Tezos soars 37pc after gaming giant Ubisoft picks it for NFT platform

Tezos tokens are soaring after French gaming giant Ubisoft chose the smart contract platform for a major experiment with NFTs.

Ubisoft announced overnight it would launch Ubisoft Quartz, a platform for in-game items that will exist on the Tezos blockchain. Ubisoft is starting its experiment with three cosmetic items on the Ghost Recon: Breakpoint – making the tactical shooter the first AAA game to embrace NFTs.

Introducing Ubisoft Quartz
We’re bringing the first energy efficient NFTs playable in a AAA game to Ghost Recon: Breakpoint!

Try it in the beta from December 9 with three free cosmetic drops and learn more here: https://t.co/ysEoYUI4HY pic.twitter.com/owSFE2ALuS

— Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) December 7, 2021

Close to noon (Sydney time), XTZ tokens were up 37 per cent to a three-week high of US$5.79.

Ubisoft didn’t mention why it chose Tezos over other blockchains, but did highlight that these NFTs will be energy-efficient, which was also a consideration for American rapper-songwriter Doja Cat when she chose Tezos for her line of NFTs in September.

NFT marketplace Rarible also plans to launch on Tezos this month, a sign the smart contract platform is gaining traction.

I just checked and turns out everyone always knew #Tezos was “the shit,” even back when most people hated on it.

— BakingBenjamins.tez (@BakingBenjamins) December 7, 2021

But national ties could have also been a consideration. Ubisoft is also headquartered in Paris, and Tezos co-founder Arthur Breitman is French.
 

Crypto market down 0.2%

Overall the crypto market hadn’t moved much by lunchtime, declining 0.18 per cent to US$2.36 trillion.

Bitcoin was down 0.1 per cent to US$50,594 and Ethereum had edged 0.4 per cent lower to US$4,323.

Polkadot and Terra were the only top 10 coins in the green, by 7.0 and 5.3 per cent.

BitTorrent was up strongly for a second day, rising 24.5 per cent to 0.4c following the announcement of its mainnet.

Kadena was the biggest loser in the top 100, falling 10.5 per cent to US$11.05.

Filecoin was the only other top 100 crypto to move more than 10 per cent, rising 10.7 per cent to $43.