Alto.io wants to get consumers to start embracing cryptocurrency and blockchain in a bigger way. So the company announced it will support the Hedera Hashgraph platform with its own application that makes commerce possible.

Alto.io has created a tool, the Alto Forge, that enables game and app developers to mint non-fungible, fully tradeable crypto items and integrate them into their games. Developers can create storefronts where they can sell the crypto items or hold presales.

Game developers have long created items that can be sold in games. But with blockchain, Alto.io can ensure that the user truly owns an item, and that item can be unique thanks to the security and transparency of the public distributed ledger. Hedera Hashgraph recently announced it is creating its own version of a blockchain alternative network to speed such commerce.

“Distributed ledger technology will change the way we play games in the future. For the first time, true ownership of game items is possible. We’d like to be on the forefront of this breakthrough,” said Chase Freo, CEO at Alto.io, in a statement.

If a game shuts down, a user could transfer that item or character to another game that accepts it.

“We’ve chosen to support Hedera Hashgraph because its technology allows for lightning-fast transaction speeds with very minimal gas cost, two of the biggest problems blockchain developers are facing today,” added Gabby Dizon, Alto’s co-founder and chairman, in a statement. “It also supports the full Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), meaning blockchain game developers can port their Solidity code into Hedera with minimal code changes.”

The idea is to create a self-sustaining ecosystem​ built around the blockchain’s item-first economy that is fair and mutually beneficial for everyone.

“Alto.io is helping reduce the barriers to entry for game developers by allowing them to quickly and easily build on top of the industry’s leading distributed ledger platforms”, said Edgar Seah, head of the Asia Pacific region for Hedera Hashgraph, in a statement. “We are pleased that they have chosen to integrate support for the Hedera Hashgraph platform into their tools, creating an ecosystem where cryptoitems can be interoperable across multiple game worlds, benefiting both developers and gamers.”

Alto.io was founded in Singapore and Toronto in February 2018 as a spinout from Altitude Games. It has 12 employees.