KuCoin Labs Launches $100M Fund Devoted to Metaverse Projects

The capital will also go towards NFT projects, blockchain-based games and other decentralized apps, according to the Seychelles-based company. 

article-image

Source: KuCoin

share

key takeaways

  • KuCoin Labs first announced a $50 million fund in April
  • KuCoin currently sits as the sixth-largest crypto exchange by volume, according to CoinMarketCap

KuCoin Labs, an investment arm of global cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin, announced the launch of a $100 million fund devoted to early-stage metaverse projects on Wednesday. The capital will also go towards blockchain-based games, non-fungible token (NFT) projects and other decentralized apps, according to the Seychelles-based company. 

“The metaverse space has just started with infrastructures and underlying technologies still under development. Therefore, we’ll focus on building metaverse infrastructure and accelerating the overall ecosystem at the initial stage by supporting diversified start-up projects in the metaverse field,” Lou Yu, head of KuCoin Labs, told Blockworks.

KuCoin Labs first announced a $50 million fund in April, advertising the investment arm as an incubation program for emerging crypto projects.  

Some could be wary of using KuCoin’s network following a $280 million hack on its crypto exchange last year. However, a majority of the stolen funds have since been returned.

According to Yu, the newly-launched fund should “establish a more private and secure Metaverse ecosystem.”

“We think that the security and privacy issue is one of the obstacles for its further development, and we hope to address the problem by supporting the construction of more secure and privacy-protecting Metaverse ecosystem based on Web 3.0,” Yu said.

KuCoin Labs’ portfolio consists of over 50 projects, including Ankr, MultiVAC, Arweave, CertiK, OneLedger and LUKSO. KuCoin currently sits as the sixth-largest crypto exchange by volume, according to CoinMarketCap.

“As the next chapter of the Internet, [the] metaverse is poised to change the way we work, connect, shop, entertain and have social interactions,” Johnny Lyu, CEO of KuCoin, said in a statement.


Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.


Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template (10).png

Research

Innovations on Aptos’ technical design through Raptr, Shardines, and Zaptos approach near-optimal latency and throughput by unlocking 100% utilization of network resources, with the capacity to settle 260k transactions per second with latencies less than 800ms. The original Move language was revamped with the launch of Move 2, supporting more expressivity in smart contract logic and a scalable ability to interact with high volume datasets. The ecosystem has benefitted from strong asset inflows, now hosting over $1.3B in stablecoins, $450M in bridged BTC, and $530M in RWAs. Activity in the Aptos ecosystem has grown notably over the past year, with monthly application revenue reaching ~$835k and monthly DEX volumes growing to over $5B, both at new all time highs.

article-image

The Stripe-acquired firm has big plans for a streamlined, multi-wallet future

article-image

Both founders of the former crypto lender have now landed in new crypto industry roles

article-image

Bitcoin’s recent peak is a victory lap for curvers left and right

article-image

Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo says institutions are eager to get exposure to tokenization

article-image

Trade isn’t war and prosperity isn’t a contest