ERC-721 tokens register a volume of almost 500,000 transfers per day. The popularity of this type of tokens emerged in 2017 with the game CryptoKitties.
The 25th report of the cryptocurrency data analysis company Coin Metrics shows in detail that Ethereum tokens are increasingly exceeding market capitalization. In fact, the ERC-721 standard, particularly useful for creating digital collectibles, is enjoying great popularity, driven by the Gods Unchained card game.
The study, published on November 12th, shows data showing that the activity of the Gods Unchained collectible card game increased considerably, recording a volume of nearly 500,000 daily transfers of its non-fungible tokens (NFT), at the end the week from November 4th to 8th. This record is five times higher than the one reached by CryptoKitties at the end of 2017 when it was booming.
Gods Unchained is just one example of many blockchain-based games with non-fungible tokens (NFT) that are now being developed. NFT, which are tokens that are not consumed, unlike ERC20, are being used in applications such as Ethereum Name Service and virtual worlds such as Decentraland.
Although it is still early, the data analysis firm suggests that Gods Unchained might soon become an example of the actual use of tokens in games. Each one of its cards is represented by an ERC-721 token, which indicates that users really own their cards and can freely exchange them in the market, similarly to what is done with cryptocurrencies.
Considering that players own assets, they cannot be censored, which the Coin Metrics report highlights by including a recent event related to its competitor Blizzard, developer of titles such as World of Warcraft and Hearthstone, who was involved in an event last month.
Smart Exit of Gods Unchained
The figures of Gods Unchained have been on the rise since it managed to capitalize on Blizzard’s decision to veto Hearthstone professional player from Hong Kong, Chung Ng Wai (also known as Blitzchung), after he had publicly requested freedom for Hong Kong, due to a series of popular protests that started in March, when the government of that country announced a series of measures to have greater control over government entities and citizens.
After Blitzchung’s public demonstration in favor of the protests in his country, Blizzard published a statement announcing the veto to the player for a year, as well as blocking his earnings until then (almost USD 10,000), which he was later reimbursed.
Blizzard’s veto imposed on Blitzchung caused a stir. Reddit users expressed their distaste for the situation, but the moderators of the company’s subreddit marked the thread as private. However, the measure made the situation that moved to Twitter worse, positioning Blizzard as a global trend. Then, several players organized a boycott against the company and even founded the protest group Gamers for Freedom.
Amid all this, Gods Unchained published a tweet in which it stated that Hearthstone cared more about money than freedom. They offered to pay all lost earnings to the player banned by Blizzard, as well as a free ticket to a Gods tournament. Subsequently, Gods Unchained announced that all its Genesis card packages, which have a total value of 33,333 ETH, equivalent to about USD 6.2 million, were sold.
Concerning the event, Coin Metrics observes how in the Blizzard game Hearthstone, as well as in CryptoKitties, players have considerably less control of their assets, than those of Gods Unchained, due to centralization.
By Willmen Blanco
