The "Ponzi Playground" on Abstract: BIG Coin
GC ALPHA 44
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) EVENTS & SOCIALFI
Treeverse S1 will launch this week (distributing 2.76% of the token supply)
Season 2 of Cambria launched last Friday (live for 2 weeks)
King of Destiny launched another event with 2.5M GOD up for grabs
Realms of Alurya (formerly Synergy Land) is launching on Ronin this week
S2 of Fishing Frenzy is live again (with a bonus for all players)
DUPER League is now live (earn points and Abstract XP)
MARKET TALK
“I’M MAKING $2700 A DAY IN $BIG”
Last week, we saw the largest ponzu on Abstract yet, Big Coin. It’s an idle game where players upgrade their BTC mining rig to increase the passive mining of BIG coin
Similar to other idle titles, the actual game is knowing when to reinvest back in the game to increase your outputs vs. when to sell your tokens
Like Crypto Valleys did on Blast, big Coin saw a similar meteoric rise from $0.70 to over $17 at its peak in only a couple of days
However, post-peak, it nosedived to a low of $3.51. This rapid selloff is a recurring pattern for all these DeFi ponzus
That doesn't mean all hope is lost just yet, as the coin didn’t “die”; however, post a big sell-off off it becomes difficult to recoup
Most buyers entered the BIG chart/or game because of price momentum, not because they believe this ponzu can last, i.e., not because of belief in the product
As soon as growth stalls, the reason to hold disappears
On another note, here’s where Onchain Heroes differs, and has managed to sustain for Season 1 so far
The economic design relies on new entrants to support the price going up (it’s a Ponzi, “wow”), but once that saturates, the illusion breaks, and people start selling
So, benefiting was all from being early. And to be early to the party, you want to follow the right accounts, e.g., Apix, Hunter, IcoBeast, etc.
And this info is usually leaked even earlier on livestreams
Timing the peak is almost impossible. What we do know is that the more people who are familiar with the mechanics, the shorter the cycle usually becomes
Some people on CT criticized the Abstract team for supporting BIG “at the pico top with misinformation”
Ponzi schemes fall apart sooner or later. I believe (almost) everyone who bought/mined BIG with the intention of a highly speculative trade
Of course, most people get burned, but getting involved in this game is irrational in the first place
It’s a gamba, and similar to buying Gacha scratch cards, I would argue
Abstract is an open playground for anyone to deploy their apps (whether degen or normie)
THE VALUE THESIS: CAMBRIA
Today, I published “The Value Thesis #5: Cambria”, an overview of why I made a bet on the risk to earn MMO. Here are a few highlights:
Cambria was built on the idea that many NFT traders and degens were once kids grinding virtual gold in RuneScape…
This primed them to understand digital economies, speculation, and high-risk trading behaviors
The most recent Paymasters update (for S2) brings a new passive participation layer. These players shape the game not through combat, but economic dominance
With a prize pool already ~3x larger than that of S1 in just the first few days, this signals the impact this new role brings
The prize pool works similarly to the chart of BIG coin, the larger it becomes, the more attention it is going to grab (attention > liquidity > more attention more liquidity)
The bull case for Cambria is a massive “game show”, where not thousands but hundreds of thousands of players compete for millions in prize pools, putting thousands of dollars on the line in the process
Arguably, Cambria’s largest risk lies in its strategy to break into a more Web2-oriented audience. The hybrid route of both appealing to mainstream and crypto-native doesn’t seem paved yet
Overall, I am bullish on Cambria becoming the #1 game for degens
ON THE RISE
The Ronin wallet app now tells you everything that's happening in the ecosystem
Gigaverse introduced the Gear System (for crafting equipable gear)
The BIGTIME token got listed on Binance from the “Vote to List” campaign