"Mega-grifter" returns with one final grift?
GC ALPHA 76
MARKET TALK
THE STORY OF FANFARON
On November 25th, Fanfaron (the founder of 77-bit) shared that his project has only $370,000 left in its Treasury, with $440,000 in taxes owed. The company is going bankrupt, but he doesn’t want to let it die, and is buying 77 days of life for 77-bit, emphasizing how he’s personally putting everything on the line
Furthermore, he added that he hasn’t taken any salary for the past 2 years from the company (you’ll see why this is important)
With this 77-day sprint, the company is taking a hard pivot:
Firstly, 77-bit is introducing a high-stakes farming game through Lands (accessible through the 77-bit Quantum Cores NFTs)
In April this year, 5000 Cores NFTs were sold for 0.077 ETH (raising $244,000), but only 1,729 were minted, with the rest being burned. I can’t find the right collection page, so I don’t know what they’re worth now
Secondly, the project is broadening its vision with the “Coin Cartel”
A collective of “8 killer apps with strong PMF for crypto”, backed by a medium of exchange currency called “$COIN”
Among the 8 apps, 77-bit will be at the core. Other apps will include a crypto bank, a trading terminal, and a casino, among other things
Before getting into the history of 77-bit, Jonah had a fair take on the situation: “…you have 180,000 DAU, and you couldn’t generate significant revenue…” (this DAU claim was made in the comeback video)
The account-making process for 77-bit is onchain, meaning bots heavily inflated the DAU count (to farm incentives). It’s all vanity metrics
77-bit was previously an NFT project known as Ragnarok. In April 2022, the original collection (now rebranded to 77-bit) was minted and raised $15.5M
Only a few months later, in August, the team had already spent $11.6M (~75%) of their Treasury. Fanfaron managed to lose $1.827M due to trading, slippage, and fees
Furthermore, the team (and especially the founder) took an outrageous salary: “$1.3M compensation for core team members post-mint, $1.25M salaries for core team members in total from the start, $2.45M compensation for founding members, and another $400K salaries for founding members in total from the start”
Finally, a casual buyout of the co-founder for $1.5M, making a total of $6.9M for salary and compensation (note: this was just an NFT project at the time). Fanfaron likely double or triple-dipped into the Treasury by trying to be creative with the role of “founding member” and “core team”
Fanfaron himself refuted the claims and mentioned how the “trading loss” wasn’t gambling, but treasury management in swapping ETH to stables. Plus, he claims that the salary numbers are “pure fiction based on extrapolation”
Even if the claims are exaggerated, the incompetence is clear, and I would stay away from anything this figure touches by a mile (he’s a better KOL than a founder). The reason why people still support him is likely because they are bagholders (through NFTs or time-invested)
The “Coin Cartel” seems like a final grift to me. But I’m happy to eat my words and to be proven wrong in the next ~70 days
TAKEAWAYS FROM KAM (FABLEBORNE)
Last week, we had Kam (my boss) on Sidelined to talk about Fableborne S4. Yes, I’m aware we also talked about the game last week, specifically about Guilds. However, because it’s a “big f*cking week” for the game and the team, with S4 going live today, a little shill seemed in place. Here are the highlights:
Learnings from 2025:
“I think what’s certainly compounded in this year. We have to say no a lot more…we have always been good at having that relentless focus on what our goal is, but there are so many ups and downs, and so many different opportunities that came in 2025…”
Pivots are quite common in crypto. Few are driven by smart business decisions, whilst many are fueled by shiny object syndrome. If you have confidence in what you’re building, you should stick to the plan
“S4 was actually planned for May, and then we just realized we don’t have the full-blooded experience that we wanted, we don’t think we have the economic layer or systems and features that can support an economic layer around Fableborne…”
One of the key learnings from TGEs in 2024 - 2025 is that tokens should be introduced later in the lifecycle. A product’s ability to support a token launch often hinges on its maturity
About Guilds in S4:
“I don’t look at them (Guilds) as, let’s say, social tags, I really look at them as economic production units”
Axie is probably the best example of how guilds had a lasting impact on crypto economies: “Axie’s assets soared because it connected an underpaid labour market, primarily organised through guilds with sophisticated traders and hedge funds...” ~ On Web3 Games by Decentralized.Co
About earning opportunities in S4:
“There’s never really been an incentive, or when you earn, what do I do with it, apart from extract. There have been small snapshots of potential, but nothing that really sustained and scaled”
Historically, few teams had an answer to the question of “why hold?” (or reinvest). So, naturally, if there isn’t a good reason to do so, extraction becomes the next logical thing. Fableborne will introduce a metagame in which players will be able to recirculate the value they earn
About what’s after S4:
“Our goal, before we go live persistently, is 30 days of content,” and “we want to make sure that the game never becomes stale (before we go live)”
“We don’t want to be persistently live and then have…months of downtime. Because you bring in lots of players, and even if those players are sticky, they retain and spend. They’re not going to hang around for months waiting for you”
A live game must have momentum from day one. If your liveops can’t keep up with the rate of content consumption, your players will run out of things to do and churn at some point
Overall, an insightful conversation with Kam. In about ~30 days, when S4 is done, I will share some of the learnings and reflect on this conversation
ON THE RISE
Fishing Frenzy introduced Karma Drops: special rewards to Karma holders
Waifu Sleeper is joining YGG Play: A “fun” spin on Minesweeper with Waifus
Cambria S3 delayed to December 6, now running until the 15th
Disclaimer: None of this information should be taken as financial advice. My writings only represent my personal opinions. DYOR + I will hold some of the assets mentioned in this newsletter.