NFT & Blockchain Gaming Weekly (09/02/2024)

Pandora, the new ERC-404 collection, topped NFT sales this week. Heroes of Mavia, backed by Crypto.com Capital, has surpassed 1M downloads. ENS has partnered with GoDaddy.

Chart of the Week

‘Pandora’ is an NFT collection that’s the first implementation of a newly introduced, experimental, and unofficial token standard called ERC-404. This new standard mixes elements from the existing ERC-20 and ERC-721 standards. In contrast to various NFT fractionalization protocols, ERC-404 is designed to achieve fractionalisation natively.

Days after launch, ‘Pandora’ NFTs gained popularity swiftly. It topped the NFT sales this week by accumulating over US$37 million in sales volume since its launch on 5 February, with the average price increasing from approximately US$4,300 to more than US$22,300.

New Project Spotlight

Blockchain Games

[Upcoming] Loaded Lions: Mane City Prosperity Blitz

As Mane City prepares for its next full-fledged Competitive Mode season, players get to compete in a two-week Blitz event again and earn the opportunity to win from a prize pool of US$35,000++!
100% of Diamond spend will be allocated to the prize pool, with 70% of this being exclusive to the Prosperity Blitz. What’s more, special NFT rewards are waiting for the top player as well, including the ‘Lion’s Tenacity Award’ collectible.

NFT Collectibles

[Live] Project SENSAI – The Golden Army

Project SENSAI is an AI-powered play-to-earn strategy game created by Red Kunai Labs. Its lead artist, Eugenia Chen, combined her passions for technological and artistic disciplines to create the generated avatars in ‘Project SENSAI – The Golden Army’.

Each PFP NFT boasts unique abilities and a special backstory. The collectibles in this project grant holders access to the game and various utilities, including the ability to turn their selfie into an avatar, Bitcoin Ordinals vaulting, and airdrops.

[Upcoming] The Depot

Missed your chance to snag an ‘Expedition Gear’ NFT in the initial drop and previous Depot restocks? Scoop up all the tools you need in this latest Depot restock, and gear up for the next Loaded Lions: Mane City Competitive Mode event. These might just come in handy beyond the game as well. Stay tuned for more details!

NFT Metrics

Platform		Collection	7D Sales Volume (USD)	Floor Price (USD)
Blur		Nobody	$25,219,311 (-)	$1,501
Blur		DeGods	$14,833,358 (-)	$7,187
OpenSea		Nobody	$25,709,779 (-)	$1,454
OpenSea		DeGods	$12,390,088 (-)	$7,675
Crypto.com		SYNTHTOPIA	$129,761 (-23%)	$51
Crypto.com		Dark Lions	$30,038 (-35%)	$140
Minted		Top Dog Corgi	$78,262 (+103%)	$167
Minted		VVS Miner Mole	$5,644 (-61%)	$185

Blockchain Game Metrics

The following table shows selected top games by weekly volume in USD:

	Game	Blockchain(s)	7D Volume (USD)	7D UAW
	Loaded Lions: Mane City	Cronos	$10,290 (-73%)	2,766 (-7%)
	Axie Infinity	Ethereum, Ronin	$978,536 (-24%)	16,377 (-2%)
	Gods Unchained	Ethereum, Immutable X	$761,690 (+5%)	1,110 (+5%)
	xPet.tech	Arbitrum	$407,383 (-24%)	1,936 (-23%)
	DeFi Kingdoms	Avalanche, Klaytn, DFK Chain	$221,026 (+190%)	6,637 (-2%)
	BinaryX	BNB Chain	$171,846 (+148%)	67 (+3%)

Gaming Token Performance

The total market cap for gaming tokens now stands at $22.06 billion, increasing by 2.04% from last week.

News Highlights

• Web3 mobile game ‘Heroes of Mavia‘ has surpassed one million downloads on iOS and Android within five days of its launch. The game is backed by Crypto.com Capital, and it demonstrates a growing acceptance for blockchain gaming.
• Ethereum Name Service (ENS) has partnered with traditional domain registrar GoDaddy to bring blockchain domains to over 20 million GoDaddy users. The partnership will enable users to link their domains to their ENS-supported cryptocurrency wallets. This simplifies the acceptance of cryptocurrency payments and eases the integration of Web2 and Web3.
• Mastercard has launched a trivia game for the UEFA Champions League tournament which utilises NFT technology. This game tests fans’ knowledge and grants you an opportunity to win tickets to the grand final at Wembley Stadium. The trivia game is open to Mastercard customers who collect branded NFT passes and compete in a global leaderboard.
• Hong Kong film director Stephen Chow’s ‘Nobody’ NFT collection has seen trading volumes reach over 10,000 ETH (~US$24.4m) since its release on 1 February. This highlights the growing interest in creative projects in the NFT market.
• Bitcoin NFT project, Taproot Wizards, has successfully sold out its first collection, ‘Quantum Cats’, raising around $13 million. All 3,000 digital collectibles were sold at a fixed price of 0.1 BTC each. The sale surpassed the $7.5 million in funding Taproot Wizards raised from investors last year.
• NFT aggregator X2Y2 Pro is integrating with the Oasys blockchain gaming ecosystem to provide enhanced trading and lending capabilities for in-game NFTs.
• Tokyo-based marketing company Hakuhodo and Japan Airlines are launching a second round of experiments for their ‘KOKYO‘ NFT project. This project tokenises unique local experiences and real-world assets (RWAs).

Recent Research Reports

Alpha Navigator: Quest for Alpha [January 2024]	Research Roundup Newsletter [January 2024]	Crypto ETFs

• Alpha Navigator: Quest for Alpha [January 2024]: Fed signals rate cut in March unlikely. Asset class performance was mixed in January, with crypto and equities up slightly.
• Research Roundup Newsletter [January 2024]: We present to you our latest issue of Research Roundup, featuring trending market insights in January, charts of the month, and our deep dive into the world of crypto ETFs.
• Crypto ETFs: This report explores what crypto ETFs are, providing an overview of the current crypto ETF market and looking into how they work as investment vehicles. Plus, we explore their features, significance, advantages, and drawbacks.

Recent University Articles

Crypto Market Makers vs Market Takers — What They Are and How They Influence	Bitcoin NFTs — How the Ordinals Protocol Works	Liquid Staking vs Traditional Staking — What Are the Differences and How Do They Work?

• Crypto Market Makers vs Market Takers — What They Are and How They Influence: Crypto market makers provide liquidity by placing buy and sell orders, while market takers seek immediate execution of their orders. Here’s how they interact with each other.
• Bitcoin NFTs — How the Ordinals Protocol Works: Learn all about what the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol is and how it works — from satoshis to inscriptions to NFTs.
• Liquid Staking vs Traditional Staking — What Are the Differences and How Do They Work? Staking and liquid staking are popular ways for cryptocurrency holders to earn rewards. Here’s how the two approaches differ.

We’re all ears.

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Authors

Research and Insights Team

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