In recent days, there has been a significant uptick in the daily sales volume of nonfungible token (NFT) trading cards belonging to the former President of the United States, Donald Trump.
According to market analytics aggregator Cryptoslam, sales volumes on January 18 and January 19 saw surges of 800% and 600% respectively when compared to sales volumes on January 17.
Following reports that the former president was seeking to rejoin Facebook and Twitter in advance of the 2024 presidential election campaign, some experts believe that the rekindled interest could be due to his imminent return to social media networks. This speculation comes after it was reported that the former president was seeking to rejoin these networks.
On December 15th, a collection of 45,000 self-themed trading cards was released, and the price of each card was originally set at $99 USD.
Customers who purchased the collection were instantly placed into a sweepstakes with “thousands of prizes,” some of which included one-on-one meals, zoom calls, and games of golf with the previous President.
They sold out very rapidly and achieved daily sales volumes of more than $3.5 million, but after that, their sales volume sank to a baseline of around $26,000 by the end of 2022.
Yuga Labs, the company that created Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), has blocked the secondary trade of its “Sewer Pass” non-fungible tokens on markets that do not provide full support for creator royalties.
It is possible to mint the Sewer Pass, which serves as an admission pass to its new skill-based non-flip-to-win game called Dookey Dash, but only for those who are members of the Bored Ape Yacht Club or the Mutant Ape Yacht Club.
According to the statistics provided by NFT Price Floor, The Sewer Pass has had a large amount of transactions on secondary markets, with a floor price of 1.81 ETH (which is equivalent to $2,809) and sales volumes of 15,627 ETH (which is equivalent to $24,267,411).
Secondary sales of the collection have already brought in more than $1.2 million in income for Yuga Labs, which is based on a 5% creator royalty charge for the collection.
According to the announcement, “Neopets Metaverse” will be a play-and-earn virtual pet game based on the original, and it would enable users to “grow, care for, personalise, and combat with their Neopets” on the blockchain. The game will be based on the original “Neopets.”
Neopets was established in 1999, and its parent business has high hopes that its newest product, Neopets Metaverse, would reintroduce “the magic of Neopets in a wonderfully fresh light to old-time gamers, as well as recruiting and fostering a new generation of Neopians.”
The news has been received with a lacklustre reaction from the community, with some members speculating that the community’s earlier attempt to create a Neopets metaverse was unsuccessful.
Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a pair of haptic gloves that they hope will allow users to experience the feeling of touch in the metaverse.
The HaptGlove is an untethered and lightweight glove that will enable users of the metaverse to interact with virtual items in a manner that is much more realistic by communicating a sense of touch and grip. The innovation was developed by HaptLabs.
When users put on the HaptGlove, they are able to sense when their virtual avatar’s hand touches something, as well as tell how hard the object is and what shape it is. This is made possible by the HaptGlove restricting the user’s finger positions, which enables users to sense when their virtual avatar’s hand touches something.
According to NUS, the HaptGlove will also be valuable in other fields, such as education and medicine, since it will enable surgeons to practise their procedures in a “hyper-realistic environment” and will provide students with the opportunity to gain practical knowledge via hands-on practise.
Although the idea of haptic gloves is not new, as for example, Meta is now working on their own version of them, NUS say that theirs is capable of providing users with a far more realistic feeling of touch in comparison to other haptic gloves that are already on the market.
It has been suggested by those working on metaverse games that because virtual reality is such an immature technology, it is difficult to incorporate it into metaverse products. As a result, games like The Sandbox and Decentraland have not yet fully incorporated virtual reality clients into their gameplay.
Rarible, a marketplace for NFTs, made the announcement on January 18 that it was going to extend its marketplace builder to accommodate Polygon-based NFT collections.
The cryptocurrency exchange Binance made an announcement on January 19 that it would be tightening its rules for NFT listings. As part of the new regulations, the exchange will require sellers to complete Know Your Customer (KYC) verification and have at least two followers before they can list their NFTs on the platform.
Olympic Games Jam: Beijing 2022 is the Winter Olympic’s official play-to-earn multiplayer mobile game, created in collaboration between Animoca Brands-owned nWayPlay game studio and the International Olympics Committee. The app is currently only available on the Google Play store for Android phones, with no official release date for iOS devices yet. In the Olympian spirit, Cointelegraph played the newly launched game and reviewed the experience.
Olympic Games Jam: Beijing 2022 Unveiled! Learn more about the new Play-To-Earn game here: https://t.co/q7dRTFCkmk #NFT #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/93rUDpmMj4
— Olympics Games Jam (@OlympicGamesJam) February 3, 2022
The game flow aims to mimic the real-life olympics: players compete in real-time with up to 20 other gamers around the world in winter sport mini games until a champion is awarded. The sports are snowboard – slalom, snowboard – slopestyle, freestyle skiing and skeleton. Players have to earn their way through elimination rounds.
The game was developed to get fans to earn and buy Olympic NFT digital pins. Although no initial purchase is necessary to play, there are tiers of gameplay and difficulty that require earning certain amount of tickets, the green icons below, and gems, the purple icons below, to continue playing. According to nWayPlay, Olympic NFT pins generate tickets to be used in matches rewarding gems. A player’s gem balance is connected to an nWayPlay account, and the more gems the more pins can be acquired to play in more advanced matches.
The first step is to customize and name an avatar. Initially there are only four male avatars available to choose from. Outfits, headwear, accessories and gear changes unlock as players advance in the competition. Country/region must also be selected.
Related: Nifty News: Olympic Games Beijing 2022 edition
The first elimination round is Snowboard – slalom. There is a brief waiting period while the app looks for a certain number of other players to join in order to start. Competing against bots as well, a player must finish within the top 10 to qualify for the next race.
While going down the slopes, players control avatars with just a finger. When snowboarding slalom, the idea is to pass near flags and gain a speed boost. The second round is skiing and players where players can perform jumps. Then during slopestyle snowboarding, players can perform tricks off of rails and ramps to score points. In round 4, skeleton racers must stay within their lane to maximize speed. There are also power-ups that make the player go faster and resist hazards. If you place within the top three, then you can continue to play.
Related: US lawmakers issue warnings about digital yuan as Winter Olympics kicks off
Overall it is a an enjoyable and entertaining way to pass time and participate in a small way to the Olympics. I question, however, how effective Olympic Games Jam will be in the long run as a blockchain game. Without pins, a player must spend a lot of time on the app in order to unlock levels tiers of play.
Today’s Nifty News rounds up NFT projects centered around the Winter Olympics, which began Friday in Beijing, China. The following are initiatives taken by the International Olympic Committee, or IOC, The British Olympic Association, and an independent artist leading up the 2022 games.
IOC celebrates Olympic history
Since June 2021, the IOC has collaborated with nWayPlay, an NFT marketplace and blockchain game studio that is a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, to launch the Olympic Heritage Collection of Olympic NFT Pins. Essentially digital versions of the physical collectible and tradeable Olympic pins, these NFTs celebrate the past Olympic Games by depicting posters, emblems, pictograms and mascots from the last 125 years. Monthly drops of assorted boxes were available for fans to purchase, leading up to February 2022.
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Timo Lumme, Managing Director of IOC Television and Marketing Services, said in a statement that the committee’s hope is for fans to “connect with the excitement of the Games in a whole new way and own a piece of Olympic history.”
The week of the Opening Ceremony, the IOC officially released a play-to-earn multiplayer mobile video game developed by nWay, that they had been teasing since last year. Available on Android and iOS, the app called Olympic Games Jam: Beijing 2022, will let players compete in a series of winter sports to earn Olympic NFT digital pins that can be traded on the nWayPlay marketplace. The in-game utility of the Olympic NFT digital Pins will extend to character power-ups, special avatar skins and sporting equipment exclusive to specific NFTs.
It is important to note that the app is not available in China, where despite being the host city, the government has strict regulations on games and moved to ban all crypto-related activities last year.
Related: COVID restrictions stymie digital yuan rollout at Beijing Winter Olympics: Report
Team GB enters the Metaverse
Team GB, the brand name used by the British Olympic Association that represents Great Britain and Northern Ireland, created the Gold Lion Club NFT community. The collaboration with commerce provider Tokns to developed a fan engagement program first started in the run up to the Tokyo Games last summer. Now, Team GB fans can purchase Gold Lion Tokns to gain access to signed merchandise, athlete experiences and eventually an immersive clubhouse in the Metaverse.
Own a piece of history, support #TeamGB, show your pride.
Purchase a unique digital NFT Collectable from our shop or bid on an Original Olympic-Inspired artwork.
A portion of all proceeds go directly to the British Olympic Association.
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 4, 2021
There is one collection of animated NFTs celebrating the athletes’ successes and another featuring a limited number of digital collectible pins. The third collection is an NFT drop by Team GB uniform supplier, Ben Sherman, showcasing the Opening Ceremony uniforms as wearables for the Metaverse. Ben Sherman partnered with the Humanz NFT project to create exclusive Humanz character NFTs for Team GB fans.
Protest NFT collection criticizes Chinese government
Badiucao is an exiled Chinese dissident artist, now based in Australia, who developed an NFT poster campaign that brings attention to China’s human rights violations. According to the NFT site, the five art works “depict the Chinese government’s oppression of the Tibetan people, the Uyghur genocide, the dismantling of democracy in Hong Kong, the regime’s omnipresent surveillance systems, and lack of transparency surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Beijing 2022 Collection was first on physical display at the December 2021 Oslo Freedom Forum in Miami and is currently on exhibition at the Museo di Santa Giulia in Italy. Now released as a digital collection this week, Badiucao states on the NFT site:
“NFTs and blockchain technologies not only provide a safe way to offer critical financial support to dissident artists, but serve as an important immutable public record outside of authoritarian tampering and control.”
1/ I am launching my first #NFT collection 《Beijing2022》 on Feb 1 to call for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics in opposition to the Chinese government’s human rights abuses!
Collectors can write their own messages onto the blockchain as part of the minting process. 10% of the proceeds will go towards the Art in Residency Program that Badiucao is a part of in collaboration between the San Francisco-based Gray Area Foundation for the Arts and the Human Rights Foundation in New York.
A survey of 1,000 United States consumers around growing interest in the metaverse has revealed some interesting results.
In a survey commissioned by nonfungible token and metaverse infrastructure provider Advokate Group, 87% of respondents preferred a decentralized metaverse on a blockchain over some of the mega projects planned by tech giants. This became more evident when 77% of the respondents shared concerns over Facebook’s entry into the metaverse, especially since it owns users’ metaverse data.
Facebook’s tainted past with mismanagement of private user data has already dismantled its early plans of launching a stablecoin called Diem. The stablecoin project faced heavy scrutiny from the U.S. Congress, and the project eventually came to a crashing end. A similar concern has started to grow around Facebook’s multi-billion-dollar metaverse aspirations.
The surveyed respondents were divided in terms of when metaverse could become mainstream, 20% of respondents believe it could take 1–2 years while 49% said it could take up to 3–6 years. Gaming was the primary choice of spending time in metaverse followed by socializing. 55% of the respondents said they would spend more than three hours a day in the metaverse.
Related: Tusk Ventures CEO: Don’t repeat social media mistakes with Metaverse regulations
A majority of the respondents also showed a keen interest in making money while playing games. With play-to-earn models being the latest rage, 93% of the respondents said they would spend more time playing games if it could make for the minimum wage. Some 64% said they would spend more than three hours if they made real money and 87% would switch to full-time gaming if the pay was good.
Metaverse as a concept only became formidable in 2021 and now every major tech giant be it Apple, Facebook or Google is looking to launch or invest in the ecosystem. However, a significant chunk of crypto proponents is advocating against the entry of centralized cash-rich firms, as they believe the concept of decentralization would take a back seat.
Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) continue to be one of the hottest sectors of the cryptocurrency market in 2022 despite the overall multi-month weakness seen in Bitcoin (BTC) and other large-cap crypto assets.
One project that has benefited from the persistent bullishness in the NFT space is ImmutableX (IMX), a layer-2 scaling solution for NFTs on the Ethereum network designed to offer near-instant transactions and zero gas fees for minting and trading
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $1.99 on Jan. 24, the price of IMX gained 116% to hit a daily high of $4.29 as the 24-hour trading volume surged 505% to $333.5 million.
IMX/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
Three reasons for the price turnaround in IMX include the announcement of a new partnership with GameStop, the listing of the IMX token on Binance and the continued strength of the NFT space as a whole.
Immutable partners with GameStop
The biggest boost in momentum for IMX came with the Feb. 3 announcement that the protocol has partnered with GameStop to launch an NFT marketplace later in the year.
We’re thrilled to announce that @Immutable is taking another leap forward in the gaming & blockchain industry by partnering w/ @GameStop to power their NFT Marketplace: https://t.co/Tase31CBt3
Continue for more… pic.twitter.com/8v6Titg3kq
— Immutable | $IMX (@Immutable) February 3, 2022
As part of the collaboration, a $100 million fund was created that is designed to provide grants to game developers and studios interested in building on ImmutableX and the NFT marketplace.
GameStop indicated that it selected ImmutableX for this collaboration due to the faster and more affordable nature of the network, which is also carbon-neutral and offers nearly limitless transactions.
ImmutalbeX utilizes StarkWare’s StarkEx zero-knowledge proof technology to achieve scalability on Ethereum, and any carbon footprint that is created by the network is offset through agreements with the certified climate-conscious provider’s Trace and Cool Effect.
Did the Binance listing provide a delayed boost?
A second factor that has helped boost the project was the Jan. 10 listing of the IMX token on Binance, the top cryptocurrency exchange by volume.
#Binance will list @AlchemyPay $ACH and @Immutable $IMX https://t.co/smkEblDzRP
— Binance (@binance) January 10, 2022
IMX saw a slight bump up in its price following the listing, before being dragged down with the wider market as the price of Bitcoin dropped to a low near $33,500 on Jan. 24.
IMX is now available on six of the top seven cryptocurrency exchanges by volume, including Coinbase and FTX, giving the token widespread access and ample trading liquidity.
Related:Gamestop partners with Immutable X for NFT marketplace, announces $100M grant for creators
Project launches and the growing popularity of NFTs
A third factor propelling IMX higher has been the steady addition of new projects and partnerships launching on the ImmutableX NFT marketplace and the overall popularity of the NFT sector.
Notable developments include the listing of Gods Unchained NFTs on ImmutableX, the launch of support for the KolectiveGG NFT marketplace and the launches of Cyber Galz, VeeFriends, Fantasy Labs, Battle Star NFT and Highrise, and new partnerships with Stardust and SHOYU_NFT.
These all come as the NFT space has continued to see large amounts of activity despite the wider market weakness as evidenced by data from Dune Analytics.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Blockchain-based play-to-earn (P2E) gaming had a breakout year in 2021, and as the cryptocurrency ecosystem evolves in 2022, the P2E gaming sector and those that invest in it will need to consider what the next steps are. During bull markets, vaporware, speculation and euphoria can lead to unrealistic valuations and expectations, and this appears to also have impacted the P2E sector.
Now that the hype is “over,” investors and developers will need to identify new value propositions that catalyze growth and steady investment into the blockchain gaming sector.
Here’s a closer look at some of the trends that could emerge in the P2E ecosystem in 2022.
Profit-sharing communities
The first trend to keep an eye on in 2022 is projects that are looking to harness interest in nonfungible tokens to create profit-sharing models and capitalize on the price appreciation of NFTs.
These projects aim to offer opportunities for gamers and investors by providing a platform where investors who are not interested in playing games can invest and provide NFTs for players who would not otherwise be able to afford them.
From there, players earn rewards for their gameplay, while investors earn a share of the profits.
One example of this type of protocol is Yield Guild Games (YGG), a P2E gaming guild and decentralized autonomous organization focused on creating a community that lets players earn via blockchain-based economies.
The DAO generates revenue through the sale of NFT assets or by renting them out to gamers as part of a profit-sharing model known as a scholarship.
There are currently more players wanting #playtoearn scholarships than there are game assets to meet the demand
Together with our newest Sponsor-A-Scholar partner @coinbase, YGG will be able to onboard more new players worldwide pic.twitter.com/WXI8yniqt7
— Yield Guild Games (@YieldGuild) January 11, 2022
Some of the current games and investments that YGG is involved with include Axie Infinity, Illuvium, Guild of Guardians, Star Atlas, Splinterlands and The Sandbox.
The most recent investment for the YGG community was a $50,000 investment in the seed round of Heroes of Mavia and a $330,000 purchase of NFT land assets in the game.
Communities with educational support
Another trend emerging out of the gaming and NFT sectors are communities that focus on educating community members on how to earn money through gameplay.
Blockchain-based gaming can be a challenge for newcomers to learn, and some games have upfront costs that prevent some players from being able to play.
To help simplify the process, a few protocols that invest in providing apprenticeships for players have come into existence. Merit Circle is a DAO project focused on developing its P2E economy by helping gamers transform their hobby into a steady stream of income.
The Merit Circle DAO is maximizing value and accrue it to all the participants.
The main activities can be separated into ⬇️
(pre)seed investments into ‘GameFi’
Scholarship program
Treasury management
Developing products in-house
All adding value to $MC pic.twitter.com/0bHAhbniKH
— Merit Circle (@MeritCircle_IO) January 11, 2022
At the time of writing, the Merit Circle community has 2,750 active gamers from regions all around the world — including Asia, Africa, Europe and South America — who earn rewards daily by playing one of the supported games.
Similar to YGG, Merit Circle also invests in community-held assets that can be used by gamers to earn rewards, with 30% of all proceeds being reinvested in the DAO or distributed to tokenholders.
The project uses educational content and one-on-one coaching sessions to help improve the performance of scholars on the platform. These players have earned more than $2 million through gameplay to date.
Related:New research expects a gloomy year for Bitcoin as DeFi and DAOs rise
DeFi combines with NFTs and P2E gaming
A third trend forming in 2022 is the development of projects and investment funds that aim to combine aspects of decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs and P2E gaming.
While the gaming sector only appeals to a niche crowd, NFTs have a wide range of capabilities that can be applied to many fields ranging from art to real estate by providing immutable proof of ownership.
As blockchain technology continues on its path to mass adoption, an increasing number of real-world items will be digitally recorded on distributed ledgers, ultimately providing interested parties with an easier route to investment than exists at present.
It also allows for the possibility of fractionally owning certain high-price items such as a hotel or the copyright to a popular movie or music album.
.@Nas May Be Offering Fractional Ownership Of His Music — But For Him, ‘This Isn’t Really For The Money’ https://t.co/34A2yhX6MP pic.twitter.com/yWWAqOlwLd
— AfroTech (@AfroTech) January 11, 2022
BlackPool is one such project that is currently run by a team of portfolio managers, traders and analysts with the long-term goal of becoming “a leading provider of financial derivatives in digital asset marketplaces, including asset valuation indexes, insurance mechanisms and actively managed strategies.”
Ultimately, the project is looking to provide democratized access to scarce NFT assets “that users might individually not be able to buy themselves.”
Through the development of its DAO structure, BlackPool is now in the process of decentralizing its current operation to allow all of the NFT assets held by the fund to be managed by its community of token holders.
Want more information about trading and investing in crypto markets?
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
After the popularity of DeFi, came the rise of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and to the surprise of many, NFTs took the spotlight and remain front and center with the highest volume in sales, occuring at the start of January 2022.
Growing number of unique NFT buyers on Ethereum Source: Delphi Digital
While 2021 became the year of NFTs, GameFi applications did surpass DeFi in terms of user popularity. According to data from DappRadar, Bloomberg gathered:
“Nearly 50% of active cryptocurrency wallets connected to decentralized applications in November were for playing games. The percentage of wallets linked to decentralized finance, or DeFi, dapps fell to 45% during the same period, after months of being the leading dapp use case.”
Blockchain, play-to-earn game Axie infinity, skyrocketed and kicked off a gaming craze that is expected to continue all throughout 2022. Crypto pundits and gaming advocates have high expectations for p2e blockchain-based games and there’s bound to be a few sleeping giants that will dominate the sector.
Let’s take a look at five blockchain games that could make waves in 2022.
DeFi Kingdoms
The inspiration for DeFi Kingdoms came from simple beginnings— a passion for investing that lured the developers to blockchain technology. DeFi Kingdoms was born as a visualization of liquidity pool investing where in-game ‘gardens’ represent literal and figurative token pairings and liquidity pool mining.
As shown in the game, investors have a portion of their LP share within a plot filled with blooming plants. By attaching the concept of growth to DeFi protocols within a play-and-earn model, DeFi Kingdoms puts a twist on “playing” a game.
Built on the Harmony Network, DeFi Kingdoms became the first project on the network to ever top the DappRadar charts. This could be attributed to an influx of individuals interested in both DeFi and blockchain games or it could be attributed to its recent in-game, utility token (JEWEL) surging.
JEWEL is a utility token which allows users to purchase NFTs in-game buffs to increase base-level stat, and it is used for liquidity mining that grants users the opportunity to make more JEWEL through staking.
JEWEL/USD daily chart. Source: Gecko Terminal
JEWEL is also a governance token that gives holders a vote in the growth and evolution of the project. In the past four months the token price surged from $1.23 to an all time high of $22.52. At the time of writing JEWEL is down by nearly 16%, trading at $19.51.
Surging approximately 1,487% from its humble start of $1.23 four months ago, back in September, JEWEL token price has increased roughly 165% this last month alone, according to data from CoinGecko.
Guild of Guardians
Guild of Guardians is one of the more anticipated blockchain games in 2022 and it is built on ImmutableX, the first layer-2 solution built on Ethereum that focuses on NFTs. Aiming to provide more access, it will operate as a free to play, mobile RPG game modeling the play-and-earn mechanics.
Guild of Guardians Heroes. Source:Guild of Guardians
Similar to blockchain games like Axie Infinity, Guild of Guardians in-game assets can be exchanged. The project seems to be of interest to many gamers and investors with both its NFT founder sale and token launch generating nearly $10 million in volume.
Launching its in-game token in October of 2021, the Guild of Guardians (GOG) tokens are ERC-20 tokens known as ‘gems’ inside the game. Gems are what power key features in the game such as mint in-game NFTs, interact with the marketplace and are available to earn while playing.
GOG monthly price action. Source: CoinGecko
For the last month, the Guild of Guardians token has performed strongly, reaching an all-time of $2.81. Despite the token being down nearly 50% from it’s all-time high, at the time of writing, some members of the community are looking forward to the possibility of staking and liquidity pools, which are features that tend to help stabilize token prices.
Galaxy Fight Club
Imagine taking a proof-of-picture (pfp) NFT and making it into an avatar to battle other fighters in a galaxy far away? Galaxy Fight Club (GFC) is a blockchain game that switched its gear from a 10,000 avatar collection to the first cross-brand and cross-platform PvP fighting game where players can fight with their collection of avatars.
Focusing on interoperability, GFC uniquely places high value on its original fighters, but allows other avatars to battle for the opportunity to earn rewards.
Artist’s depiction of gameplay in GFC. Source: Galaxy Fight Club Avatar
The game is expected to launch on the Polygon network and it will feature different themes from various partnering collections such as Animetas and CyberKongz, integrating its cross–platform aim. GFC plays on the nostalgia of SuperSmash Bros., except one is battling for loot keys to open loot boxes rather than simply wiping out their opponent.
GFC is currently in beta testing, and is facing minor setbacks, including a delayed IDO. To date, it’s not clear when public access will be made available, but many are hopeful for a Q1 2022 rollout.
GCOIN
Each Galaxy Fighter generates anywhere between 5 to 15 GCOIN daily, and each fighter began generating GCOIN in October of 2021. If a fighter is sold, the new owner will inherit the GCOIN presently accrued. GCOIN is likely to be valuable in the ecosystem because it is needed to power players in game moves, the forging of weapons, opening loot boxes and training and selling second generation fighters.
Despite its minor setbacks, an IDO for GCOIN is scheduled on PolkaStarter for January 6and is set to release 4 million tokens for sale at $0.50 each and a max allocation of $500 per wallet. Sadly, the project’s KYC and whitelist requirements have left many residents sitting out.
According to Ado, a team lead for the project, “The first $1.5M was purchased and sold out in roughly 15 minutes, at which point the remaining $500K reserved only for the Battle Pass holders took another hour to be filled,” indicating a successful IDO. Approximately 2,600 unique wallets are holding GFC fighters, with the top wallet holding nearly 2% of the entire collection.
CryptoBeasts
CryptoBeasts is a pixelated digital art game that elicits the retro feel of the original Zelda game. Built on the Ethereum blockchain CryptoBeasts is a ‘peer-to-peer electronic rare egg system,’ (first for everything, right?) These 10,000 pixelated colorful eggs grant each owner one land parcel in the game’s “Eggland” universe and one DAO vote.
Hatched CryptoBeasts. Source:CryptoBeasts
The DAO operates on a hierarchy where the number of eggs a player owns determines their status and as strange as it sounds, each decision appears to be calculated in CryptoBeasts. Numbers are worth noting as they can determine one’s status, and prime numbered eggs tout benefits like yielding more of its native CBX token and they also hatch rare beasts with increased strength.
According to data from Dune Analytics, the highest-selling rare egg went for 5 Ether, valued at $9,085 at the time of sale. On December 31, 2021 an announcement about in-game tokenomics resulted in an uptick in sales and the current entry point at 0.05 Ether is notably higher than the 0.01 ETH mint price in June 2021.
CBX token
While Cryptobeasts claims it’s more than “play to earn,” but rather “fun-to-play” it is still a blockchain game whose competitive edge is also dependent on its tokenomics. The native token, CBX, is the in-game token that is scheduled to be airdropped to all rare-egg holders.
CBX tokens can allegedly be used and earned in a variety of ways such as beast battling, land parcels generating daily CBX, completing certain in-game tasks and farming and harvesting resources.
CBX can also be staked, incentivizing HODLing a little longer than intended. The token is expected to power in-game utilities and functionalities like purchasing items within the in-game economy to breeding. Similar to Axie Infinity, but not by happenstance, CryptoBeasts intends to integrate an academy and scholarship to provide the opportunity for bigger investors to loan out their assets.
Axie Infinity
Notably, the first blockchain game to execute its play-to-earn model, Axie Infinity has an established, highly developed ecosystem with a strong economic model. Axie Infinity is currently seen as the trojan horse for broader blockchain game adoption.
3D scene of Axies. Source: Axie InfinityLand 3D Teaser
Axie Infinity continues to solidify its place at the top of DappRadar NFT rankings, according to its data. As the top traded collection, Axie Infinity comes on top of NBA TopShot, Splinterlands, and WAX blockchain’s, “Farmer’s World,” closing out $563.6 million in the past 30 days.
SLP, AXS and RON
Axies are the NFT used for gameplay and can be bred using SLP, the in-game utility token, and AXS, which is the governance token. AXS can be staked, and with over $1.68 billion staked, users are continuing to reap a substantial APY despite yield being reduced from over 200% at the start to roughly 86%.
The recent launch of the Katana DEX gives players the opportunity to provide liquidity using SLP or AXS to farm RON.
RON is the ecosystem token and, similar to MATIC, it will be used as the gas fees on Axie Infinity’s Ronin sidechain. Axie Infinity, in many ways, is its own digital nation with a real economy.
Like any first market mover, it faces challenges and its recent price correction could be an attractive entry point for investors who were previously priced out. With land yet to be released, users may have the opportunity to craft and harvest resources that will generate other tokens.
To date, one of the largest digital land sales in the NFT / Metaverse sector came from an Axie Infinity one of 75 genesis land plots that sold for $2.3 million.
Adapting to the rapidly growing blockchain games ecosystem, the Sky Mavis team has announced that it has rewritten the core engine from its 2D art style to 3D. The team also announced that ‘Project K’— codename for a piece of a game and Lunacia’s kingdom— will be released in phases and each focuses on different elements of the game from resource gathering to “group strategic gameplay.”
As the concept of blockchain games gains broader adoption, and “play to earn” and “play and earn” models continue to develop, 2022 will be an exciting year for gamers, creators, and investors alike.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Wider adoption of nonfungible tokens (NFT) and play-to-earn games may be on the way, as one of the world’s largest gaming companies sees them as the future of the industry.
Yosuke Matsuda, CEO of Square Enix, revealed the company’s intentions for blockchain and NFT spheres in his new year’s message on Saturday. In his letter, Matsuda begins with a discussion of the metaverse before noting that Facebook’s renaming to Meta is proof that the concept isn’t a passing fad. He expects 2022 to be a year of hype for the metaverse as society begins to slowly embrace virtual worlds and their ability to connect individuals across geographical boundaries.
He thinks that extended reality (XR) technology, the growing use of cloud computing and 5G will all lead to the metaverse’s existence. While discussing the concept, Matsuda wrote:
“As this abstract concept begins to take concrete shape in the form of product and service offerings, I am hoping that it will bring about changes that have a more substantial impact on our business as well.”
a New Year’s letter from the Square Enix president talks about new tech/concepts including NFTs, the metaverse, and particularly how blockchain games “hold the potential to enable self-sustaining game growth” https://t.co/qtdFCvQdeB pic.twitter.com/FOG4S9Hpgb
— Wario64 (@Wario64) January 1, 2022
He goes on similarly about NFTs, then blockchain and play-to-earn. Matsuda points out that 2021 was “year one” for NFTs and the metaverse, during which time there was a lot of wild trading that didn’t always correspond with market speculations.
Investments in blockchain are still rising at a rapid rate, and some of the most adamant in trying to legitimize blockchain technology have been companies from the gaming business. Square Enix initially invested in the metaverse by taking part in a $2 million funding round for The Sandbox, an Ethereum-based metaverse game. Matsuda’s annual letter indicates that the firm is doubling down on several developing technologies.
Related: Study: 58% of video game developers are already using blockchain
Matsuda’s letter appears to be a reaffirmation of Ubisoft’s position that it will remain committed to its NFT/blockchain ambitions. Another big name in the gaming industry, Andrew Wilson, CEO of video game company Electronic Arts, agreed that NFTs and play-to-earn games are the future of gaming despite the fact that it’s still early to figure out how they’ll function.
Catch up on nonfungible token (NFT)-related news this week as Cointelegraph rounds up the stories you don’t want to miss.
Bored Apes gets cast in an TV series
The Red Ape Family (TRAF) is a new animated comedy series centered on Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs. Episodes are sold as individual NFTs and run between 5 to 10 minutes long. The plot is about a family of Bored Apes that escape Earth to live on Mars.
OpenSea is already reselling Episode 1 and the yet-to-be-released Episode 2 is available to mint. One Episode 1 token holder received a Bored Ape, three token holders won two Mutant Apes, and others were airdropped a poster, gravity sneakers and a discount to mint Episode 2.
The cast, made up mostly of Bored Apes, will also include Mutant Apes, the Bored Ape Kennel Club, Coolcats, Craniums and Lions. Rapper 2 Chainz is an executive producer. The first episode is available on YouTube:
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The Weeknd drops animated NFT collection on Autograph
The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” song became the No. 1 song on Billboard’s Greatest Songs of All Time Hot 100 Chart and to mark the milestone, the artist and Billboard released a series of NFTs this week.
The seven-piece NFT collection includes a one-to-one NFT featuring The Weeknd’s November 2021 Billboard cover, as well as three trading cards, each in two editions, inspired by the “Blinding Lights” music video. Each piece is signed by The Weeknd.
Fans can purchase these NFTs on Tom Brady’s Autograph marketplace.
“Blinding Lights” is officially the #1 Hot 100 song – of all time. In celebration, we’ve partnered with @theweeknd and @billboard on a limited-edition, hand-signed collection exclusively on @opensea. Auction starts today, December 20 at 5pm ET. https://t.co/JV54p3RSvR pic.twitter.com/PMLWsUYvAN
— Autograph (@Autograph) December 20, 2021
Related:Ubisoft pursues NFT initiative with Aleph.im following fan backlash
Mini Royale game adds 2M players
Mini Royale: Nations, a web-based first-person shooter, became the first live multiplayer game to run on Solana after existing as a blockchain-integration-free game for months. Following the launch of its first in-game NFT items, the number of active players has doubled.
On Dec 16, 2021, Mini Royale: Nations became the first live multiplayer game on @solana pic.twitter.com/WnTO8tGQnX
— Mini Royale: Nations (@MiniNations) December 16, 2021
However, Mini Royale is not a play-to-earn game. An NFT acts as an in-game avatar and owners can receive benefits, including the game’s upcoming CHEDDAR token. So far, Mini Royale NFTs have sold for 17,637 SOL, worth roughly $3.2 million, on the Magic Eden market place.
RadioShack makes a comeback in crypto
After filing for bankruptcy twice in 2015 and in 2017, the century-old former electronics retailer is planning to launch the RADIO token as part of “RadioShack DeFi” that will enable users to trade tokens via the Atlas USV protocol. Atlas USV is a project that is attempting to build a universal base layer for the DeFi sector.
Are you ready? https://t.co/gXXKXc1UT2#RadioShack #Blockchain #Cryptocurrency pic.twitter.com/rXT3HvGli1
— RadioShack (@RadioShack) December 19, 2021
According to its proposal, RadioShack’s new mission is “to be the first protocol to bridge the gap in mainstream usage of DeFi.” By targeting “blue-chip, large corporations” and aiding their transformation into blockchain companies, RadioShack wants to educate CEOs and an older generation of crypto users.
Related:3 embroidery artists weave NFT charity drop to help victims of human trafficking
Other Nifty News
As the year draws to an end, Cointelegraph rounded up the top ten NFT projects of 2021 based on trading volume and communities.
For a more in-depth look at the prices behind the top collections, the Cointelegraph Research team released an 80-page report on NFTs. It found that the CryptoPunks collection has had the highest return for collectors since 2017, while Bored Ape Yacht Club has had the highest return for collectors in 2021.