NFT & Blockchain Gaming Weekly (01/12/2023)

DeGods NFT trading surged after a series of announcements from its creator. Azuki DAO rebrands to ‘Bean’ to shift towards a meme-inspired project. Rari Foundation launches a blockchain testnet.

Chart of the Week

DeGods and y00ts creator Rohun Vora (known as Frank) made a series of announcements on 28 November about the future of these projects and DeLabs, the company behind them.

They include new art for DeGods called Season 3.33, a remaster of y00ts, and the launch of de[starter], a crowdfunding platform. Frank also introduced deToX, a content curation and messaging app, and de[id], a social identity service that will assess reputation and support the $DUST ecosystem. While some holders are cautiously optimistic, others remain sceptical based on the company’s history of rapid pivots.

After Frank’s announcement, DeGod NFT trading surged significantly, with +126% and +152% growth in the number of sales and volume week-over-week, respectively.

New Project Spotlight

NFT Collectibles

[Upcoming] Dark Lions

Crypto.com provides the backstory of the Dark Lions, a group of apex predators from 370 years in the future who once lived in harmony with the Loaded Lions. After conflicts tore the two factions apart, they decided to travel back in time to the present to stop the rise of the Loaded Lions and take Mane City for themselves. The Cyber Cubs join forces with the Loaded Lions, and the battle for dominance begins.

Stay tuned for more details about the Dark Lions mint and the perks they grant collectors.

[Upcoming] SYNTHKIDDOS

The SYNTHKIDDOS, a group of young pioneers in the digital age, stumbled upon the TMK Mansion, where they encountered the Great Alchemist and learned that blending capsules with creativity and cybernetics grants immortality. Intrigued, the SYNTHKIDDOS ingested the DNA capsules, gaining eternal life and existing in both physical and digital realms. Collectors can access NFT airdrops, meetings with artists and the team, IRL and metaverse events, and more.

[LIVE] PHAZES S3

Bandanaboi’s PHAZES project features unique digital artworks on the Crypto.org Chain. It includes three seasons, with the upcoming drop being the final one consisting of 50 NFTs. The artist has also announced a special edition NFT airdrop and giveaways for canvas art prints and t-shirts to accompany the collection. For more information, visit the PHAZES website.

NFT Metrics

Blockchain Game Metrics

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

Gaming Token Performance

The total market cap for gaming tokens now stands at US$14.86 billion, growing by +9.02% from last week.

News Highlights

• Azuki DAO, the unofficial community decentralised autonomous organisation behind the Azuki NFT project, has decided to rebrand itself as ‘Bean’. The organisation has secured US$10 million in funding to support this initiative, which aims to generate a supply of one billion tokens. Its decision to rebrand follows a legal dispute related to Azuki’s previous NFT collection called ’Elementals’, which resulted in financial losses for investors. With the rebranding, Bean aims to start a new chapter and develop into a meme-centric project.
• RARI Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Rarible ecosystem, launched a testnet for a blockchain called RARI Chain that is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). The chain incorporates embedded royalties at the node level, providing creators with the necessary tools for success in the NFT space.
• Square Enix, the creators of the Final Fantasy video game series, has started its first NFT auction featuring characters from its upcoming blockchain-based game called Symbiogenesis.
• Luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton (LV) has unveiled a limited-edition virtual and physical mini trunk exclusively for its 200 ’Treasure Trunk’ NFT owners, who can purchase it for €6,000 on the official LV website. It was first showcased at Paris’s Champs-Élysées during LV’s Spring/Summer catwalk and will be available for collection in March 2024.

Recent Research Reports

• Research Roundup Newsletter [October 2023]: We present to you our latest issue of Research Roundup, featuring trending market insights in October, charts of the month, and our insights on friend.tech and SocialFi trends.
• Friend.Tech: Explore what friend.tech is, its success factors and criticisms, and some of the competing platforms that have emerged.
• Alpha Navigator: Quest for Alpha [October 2023]: US Federal Reserve holds steady on interest rates. BTC starts 4Q strong, outperforming other asset classes.

Recent University Articles

• Bitcoin Spot vs Futures ETFs Explained: Learn the difference between BTC spot vs futures ETFs — and why the Bitcoin spot ETFs haven’t yet been approved by the SEC.
• The Maker (MKR) Governance Token: How It Works and How to Get It: Here’s how MKR — MakerDAO’s governance and utility token — works and what rights holders have.
• Liquid Staking With the Lido (LDO) Token: The Lido token was conceived to make liquid staking easier and more accessible to crypto users. Here’s how it works.

We’re all ears.

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Authors

Research and Insights Team

Disclaimer

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