Are new chains using Ponzi games to jumpstart volume and attention?
GC ALPHA 50
Disclaimer: None of this information should be taken as financial advice. DYOR + I will hold some of the assets that are spoken of in this newsletter.
P2A & P2E EVENTS + SOCIALFI
Onchain Heroes S2 is launching this week (docs coming out soon)
Sparkball’s pre-season launched last week (S0 this Summer)
Zeeverse is migrating to Ronin and starting its P2A campaign on June 4
You can now pre-register for FIFA Rivals (launching in 19 days)
MARKET TALK
SOPHON, GAMING, AND PONZUS
Sophon’s SOPH token launches this Wednesday. As one of the more anticipated L2s, SOPH’s performance will serve as a good indicator of the current state of the market
Interestingly, the chain is going after a similar narrative to Abstract, positioning itself as “the OS for crypto-power consumer experiences”
Like many of the anticipated L2s and the ones that have already launched, Sophon is pushing gaming. And specifically, we saw two new idle games announced over the past week:
Hedge Empire: An onchain idle game, where you manage and expand a fund
Angelic Kingdom: An onchain idle RPG that uses SBTs for progression (Inhuman is an advisor)
These two titles sound very similar to Onchain Heroes (OCH). The launch of OCH drove a significant % of the initial volume to Abstract
So, are ponzu-like idle games becoming a new model for chains to drive the initial volume to their chain through apps? Essentially being DeFi, but wrapped in a more fun game loop, optimized for attention
In markets, volume = attention. Attention = more volume
Every app on a chain ultimately serves as a user and liquidity acquisition channel. And so far, 2025 has shown that “casual degen” games can be very effective at that
Especially when there is a secondary layer of incentives, like Abstract XP, which further drives volume and speculation
Of course, the sustainability and ethics of this approach can be questioned, as seen with the controversy around Bigcoin. However, from a user perspective, I wouldn’t fade the first-moving ponzus on a shiny new chain (if you’re early…)
MAPLESTORY UNIVERSE MARKET DATA
MapleStory Universe (MSU) launched its game and NXPC token less than two weeks ago. NXPC is still trading at around a $2B FDV, and the team has reported interesting trading data…
These are the numbers so far (according to the MSU Navigator) and Dominic’s Tweet:
MSU Marketplace volume: 176,962,944,312 $NESO = ~3.5M NXPC = ~$3.8M+
Apple reported that MSU has the 2nd largest collection by NFT volume in the past 10 days, more than Punks and Pudgy Penguins
2.5M+ transactions (averaging 280K+ transactions a day)
515K+ UAWs
Top trade: $16.3K (a character) | top item trade: $6K
Top trader PnL: +$40K
Based on arbitrage opportunities from buying and flipping high-in-demand items
Furthermore, the MSU account reported that 2M NXPC (~$4M) has been swapped into $NESO so far
Regarding the trading volume of NXPC last week:
$176M in perp volume, $146M in swap volume, led by Avalanche 26.2%
It seems the majority of earnings are going to the top 1% of players and the arbitrageurs willing to buy and flip assets
Overall, $3.8M in sales in a little over 10 days is pretty impressive, and with such high transaction volume, the MSU team must be making a decent amount of revenue (assuming they take a cut)
ON THE RISE
The Abstract team is testing its iOS app (mobile soon?)