XWORLD Gaming Festival: Unleash the Gamer Within and Dive into a Digital Wonderland
Are you ready to embark on an unforgettable journey through the realm of gaming? Brace yourselves, dear gaming and digital citizens, for XWORLD is set to host the most sensational gaming festival of the year! Get ready to dive into a virtual wonderland that will take your gaming experience to new heights. From exhilarating gameplay to rare benefits, this is one event you cannot afford to miss!
The ultimate gaming extravaganza for enthusiasts, with exclusive early access, rare benefits, and a chance to win over $40,000 in rewards!
1. XWORLD Game Conference: A Gateway to Gaming Paradise
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2. Uniting Gaming Giants for Unparalleled Rewards
In a groundbreaking collaboration, XWORLD has partnered with renowned game developers Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, FreeFire, and League of Legends to bring you an unprecedented gaming extravaganza. Brace yourself for the ultimate reward: rare game skins and other in-game benefits worth a staggering $30,000!
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3. Content Creation Contest: Unleash Your Inner Creative Genius
Calling all talented content creators! XWORLD’s gaming festival is not only about playing games, but also about celebrating creativity within the gaming community. Participate in our stunning content creation contest, and stand a chance to win over $10,000 in rewards!
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But Wait, There’s More!
The XWORLD Gaming Festival isn’t just limited to these incredible offerings. Prepare to be mesmerized by thrilling tournaments, captivating panel discussions with industry experts, and enticing giveaways. This festival is all about celebrating the vibrant gaming community and providing an avenue for gamers of all levels to connect, learn, and have the time of their lives!
Take Action Now and Join the XWORLD Journey!
Are you excited to be a part of this exhilarating gaming extravaganza? Follow XWORLD on Twitter (https://twitter.com/xworld_pro) to stay updated with the latest news, updates, and insider information about the XWORLD Gaming Festival. Mark your calendars and get ready to immerse yourself in a world where gaming dreams come true!
May the thrill of gaming, the joy of exploration, and the electrifying energy of XWORLD’s Gaming Festival guide you through an unforgettable experience. This is your chance to step into a digital wonderland and unleash your inner gamer. From exclusive early access to rare benefits and a content creation contest, the rewards are plentiful and the excitement is immeasurable. Don’t miss out on the adventure of a lifetime — follow XWORLD on Twitter and join the gaming revolution today!
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Pepecoin and the Rise of the Meme-Backed Currency
Memes, Dreams, and Get-Rich-Quick Schemes
Introduction
It’s hard to have missed epic saga of Pepecoin over the past two months, and along with it, a resurgence of memecoin hype. Indeed, on May 5, Pepecoin broke through the stunning $1B market cap to become a Top 50 cryptocurrency [1]. In many respects, Pepecoin’s rise calls to mind the famously stunning rise of Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, two of the most famous memecoins in history. In fact, Pepecoin itself even pays homage to the long tradition of memecoins it descends from, writing that it will “make memecoins great again” [2]. So what makes a memecoin “great”? And why do they exist (and even thrive) in the crypto ecosystem, in spite of their evident lack of utility?
Know Your Memecoins
Memecoins have always been a crypto novelty and oddity. Their most characteristic trait is in fact their own self-professed lack of any utility, something they wear around with a semi-sarcastic sense of pride. Even though almost anyone can create a memecoin today just with a few clicks of a button, not all memecoins are created equal. After all, a lot more people hold Dogecoin than say, “HarryPotterObamaSonicInu” (this is an actual real coin on CoinMarketCap) [3].
Indeed, the most successful memecoins never come from humble backgrounds: they are warriors. These are memes that have fought in ferocious battles on the turbulent seas of Internet meme culture, where any cultural sensation or anything that grabs people’s attention, ranging from Elon Musk references (Tweelon), sex jokes (CumRocket), literal poop (PooCoin), GPT-references (PepeGPT) can all be turned into memecoins [4].
In these epic battles, only those memes that have proven their demonstrated approachability, relatability, persistence can survive. For those that do, they are rewarded with boundless glory, with glamour from the crowds, homage from the powerful, and a memecoin that will wear through even the toughest of crypto storms. And amidst all of this, perhaps Pepe does actually stand a chance of surviving, prevailing, and thriving.
Pepe the Meme Royalty
The Original Pepe meme of “Feels Good Man.” Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_the_Frog
Pepecoin was born with a silver spoon in its mouth, as the meme of Pepe belongs (along with Doge) to a class of Internet meme royalty. Born in 2008 out of the hand of cartoonist Matt Furie, the green frog with a bulging green eyes was depicted literally urinating (pee-pee-ing) while commenting “feels good man” [5]. And since then, Pepe has taken off in all shapes and forms, including a sad version, a smirk version, and so many more [6].
Since its inception, the Pepe meme and the corresponding image of an ugly frog has had a distinctly counterculture and subversive connotation, in particular when contrasted with the much more sanguine Doge meme. While most usage of Pepe is very benign, this ugly frog also has a distinctly “ugly side.” On 4chan and other more fringe social media platforms, the frog meme is often twisted and modified to take darker turns and sometimes embody extremist political symbols. And gradually, variants of the Pepe family of memes became staples on alt-right groups and other darker, more subversive corners of the Internet [7]. Thus, the Pepe meme exists in a massive duality: on the one hand, it exists in the mainstream as a benign counterculture image of an ugly frog with a happy or sad or smirky expression on its face. On the other, this counterculture symbol has been coopted for extremist political movements that actively cause societal instability.
This duality is what has made Pepecoin so controversial, and why it landed Coinbase in hot water after Coinbase accused the Pepe meme of being “co-opted as an alt-right hate symbol,” before later being forced to apologize and acknowledge that most mainstream uses of Pepe are non-bigoted [8]. But in the context of memecoins, they thrive on controversy and continued media attention. After all, it is precisely Pepe’s status as a longstanding meme royalty and one of the undisputed hallmarks of Internet meme culture that underwrites the value proposition for Pepecoin, and explains its eye-watering ascent to a $1 billion market cap, with a $1.87 billion trading volume at its peak.
Pepecoin Price, CoinMarketCap. Data as of May 24: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/pepe/
In this respect of leveraging its power as an undisputed Internet meme royalty to underwrite its value as a cryptocurrency, Pepecoin greatly resembles Dogecoin. And one could argue that there is a kernel of truth in the Pepecoin slogan of “make memecoins great again” and its self-proclamation of being fueled solely by “pure memetic power.” After all, as Pepe is such an important meme royalty, it is certainly conceivable that Pepecoin could stick around for quite some time, just like Dogecoin [9].
Pumps, Dumps, and the Power of FOMO
Memecoins such as Dogecoin and Pepecoin, along with their self-processed lack of any utility, are of course ripe targets for pump and dump schemes and regulations. And in many cases, “shilling shitcoins” is a favorite pastime for the rich.
One need to look no further to see how Elon Musk has been instrumental in shaping the fortunes of Dogecoin to see the influence of how key opinion leaders can send prices soaring to the moon [10]. After simply Tweeting “Doge” and writing that “Dogecoin is the people’s crypto”, Dogecoin prices soared 40%, and in the massive bull run of 2021, Dogecoin did a phenomenal 147.6x price increase in just over five months.
Elon Musk calling Dogecoin “the people’s crypto”. Source.
Arguably, this ability to be pump and dumped at will by key opinion leaders is in-baked into the economic logic of memecoins. As mentioned before, memecoins monetize and gain according to how much attention and cultural capital the underlying meme (or cultural phenomenon) is able to accrue and sustain over a long period of time. Key opinion leaders such as Musk have by definition the power to single-handedly create and sustain cultural phenomenon, and thereby allow these cultural derivatives (i.e. memecoins) to gain immensely in value, and in turn, kickstart a cycle of fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) for retail investors, who want to hop aboard the get-rich-quick crypto ride.
This same logic that applies to Pepecoin’s rapid ascent over the past month or so. Although there isn’t a clear single celebrity pushing Pepecoin on Twitter (as in the case of Musk and Dogecoin), from on-chain data it seems as if there have been some outsized winners with the Pepecoin hype. For example, a wallet labelled blackrock3.eth bought $244 worth of Pepecoin on April 21, and sold all of them on May 5 at its peak for $2.63 million [11].
And of course, with a pump inevitably comes a dump. Today (May 25th), exactly 20 days from its peak, Pepecoin is down 70% from its all-time-high [12]. As the attention of the memecoin inevitably dissipates and the frenzy of FOMO subsides, the price (a function of this attention) naturally also decreases. But that’s simply the virtue or characteristic of memecoins. For a memecoin, Pepecoin’s -70% can already be considered tame and “benign.” At least Pepecoin hasn’t mimicked the fate of the “Squid Game token,” a memecoin which rode on the wave of the Netflix TV show “Squid Game’s” massive success in 2021. The “Squid Game token” jumped from 1 cent to $2856 in a week, before plummeting to zero after its creators essentially ran away with the money earned and did a classic “rug pull” [13]
But this volatility coming from memecoins, who self-profess that their only value comes from their memetic power, one really shouldn’t be surprised — after all, they literally say “useless” on the label.
From the Pepecoin Website
Memechains and the Question of Utility
But what does the future of memecoins look like? Will they ever only really be objects of pure speculative bubbles? The answer actually is a bit more complicated than a simple yes or no. Memecoins by design are backed up by the potency of their underlying meme. The problem is that you can never really quantitatively measure the economic value of a meme. These, after all, are simply free JPEGs widely accessible and distributed on the Internet, and as such, obviously generate no monetary value. After all, why pay for a meme I can see, copy, and create for free?
But just because a meme does not have a price tag on it does not mean that it lacks intrinsic value. If Pepe the meme did not have any value, why would people continue to use it to this day, as a symbol for resistance, counterculture, and digital identity? This is the paradox at the center of all art, but particularly digital mementos that can be freely copy-pasted: no one doubts that they are valuable, yet there is no way to measure that value.
Memecoins, to some extent, may in fact be one way out of this problem. If a meme is a some “unquantifiable value,” a memecoin is in essence a “quantifiable un-value.” The two therefore fit together hand-in-glove, and attaches some quantifiable representation to the value of the meme behind the coin. Therefore, even if much of the memecoin mania is fuelled by speculation, I don’t expect the memecoins of mainstream memes such as Pepe and Doge to ever go to zero, so long as the memes themselves still exist.
Nevertheless, there has been a frenzy in memecoin communities to add on so-called “utility” to these originally supposedly “useless” coins. This notably includes the Dogecoin community’s Dogechain, a smart-contract executing PoS built using Polygon Edge where gas fees can be paid in Dogecoin [14], as well as the Shiba Inu community’s Shibarium, a L2 scaling solution that recently just announced its public beta [15]. Most of these “added utility functions” are centered around the classic playbook of getting a chain in order to nominally “have utility.” But the crypto industry is already strewn with the corpses of failed chains, and today there are already too many L1 and L2 chains that are able to match and surpass the proposed functionality of something like Dogechain and Shibarium. The central problem of building a chain to inject so-called “utility” into these tokens is this: why should I use Shibarium and Dogechain to execute smart contracts, over say Arbitrum, Optimism, or Polygon?
Any satisfactory answer to these questions must go back to where memecoins started from in the first place — the original meme underwriting the whole memecoin, such as Doge in the case of Dogecoin, or Pepe in the case of Pepecoin. In fact, if any of these memecoin powered memechains do succeed, they likely will be some sort of a meme-focused chain, where the design of the chain leverages and magnifies the iconographic power of the meme, which in turn adds value to the memechain. Viewed through this lens, one could argue that a memechain’s long-run potential is in becoming a special sort of appchain, one that specializes in operating the underlying meme.
In the long-run, the successful operation of a memechain would likely be more similar to the operation of a successful NFT community, such as BAYC, Azuki, Nouns or Doodles, rather than the operation of an actual L1 or L2 chain like Ethereum, Arbitrum or Polygon. The focus needs to be on the underlying asset backing the memecoin in the first place — the meme — rather than the functionality of the chain itself.
This convergence and triangulation between memes, coins, and tech is arguably the most innovative and inspiring aspect of memecoins. If Pepecoin, Dogechain, and Shibarium are able to innovate out a novel governance structure that perpetuates the longevity of the underlying meme, they will undoubtedly leave a significant mark on the cultural legacy of web3. And then, perhaps, we will truly be able to “make memes great again.”
Pepecoin making memes great again. Source.
References
[1] https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/what-is-pepecoin-pepe-memecoins-dogecoin-shiba-inu-crypto-news-2023-5
[2] See Pepecoin’s Website: https://www.pepe.vip/
[3] https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/9-funniest-memecoin-names
[4] What are Memecoins: https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/what-is-a-meme-coin-how-do-they-work
[5] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pepe-the-frog
[6] Derivative memes of Pepe the Frog: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pepe-the-frog/children
[7] https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-pepe-the-frog-became-a-nazi-trump-supporter-and-alt-right-symbol
[8] https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/05/11/coinbase-apologizes-for-tying-meme-token-pepecoin-to-racist-symbols/?sh=37957e942419
[9] https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/cryptocurrency/what-is-dogecoin/
[10] Elon Musk and Dogecoin: https://coincodex.com/article/21927/elon-musk-dogecoin/
[11] See https://coinmarketcap.com/headlines/news/blackrock-labeled-wallet-nets-2-4m-from-pepe/. Note that while some have speculated this wallet may belong to BlackRock fund, there is no concrete evidence suggesting this to be the case.
[12] Data from CoinMarketCap, as of May 25: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/pepe/
[13] About the Squid Game Token Collapse: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59129466
[14] About Dogechain: https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-dogechain-the-smart-contract-platform-for-doge
[15] About Shibarium: https://blog.shibaswap.com/introduction-to-shibarium/
[16] See the importance of community building in NFT circles such as NounsDAO: https://review.stanfordblockchain.xyz/p/nouns-dao-and-the-philosophy-of-governance
Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly suggested that BlackRock was an institutional holder of Pepecoin based on on-chain data. The Stanford Blockchain Review regrets this error.
Edited by XWORLD: Pioneering Web3 Games & Apps Store.
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Top 10 Animoca Brands Games
Unleash Your Gaming Potential and Earn High-Value Crypto Assets with XWORLD
Introduction
Are you ready to embark on an extraordinary gaming journey? Look no further than Animoca Brands, a pioneering company at the forefront of blockchain-based gaming. In this article, we’ll introduce you to the top 10 games developed by Animoca Brands, each offering a unique and immersive experience.
But that’s not all — we’ll also unveil XWORLD, a groundbreaking Web3 Games & Apps Store that rewards users with high-value crypto assets as they contribute their time and energy. Get ready to level up your gaming and explore the future of interactive entertainment!
1. The Sandbox
The Sandbox is famous as one of the biggest and most popular virtual worlds in the metaverse. Users can buy land and then create their very own gaming experiences on it. The Sandbox even has a nocode Game Maker which means anyone can build. Creators can monetize their games when users play them.
The Sandbox also has its own in-house developers who write, design and publish games for the platform. An example of this is Alpha Season 3, which is currently open for anyone to join and play.
Alongside gameplay, The Sandbox also offers interactive experiences via brand and celebrity partnerships. Snoop Dogg and Steve Aoki have been in this digital realm for a while now. In 2022, Paris Hilton, Gordon Ramsay, and Tony Hawk joined the fun with their own custom-made areas.
The Sandbox started as a mobile game and launched into Web3 via the Ethereum blockchain. It bridged to Polygon in 2021 so users can enjoy lower fees and faster transaction times. $SAND is the game’s utility token and is the basis for trading and governance.
2. REVV Motorsport
REVV Motorsport is a racing-based virtual ecosystem made up of four interlinked titles:
MotoGP™ Ignition
Formula E: High Voltage
REVV Racing
Torque Motorsport
These games make up the core of Animoca Brands’ motorsport offering, which also includes the Torque Squad NFT collection. This group of play-to-earn platforms gives users the chance to earn tokens by racing motorbikes and cars against opponents.
Following the demise of the popular F1™ Delta Time, Animoca Brands has successfully pivoted to focus its attention on other racing games it owns. In May this year, they announced that players of the now-defunct game could swap their F1 NFTs for other ones.
REVV is the primary token within REVV Motorsport and holders can use it for trading, in-game actions, and voting. As always with Animoca Brands, expect more games to come on board and even more utility for the token.
3. Phantom Galaxies
Animoca Brands and Blowfish Studios, the creative team behind the game, announced the launch of Phantom Galaxies back in September 2021. Built on the Polygon blockchain, this sci-fi mecha RPG combines shoot ’em up action with politics, tech, NFTs and storylines.
Phantom Galaxies has spent 2022 building its platform and creating a product to lead Web3 gaming into the future. As with all of the best blockchain games, Phantom Galaxies is part entertainment and part interactive virtual world with real estate. In May this year, they had a Planet sale where all land within the game was purchased in a matter of days.
Gameplay involves Missions, Quests and Operations, where players can get involved in entire story arcs or engage in one-off scenarios. There are also Raids, where users team up and do battle against a single, powerful enemy.
Aside from in-game land (or Planets), which make up an important part of the Phantom Galaxies economy, the game also has the ASTRAFER token. This token enables players to build, swap, trade, upgrade, and pay Rent. Over time, the Phantom Galaxies decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) will use ASTRAFER tokens to vote on proposals.
4. Benji Bananas
Benji Bananas recently has been attracting more than 100,000 weekly users ever since. The tree-swinging, jungle-based title first launched as a mobile game a decade ago. In March 2022, Animoca Brands added a play-to-earn function for the Web3 community to enjoy.
As with most of Animoca Brands’ other titles, Benji Bananas is hosted on the Polygon network.
The concept behind Benji Bananas is simple: swing through trees, collect bananas and don’t hit the ground. The levels get progressively more difficult as you move through them, with new obstacles and enemies standing in your way. The further you go, the more bananas you get and the more challenges you complete.
To add even more value to this game, Animoca Brands started a partnership with Yuga Labs that saw Benji Bananas players given the chance to earn ApeCoin. Not only is the game very addictive, it also gives users exposure to an exclusive corner of the Web3 world.
5. Crazy Defense Heroes
Another title on the Polygon blockchain, Crazy Defense Heroes launched way back in January 2018. It’s both free-to-play and play-to-earn which makes it a great entry point for anyone unfamiliar with Web3 gaming.
The concept behind Crazy Defense Heroes is a recognizable one: set up your units to prevent your enemies from breaching your territory. What Animoca Brands has done is taken the idea and added blockchain-enabled ownership and real-life rewards to it.
The game is built around the TOWER token. Holders can use it to gain entry to events, purchase in-game NFTs and for governance. You can also swap it for fiat currency to spend in the real world.
6. Life Beyond
Life Beyond is a free-to-play MMORPG developed by Animoca Brands subsidiary Life Beyond Studios. Set on the alien planet Dolos, players engage in colony-building and wildlife combat, choosing from four distinct character classes. The game showcases the future of web3 gaming, introducing play-and-earn elements.
Built on the Polygon network, Life Beyond brings decentralized ownership of in-game assets, allowing players to trade or sell their virtual items on various marketplaces. With its alpha testing commencing on June 29th, 2022, the game is in its open alpha stage, undergoing continual improvements for an enhanced gaming experience.
7. Nine Chronicles
Nine Chronicles is a fully-decentralized, idle RPG developed on the Planetarium blockchain, a network renowned for peer-to-peer gaming. Emphasizing complete player autonomy, it’s entirely open source and serverless, with the network powered by users distributed worldwide. Gameplay encourages world exploration, battling adversaries, item crafting and trading, as well as strategic planning to overcome challenges. It’s freely accessible on Steam or via direct download and embraces modifiability, inviting players to contribute to its design and features.
The game integrates the use of NFTs, allowing players to own and manage their in-game assets. It attracted significant investment, with Nine Chronicles raising $2.6 million led by Animoca Brands. The investment came in 2021 ahead of the anticipated launch of Nine Chronicles’ governance token on the Ethereum platform.
8. Thetan Arena
Developed by WolfFun, Thetan Arena is a multiplayer online game that taps into the advantages of blockchain technology. This play-to-earn game, available on PC, Android, and iOS devices, offers players the opportunity to earn rewards through interactive gameplay. Built on the BNB Chain, it’s the second hit game from WolfFun and has garnered significant investment from venture capitalists, including Animoca Brands, and received backing from the gaming guild YGG in 2022.
Thetan Arena delivers an array of game modes, emphasizing player skills and collaboration. Modes include Death Match, Battle Royale, and more.
9. Axie Infinity
Axie Infinity, a pioneering play-to-earn blockchain game, enables users to breed and combat their unique NFT characters. This game skyrocketed to popularity in 2021, with users worldwide playing to earn a substantial income. It’s published by Sky Mavis, supported by venture capital firm Animoca Brands.
Its original concept was a battle arena where players could compete against each other or face off against increasingly challenging computer-generated stages. In 2022, the game evolved into Axie Infinity Origins and Axie Homeland. It continues to innovate and push boundaries within the blockchain gaming landscape.
10. Alien Worlds
Alien Worlds is a game built on the WAX blockchain with interoperability on other chains such as Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain. Within the game’s simulated economy, players compete for scarce resources, including coveted NFTs and in-game tokens. The game involves a dynamic interplay of mining, land acquisition and rentals, and voting for planetary governance that influences the distribution of the in-game currency, Trilium.
It made significant strides in 2021, raising over $2 million to further develop its NFT elements. This funding round included notable investment from Animoca Brands, underlining the game’s potential within the blockchain gaming landscape.
XWORLD: The Future of Gaming and Beyond
Now, let’s dive into the future of gaming with XWORLD. This groundbreaking Web3 Games & Apps Store revolutionizes the way we interact with digital experiences. By contributing your time and energy, you’ll be rewarded with high-value crypto assets. Imagine playing games, exploring apps, and being incentivized with valuable tokens — it’s a gamer’s dream come true.
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