Monaker Group, which builds booking platforms for the travel industry, is venturing into tokenized assets with the indirect acquisition of Thailandâs Longroot initial coin offering (ICO) portal.
The Nasdaq traded company took an âindirect controlling stakeâ in the entity that owns Longroot on Thursday, one day after buying up a third of Longroot minority shareholder Axion Ventures, a video game company.
It is now at the helm of one of the few ICO portals regulated by Thailandâs relatively crypto friendly Securities and Exchange Commission.
Longroot could begin hosting ICOs for the travel and video game industries in 2021, according to Richard Marshall, Monakerâs corporate communications director. He said the move gives Monaker exposure to the growing digital assets ecosystem by providing opportunities in gaming and tech.
Thatâs especially important in a travel-crunching pandemic. Marshall said that with travel down, gaming is up. Both, he said, are now core to Monakerâs business. And both could benefit from tokenized offerings ahead.
âThe broader business is really focused on delivering to the consumer, bringing technology, whether itâs vacation rental, gaming, in-game advertising,â he said. âAnd with the cryptocurrencies in the ICO portal thereâs an opportunity for that crossover.â