As so often is the case, Vitalik (born a Russian) has the best take on the situation; “Reminder: Ethereum is neutral, but I am not.”
There will be lots of events in the coming days but at the risk of becoming too parochial, blockchain exists for a reason and that reason is decentralized decision-making is inherently better in the long run.
(That said, any amount of decentralized decision-making is inherently better than the decision-making of a man who’s spent twenty years creating an echo chamber.)
History is littered with countries who won plenty of battles and lost the war. Both figuratively and literally I think that’s the obvious conclusion of post-World War II and post-colonial history.
In other words, don’t get into a shooting match on the other guys’ turf because he’s playing an infinite game, and you’re not.
More generally, in the coming years it will be interesting to see how Russia(and China)’s attempts to operate their own centralized internet and permissioned blockchains fare against the coming wave of permissionless blockchains, which are already connecting tens of millions of people within a new suprastate global economy.
Not that this revolution won’t challenge all governments in some ways. But those which already have some decentralized decision-making built into their culture will obvious fare much better. Ironically, given their stances on blockchain (and other things), Russia and China have merely caused a massive brain drain of talent, as well as cutting off international investment.
And given composability and liquidity are the key components of such infrastructure, I’d expect (and hope) the comparison ends up being the comparison between a fast-flowing river and two stagnant ponds.
Product news
I’m late to this but German developer CipSoft has announced it’s discontinuing development of its PC RPG LiteBringer, which runs on the Litecoin blockchain.
I played the game daily for a number of months when it was released in August 2020 and it was a well-presented experience. But a combination of requiring a PC client and using the Litecoin blockchain proved to be too much friction and it never exceeded 1,000 DAUs.
CipSoft also notes it couldn’t adapt LiteBringer to trends such as the rise of game asset NFTs and expectations of P2E economics. Of course, being a blockchain game, LiteBringer will remain playable after the final update in late March.
Solana’s first big NFT marketplace Magic Eden has started airdropping NFTs — it calls them Magic Tickets — to its earliest supporters. The OG tickets are for people who made their first transaction before 17th October 2021, the Degens for those who transacted between 18th October and 18th December, and Normies for everyone else.
In order to get the airdrop, users also need to have connected an email address and connected to Magic Eden’s Discord.
All Magic Tickets will enable holders to be part of the MagicDAO, which has been kickstarted with the donation of 1,000 SOL and will receive 5% of royalties on secondary sales, and 2% of trading on Magic Tickets.
Running on the Klaytn blockchain, Meta Toy DragonZ is shaping up nicely. Launched on 12th February, the 9,700 collection has racked up over $15 million of trading volume, and currently has a floor price of around 4,000 KLAY ($4,500).
Its South Korean developer Sandbox (no, not The Sandbox) plans to release a P2E game, which will run on the MTDZ token, as well as doing IP tie-ups and equipment NFT drops. It also has a 12x12 estate in The Sandbox and will launch an interactive experience including 3D voxel versions of its original NFTs.
Consisting of 10 individual games studios that will co-operate together, governed through a founders’ council and a DAO, The Pan Africa Gaming Group is an attempt to kickstart the continent’s gaming economy.
The group will focus on mobile-first casual games featuring local culture, music and environments, as well as incubating new talent. It’s estimated there are 400 million internet-connected smartphones in Africa, which will grow to 700 million by the end of 2025.
NFT news
Confusion reigned as 0x650d cancelled the auction of 104 CryptoPunks via Sotheby’s at the last minute, suggesting simultaneously that it didn’t want to sell at “dip prices”, while also saying it would generate more hype by “rugging” Sotheby’s. Go figure…
Invisible Friends is live and the 5,000 NFT collection is currently trading at a floor price of 8.3 ETH ($20,000) pre-reveal.
Sorare, Dapper Labs, ConsenSys and Candy Digital are on the Premier League’s shortlist for its official NFT licence. It’s rumored bids for the four year deal range from around $300 to $600 million.