Ripple funds second wave of creators from its $250M developer fund

Ripple, a maker enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions, today unveiled the second wave of creators to receive funding for their Web3, non-fungible token (NFT) projects through Ripple’s $250 million Creator Fund.

With Web3 transforming the entertainment and media industry specifically in music, the selected Creator Fund projects will bring to life use cases for tokenization in these sectors by leveraging the power of XRP Ledger’s low-cost, instant settlement and built in royalty structures — maximizing value for creators and their communities to consume content. Ripple previously started a $100 million fund for games in 2019.

But the company has been involved in controversy. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued Ripple, alleging its sale of cryptocurrency tokens amounted to a violation of securities law, as it didn’t register the tokens as securities. In December 2020, the SEC sued Ripple and alleged the company illegally raised almost $1.4 billion by selling XRP in violation of investor-protection rules.

That lawsuit has dragged on. Just yesterday, CEO Brad Garlinghouse said he was outraged by the SEC’s disregard for those hurt by its lawsuit. He has accused the SEC of overreaching its regulatory power, and the company has denied the SEC allegations. I asked Ripple if there was a risk that any companies taking money from Ripple might have to give back the cash they’ve been granted.

“We’re committed to the 250 million where we are spending to bring individuals and indie creators on. That isn’t changing,” said Boris Alergant, head of DeFi Markets at Ripple, in an interview.

Alergant said the company has moved on from the game investments to music and entertainment. Alergant said that Ripple benefits from building its ecosystem as it makes the ledger stronger.

“We’re really focused on building out and the developer ecosystem,” he said. “We have fungible payment products that are running with the XRP Ledger technology that institutions or financial institutions are using billions of dollars real value, but we think that the ledger can be used for so much more. This NFT standard is especially interesting and different than the ones you see on the other chains.”

The independent creators focused on building functional use cases in entertainment and media on the XRP Ledger include:

9LEVEL9: A metaverse experience that provides a unique “front-row seat” to live and virtual concerts, productions, conferences, and award shows through NFT tickets.

Anifie: An NFT marketplace that helps content creators and artists in Japan capitalize on their fan base and community to launch NFTs that enables fan engagement and provides a digital experience to NFT holders.

Capital Block: A Web3 platform for sports clubs around the world, partnering with football clubs in Europe to launch an NFT membership for their fans to access exclusive content, in real-life game experiences, and Web3 benefits and rewards.

Cross-Metaverse Avatars: An avatar tool that allows creators to design and mint one-of-a-kind NFT avatars with multiple traits and colors. Holders can then use their unique avatars in video games and metaverse projects.

NFT Master: An NFT XRP marketplace that will add a video streaming platform for creators to upload videos and get paid instantly using XRP Ledger’s payment channels or their issued NFTs as a streaming pass. The NFT will offer holders accessibility to watch exclusive videos and vote on upcoming content ideas without ads or paying for a subscription.

SYFR Projects: An intellectual property production company that provides production, publishing,and management services to artists. The company will digitize 100+ innovative music and video agreements as NFT agreements.

ThinkingCrypto: An NFT project that will allow holders to access exclusive interviews with top crypto leaders in the space. Along with exclusive access, NFT holders will be invited to private digital meetings with the host of ThinkingCrypto, Tony Edward, where he will share candid thoughts and opinions on the future of crypto.

“Web3 technology continues to transform the creator economy by giving power back to the creators. We’ve seen real utility in NFTs with the art community and it is no surprise we are seeing tremendous growth from the entertainment and media industry as a way to cultivate relationships directly with their audiences, and offer new content distribution channels,” said Markus Infanger, RippleX VP of Growth at Ripple, in a statement. “With the support of our strategic partners and the Creator Fund, we look forward to helping fuel innovations built on the XRP Ledger.”

Launched a year ago, Ripple’s Creator Fund is a $250 million commitment to help creators with the financial, creative, and technical support needed to explore and craft NFTs and other tokenization projects on the XRP Ledger.

“With Ripple’s Creator Fund, we want to bring expanded commemorative NFT tickets and membership utilities to our www.nikotheatre.com patrons in 2023,” said Chris J Snook, founder of 9LEVEL9, in a statement. “We will feature diverse pop cultural concert experiences for a global audience of hybrid in-person and virtual “front row seats” with expanded metaverse parallel immersions and community on the XRP Ledger.”

Independent creators can apply for Wave 3 in the coming months.

Ripple is a crypto solutions company that transforms how the world moves, manages and tokenizes value. In 2012, it was founded in support of the XRP Ledger, an open-source, public and decentralized Layer 1 blockchain led by a global developer community. It is fast, energy-efficient, and reliable.

The XRP Ledger was created in June 2012, and has been confirming transactions without network failure or halts since then. Hundreds of millions of transactions have been processed in that time. It prioritizes speed, scalability, and sustainability.

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz