Jerry (JERRY) news

Stepn (GMT): Walk, Jog, And Earn To Stepn Up Your Game

What is Stepn (GMT)? Stepn (GMT) is a pioneering mobile application that combines fitness with blockchain technology. It encourages users to lead a more active lifestyle and earn cryptocurrency at the same time as rewards. The platform uses Web3 to create a gamified experience where individuals earn Green Metaverse Tokens (GMT) through activities like walking, jogging, or running outdoors. This Web3 lifestyle app turns movement into financial rewards that benefit both physical health and digital engagement. Who Created Stepn (GMT)? Jerry Huang and Yawn Rong co-founded Stepn with the goal of promoting health through blockchain-based incentives. They aimed to develop a platform that not only encourages physical activity but also integrates seamlessly with the digital economy. Stepn gained recognition by securing 4th place among over 500 entries at the Solana Ignition Hackathon 2021 as a testament to its innovative potential. What VCs Back Stepn (GMT)? Stepn has attracted substantial investments from leading venture capital firms, including Sequoia Capital, Folius Ventures, and Binance. These funds have facilitated the app's development and expansion, enhancing its features and increasing its user base. How Stepn (GMT) Works Stepn operates on an innovative model with several mechanisms promoting both physical activity and financial gain through blockchain technology. Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle Stepn’s core innovation lies in its move-to-earn model, which motivates users to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. By linking physical activity with financial rewards, Stepn fosters continuous engagement, making exercise not just a routine but a rewarding activity. This approach aligns users’ health goals with the digital economy to improve the living standards for players in many ways. Community and Sustainability Impact Stepn extends its benefits beyond individual users by contributing to broader sustainability goals. The app's engagement model encourages participation in collective fitness challenges and environmental initiatives. Through these activities, Stepn aims to inspire millions to adopt healthier lifestyles while also supporting environmental sustainability. Real-Time Activity Tracking The Stepn app monitors users' physical activities, such as walking, jogging, or running, in real-time. This seamless and precise tracking ensures every step counts towards earning rewards. The app’s advanced tracking capabilities allow users to engage in outdoor activities while the app records their movements and converts them into tangible rewards. Earning and Utilising GMT Tokens One of Stepn’s key features is its earning mechanism. Users with Stepn NFTs earn Green Metaverse Tokens (GMT) based on their physical activities. The amount of GMT earned depends on factors like the type of trainers worn, the user’s activity level, and movement efficiency. The earned GMT tokens have multiple uses within the Stepn ecosystem. Users can spend these tokens on in-app purchases to enhance their experience and capabilities. Additionally, GMT tokens can be traded on cryptocurrency exchanges, providing liquidity and potential financial growth. Users can also reinvest their GMT tokens into the platform to upgrade their trainers and boost future earnings and performance. GMT Goes Live on Bitget While the concept of move-to-earn has evolved, Stepn's innovative approach sets a new benchmark. Its integration of real-time activity tracking and token earning mechanisms offers a compelling alternative to traditional fitness apps. With unique features and strong backing from top venture capitalists, Stepn encourages millions to adopt healthier living. Join Stepn today with Bitget and make your steps count! How to Trade GMT on Bitget Step 1: Go to GMTUSDT page Step 2: Enter the amount and the type of order, then click Buy/Sell For detailed instructions on how to spot trade in Bitget, please read The Uncensored Guide To Bitget Spot Trading . Trade GMT on Bitget now! Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are for informational purposes only. This article does not constitute an endorsement of any of the products and services discussed or investment, financial, or trading advice. Qualified professionals should be consulted prior to making financial decisions.

Bitget Research: Hong Kong Likely to Allow Retail Investors to Trade Cryptocurrencies, Boosting the Rise of Hong Kong-Related Tokens

the past 24 hours, there have been many new popular tokens and topics emerging in the market, and perhaps they could be the next market spotlight. In Summary: 1.Popular Tokens: Hong Kong-Related Tokens KEY, CFX, ACH, LINA, and HIGH See Notable Increases (Token) — According to Bloomberg, the Chinese Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission will hold a press conference at 4:15 PM today regarding the consultation results on the regulatory requirements for virtual asset trading platform operators. Bloomberg anticipates that Hong Kong investors will be able to trade cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH under suitable protection measures starting in June. RFD (Token) — REFUND was created by the whale wallet blurr.eth. Several influencers including @Yourpop8 and @stekisteks promoted it on Twitter. Famous ENSs like pennismybitch. eth, 氷の王女.eth, and pepe-frog. eth have bought from the Uniswap pool and added positions in waves, resulting in a relatively distributed ownership. There are no apparent contract risks. Bitget has listed RFD. PSYOP (Token) — A highly popular yet controversial memecoin created by NFT influencer, Ben. 0xScope tweeted that the token distribution of the new memecoin project PSYOP launched by crypto influencer ben.eth is highly centralized, with 93.45% of the token supply held by Ben. Furthermore, Ben.eth may face a class-action lawsuit for alleged wire fraud. Caution is advised when considering engagement. BWLD (Token) — Beta WLD (i.e., Worldcoin beta token) has drawn attention due to the relationship between Worldcoin and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. It remains high in popularity on the Polygon chain. 0xMT (Token) — Mineable Token uses Bitcoin’s value storage concept. It employs the proof-of-work mechanism, with the reward rate halving in each Reward Era. The aim is to have a fairly distributed token. This is accomplished through contracts on the Arbitrum blockchain. This token has not yet established a liquidity pool. PLOUTΩS (Token) — This is a memecoin with the concept of the ancient Greek god of wealth. Its on-chain data is excellent (14,604 on-chain transactions in the past 24 hours), but the activity level of the social media and community is low and does not match the on-chain trading activity. The deployer directly destroyed 50% of the tokens and 46% of the tokens were added to the locked liquidity pool. The contract shows no apparent risks. GOD (Token) — A memecoin that surged and then plummeted shortly after its TGE. It has fallen by over 80% in the past 24 hours. The token contract has a transaction cooldown function, preventing users from selling tokens within a certain time or number of blocks after purchase. AiONE (Token) — A platform for AI as a Service (AIaaS) that has raised US$3 million in private funding. Its financing information has been published on the U.today website and on Twitter. The website appears to be quite professionally done, and there’s already a usable product. The on-chain transactions in the past 24 hours have reached 32,157, with a trading volume of US$2.31 million. There are no apparent risks in the contract. PepeDubai (Token) — A memecoin derived from PEPE, this token carries a 0% buy tax and a 10% sell tax. There have been 17,387 on-chain transactions amounting to a trading volume of US$1.08M in the past 24 hours. The total liquidity is US$162,890, indicating a risk of dramatic price volatility. 2.Popular NFTs: Loyalty Program (NFT) — The NFTs minted on zkBridge Mainnet Alpha are part of the activity conducted by Polyhedra x Galxe. Users mint the NFT to earn points in anticipation of an airdrop, with over 70,000 people participating in the activity on Galxe. 3.Popular DApps: zkSync (DApp) — zkSync has recently been carrying out joint promotions with Galxe, involving projects and tokens such as XY Finance and Transit. Galxe’s on-chain activities can generally bring higher crypto community traffic to projects and their ecosystems, possibly leading to trading opportunities for the token. zkSync Era’s mainnet was launched a few months ago, and interacting with the DApp might lead to potential airdrop opportunities for zkSync tokens. It is essential to stay updated on this DApp. Pixels Game (DApp) — Pixels is a pixel-style, interactive Web3 farming game. In the game, players can use memecoins like PEPE to purchase fertilizer. Recently, several in-game parties were held in collaboration with other projects, stimulating daily activity. SLM Games (DApp) — This is a cross-chain crypto casino platform built around BTC, ETH, BSC, EOS, WAX, TELOS, ThunderCore, and Solana. By incorporating GameFi, it offers more diversified gameplay for the ecosystem. Gelato (DApp) — Gelato Network is a protocol focused on automating Ethereum smart contracts. Essentially, it’s an execution-layer infrastructure and a powerful tool for Web3 developers, aiming to build a large and perfect smart contract robot system. When certain preset conditions are triggered (both on-chain and off-chain), the system captures the signal and automatically executes the corresponding operations of the smart contract as required. The token GEL has shown no significant fluctuations recently. It is essential to observe this project. ISKRA (DApp) — A blockchain gaming platform built on Klaytn, bringing together gamers and game studios with a continuous increase in daily active users. The platform allows gamers to explore and enjoy high-quality blockchain games while creating their own communities. Yesterday, the announcement of Normain Metaland conducting an INO on the platform garnered significant community attention on social media. PlaybuxQuest (DApp) — Playbux is a metaverse project on the Binance Smart Chain that integrates real-world shops (shop-to-earn), DeFi, NFT, and virtual community promotions. Users can explore the blockchain world (such as PancakeSwap, 1inch, NFT marketplace, mini-games, etc.) within Playbux’s metaverse while also experiencing real-world shopping and getting rebates on the platform. The project is currently running an airdrop promotion, and recent on-chain interactions have been promising. 4.Twitter Hot Topics: OVR (Token) — Apple is set to hold an “Apple Park Special Event” on June 5, rumored to be a launch for new AR/VR products. Apple Reality Pro is expected to become one of the most powerful XR headphones. Capitalizing on Apple’s hotspot, the AR project OVR has launched an App Store Giveaway promotion that will take place between May 22 and June 9. The CEO will give a speech at Web3 Live London on June 1. OVR quickly climbed to first place on Coingecko’s Top Trending Cryptocurrencies list, with its price experiencing a more than 150% increase in the past week and a 50% increase in the past 24 hours. 5.Regional Trending Searches: Bitcoin (Token) — The price of Bitcoin remains stable at around $27,000. With the waning popularity of BRC20, Bitcoin lacks new narratives and price catalysts. Simultaneously, given the unstable external environment, traders are waiting for the latest developments on the US debt ceiling impasse. Bitcoin has been relatively stable recently. Main Body Written by: Bitget Research Data collection time: May 23, 10:30 Data sources: Dune, DApps, Twitter, Google Note: 1) New active users: Refers to wallet addresses that were newly created on the chain in the past 24 hours and had interactions on the chain. 2) Existing active users: Refers to wallet addresses that were created on the chain 24 hours ago and had interactions on the chain in the past 24 hours. 3) DApp daily activity (UAW: unique active wallets) 4) TGE (Token Generation Event) 1.Blockchain Profile — ETH Chain 1.1 User Profile 1.1.1 Core Data Total active users of ETH: 391,755 New active users of ETH: 71,547, with a daily decrease of 8.88% Existing active users of ETH: 320,208, with a daily decrease of 4.65% 1.1.2 New User Profile Core data: There were a total of 71,547 new active users on ETH yesterday, with a daily decrease of 8.88% Popular Sectors Popular Projects zkSync (DApp) — zkSync has recently been carrying out joint promotions with Galxe, involving projects and tokens such as XY Finance and Transit. Galxe’s on-chain activities can generally bring higher crypto community traffic to projects and their ecosystems, possibly leading to trading opportunities for the token. zkSync Era’s mainnet was launched a few months ago, and interacting with the DApp might lead to potential airdrop opportunities for zkSync tokens. It is essential to stay updated on this DApp. 1.1.3 Existing User Profile Core data: The number of ETH active existing users is 320,208, with a daily decrease of 4.65% Popular Sectors Popular Projects Following the decline in memecoins, there are still lingering effects. Uniswap maintains its dominance in daily activity on the Ethereum network. 1.2 Popular Trading Pairs 1.2.1 Uniswap V2 PLOUTΩS (Token) — This is a memecoin with the concept of the ancient Greek god of wealth. Its on-chain data is excellent (14,604 on-chain transactions in the past 24 hours), but the activity level of the social media and community is low and does not match the on-chain trading activity. The deployer directly destroyed 50% of the tokens and 46% of the tokens were added to the locked liquidity pool. The contract shows no apparent risks. https://www.dextools.io/app/en/ether/pair-explorer/0x1d4e66b826c8bf8e3c93574386a8dd723b3a912f GOD (Token) — A memecoin that surged and then plummeted shortly after its TGE. It has fallen by over 80% in the past 24 hours. The token contract has a transaction cooldown function, preventing users from selling tokens within a certain time or number of blocks after purchase. https://www.dextools.io/app/en/ether/pair-explorer/0xdb161bb5bea8917d41f858c0763dd27c0ebf7c2a 1.2.2 Uniswap V3 RFD (Token) — REFUND was created by the whale wallet blurr.eth. Several influencers including @Yourpop8 and @stekisteks promoted it on Twitter. Famous ENSs like pennismybitch. eth, 氷の王女.eth, and pepe-frog. eth have bought from the Uniswap pool and added positions in waves, resulting in a relatively distributed ownership. There are no apparent contract risks. Bitget has listed RFD. PSYOP (Token) — A highly popular yet controversial memecoin created by NFT influencer, Ben. 0xScope tweeted that the token distribution of the new memecoin project PSYOP launched by crypto influencer ben.eth is highly centralized, with 93.45% of the token supply held by Ben. Furthermore, Ben.eth may face a class-action lawsuit for alleged wire fraud. Caution is advised when considering engagement. 2.Blockchain Profile — BSC Chain 2.1 User Profile 2.1.1 Core Data Total active users on BSC: 1,542,187 New active users on BSC: 215,427, with a daily increase of 15.99% Existing active users on BSC: 1,326,760, with a daily decrease of 5.37% 2.1.2 New User Profile Core data: There were a total of 215,427 new active users on BSC yesterday, with a daily increase of 15.99% Popular Sectors Popular Projects Loyalty Program (NFT) — The NFTs minted on zkBridge Mainnet Alpha are part of the activity conducted by Polyhedra x Galxe. Users mint the NFT to earn points in anticipation of an airdrop, with over 70,000 people participating in the activity on Galxe. 2.1.3 Existing User Profile Core data: The number of BSC active existing users is 1,326,760, with a daily decrease of 5.37% Popular Sectors Popular Projects PlaybuxQuest (DApp) — Playbux is a metaverse project on the Binance Smart Chain that integrates real-world shops (shop-to-earn), DeFi, NFT, and virtual community promotions. Users can explore the blockchain world (such as PancakeSwap, 1inch, NFT marketplace, mini-games, etc.) within Playbux’s metaverse while also experiencing real-world shopping and getting rebates on the platform. The project is currently running an airdrop promotion, and recent on-chain interactions have been promising. 2.2 Popular Trading Pairs 2.2.1 PancakeSwap V2 AiONE (Token) — A platform for AI as a Service (AIaaS) that has raised US$3 million in private funding. Its financing information has been published on the U.today website and on Twitter. The website appears to be quite professionally done, and there’s already a usable product. The on-chain transactions in the past 24 hours have reached 32,157, with a trading volume of US$2.31 million. There are no apparent risks in the contract. https://www.dextools.io/app/en/bnb/pair-explorer/0x9019e812a436003ad2c515492cffb784937ab2aa PepeDubai (Token) — A memecoin derived from PEPE, this token carries a 0% buy tax and a 10% sell tax. There have been 17,387 on-chain transactions amounting to a trading volume of US$1.08M in the past 24 hours. The total liquidity is US$162,890, indicating a risk of dramatic price volatility. https://www.dextools.io/app/en/bnb/pair-explorer/0x94d84f41adae3972ce9c988c3c6f91b235d54849 3.Blockchain Profile — Polygon Chain 3.1 User Profile 3.1.1 Core Data Total active users on Polygon: 437,806 New active users on Polygon: 116,067, with a daily increase of 1.79% Existing active users on Polygon: 321,739, with a daily decrease of 0.62% 3.1.2 New User Profile Core data: There were a total of 116,067 new active users on Polygon yesterday, with a daily increase of 1.79% Popular Sectors Popular Projects Pixels Game (DApp) — Pixels is a pixel-style, interactive Web3 farming game. In the game, players can use memecoins like PEPE to purchase fertilizer. Recently, several in-game parties were held in collaboration with other projects, stimulating daily activity. 3.1.3 Existing User Profile Core Data: The number of Polygon active existing users is 321,739, with a daily decrease of 0.62% Popular Sectors Popular Projects Stargate (DApp) — Influenced by the expectation of Layerzero’s token issuance, Stargate’s interaction data remains at a high level. On May 1st, it announced that its protocol processed a total trading volume of US$2.3 billion in April, which indicates a significant growth in the protocol data. Most users continue to interact in anticipation of Layerzero’s future token issuance opportunity. Stargate continues to rank highly in terms of daily activity on Polygon. This is mainly due to airdrop hunters. During Layer0 cross-chain interaction processes, the gas costs in the “Polygon — Avalanche, Polygon — FTM, BNB — Polygon” cross-chains are relatively lower, boosting Stargate’s UAW data on Polygon. 3.2 Popular Trading Pairs 3.2.1 Uniswap V3 The top trading pairs on Polygon continue to be dominated by MATIC, stablecoins, and mainstream tokens. 4.Blockchain Profile — Arbitrum Chain 4.1 User Profile 4.1.1 Core Data Arbitrum Active Users: 196,383 Arbitrum New Active Users: 44,873, with a daily increase of 14.94% Arbitrum Existing Active Users: 151,510, with a daily increase of 6.10% 4.1.2 New User Profile Core data: There were a total of 44,873 new active users on Arbitrum yesterday, with a daily increase of 14.94% Popular Sectors Popular Projects 0xMT (Token) — Mineable Token uses Bitcoin’s value storage concept. It employs the proof-of-work mechanism, with the reward rate halving in each Reward Era. The aim is to have a fairly distributed token. This is accomplished through contracts on the Arbitrum blockchain. This token has not yet established a liquidity pool. https://0xmt.com/ 4.1.3 Existing User Profile Core data: The number of Arbitrum active existing users is 151,510, with a daily increase of 6.10% Popular Sectors Popular Projects ODOS (DApp) — A DEX aggregator that supports one-click token swapping. Recently, it has been expanding rapidly on Arbitrum, and it has partnered with Camelot, as well as VE (3,3) Dex ChronosFi, and integrated with their platform. Odos has aggregated most of the DEX pools on Arbi to find the best prices, resulting in high activity on the Arbitrum chain. 4.2 Popular Trading Pairs 4.2.1 Uniswap V3 GETH (Token) — LayerZero has cross-chained Geth on the Georli testnet to the EVM ecosystem. Cross-chain swap transactions can be completed through the ETH Goerli Bridge. Holders of the Goerli testnet tokens can participate in interacting with testnet projects. Recent interactions with various testnets and airdrop expectations have led to an increase in demand for GETH. 5.DApp Ecosystem — All Chains ISKRA (DApp) — A blockchain gaming platform built on Klaytn, bringing together gamers and game studios with a continuous increase in daily active users. The platform allows gamers to explore and enjoy high-quality blockchain games while creating their own communities. Yesterday, the announcement of Normain Metaland conducting an INO on the platform garnered significant community attention on social media. SLM Games (DApp) — This is a cross-chain crypto casino platform built around BTC, ETH, BSC, EOS, WAX, TELOS, ThunderCore, and Solana. By incorporating GameFi, it offers more diversified gameplay for the ecosystem. 6.DApp Ecosystem — ETH Chain The top DApps on the Ethereum network are mainly centered around on-chain trading, including Uniswap, MetaMask Swap, 1inch, and others. 7.DApp Ecosystem — BSC Chain TinyTap (DApp) — The first participant of the Open Campus (EDU) project, which will be launched on Binance Launchpad. It is a decentralized education platform supported by Animoca Brands. It has recently been promoting its operational roadmap and project status on social media, drawing some attention. The associated token is already available on Bitget. 8.DApp Ecosystem — Polygon Chain Pixels (DApp) was explained earlier in the report. 9.DApp Ecosystem — WAX Chain WAX chain’s UAW fluctuations are within the normal range. 10.DApp Ecosystem — Solana Chain GameTrade Market (DApp) — GameTradeMarket is a platform on the Solana chain dedicated to discovering and trading NFTs within games, with a focus on in-game asset trading. It provides game classification and asset trading functions for all categories of games. The platform currently has numerous ecosystem game collaborations and recently announced partnerships with twakegame, RadicalChess, PolkaFantasy, and other projects. 11.DApp Ecosystem — Arbitrum Chain Stargate (DApp) was explained earlier in the report. 12.DApp Ecosystem — GameFi Sector Across All Chains Iskra was explained earlier in the report. 13.Gas Fee Consumption — ETH Chain Metamask (DApp) — Metamask, which includes a built-in swap feature, remains the preferred choice for many users despite the 0.875% swap fee. This is due to its massive traffic and convenient operations, making it a popular option for cryptocurrency transactions. 14.Gas Fee Consumption — BSC Chain Tomcat Inu (Token) — A Tom and Jerry-themed memecoin, with a liquidity pool of US$110,000 and a daily trading volume of US$634,700. It has increased by 572.69% in the past 24 hours. The contract includes a 10% buy and sell tax. It is essential to stay updated on this token and exercise caution. https://www.dextools.io/app/cn/bnb/pair-explorer/0x83346ff56d8169b1a1dbfecef660921c14396fee 15.Gas Fee Consumption — Polygon Chain BWLD (Token) — Beta WLD (i.e., Worldcoin beta token) has drawn attention due to the relationship between Worldcoin and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. It remains high in popularity on the Polygon chain. 16.Gas Fee Consumption — Arbitrum Chain Gelato Network (DApp) — An Ethereum robot network, capable of automatically executing any smart contracts for users on Ethereum and other blockchains. The Gelato Network is primarily focused on the automation of smart contracts and is generally used for executing limit orders. 17.Twitter Trends Token Top 20 OVR (Token) — Apple is set to hold an “Apple Park Special Event” on June 5, rumored to be a launch for new AR/VR products. Apple Reality Pro is expected to become one of the most powerful XR headphones. Capitalizing on Apple’s hotspot, the AR project OVR has launched an App Store Giveaway promotion that will take place between May 22 and June 9. The CEO will give a speech at Web3 Live London on June 1. OVR quickly climbed to first place on Coingecko’s Top Trending Cryptocurrencies list, with its price experiencing a more than 150% increase in the past week and a 50% increase in the past 24 hours. 18.Google Trends — Global Bitcoin (Token) — The price of Bitcoin remains stable at around $27,000. With the waning popularity of BRC20, Bitcoin lacks new narratives and price catalysts. Simultaneously, given the unstable external environment, traders are waiting for the latest developments on the US debt ceiling impasse. Bitcoin has been relatively stable recently. 19.Google Trends Surge — East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan a) South Asia Region India Trending Tokens: gmt Pakistan Trending Keywords: btc to usdt, top 10 crypto exchanges b) Southeast Asia Region Indonesia Trending Keywords: crypto news, poocoin, learn crypto Malaysia Trending Keywords: crypto exchange, bybit, huobi Thailand Trending Keywords: crypto bubbles Philippines Trending Keywords: pi, btc, okb c) East Asia and Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan Trending Keywords: crypto news 20.Google Trends Surge — English-speaking Countries, Europe, CIS Region a) CIS Region Trending Keywords: crypto pro, crypto bubbles, dune b) English-speaking Countries Canada Trending Tokens: dot, req, btc, pi, shib UK Trending Tokens: tonic, rndr USA Trending Tokens: jesus, arpa Australia Trending Tokens: floki, easy, ladys, neo, cfx c) Europe Poland Trending Keywords: zonda, ergo, shib, eth Germany Trending Keywords: bit global crypto leaders, crypto shards France Trending Tokens: trx, arpa, bob, ftm, fet Italy Trending Tokens: ada, cfx Turkey Trending Keywords: crypto royal, vbet crypto Spain Trending Tokens: polis, gmx, shib 21.Google Trends Surge — Middle East, Latin America, Africa a) Africa Trending Keywords: crypto market cap, binance, crypto bubbles, hotbit, cex meaning in crypto b) Middle East Trending Keywords: dmcc crypto, bitcoin, coinmarketcap c) Latin America Brazil Trending Tokens: bob, aave Argentina Trending Keywords: coinmarketcap, shiba inu Mexico Trending Keywords: render token crypto

Can Blockchain-based Gaming Reshape the Industry?

When do adults stop playing and start taking themselves seriously? Typically, when they need to earn a living. But what if you could play for a living? A path that isn't just for the top 0.1% of esports athletes? This mythical land does exist, and it began to reach its full potential in 2021. It's known as GameFi. GameFi extends games into the financial realm. Stronger property rights mean players can take their beloved characters outside their native world for fun and profit. Blockchain technology provides the economic building blocks that used to take game developers so long to create that it prevented them from even starting. Economic activity on GameFi has recently exploded, and entire economies have stemmed from this activity. This report looks at the history of planned-economy games like World of Warcraft against their modern crypto counterparts that create maximum value for their players. What is GameFi? The blockchain-based game Axie Infinity launched its Ronin sidechain to Ethereum in February 2021. Within weeks, transaction volume and deposited balance smashed through all reasonable and even the most outlandish expectations. The gaming world was perplexed. What just happened? In one word: economics. Games in the past had minimal trading functionality, but not due to game developers’ lack of wanting. It was simply too difficult and remote from the game’s main objectives to implement a functional in-game currency and a marketplace that facilitated trades with the lowest possible transaction costs. Enter blockchain technology. A junior Solidity developer can create an ERC20 token for a game currency in less than an hour. When game developers use the ERC721 standard for non-fungible tokens, in-game materials like swords and wands automatically become tradable on popular third-party marketplaces like OpenSea. Axie Infinity and Defi Kingdoms demonstrated that they could reach more than $400 million in transaction volume on some days. These games are the poster children of a new category called GameFi. MixMarvel’s founders first mentioned the term “GameFi” in November 2019. Andre Cronje then used it in a September 2020 tweet, and the word became standard vernacular after that. GameFi is a concatenation of gaming and finance and broadly stands for blockchain games with a financial element, yet distinct from gambling activity. These games require skill and determination, with a smaller component of luck. Players earn currencies and materials by completing tasks or grooming their characters. What sets them apart from the past is what players can then do with their loot. Essential features of GameFi Play-to-earn Players can sell rare items earned in the game to other players on marketplaces in and outside the game, thanks to open standards. The connection between the “real world” and the virtual world becomes stronger when game materials retain utility outside their native surroundings. Some games have spawned a whole complementary industry where players make a decent living growing and training characters or finding powerful in-game Items. In-game currencies often have clever incentives to attract investors regardless of their involvement in the game itself. While this was a boon for early adopters, escalating prices created steep entry fees for newer participants because characters required to play are priced in the game’s native currency. Tokenomics A word combination of tokens and economics, it describes these incentive schemes. “Only 21 million Bitcoin will ever exist!” is Bitcoin tokenomics in a nutshell. There’s a limited supply, and the issuance keeps decreasing. Let’s look at Axie Infinity’s AXS token. Breeding characters sends tokens to the community treasury and removes them from circulation. Users can stake their AXS to secure the network and receive rewards from the treasury. At the same time, AXS tokens have a maximum supply of 270 million, with tokens for the team released gradually over five years so team members cannot dump their shares and ruin the price. The maximum supply, slow-release, and staking rewards work harmonically to make holding AXS more attractive to investors and fuel its price growth. Play-to-earn before blockchain Second Life was the first game that sparked a veritable in-game currency — called Linden dollar — and transactions of virtual items outside the game world. Real estate agent Ailin Graef made more than 1 million British pounds selling in-game plots in 2006. Second Life is still operational, and creator Philip Rosedale recently returned to tackle the metaverse. Perfect timing, since Second Life, pioneered much of what the metaverse is made out to be, like virtual professions, virtual land, or an entire virtual economy. The next game to smash the confines of its virtuality was World of Warcraft (WoW). This fantasy adventure saw players bid tens of thousands for blue Murloc eggs on eBay. Inside the game, characters used virtual gold for trades, but only specific items could be exchanged, often at set prices. Developer Activision Blizzard recently released its own digital currency, albeit one that is only available from the developer and only tradeable in the game itself. Economics of gameplay Blockchain gaming is turning the traditional gaming model on its head. Before GameFi, siloed game worlds didn’t let players genuinely own their in-game assets. GameFi stores in-game material as unique tokens, or NFTs, and lets owners sell them on free markets for a price of their choice. In 2019, the introduction of an in-game currency called Smooth Love Potion (SLP) boosted Axie Infinity’s popularity. It paved the way for other decentralized finance (Defi) components to penetrate blockchain gaming. Such parallels that GameFi has with Defi include staking, liquidity mining, NFT trading, and NFT fractionalization. Crypto gaming has grown in popularity as more players collect and trade digital assets, generating a dependable income for game developers and creating value for players. In 2020, Axie Infinity gamers in the Philippines earned their regular monthly salary by just playing the game at a time when measures against the COVID-19 pandemic brought economic hardship to the country. And here we have it: The mythical lands were playing and making a living converging. No wonder this attracted a copious amount of users. According to Bloomberg: “Nearly 50% of active cryptocurrency wallets connected to decentralized applications in November (2021) 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.” How players make money Axie Infinity was the first smash hit in GameFi. With a sophisticated ecosystem, it dwarfed its competition at the top of DappRadar’s NFT sales rankings for much of 2021 and into Q1 of 2022, with $563.6 million in sales in Axie Infinity is an NFT game inspired by Pokémon and Tamagotchi. Players earn by breeding, racing, battling, and trading cute Axie creatures. All in-game materials are NFTs using Ethereum’s ERC-721 standard. This is the same standard that all NFT marketplaces use. Axie’s developers met while playing CryptoKitties, where they could witness the power of giving players economic liberties. All assets and all data on Axie are open sources, and using it does not require permission from Sky Mavis. Developers in the community can just build what they want and let the players decide whether they like it or not. In other words, a free and open market is baked into the game design. Axies can be bred by using Smooth Love Potion (SLP), a utility coin, and AXS, the game’s governance token. SLP is rewarded for completing quests in the game. Like in Ready Player One, players can shape a part of the game’s universe. But there’s more. One of the most significant digital land sales in the NFT and metaverse sector to date also comes from Axie Infinity: One of its 75 genesis land plots sold for $2.3 million. The collection has already clocked nearly $4 billion in total sales. Staking, or locking up, AXS over a more extended period of time reaps a substantial annual percentage yield (APY). Even though this reduced from over 200% to about 88%, investors have over $1.56 billion worth of AXS staked. Regulatory woes Since the emergence of Bitcoin (BTC) in 2009, on the heels of the subprime crisis, lawmakers have been slowly trying to find ways to regulate and tax cryptocurrencies. With the runaway success of digital assets since 2020, these efforts have intensified. United States President Joe Biden recently labeled crypto as a “national security threat” and announced an executive order to be sent to a plethora of government agencies asking them to develop regulatory policies. Democrats proposed another piece of legislation, worrying the crypto industry in the U.S. House of Representatives in January, the COMPETES Act. Jerry Brito, executive director for Washington D.C.- based think tank Coin Center, noted that one provision in the proposed bill would allow the Treasury Secretary to ban crypto exchanges from operating without any prior notice. Brito stated that he believes the bill will very likely pass “in some form”. In November 2021, a report published by the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets suggested that stablecoin issuers in the U.S. should be subject to “appropriate federal oversight” akin to that of banks. The report did not specify which federal agency would lead these efforts but said the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had “broad enforcement, rulemaking, and oversight authorities” to address crypto transactions and companies. Governments across the world are moving toward some form of a regulatory framework. India has recently announced the introduction of a 30% crypto tax that targets all transfers of digital assets, along with plans to introduce its own central bank digital currency (CBDC) by 2023. Thailand also announced its plans to introduce a CBDC but recently backtracked on plans to introduce a 15% capital gains tax on all cryptocurrencies after a public backlash against the proposal. 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