portfolio. As reported by Bloomberg, Yat Siu introduced the founder of CryptoSlam, Randy Wasinger, and Forkast.News founder Angie Lau, and got the discussions for the merger off of the ground.
CryptoSlam is a platform that curates data about the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) world while Forkast.News offers video journalism that is tailored to the cryptocurrency ecosystem. The combined entity has now been renamed Forkast Labs and will offer the two services in a more coordinated way.
The combined entity will have about 60 staff and both Lau and Wasinger will co-lead the firm as Chief Executive Officers. There are no details shared about the size of the deal and whether one of the two founders will have a bigger stake at Forkast Labs.
The merger was seen as a very necessary one to jointly combat the bearish sentiments amongst investors who became cautious of injecting money into the crypto ecosystem following the bouts of bankruptcies the industry experienced in 2022. The latest of these bankruptcies was that of FTX Derivatives Exchange. FTX was faced with a liquidity run on its platform back in early November last year and filed the bankruptcy on the 11 of the same month.
While there’s been no news of a direct contagion of the firm’s collapse with either of CryptoSlam or Forkast.News, Yat Siu believes a merger will help to cushion the effects of any likely impact in both the near and long term.
“This industry is very unstable and rocky,” Siu said. “People have to be able to weather these storms together.”
Both firms have made their marks in the crypto ecosystem, and have dedicated followership and user base, two major factors the combined entity requires to succeed.
CryptoSlam and Forkast.News to Jointly Pursue Productivity
The strain the crypto ecosystem has experienced over the past year has pushed the few firms that have not gone bankrupt to start searching for new cash injections in a bid to stay profitable. The combined CryptoSlam and Forkast.news entity will also devise creative means to attain profitability according to Angie Lau.
Animoca Brands participated in the $9 million seed round that was raised by CryptoSlam about a year ago and the Yat Siu lead venture capital firm also injected capital into Forkast.News when the news site raised $1.9 million.
Out of the two firms, the Bloomberg report detailed that Forkast.News has been running on a deficit for some time, making it a very big beneficiary of the current transition to Forkast Labs. The new entity will compete with other known news and data providers Cointelegraph, Coindesk, and Coinspeaker amongst others.
Benjamin Godfrey is a blockchain enthusiast and journalists who relish writing about the real life applications of blockchain technology and innovations to drive general acceptance and worldwide integration of the emerging technology. His desires to educate people about cryptocurrencies inspires his contributions to renowned blockchain based media and sites. Benjamin Godfrey is a lover of sports and agriculture.
