Uninterested Unicorns, an NFT (non-fungible token) project by Singapore-based Nex10 Labs, raised over US$1 million in less than 10 minutes after the tokens were publicly launched for sale in September. In total, the project sold digital assets worth about 307 units of the Ethereum cryptocurrency (ether).

The company said NFTs worth 1,000 ether (US$3.6 million) were traded in the first week of the launch.

Nex10 was founded by Terence Ting, who also owns esports firm Team Flash and is the co-founder of The Asian Mint, an NFT-focused media platform for Asian collectors. Nex10 aims to build global intellectual property through decentralized finance and NFTs. Its team comprises enthusiasts and experts from Ubisoft, DAOventures, and Riot Games, among others.

“We believe in the future of web 3.0 and a fully decentralized internet economy, where NFTs will be key to this movement,” the company said in a statement. “Digital collectibles and metaverse is the future, and combined with video gaming will create a new entertainment experience to be shared with the world.”

NFTs use blockchains to record the ownership of digital items such as images, videos, collectibles, and even virtual property in games. OpenSea, the biggest NFT marketplace, saw sales volumes hit US$3.4 billion in August amid a frenzy for crypto assets.

Nex10 said it will debut its own cryptocurrency in October 2021 – to be denoted as $UCD – which will be linked to the project’s NFT collection.

Currently, the company is looking to raise its first investment round before the end of 2021 and is planning the pre-production of the Uninterested Unicorns game, which will be integrated into its NFT metaverse collection.

To introduce the esports and gaming community to NFTs, Nex10 has also partnered with Evos Esports and Bren Esports, both of which are based in Asia.