This Polish Crypto Miner Grows During Lockdown, Looks To Raise USD 3M
A Polish blockchain company says that its user numbers are up despite the pressures of the coronavirus pandemic, and says that investors are flocking to a gaming sector that is booming – in spite of the health crisis pandemic.
GamerHash says that building on improved results it is now eying expansion to Asia, and also wants to launch its own token.
Owned by the Poznań-based company CoinAxe, GamerHash purports to allow users to share excess computer power when PC users watch movies, play games in play-and-earn model sessions or browse the internet – using leftover power to mine cryptocurrencies.
With more than 450,000 users registered in 125 countries worldwide, the start-up says it has noticed a significant increase in user activity since the coronavirus lockdown was initiated in Poland, its largest market.
Poland was one of the first European Union nations to close its borders in the wake of the outbreak’s spread to Europe, and much of its population has been in lockdown for the past six-seven weeks.
Artur Pszczółkowski, the start-up’s chief managing officer and co-owner tells Cryptonews.com,
“We have noticed a 70% increase in user activity per day since the pandemic began, and our platform now attracts about 15,000 users per month. We’ve also noticed a surge in interest from both domestic and foreign investors. We’re currently in the process of closing a seed funding round, and I spend about 10 hours a day talking to investment fund operators.”
Pszczółkowski adds,
“Gaming, e-commerce and streaming are the three sectors that are attracting massive interest from investors during the pandemic, but the latter two are already dominated by major players, and investors know that it is challenging to find undervalued opportunities there.”
However, Pszczółkowski says GamerHash’s core business is cryptocurrency mining. He says that the company’s prime pitch to users is the following: Make crypto while playing your favorite games or watching movies.
The CMO claims,
“We let anyone earn crypto, often in the range of USD 20 to 30 per month, solely by using the capacities of their computer’s CPU and GPU. Our algorithms analyze users’ devices, checking to see which cryptocurrency best fits their computer’s technical specifications. Many of our users don’t even care which crypto they mine as long as they are rewarded!”
The GamerHash executive adds,
“We offer them various ways to spend crypto: We operate a marketplace with 600 digital products, such as Netflix subscriptions. And we also allow users to store their crypto in their wallets, or spend tokens through an app that allows them to make use of use QR codes to shop for groceries at local stores.”
The platform’s users, says its operators, can mine 12 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin (BTC), litecoin (LTC), ravencoin (RVN) https://cryptonews.com/coins/ravencoin/ and monero (XMR).
As mentioned, in the near future, GamerHash is also aiming to launch its own token.
The CMO states, “We have established a subsidiary in Malta that will launch the token, and we’re currently finalizing a seed funding in parallel with this.” He states that the round could raise “up to USD 2.8 million.”
He states that the company has not yet started the first phase of its private toke sale. However, Pszczółkowski states that the company “already has commitments for USD 150,000” with “a few bigger tickets” with “further commitments incoming” – meaning that reaching a soft cap of USD 1.2 million “should be easy.”
Pszczółkowski adds,
“During the summer, we will allow people to buy our token via our ambassadors. As a next step, after the summer, GamerHash will list the token on a number of partner exchanges in Europe and Asia. We have already concluded these talks.”
While Poland remains the start-up’s main market, in the long-term, GamerHash plans to tap into the potential of Asian markets – the main objective of its current fundraising activities with venture capital investments.
The co-founder explains,
“In Europe, cryptocurrency mining is expensive because of its high electricity prices. Our focus is now on Asia, and we’re cooperating with a VC fund from Singapore to expand there. We want to set up a subsidiary in Singapore to facilitate our expansion to various Asian markets, including Malaysia, South Korea, Vietnam and Singapore. Japan is also on our list, but it’s a difficult market. As such, it is best to first secure a foothold in other countries and have a good track record there before eventually setting up shop in Japan.”
The company even has its sights set on the biggest Asian player of all: the Middle Kingdom.
“China is a huge market,” concludes the CMO, “But, because of its regulatory instability, it makes more sense to be an established player before you launch your business activities there.”
As reported, crypto-focused startups will need to work harder for their funding while more emphasis to be placed on having working products with actual customers.
