Zed Run

Zed Run is a virtual horse-racing game based on blockchain technology. The platform was cofounded in 2018 by Chris Laurent, Rob Salha, Geoff Wellman, and Chris Ebeling, who are also the cofounders of Virtually Human Studio, an Australian developer of Web3 and metaverse entertainment that produces Zed Run. Zed Run lets users purchase non-fungible tokens (NFTs) representing racehorses with various racing and breeding characteristics.

An NFT racehorse available on Zed Run. Credit: New York Times

On Zed Run, owners pay a small entry fee—usually between $2 and $15—to race their NFT horses against each other for prize money. The platform hosts races every hour, seven days a week, streaming the races on their website as well as Zed Run's Twitch channel. Much like actual racehorses, Zed Run users can breed their NFT horses, which have a unique "bloodline," thanks to the game's algorithm, which makes no two horses the same. Since 2019, the company has sold more than $30 million racehorse NFTs on the platform.