Alleged token manipulator launches new gaming blockchain token
GC ALPHA 56
Disclaimer: None of this information should be taken as financial advice. DYOR + I will hold some of the assets mentioned in this newsletter.
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PRODUCT REVIEW: FOOTBALL.FUN
One app I have been using for the past 2 months or so is Football.Fun (FF). It’s a skill-based fantasy sports game that involves trading, collecting, and speculating on tokenized players.
The loop:
Start with gold → buy players (based on upcoming games) → manage squad → expand team (through pack openings) → earn based on match performance → trade players → reinvest budget → climb ranks based on squad value
How are they gaining attention?
Currently, the app is in its open beta phase (rolled out in June). So far, the focus has largely been on content and founder-led marketing. Their marketing efforts will ramp up when the football season starts
Fantasy sports games have the benefit of having built-in liveops pacing
Why is the app sticky or not?
FF takes a new approach to the fantasy sports format, and unlike Sorare and TopShot, which use NFTs, FF uses tokens. This creates a more accessible altcoin-trading experience. The app is also very non-crypto-friendly
Overall, it hits the spot in keeping me more engaged with football, and the pack mechanics make me return to the app multiple times a day. However, currently, the app still lacks strong social mechanics (which are still in dev…)
Next week, we might explore an app related to Pokémon cards.
MARKET TALK
THE CROSS TGE
A couple of days ago, CROSS Protocol, launched its $CROSS token. A new gaming blockchain built on BNB
Not too long ago, Ragnarok: Monster World (RMW) migrated from Ronin to Cross
A Tweet from Psycheout at the time:
“The team behind the game ignored our advice and has since lost favor with the community. To make matters worse, they secretly signed a deal with a separate blockchain, breaching our agreement.”
Interestingly, the former CEO of Wemade, the Korean blockchain gaming giant, is the founder of CROSS
Henry Chang joined Wemade back in 2013 and helped the studio transition to a blockchain-first company
However, in September 2024, he left the studio due to personal and legal scrutiny over allegations of manipulating the WEMIX token supply. Apparently, after the first trial, all his lawyers resigned from the case
In 2022, during controversies about the circulating supply, Upbit delisted the WEMIX token, causing the token to plummet by 70%
Cross is an initiative emerging from NEXUS Co., Ltd., and 1mpal shared how a reporter dropped a piece exposing a stock front-running scandal right after TGE, making people wonder whether Nexus was involved in it
After dropping that piece, the token went below a $50M FDV
Furthermore, 1mpal mentions how presale participants invested at a $100M FDV are underwater, with CROSS having a ~$65M FDV
CROSS only managed to land mediocre exchanges for its launch
Outside RMW, the chain has a couple of titles in the pipeline, a mix of MMORPGs, TCGs, open-world RPGs, and idle games. Plus, there are mentions of various MOUs signed with developers in Korea, China, and Japan
Despite these plans, I wonder whether the project will succeed. As it likely lost (if it had any) trust from the Korean market, it needs support from
ENDLESS CLOUDS’ $END UNDERWHELMS
In other TGE news, Endless Clouds (EC) launched its $END token today. However, unfortunately, its launch was overwhelming, giving new ammunition to the “crypto gaming is dead” crowd. So, let’s break the launch down:
EC choose a pretty risky launch model for $END, which included a DEX-first approach, with a high circulating supply of 31.1%, including a generous allocation to the community (players and NFT holders)
Why was it risky? In this market, almost all tokens you distribute through airdrops become sell pressure, as the incentive to hold isn’t there. It’s a major challenge to offset all this initial selling pressure with buying pressure
EC went DEX-first because it couldn’t secure a T1 listing, and didn’t see the value of giving up a % of the supply for a T2 CEX listing
In terms of the GTM, we primarily saw a combination of founder-led and content marketing. In total, a 5-week token campaign (because of some delays), relatively quick post its P2A season
Notably, the studio spend little on marketing budget, considering we didn’t see any paid KOLs speak on the token launch. It largely relied on Loopify’s existing credibility and the support from the existing community
$END was also marketed as a single gaming token, attached to Treeverse. Unfortunately, it plans to develop multiple games, including Capsule Heroes were scrapped a little while back
The token ended up launching at a ~$30M FDV, however, quickly dwindled to $10M in the hours post launch, as airdrop recipients started to sell. Investors of the latest round are underwater, as their last raise was at $70M FDV
For the next 6 months no new supply will be unlocked, limiting potential sell pressure for the near future
Lastly, I want to highlight this message from Loopify:
“I ask you one thing: Don't write us off. The way we differentiate is being open and transparent with what stage we are at and give you conviction in what we are building”
I consider Loop as a credible builder and trader with his heart in the right place. To me it seems they had to bite the bullet and get their token launch out, being forced to suffer the consequences of a shitty alt-coin market
So, let’s hope they can replicate something like the XBG token launch, another DEX-first token launch with a rocky start, which saw a strong trajectory “once the jeets were out” (although with a much lower iirc)
ON THE RISE
Reaper Actual comes out of stealth (we will cover it in GC news)
Revolving Games is publishing a new title using the MEATBAGS IP
Ronin introduced Pokémon cards to its recently introduced Gacha machine