Disclaimer: None of this information should be taken as financial advice. DYOR + I will hold some of the assets mentioned in this newsletter.
MARKET TALK
PIRATE NATION FALLOUT
Last week, Pirate Nation Classic officially shut down and continued its next chapter on Abstract. After this announcement, Founder NFT holders were able to burn their Pirate in exchange for PIRATE tokens. However, the allocations (~$50) were far from the value that the majority of holders bought the NFTs for
And so, a fallout from the community followed…
The cherry on top (what a timing) is that Ico Beast, who just joined the team about 2 months ago, announced his leave on the same day. He shared that he wasn’t looking for a new job, but got headhunted, and the offer was too good to turn down (game = game, I guess)
Of course, the people were divided about his leave. The Pirate Nation community largely seemed disappointed, but Ico’s comment section looked largely positive
When Ico became part of the team, people bought into the vision (through NFTs/tokens) of what Proof of Play could become. “The merchant of narratives was going to make the PoP token a huge success” (but no less was true)
Grail, who is one of the largest former NFT holders, gave his take on the topic:
He starts with how Pirate Nation “just delivered THE pinnacle master class in how to transform your NFT cult of fanatic supporters into a horde of raging maniacs frothing to do crime to your brand”
However, doesn’t believe the team had the wrong intentions, and they were backed into a corner on how to smooth this transition
The key takeaway from his rant (or analysis) is that we all understand that pivots are important, but that you don’t want to leave your community in the dust when doing so
Cagy held his little victory lap or grave dance, he called the team “clueless,” and claims to see when founders have the potential or when they don’t
But (Pirate) Murdoch, the largest and most vocal supporter of Pirate Nation over the years, might be the one who got screwed over the most
Murdoch explains that not only does the NFT allocation hurt, but the Great Plunder (burn) event hurts even worse. A mere 1M PIRATE tokens were allocated to the event, much less than the POP Arcade and PVP seasons
Furthermore, he added that Ico “wasn’t really a community guy”, and there was confusion around why he was hired in the first place
Yet, he remains positive about the outlook for PoP and what its tech stack can accomplish
Adinalini “slashed” (discredited) Pirate Nation on Ethos after everything that happened:
“It's kind of hilarious that the team thinks they can let go of the same community that took them to where they are now and give them pennies to target 'future audience'“
In his review, he emphasizes how the existing community was left in the dust, making a similar point to Grail
Overall, Proof of Play has an exciting vision, one I have been excited and vocal about myself…
However, it seems that the challenges of game development in crypto have left a sour taste in their mouth (e.g., botting, expectations, P2E is dead), which perhaps led to them pivoting too hard and away from their existing group of supporters
RONIN TURNS ON THE BUYBACK MACHINE
In other, more positive news. Ronin just announced that it will start using the Ronin Treasury for RON buybacks from the open market, starting on September 29th (+ reducing emissions!)
The Treasury holds onto $4.5M in tokens, including 895 ETH and 650K USDC, and has been fueled over the past few years by fees across different Ronin-related products
Axie’s Treasury is separate from Ronin and remains untouched. It holds 23M AXS, 2,600 ETH, 75,00 RON, and 6,500 USDC (~$65M in value)
Currently, only 12% of the Treasury’s assets are held in RON or WRON. From September 29th, it will start converting its ETH and USDC into RON over the next month, translating to 1.3% of the circulating supply (at 1 RON = ~$0.50)
In response to the announcement, the token went up around 10% within 3 minutes. Another example would be ATH, which is up over 75% MoM, after it shared that it makes $13M in revenue per month on average
As the Treasury will continue to collect fees, buybacks will likely become more regular
The team is starting to buy back RON now because the chain’s “homecoming to Ethereum” is approaching. Buybacks were promised a while back, and the time to start supporting the RON price is now, according to the team
I see it as Ronin essentially preparing themselves to be an attractive token at the time they transition, to “Winning the battle of Wall Street's bet on consumer ETH”
As we know, Ronin has been largely underperforming this year, and sentiment post the chain opening up hasn’t been the greatest. The chain needs its community to once again rally behind Ronin to regain its bullish sentiment:
Minh commented on the Ronin buybacks: “Hyperliquid is a prime example, but all of this allows holders of tokens to feel like they truly co-own a part of the business without offering shares”
Per token category, buybacks have been the #1 best-performing this year. Derek commented on how buybacks have mixed reviews in terms of capital efficiency (i.e., reinvestment in growth can have a higher ROI), and imagines this is more about momentum
The performance of this token category is also a sign of how we’re finally seeing value flow towards fundamentals (e.g., token price to revenue ratio). Even though it’s happening slowly, I see this as a positive development for the gaming category
Overall, this is bullish and exciting, and I am happy to see change happening. Yet, I see it as just the start of what’s needed to put Ronin back into motion, and for crypto gaming to regain the interest from the broader industry
We’ll have to see what the future holds…
ON THE RISE
The YGG launchpad is coming, starting with the token launch of LOL Land
Binance US now supports Abstract ETH deposits and withdrawals
Cambria: players can now deposit almost any token from a CEX into a single spend token