CryptoAvatars
CryptoAvatars.io was a platform that allowed users to mint unique digital avatars as NFTs. These avatars were designed for use across various virtual worlds and platforms, enabling true ownership and seamless integration with multiple metaverses.
/// CryptoAvatars was born out of the need for ownership verification in VRChat, where avatar theft was a common issue. Users often struggled to identify the true owner of an avatar. By combining avatars with blockchain technology, CryptoAvatars provided a solution—enabling verifiable ownership of 3D avatars and making it possible to securely track and prove who owned each one.
/// CryptoAvatars (CA) was the first platform to allow minting VRMs as NFTs, launching in October 2020 on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform revolutionized digital avatars by enabling true ownership of 3D avatars. Orion, the first avatar ever minted, marked a milestone in NFT history.
At its core, CryptoAvatars was similar to SuperRare, but focused on avatars—offering 1/1 unique avatars and a curated onboarding process for artists to showcase and sell their creations.
/// CryptoAvatars began as a small project within Polygonal Mind but quickly spun off into its own independent company with a clear vision, team, and roadmap. In 2021, we successfully raised capital with the support of Outlier Ventures, helping fuel the growth and expansion of the platform.
Opportunity
/// CryptoAvatars evolved into a powerful tech stack with its own API and a suite of avatar creation tools, enabling the generation of thousands of avatars using Blender on the backend.
With a dedicated team of developers and artists, we successfully produced over 250k avatars.
We became the first non-Japanese company to join the VRM Consortium, a significant milestone for our platform. However, by the summer of 2024, CryptoAvatars had to close its doors due to a combination of overgrowth and market misalignment, marking the end of an era.
