New Purpose-Built Blockchain T-Rex Raises $17 Million to Transform Attention Layer in Web3

[PRESS RELEASE – Hong Kong, Hong Kong, May 9th, 2025]Launching Summer 2025, T-Rex’s built-in distribution engine introduces a radically simple idea: rewarding people seamlessly for doing what they already love online.T-Rex, a purpose-built blockchain for entertainment, content, and cultural virality, today announced a $17 million fundraise and Incubation Fund to revolutionize online content publishing by seamlessly rewarding consumers for everyday interactions on social platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, or X (formerly Twitter) and reshape how consumer-facing decentralized applications (dApps) are discovered, published, distributed and scaled across Web3.Backed by strategic investors including Portal Ventures, North Island Ventures, Framework Ventures, Arbitrum Gaming Ventures, ArkStream Capital, Mindfulness Capital, Hypersphere, SNZ, and Arche Fund, and developed by EVG, Asia’s prominent product builder and publisher, known for driving mass adoption, T-Rex directly addresses the critical “ghost town” and “mercenary users” challenges in blockchain.“Arbitrum Gaming Ventures recognizes the transformative potential of platforms like T-Rex that are expanding Web3 beyond DeFi. EVG’s strong regional influence and deep understanding of the Southeast Asian market, projected to reach $7 billion by 2028, provide a strategic gateway for us to significantly scale our footprint within this high-growth region. Combining our robust scaling capabilities with EVG’s extensive ecosystem expertise, we are strategically positioned to penetrate the entertainment industry and broader consumer market in a pivotal and rapidly expanding part of the world,” said Dan Peng, Partner at Arbitrum Gaming Ventures.​​T-Rex leverages Arbitrum’s powerful Layer-2 scaling solution, delivering ultra-fast, secure, and low-cost transactions essential for consumer-scale adoption. Arbitrum Gaming Ventures has specifically identified T-Rex as key to its regional growth strategy.T-Rex: A New Kind of Blockchain for the Culture-First Internet(UI screenshot: A user earning rewards while browsing YouTube with T-Rex’s browser extension.)While Web3 holds the promise of revolutionary change, the current landscape is fragmented, user-unfriendly and often empty with underutilized dApps. Despite all its innovation, most chains lack real users, real culture, and real reasons to stay. T-Rex flips the model with its simple first principle: stop trying to reinvent user habits and instead enhance them invisibly. Its core innovation, Proof-of-Engagement (PoE) mechanism, automatically rewards users on apps they already use daily through a privacy-preserving browser extension, turning everyday online actions like watching videos, liking posts, and sharing memes into tangible, valuable digital ownership and offline perks.“Instead of building another blockchain pipe, we’re delivering actual water: engaging content, thriving communities, real-world rewards”, said Allen Ng, Co-Founder of T-Rex and EVG. “Users shouldn’t have to think about crypto until they want to. Our blockchain stays invisible, letting them effortlessly turn their online fun into meaningful rewards. Our vision is to let attention becomes equity, community becomes power and participation becomes currency.”Radical Simplicity: Web3 That Feels Like TikTok, Not A Crypto Wallet(UI screenshot: Home Discovery pushing relevant content and dApps to user.)At launch, users simply install T-Rex’s browser extension and continue browsing popular social media platforms. Every interaction is quietly, securely recorded via advanced zero-knowledge tech (zkTLS), and seamlessly turned into rewards, with no wallet or tech jargon required.Creators and projects benefit from instant audience discovery and viral distribution, while end users earn rewards effortlessly, redeemable both digitally and offline, such as cash back at favorite restaurants or exclusive local deals.“The next wave of breakout applications will be defined by distribution, UI / UX, and product differentiation. The team at T-Rex gets this. They’re building a protocol that seamlessly onboards social media users and allows them to monetize their data through network rewards. We’re excited to back T-Rex as they merge protocol-native network design with clean consumer product expertise,” said Evan Fisher, Founder and General Partner of Portal Ventures.“Web3 infrastructure has matured, but it still lacks consumer momentum because only a few use cases resonate with the masses. T-Rex is a strong contender to bridge this gap. By prioritizing culture and abstracting complexity, it offers a path to broad adoption,” said Travis Scher Managing Partner and Co-founder of North Island Ventures.Incubating the New Digital MetropolisThe $8 million Incubation Fund backed by EVG with support from the Arbitrum Gaming Ventures will accelerate ecosystem growth, offering comprehensive developer support beyond capital, including engineering resources, media partnerships, community activations, premium events, Key Opinion Leader (KOL) networks, and strategic Intellectual Property (IP) applications.“We provide real firepower, not just capital”, Joyce Yim, Co-founder of T-Rex emphasised. “Developers gain immediate user traffic, creators grow loyal audiences effortlessly, and users become not just spectators, but stakeholders in the success of viral content.”Set to launch in Summer 2025, T-Rex’s distribution layer and browser extension create the railroads linking popular online consumer applications such as gaming, music, interactive media, and Web3. From creators rewarding top users with digital assets, to new projects gaining instant discovery, to active users earning a stake, T-Rex’s ecosystem is designed for intuitive use, cultural resonance, and economic empowerment at scale.About T-RexT-Rex is a new blockchain ecosystem purpose-built for consumer-facing applications, designed to transform the Web3 attention layer through its innovative Proof of Engagement (PoE) mechanism.Developed by EVG and backed by leading investors including Arbitrum Gaming Ventures, Framework Ventures, North Island Ventures, and Portal Ventures, T-Rex offers creators and developers a UX-first infrastructure with built-in discovery, rewards, and distribution, enabling the next billion users to engage, earn, and build on-chain.Website: https://trex.xyz/Twitter: https://x.com/TREX_chainAbout EVGFounded in 2018, EVG is one of APAC’s largest and most active Web3 product builders and publishers. With 200+ engineers and 10+ millions of users, EVG has built a complex of innovative products across consumer infrastructures (e.g Edgen AI, T-Rex), entertainment / culture dApps (e.g Deek, Last Odyssey, LiveArt), and fintech platforms (e.g Aspen Digital).EVG’s corporate venture arm also owns strategic stakes across 100+ Web3 companies including the likes of Celestia, Wormhole, Berachain, Pudgy Penguins, Abstract, Infinex, Dapper Labs, Animoca Brands, The Sandbox, Stacks, Immutable, Kraken and Dunamu.Website: https://www.evg.co/Twitter: https://twitter.com/EVGHQ/Media Contact: marketing@trex.xyz The post New Purpose-Built Blockchain T-Rex Raises $17 Million to Transform Attention Layer in Web3 appeared first on CryptoPotato.