AXIE INFINITY , THE FIRST OF MANY IN THE RAT RACE
Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based strategy game that allows players to collect, breed and fight with creatures called Axies. Axies are non-fungible tokens (NFT) that can be bought, sold or traded on the market.
In a year, the game has gone from 3 million active players to 300,000 per month and, for now at least, the craze is over.
This game had a real impact on many people around the world and among them, as a success story, is this 22 year old young man who was able to buy 2 houses in the Philippines thanks to the game.
The game was particularly popular in countries with the highest levels of poverty, the lowest levels of employment and the worst economic situations. As a result, the countries with the highest number of players included :
The game allowed families to cope with the ongoing crisis in Venezuela. One man described how he used his winnings from Axie Infinity to buy groceries for his family, an example followed by many others. Of course, it was precisely in these countries that the attempt by many players to leave the “herd” was noticed and acted upon.
PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE WARNS AGAINST AXIE INFINITY’S P2E TREACHEROUS SCHEME
They first warned about the fraudulent nature of the platform and then followed up with threats of tax returns. It should be noted that it was possible to earn up to $400 a day in countries like the Philippines, where renting an apartment can cost $200 a month.
But this did not last long and the losses followed:
The whole thing quickly turned into a Ponzi scheme, where the first to get in are the first to get out with huge profits. A few put money in, encourage the crowd to buy through various strategies or supported by market sentiment, and when the stock market is crowded enough, they reap the benefits, and as the largest holders, having taken advantage of the low prices, their holdings have grown to a much higher value, causing the fund to run dry when the liquidity is collected.
So where there was wheat there is now a deserted wasteland. Of course, unless you have a lot of money, it is difficult for you as an investor to move the market. This is where the “whales” come in. They are the ones who can move the market and make its price fluctuate. They usually play with two advantages, their capital and their knowledge, which 90% of other traders do not have.
MANY CORPSES IN A HOUSE OF CARDS
Axie Infinity set the trend, and after it a lot of video games appeared, if you can call them that, homemade rehashes from a studio made by two friends, looking more like a mobile game for an old Nokia, being true copies of others like Brawlstars, Clash of Clans, card games or turn-based games with 2000s graphics performance.
The worst thing was that everyone, in search of their lost Lamborghini, started to put their money, their savings, their pension and their unemployment benefits into all these projects, completely unaware of such essential things as tokenomics, game mechanics, viability or scalability.
On the one hand, once the token was launched, the vast majority fell into losses within 48-72 hours as soon as the largest holders sold all their portfolios, lining their pockets and bleeding the most inexperienced dry. Others focused directly on launching an idea or a half-finished project, and the development team itself did a rug-pull and took all the money without a trace.
For those unfamiliar with the term “rugpull”, it is a type of scam in which the creators of an investment project, usually cryptocurrency, suddenly abandon the project and take all the investors’ money with them. It refers to the practice of quickly withdrawing funds from a project, as if pulling the rug out from under investors.
The losses were enormous, and none of the existing project tokens were redeemed. They all accumulated losses of over 90% of their value in ATH.
And this is where most of the news about cryptocurrencies comes from, especially as it relates to video games with blockchain integration. Industry malpractice has turned something with utility into a cloud of smoke and mirrors, where true value, digital identity, digital asset ownership and economic returns based on proof of effort or progress within a video game are left out.
Despite all this, there are well-known international development teams that have made the effort and attempt to make this work.
UBISOFT QUARTZ AND RAINBOW SIX SIEGE
Ubisoft has launched an NFT platform called Ubisoft Quartz, which allows players to buy and sell unique cosmetic items (NFTs) for the game Rainbow Six Siege.
These cosmetic items, called Digits, are based on blockchain technology and can be purchased using Tezos, a cryptocurrency.
Digits are exclusive cosmetic items that can only be purchased on Ubisoft Quartz. They cannot be obtained through traditional in-game means such as packs or challenges. They have a unique serial number and are linked to a player’s Ubisoft account. This means that Digits can be resold to other players on the Ubisoft Quartz marketplace.
Some players have argued that NFTs are a scam and that Ubisoft is just trying to make a quick buck. Other players have criticised the negative impact that NFTs have on the environment, but Ubisoft has also said that they will continue to release more NFTs.
I’ve been following them since the beginning and I personally like them. I leave the link for the curious and you can draw your own conclusions.
QUARTZ NFT IN RARIBLE
Of course, while there are many attempts, some do “relatively” well and this is the case with NBA TOP SHOT, a platform that allows fans to buy and sell NBA moments in the form of NFTs.
NBA Top Shot moments are short videos of NBA highlights, and this is reminiscent of physical collectibles such as Pokemon, Magic the Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh cards, among others. Going even further back in time, football or baseball cards are digital, not tangible to the buyer.
NBA TOP SHOT
✅ THE REAL USE OF ALTCOINS ✅
Once the project is developed with fundamentals, we can make way for the use of altcoins, where it is another way both to finance a project and to provide an internal economy to the project through the community of players/investors.
Some of its advantages are:
☑️ Payments ☑️
🔶Make payments
🔶Buying/selling goods and services
🔶Subscribing to services
🔶Transfer money between players
☑️ Microtransactions ☑️
🔶Purchase of cosmetic items
🔶Participation in special events
🔶Voting on community decisions via DAO
☑️ Diving ☑️
🔶Buying land
🔶Building objects
🔶Participation in gambling
☑️ Management ☑️
🔶Voting on governance decisions
🔶Allocation of resources
🔶Procurement of goods and services
AN ALTCOIN WITHOUT A GOOD MASTER IS PROBABLY A BAD CHOICE
However, it is worth remembering that none of this will work properly without a good candidate for your tokenomics development team.
A good candidate to develop tokenomics in a blockchain project is someone with a background in economics, finance, blockchain and cryptocurrencies. This person should be able to understand the economic principles that govern the behaviour of tokens, as well as the implications of blockchain technology in the financial market.
And it has to be:
🔶 Knowledge of economics and finance: You should have a basic understanding of the economic principles that govern price and market behaviour. You should also have knowledge of finance, including concepts such as market capitalisation, cash flow and profitability.
🔶 Blockchain knowledge: You should have a good understanding of how blockchain technology works and how tokens can be used in this context.
🔶 Knowledge of cryptocurrencies: You should be familiar with the different cryptocurrencies that exist, as well as their characteristics and how they work.
In addition to these technical requirements, a good candidate for the development of tokenomics should have the following skills :
🔶 Analytical skills: You must be able to analyse data and extract relevant information.
🔶 Communication skills: You must be able to communicate your ideas clearly and concisely.
🔶 Teamwork skills: You need to be able to work with others to develop effective, complete and gapless tokenomics.
If you thought this was going to be a smooth ride, it is not. But if you do your research carefully, you will avoid falling into scams or losses, and I am sure this article will not bring you profits, but maybe it will save you a lot of trouble.
See you in the next article!
