Los Angeles hosted the Crypto Invest Summit from April 30 through May 2, drawing blockchain investors and entrepreneurs to sessions exploring the technology's emerging applications. The final day feat
Los Angeles hosted the Crypto Invest Summit from April 30 through May 2, drawing blockchain investors and entrepreneurs to sessions exploring the technology's emerging applications. The final day featured "Tokens and Blockchain in Gaming," a panel that assembled prominent industry figures to discuss how cryptocurrency could reshape video games. The session drew considerable interest from attendees who recognized gaming as one of the blockchain's most promising application areas.
Dirk Meyer of Egretia, Jonathan Swerdlow of Game Protocol, Lee Jacobson of RobotCache, Dave Anthony of Call of Duty, and Malcolm CasSelle of WAX shared the stage to discuss the intersection of gaming and blockchain. Their focus centered on how blockchain would transform a gaming sector expected to reach $143 billion in global revenue by 2020. The convergence matters because gaming has become one of the world's fastest-growing technology industries.
Gaming has always run on player spending. Millions of gamers buy digital assets—weapons, skins, in-game currency—rather than grinding through endless gameplay. That spending generates enormous revenues. Yet the model contains a fundamental flaw: traditional gaming platforms own and control everything players buy. Players don't truly own their items; they're paying for licenses to access assets the platform manages exclusively. Players require safe, reliable platforms where they can trade, sell, and purchase digital goods with confidence.
Blockchain solves this problem. With blockchain, players own their in-game assets outright. They could trade items between games freely. They could move their profiles from one game to another, carrying their digital possessions and accumulated value with them. This represents a fundamental shift in how gaming economies function.
This isn't theoretical. Developers have already experimented with blockchain in gaming. Beyond the Void, a space strategy game built on Ethereum, exists today. Imagine playing Call of Duty inside a Grand Theft Auto map while equipped with World of Warcraft weapons. Blockchain makes such interoperability possible.
Jonathan Swerdlow commanded the most attention on stage. He runs GamyTech, a video game studio he founded in 2011. By 2015, the company generated $91.5 billion in worldwide revenue—more than double the global film industry's earnings that year. Recognizing blockchain's potential, Swerdlow established Game Protocol as a subsidiary within GamyTech in 2017 to help multiplayer game developers finance and distribute their projects.
Game Protocol operates through several linked components. Developers pitch their games on GameStarter, a website where the cryptocurrency community reviews proposals. Interested investors purchase Game Protocol Tokens, the ecosystem's native currency, to fund projects. These investors receive in-game tools and benefits once the games launch. Smart contracts ensure developers receive payment upon completion. GameProtocol then distributes finished games through its own marketplace, where players pay with Game Protocol Tokens to access them.
Several games have already been developed this way, including Special Guns and Soccer Championship.
Swerdlow told those gathered: "We are only starting and the potential of cryptocurrency technologies in games is practically untapped."
