Hashed, a Korean blockchain investment firm, participated in an $18 million seed funding round (approximately KRW 25 billion) for the Layer-2-based gaming infrastructure ‘B3’. NPC Labs, the creator of B3, has secured a total of $21 million in funding (around KRW 29 billion), including this seed round and earlier pre-seed investments. The funding round was spearheaded by Pantera, a U.S.-based digital asset investment firm, with contributions from other blockchain investors, including Hashed, Makers Fund, Collab+Currency, Sfermion, Mirana Ventures, Bitscale Capital, and Mantle EcoFund.

NPC Labs’ team includes former members of the business and ecosystem development team from Base, a Layer-2 blockchain initiated by Coinbase, the largest digital asset exchange in the U.S. B3 is designed to establish an optimized infrastructure for on-chain games, aiming to attract 1 billion on-chain users by enabling developers and players to distribute and use games economically.

B3, developed by NPC Labs, incorporates a chain abstraction function that allows users to avoid the inconvenience of switching bridges or networks. Currently in its testnet phase, B3 supports games built on other EVM-compatible chains such as Ethereum and Base, and its scalable technology stack facilitates the integration of games onto other chains, including Solana.

Baek-gyeom Kim, Partner at Hashed, noted, “As the blockchain market evolves, B3 is emerging as a key platform that enhances consumer adoption in the realms of gaming, content, and social media, bridging significant ecosystem gaps.” He added, “The B3 team, which previously led Web3 initiatives at Coinbase, has a proven track record of fostering the success of long-term partners.”

Daryl Xu, CEO of NPC Labs, commented on the current challenges in the gaming market, saying, “Developers find it difficult to launch their games in today’s competitive environment, often relinquishing up to 70% of their profits in the process. Our goal is to empower them to distribute their games more freely on-chain, thereby restoring control to the developers and users themselves.”