Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) creator Yuga Labs has emerged victorious in a legal battle with Ryder Ripps, the co-creator of copycat NFT project RR/BAYC. Yuga Labs had filed a complaint against Ripps and his co-founder, Jeremy Cahen, alleging trademark infringement, false advertising, and unfair competition, among other things. The US District Court for the Central District of California ruled in favor of Yuga Labs in a pre-trial summary judgment on April 21, finding that Ripps and Cahen had indeed infringed Yuga Lab’s trademarks with their RR/BAYC NFT collection. The court has also ruled that Yuga Labs is entitled to an injunction and damages, which will be determined at trial.
This legal victory is being hailed as a landmark moment for Web3, as it sends a message to scammers and counterfeiters that they will be held accountable. Ripps and Cahen had created RR/BAYC back in May 2022 as a protest against Yuga Labs, using all of the same imagery as the original BAYC NFTs. Ripps is also known for his conspiracy theory that the BAYC artwork was designed to convey racist caricatures, and that the project’s logo and branding have several nods to certain Nazi symbols and language.
In other news, Mandala Metaverse has selected Polkadot to host its first major NFT drop on April 28. Mandala Metaverse is a story-based project that spans TV, graphic novels, gaming, and AR, and its gaming elements have been developed in Epic Games’ AAA quality Unreal Engine. The NFT drop, called “Cryptonauts,” features various avatars that will serve as playable characters in the game. The artwork was illustrated by comic artist Bruce Zick, who has worked with giants such as Disney and Marvel.
Polkadot is not known for hosting gaming and NFT projects, with no recorded sales data on aggregators such as CryptoSlam. However, Mandala Metaverse CEO Jon Shanker believes that Polkadot’s real future-proof NFT applications, such as nesting, staking, and the ability to send NFTs over bridges, make it an ideal choice for the Cryptonauts NFTs.
Moving on, Square Enix, the developer of Final Fantasy, has partnered with Web3 infrastructure firm Elixir Games to bring blockchain gaming to the mainstream. Although details on the partnership are still scarce, Elixir Games offers both traditional and Web3 games on its platform, along with Web3 distribution features such as NFT sales and marketplaces. Square Enix is increasingly interested in launching games via Elixir, and this partnership is expected to bring blockchain gaming closer to mass adoption.
Finally, a free-to-play multiplayer NFT cricket strategy game called Cricket Stars has been launched on the Tezos blockchain.
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) creators Yuga Labs have scored a key win in their long-running court battle with Ryder Ripps, the co-creator of copycat NFT project RR/BAYC. Yuga Labs initially filed a complaint against Ryder Ripps and co-founder Jeremy Cahen back in July 2022, alleging that the duo had engaged in trademark infringement, false advertising, and unfair competition, among other things. In a pre-trial summary judgment ruling on April 21, a U.S. district court in central California found that Ripps and Cahen had infringed Yuga Lab’s trademarks with their RR/BAYC NFT collection. The Court further ruled that Yuga Labs is entitled to an injunction and damages, the latter of which will be determined at trial. The case highlights the importance of protecting intellectual property rights in the burgeoning NFT market.
In other news, Mandala Metaverse has chosen Polkadot to host its first major NFT drop on April 28. Mandala Metaverse is a story-based project that has content spanning across TV, graphic novels, gaming, and AR. Its gaming elements have been developed in Epic Game’s Triple-A quality Unreal Engine. The drop, called the “Cryptonauts,” features different avatars that will serve as playable characters in the game. The artwork was illustrated by comic artist Bruce Zick, who has worked on projects for giants such as Disney and Marvel. The decision to take the Cryptonauts NFTs to Polkadot is a significant development for the platform, which is not traditionally known for hosting gaming and NFT projects. The move underscores the potential of Polkadot’s future-proof NFT applications and its ability to offer innovative ways to use NFT assets.
In addition, Square Enix has partnered with Web3 infrastructure firm Elixir Games to bring blockchain gaming to the mainstream. The move was announced on April 19, but specific details on the partnership are sparse at this stage. Elixir Games hosts both traditional and Web3 games on its platform, and also offers Web3 distribution features for its partnered games, such as NFT sales and marketplaces. As such, Square Enix will likely take advantage of those features when launching games via Elixir. This partnership is a significant development for the blockchain gaming industry, as it brings the mainstream gaming industry closer to the world of Web3.
Finally, a free-to-play multiplayer NFT cricket strategy game called “Cricket Stars” has been launched on the Tezos blockchain. The game is being led by Tezos India, an organization that focuses on developing projects on Tezos, in partnership with esports game publisher GoLive Games. The game offers player cards that can be used to affect the game or traded on the marketplace. It also offers player vs player modes, knockout tournaments, and esports tournaments. Despite the name, no licensing deals with actual cricket stars appear to be in place. The launch of Cricket Stars on the Tezos blockchain is a positive development for the platform, as it highlights the versatility of the technology in the gaming industry.
Overall, the developments in the NFT and blockchain gaming space are indicative of a growing interest in Web3 technologies. The Bored Ape Yacht Club legal victory is a significant win for the NFT market, as it reinforces the need for creators to protect their intellectual property rights. The launch of the Cryptonauts NFT drop on Polkadot highlights the platform’s potential for future-proof NFT applications. The Square Enix and Elixir Games partnership brings blockchain gaming closer to mainstream gaming. Finally, the launch of Cricket Stars on Tezos highlights the versatility of blockchain technology in the gaming industry and its potential for broader adoption.
As Web3 technologies continue to evolve and mature, it is likely that we will see more significant developments in the NFT and blockchain gaming space. The integration of these technologies into mainstream industries, such as gaming and entertainment, is an exciting development that could have far-reaching implications for the future of digital content creation and distribution. As more creators and developers experiment with these technologies, it is likely that we will see new and innovative use cases emerge that push the boundaries of what is possible with NFTs and blockchain gaming.
Polygon has emerged as the second-largest blockchain gaming network in terms of unique active wallets (UAWs), thanks to a surge in user activity in March. According to the “Blockchain Games Report” by DappRadar, the number of UAWs engaging with games on Polygon hit 138,081 in March, a 53% increase from February. This places Polygon ahead of third and fourth-ranked Hive and BNB Chain, with 84,000 and 80,000 UAWs respectively. The first-placed Wax is well ahead of the pack with 314,000 UAWs.
Polygon, previously known for DeFi DApps, has now gained recognition as a gaming blockchain. The surge in UAWs on Polygon is due in part to the Hunters On-Chain game by BoomLand, which has seen a UAW increase of over 17,000% in the past 30 days, according to DappRadar data. Hunters On-Chain is a Web3 adaptation of BoomLand’s mobile game Hunt Royale, a free-to-play role-playing game with non-fungible token (NFT) integrations and a similar look and style to Minecraft.
On March 9, Hunters On-Chain saw an all-time high UAW count of around 55,300. It is unclear what specifically drove the surge in interest for the game last month, although anticipation for an in-game NFT sale on March 31 may have been a contributing factor.
Looking more broadly, the report noted that on-chain gaming activity decreased by 3.33% in March to 741,567 daily unique active wallets (dUAW). However, games still make up 45.6% of the DApp industry activity in Q1 2023.
Polygon’s bullish momentum has been developing over the past few months, specifically relating to NFTs, gaming, and the metaverse. The team behind the network, Polygon Labs, has notched a long list of big-name partnerships, including Warner Music, Starbucks, Adidas, Reddit, and Adobe, to develop and host NFT projects.
Polygon Labs successfully launched Polygon’s open-source Ethereum Virtual Machine equivalent zero-knowledge rollup on March 27. This technology allows DApps to scale through transaction batching, unlocking higher performance while reducing gas fees to conduct transactions on the network.
The surge in user activity on Polygon is a positive sign for the network’s future, especially as it gains recognition as a gaming blockchain. The partnerships and developments by Polygon Labs show that the team is committed to creating a strong and sustainable ecosystem for NFTs and gaming on the network. As the blockchain gaming industry continues to grow, it will be interesting to see how Polygon competes with other gaming blockchains and how its partnerships and innovations continue to shape the industry.
Play-to-earn Over the course of the last year, blockchain gaming has seen a decline as players have emphasized on the quality of their overall gameplay experience.
On the other hand, a recent research from DappRadar reveals that during the first month of 2023, gamers were responsible for over half (48%) of all blockchain activity.
The market capitalization of the top gaming tokens increased by 122% on average over the month of January. Gala (GALA), the digital utility token of the Gala Games ecosystem, had its value climb by 218% during this time period.
According to the survey, the increased interest in these gaming tokens is a result of buzz from the sector reaching viewers in more mainstream media. For instance, Gala Titles made news when it announced the acquisition of a new mobile gaming company that had more than $20 million in assets under control as well as 15 games.
This is due to the fact that blockchain gaming is already a subset of the old business. As blockchain technology becomes more popular, more people will start playing Web3 games, which will eventually become widespread.
The Wax blockchain still has the most active gaming activity, with 331,000 distinct active wallets. This continues to be the case. The BNB Chain was the only one of the top four blockchain gaming ecosystems that did not see a growth in the number of gaming protocols between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023.
The beginning of 2023 was marked by increasing activity, and robust financing helped set the ground for what many people refer to as the “building” year of blockchain gaming. This word highlights the attention that the industry has placed on developing games that are more powerful and of higher quality.
According to Gherghelas, the amount of money being invested in this particular sector is “growing dramatically.” Total investments are expected to reach around $7.6 billion in 2022, which is a 105% increase from 2021. During the month of January alone, investments in the blockchain gaming business reached more than $156 million.
In addition to this, the research emphasized the significance that the metaverse has had in the rise in activity around blockchain gaming this year. The information showed that the trade volume for January in games connected to virtual worlds reached $44.5 million, which is a 114% rise over the amount seen in the previous month.
Although there was a 19% decline in sales, the total gain may be credited to the success of key metaverse platforms such as The Sandbox and Decentraland, which both had an increase in trade volume of 114% and 83%, respectively. This was despite the fact that sales fell.
According to a research published by DappRadar in 2022, blockchain-based transactions related to gaming on Web3 accounted for about half of all transactions in that year.
ChainPlay, a one-stop platform for all-things blockchain gaming, released a survey on Sunday showing that a set of investors are joining the cryptocurrency landscape because of gaming activities.
The ChainPlay survey indicated that out of the 2428 GameFi investors who participated in the study, 75% of the respondents joined the crypto space solely because of GameFi. This Asian cryptocurrency firm brings gaming to the blockchain. GameFi offers blockchain-based games that enable users to gain real-world financial benefits.
While about half of the investors joined the GameFi platform initially because of profit-making, the recent crypto crash affected 89% of GameFi investors, with 62% losing over 50% of their profits, the ChainPlay study revealed.
The losses relatively discouraged investors from participating in the crypto game economy. The research showed that investors globally spent an average of 2.5 hours per day participating in GameFi, which is down 43% to 4.4 hours from the previous year.
The study identified that the fear of crypto rug pulls and Ponzi schemes are some of the major drivers preventing investors from investing in new GameFi projects. As a result, the survey disclosed that 44% of investors believe that the involvement of traditional gaming firms could be a key factor contributing to GameFi’s growth.
However, regarding future GameFi projects, the ChainPlay research shows that 81% of GameFi investors are shifting away from the traditional mindset and prioritizing the fun factor over profit-making as they seek exciting, positive in-game experiences.
Crypto Gaming Maintains Steady Demands
Blockchain-based gaming is proving to be resistant to the crypto market turndown. Since May this year, most cryptocurrencies have experienced heavy losses triggered by the collapse of TerraUSD stablecoin and its sister cryptocurrency Terra (LUNA).
Despite the crypto market crash, the gaming sector has not witnessed any sign of slowing down. And this indicates that there is no direct link between the crypto market and gamers’ activities.
The number of daily unique active wallets of game decentralized apps (dapps) and those of game transactions has remained at all-time highs since April, according to digital assets data provider DappRadar.
Games such as Axie Infinity, Splinterlands, and Alien Worlds have attracted millions of users each month, each showing its own economies as players trade large volumes.
This demonstrates that gaming has become a key vehicle for bringing use cases of blockchain, Metaverse, and NFTs to consumers who’ve never used cryptocurrency before.
Blockchain games like the so-called play-to-earn game Axie Infinity have attracted hundreds of thousands of players in markets like the Philippines.
A new massively multiplayer online (MMO) strategy game that harnesses the power of blockchain technology just entered the crypto world after joining the Binance marketplace.
In a recent announcement, crypto exchange giant Binance says that the native governance token of League of Kingdoms (LOKA), a Medieval-themed metaverse battle game, will now be available for trading.
The freshly minted altcoin launched today with a price of $2.42 and has since risen by 7% to its current valuation of $2.59.
League of Kingdoms goes beyond the traditional strategic fighting game format by employing blockchain features such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that serve as plots of land for the project. In addition, the protocol’s governance will be determined by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
In addition to governance, LOKA can be used for in-game purchases, minting or upgrading NFT assets, and staking holdings to earn rewards.
The token will appear in Binance’s Innovation Zone, a dedicated space that offers investors crypto assets that might experience volatile price swings.
According to the project’s whitepaper,
“Not only can gamers own these Lands, but also gather resources on the Lands and mint them into NFTs to trade.
All these tokenized assets are transparently and trustlessly transacted and traded across the blockchain, without intermediaries.”
Binance says LOKA will be available in the Bitcoin (BTC), Binance Coin (BNB), Binance USD (BUSD), and Tether (USDT) trading pairs.
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Two nascent crypto sectors are bucking current crypto trends and rapidly growing despite a stumbling market, according to blockchain tracker DappRadar.
Per a new report, the popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and blockchain gaming are at least partially driven by interest from the Asian markets.
DappRadar says countries like China, Indonesia and India are exploding in terms of user base, overtaking the US as the epicenter of activity.
“The Asian market continues to increase its footprint within the industry overall.
With a high interest in blockchain games and the potential for NFTs, the Asian region is undoubtedly one to closely monitor.”
The report highlights that the two crypto sectors appear unaffected by the macro factors that influence the rest of the digital markets, and instead exist in their own independent ecosystems.
DappRadar predicts that NFTs and gaming will continue to grow on the back of emerging use cases and mainstream adoption.
“Both NFTs and blockchain games performed strongly in 2021, and it appears that the trend will continue. Especially when considering the upcoming project releases and the potential use cases for both ends.
While the price of cryptocurrencies is volatile by nature, the adoption, volumes, and usage of blockchain games and NFTs have only increased constantly. It will be interesting to see whether maturity in both spaces will generate sensitivity to the price of their underlying tokens.”
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Cat themed play-to-earn (P2E) NFT game Nyan Heroes is aiming to save 1 billion cats from euthanization in animal shelters across the U.S.
Nyan Heroes is an upcoming NFT battle royal shooter style game built on the Solana blockchain that will enable players to compete with each other using NFTs depicting animated cats that are used to pilot mech-robot NFTs in the game.
The U.S. based project has been in development since October and the game is set for release in Q4 2022. Its first NFT drop is currently available for hodling and trading on marketplaces such as Fractal.
According to data from Solana Art, Nyan Heroes is the fourth-highest NFT project on Solana in terms of seven day volume and market cap, at $279,000 and $18.2 million, respectively.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Nyan Heroes co-founder and Australian Wendy Huang outlined the firm’s charitable vision moving forward, along with providing a rundown of the upcoming game.
Huang has been involved with crypto since 2016 and has also built a successful career as a content creator ranging from vlogs to DIY videos, pranks and music and has amassed almost 14 million subscribers on YouTube.
Save the cats
Huang stated that her, and fellow co-founder Max Fu’s, love for cats was a key driver behind tying animal-focused charity work to Nyan Heroes. She said they have an ambitious goal of “saving 1 billion cats” from euthanization in animal shelters via charitable donations generated from portions of the project’s NFT sales.
Nyan Heroes revealed their first efforts in this area on Dec. 24, when it announced a $250,000 donation from the proceeds of its first NFT drop to the non-profit Best Friends Society. ‘That was one of the proudest moments I’ve had in this project,” she said.
Crypto saves lives!
Thank you @nyanheroes for your amazing donation of @ethereum for the animals! Their fundraiser raised $250,000 to help cats just like Pumpkin ^ac pic.twitter.com/MTCKEYUTtp
— Best Friends (@bestfriends) January 3, 2022
Best Friends Society provides a “no-kill” sanctuary for orphaned animals and also prevents cat and dog deaths in shelters across the U.S. through its charity work. The group estimates that its “no kill” movement has helped reduce the number of cat and dog deaths in animal shelters from 17 million yearly to around 347,000.
Huang revealed that the game project will be launching a DAO that will give its members voting rights on where Nyan Heroes donations will be allocated in the future.
“We’ll be creating a young hero DAO. And part of that DAOs responsibilities will be deciding where to donate funds to, to which animal shelter and to what causes in that particular realm.” she said.
Related:Play-to-earn game hosts Christmas charity drive for Ol Pejeta Conservancy
Nyan Heroes
Huang highlighted that a major sticking point for P2E blockchain games is sustainability over a long period of time. She said many P2E games are reliant on a continual stream of new users to remain profitable and suffer from players continually cashing out and taking value out of the game.
“We don’t know how many players will be coming into the economy. So we need to realize that building a game is not only about the game play, but about the economic system and how sustainable everything is,” she said.
Huang said Nyan Heroes sustainability model is built off several factors such as introducing an in-game stablecoin to reduce volatility of the its assets, staking rewards on NFTs and a triple A gaming experience similar to Fortnite which has “historically attracted players” who want to spend money on the game:
“The way we address it is to come up with a better game where users will actually want to play the game and inject value into the system to balance out the players that come into the ecosystem to take value out.”
“We keep the in-game token stable so that the value of your in-game items isn’t going to crash and burn. And we feel like that’s what players need to want to stay with a game. You don’t want your in-game items to be worth $1,000 one day and then $10 dollars the next,” she added.
Proudly introducing our new expanded team! With decades of experience in AAA studios like Riot Games, EA, Ubisoft and Respawn, our team is ready to take NH to new heights in 2022!
This is only just the beginning, you are here early.
The amazing team:https://t.co/0cmPgsaigh pic.twitter.com/3R3l18E3gO
According to a recent report by Cointelegraph Research, the volume of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) sold this year could eclipse $18 billion. From artwork, music and in-game characters to videos and photographs, these minted certificates of ownership for digital assets on blockchains are well sought after by collectors, investors and philanthropists alike. They can also be freely traded across decentralized NFT platforms such as OpenSea. Without further ado, let’s look at the biggest trends developing in the NFTs space.
1. Celebrity and contemporary NFTs
Of course, at the number one place this year, as there was no shortage of NFT drops and collaborations in the entertainment industry. Highlights include Mila Kunis’ Stone Cats NFTs drops, which sold out in about 35 minutes and caused soaring gas prices on the Ethereum blockchain to process the transactions.
In November, rapper and songwriter Snoop Dogg auctioned off a 3D collage consisting of 10 different portraits of himself at various stages in his professional career, with the winning bid amounting to 188 ETH (around $700,000). In mid-December, NBA star Kevin Durant announced a partnership between his firm Thirty Five Ventures and Coinbase to collaborate on NFT drops.
Then, there was director Quentin Tarantino announcing the auction of seven uncut scenes from Pulp Fiction as NFTs built on the privacy-oriented Secret Network. However, Tarantino may have had too much of an appetite in joining the hype, as productions company Miramax filed a lawsuit against Tarantino over alleged copyright infringement stemming from his NFT sale.
However, as directly rated by crypto enthusiasts, the most popular NFTs are those featuring “pixelated punks” created by artist Crypto Punks. The group currently holds the top sales volume on OpenSea.io with 750,300 Ether (ETH) worth of digital art (about $3 billion in today’s price) traded since its inception in 2017. Their success has also attracted partnerships and deals with top Hollywood agents.
Two Hitmen. An Iconic Director. An Academy Award Winning Script. You.
This is a rare opportunity to own a piece of film history. This #NFT offering can not easily replicated. pic.twitter.com/9RNu35NEVf
— Tarantino NFTs (@TarantinoNFTs) December 1, 2021
2. Play-to-earn NFT games
NFTs are not only meant to be displayed. One blockchain game, Axie Infinity, involves players dueling one another or nonplayable characters and completing daily quests with in-game creatures known as Axies. Each Axie is a unique NFT that can be bought and sold on the Ethereum blockchain. The minting of Axie NFTs is known as breeding in the game, with rarer Axies having better stats and subsequently costing far more. According to its official marketplace, the total volume of Axies bought and sold in the past 30 days amount to over 125,000 ETH, or around $500 million.
In addition, players can purchase virtual land NFTs in the game. Such digital real estate represents locations where monsters and bosses spawn, in addition to hosting an abundance of resources. The most expensive Axie Infinity land ever sold took place last month for 550 ETH ($2.3 million at the time).
✨A Genesis Land Plot just sold for 550 ETH!
That’s over 2.3 M USD!
Our player-owned Digital nation continues to shock the world pic.twitter.com/SVvAtFNYUF
— Axie Infinity (@AxieInfinity) November 24, 2021
Another popular choice is NFT fantasy soccer game Sorare. Through Sorare, players can manage their own soccer teams via digital player NFT cards. According to its CEO, Nicholas Julia, over half a million players joined the platform organically without marketing efforts.
3. Metaverse NFTs
Developments in the Metaverse, a digital realm comprising a 3D augmented reality, have been gaining traction ever since Facebook rebranded itself as Meta back in October. NFTs play a pivotal role in the Metaverse to guarantee the uniqueness of virtual assets such as player avatars. Meta’s head of Metaverse products, Vishal Shah, said in an announcement that the new platform “will make it easier for people to sell limited education digital objects like NFTs, display them in their digital spaces and even resell them to the next person securely.”
Right now, there is a massive 21-level skyscraper being built in the Metaverse by Bloktopia to pay homage to the maximum 21 million Bitcoin (BTC) that can ever be created. Notable consumer brands like Adidas and Nike are also entering the Metaverse, partnering with contributors to develop NFT artwork for their namesake brands. Above all, developers at virtual metaverse game Sandbox wish to defend the realm against the threat of monopoly from big tech.
Bloktopia in-game screenshot. Source: Bloktopia
4. NFT philanthropy
There has been significant growth in the number of charities accepting crypto donations in 2021. One platform facilitating such transactions, the Giving Block, saw donations surge to over $100 million this year, compared with $4 million for all of 2020. The firm is partnering with NFT platforms so a portion of auction proceeds can go directly into crypto non-profits, with direct NFT donations being a possible future development route. In the United States, investors can deduct their charitable donations directly against their ordinary income, usually over a few years, resulting in a win-win situation for all.
But, philanthropic ventures in the NFT realm go far beyond. Thus far, NFT auctions have helped raise enough funds to build a school in Uganda and support frontline healthcare workers. In 2022, an up-and-coming NFT auction will help raise awareness for contemporary artists with developmental disabilities. Meanwhile, the proceeds from another will go to a charity of choice by the former
Crypto Giving Tuesday Recap. Source: The Giving Block
5. NFT world art
With traditional art, artists have to travel around the world to participate in exhibits and auctions to make their work known — a privilege only reserved to those with sufficient capital. But, with the rise of decentralized NFTs marketplaces, anyone around the world can mint, showcase and sell their art with little startup capital, thereby connecting cultures worldwide.
Two notable mentions are the Melanated NFT Gallery and Mongol NFTs. Melanated NFT Gallery features contemporary African and Latinx artwork such as landscapes, photographs of jazz icon Miles Davis, DJ music, guitar audio, trading cards and other music. Meanwhile, the Mongol NFTs platform contains NFT images of pastoral nomadic steppes of the namesake country and its history, traditions and customs as told by Mongol artists. It has surpassed 100,000 registered users and 1.5 billion Mongolian Tugrik ($550,000) in sales.
Metaverse and GameFi tokens are currently leading the Christmas market recovery, outpacing the gains made by other top assets.
Metaverse Tokens Regain Momentum
It’s looking like a good Christmas for GameFi projects.
Following Bitcoin’s recovery above the key $50,000 psychological level, the wider cryptocurrency market has started to bounce back from the recent dip. Metaverse and blockchain gaming projects—sometimes referred to as “GameFi” projects—are currently leading the charge with some of the highest daily increases in the top 100 crypto assets. “GameFi” is a crypto buzz word similar to “DeFi” that refers to gaming and finance. Many Metaverse-related projects like Axie Infinity combine the two fields by adding play-to-earn dynamics to their games. GameFi is widely believed to be one of the most significant emerging trends for crypto and the Metaverse today.
The Sandbox is currently the biggest gainer among Metaverse and GameFi projects. The game’s SAND token is currently trading at $6.30, rising 22.9% on the day.
SAND/USD chart. Source: CoinGecko
Since Facebook rebranded to Meta, setting off the current Metaverse token bull run, The Sandbox has overtaken the then leading Metaverse project, Decentraland, in terms of market capitalization. The flip may indicate investors see the Sandbox as a better prospect than Decentraland to capture value from the current Metaverse hype. Several companies have recently announced buying land plots in the game, including Adidas and PwC Hong Kong.
While Decentraland hasn’t matched The Sandbox’s gains, it’s also fared well from the recent hype. The virtual world game’s MANA token is currently up 15.5% on the day, outperforming many top assets. Decentraland is hosting several events over the festive season for players to participate in, including virtual snowball fights and live music performances.
Smaller GameFi tokens are also looking strong. Gala Games, which recently launched a land sale for its latest game, LEGACY, has posted a 7.8% gain today. The GALA token is one of the biggest gainers of the year, soaring more than 725% to an all-time high of $0.71 in November.
While still trading off their all-time highs achieved in November, The strong price action from Metaverse and GameFi projects shows that investors are still bullish on the sector going into 2022. Whether these projects will be able to deliver on their vision over the next year remains to be seen.
Disclosure: At the time of writing this feature, the author owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.
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