The NFT and gaming markets, while distinct, are less far along on their ascent compared to crypto and DeFi assets less far out on the risk curve. This is in part because NFT valuations continued to climb well into 2022 before starting their descent after the rest of the crypto markets. It has been reported that numerous developer studios who raised at frothy valuations in 2021 are finally slated to push their products later this year, as games can have unique and extended development cycles. $MAVIA (+26% in 24h) is an example of a recently launched game whose TGE saw success, with a significant boost in price and sustained volumes on DEXs like Hyperliquid.
Today, we’ll be briefing you on Ronin, one of the top gaming chains which posted details around a $PIXEL airdrop for $RON stakers recently. This sort of iniative makes the chain potentially worth looking into, even for those who aren’t all that interested in the gaming space.
Stay informed, stay alert ⬇
NFTs and gaming projects came to prominence later on in the bull cycle of 2021, and also started their decline later than other crypto assets. BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club), for example, set its $ETH floor price ATH as well as its USD ATH well into 2022; this week, its reign as the no.1 NFT project was eclipsed by Pudgy Penguins. Institutions like Defiance Capital and Delphi Digital have allocated manpower and capital into the gaming space.
Background on Ronin
Ronin describes itself as a blockchain ‘forged for gamers’. The EVM sidechain was developed by, Sky Mavis, the team behind Axie Infinity, includes its own wallet infrastructure via the Ronin wallet. Some top games on the chain now include Pixels, as well as Apeiron and Axie Infinity, which are both developed by the Sky Mavis team. This may be an example of a blockchain developer initially providing content and users to attract other developers.
Those not familiar with the gaming sector may not know much about Ronin. Despite this, the chain is not to be scoffed at. It boasts some impressive DAU numbers as a top 5 chain in this category, which may be more organic compared to other chains. While botting definitely can and does occur in crypto games, the risk-to-reward for this type of behavior may not be there yet compared to other opportunities like airdrop farming on Starknet, zkSync, etc. where individuals can manually set up multiple wallets or use software to automate the process of making a few transactions and deposits.
Background on Pixels
While Axie Infinity was once widely regarded as the #1 P2E (Play to Earn) game and an industry standard, Pixels reigns as the most popular project on Ronin. The project raised $2.4M from investors including Animoca Brands as well as another $4.8M round just a couple of weeks ago, and has since amassed a massive following.
To make any sort of insights around Ronin and airdrops, a basic understanding of Pixels is needed. It is a pixelated farming simulator - players complete various tasks in exchange for digital crops, items, etc. Lands where this farming occurs can be bought and sold as NFTS, the floorprice of which have skyrocketed to some 1.59 $ETH as of now.
The game is very simple and definitely not a high-production product or a AAA game. Nonetheless it has garnered significant traction as now users will be able to earn and withdraw the fungible $PIXEL token, which just recently launched. The $PIXEL token launched as the Binance launch pool token with the most deposits, and the team held a twitter space with Mario Newfa. Love him or hate him, this kind of attention can bring a lot of eyes to the game and the underlying chain.
$PIXEL Airdrop & Implications
Ronin recently announced that $RON stakers would receive a 20M pixel allocation, Claims are to be made available in two phases, with the 1st occuring upon Pixel TGE (yesterday) and the 2nd happening in one moh, 10M tokens each.
The snapshot was taken on February 8th and dishes out rewards in a tiered approach:
1 RON: 183.34 PIXEL
55 RON: 675.75 PIXEL
684.64 RON: 2,315.77 PIXEL
8317.4 RON: 3,955.11 PIXEL
The introduction of airdrops may usher in a wave of speculators who otherwise may not have paid much attention to the chain or gaming in general.
Since Ronin is focused on gaming, the DeFi capabilities on the chain may still be primitive compared to others like Arbitrum, Solana, etc. Nonetheless, similar patterns are already emerging, like DeFi projects securing airdrop allocations for users who staked through a platform as opposed to native network staking.
Prices of both $PIXEL and $RON have seen dramatic increases since this information came to light. Staking $RON also currently carries an APR of ~15%+, with a 3 day withdrawal period.
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