Hytopia, a Minecraft-like sandbox game previously known as NFT Worlds, is set to roll out a closed beta test this month after raising millions of dollars through a node sale for its Ethereum layer-2 network, Hychain.

The Hychain sale raised 2,098 ETH in March, or more than $8 million worth at the time, as users purchased nodes that help secure the Arbitrum-based gaming network and also allow them to earn TOPIA tokens in the process.

In total, 250 million TOPIA—about $17.5 million worth at present—will be doled out to node operators, along with a 25% share of transaction fees. The Hychain nodes went live on Tuesday following last month’s sale.

Nearly 17,000 node keys have been sold to date out of 50,000 in total, and the sale will remain ongoing while Hychain nodes are still available. Hychain said that it paid out 254 ETH (about $1 million worth at the time) worth of incentives to content creators and influencers who helped promote the node sale via their respective creator codes.

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Minecraft Banned NFTs—So ‘NFT Worlds’ Built Its Own Crypto Game Instead

When Minecraft announced that it would ban NFTs from one of the world’s biggest games in 2022, one blockchain project in particular took the hardest hit: NFT Worlds. Two years later, the rebranded Hytopia is now aiming to make a big splash on its own—and maybe take some of the shine off of the Web2 gaming smash. With a customized Minecraft server as its home world, NFT Worlds had minted and sold scarce chunks of in-game land as NFTs on Ethereum scaling network Polygon. They’d sold for as much as...

"We are thrilled by the community's enthusiastic response to the Hychain node sale and are equally excited for players to explore the Hychain mainnet," said pseudonymous co-founder ArkDev, in a release. "These milestones are a clear indication of the community's desire for a new permissionless [layer-2] blockchain that enables seamless and frictionless publishing of Web3 games."

Hytopia, the flagship game that will kick off the Hychain rollout, will debut its closed beta test this month after amassing 1.25 million pre-registrations for the game.

Decrypt’s GG recently spoke with ArkDev about the game’s transition from the Minecraft-based NFT Worlds project to an original crypto game that mashes up elements of both Minecraft and Roblox, as well as the team’s plans to attract other game developers with Hychain.

Editor’s note: This article was written with the assistance of AI. Edited and fact-checked by Andrew Hayward.