Our weekly updates are put together by folks deep in the crypto scene, giving you a clear picture of what's happening without overwhelming you.
To Watch This Week
AIRDROPS + ALPHAOct 7, 2024
Business
Arbitrum Foundation to ‘Go Big’ in Asia With Road to Devcon
The Arbitrum Foundation has announced its Road to Devcon initiative as it “doubles down” on Asia’s potential for rapid growth. Pointing to factors including the region’s burgeoning developer community and increasing rates of retail crypto adoption, the Foundation announced a three-pronged campaign ahead of Devcon 2024 in Bangkok. A pair of face-to-face ArbiLink events in Vietnam and Indonesia will provide opportunities to connect with two of the fastest-growing local developer communities, where...
Oct 4, 2024
Gaming
Ubisoft Reveals Plans for 'Captain Laserhawk' Ethereum Game NFT Mint
Gaming giant Ubisoft is set to launch a 10,000 piece NFT collection on Ethereum scaling network Arbitrum in the coming weeks via the Magic Eden marketplace. These NFTs will allow holders to play the upcoming top-down shooter Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E. early. Set in a fascist dystopian world inspired by the Netflix series "Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix"—which itself is inspired by Ubisoft’s Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon game—the competitive multiplayer game promises to include iconic ch...
Sep 16, 2024
Markets
DeFi Protocol DeltaPrime Suffers $5.9 Million Loss in Private Key Exploit
Crypto cybersecurity firm Cyvers has reported a security incident affecting DeltaPrime, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol on the Arbitrum network. According to a tweet from Cyvers, the ongoing incident resulted in an initial estimated loss of $4.5 million—subsequently updated to $5.93 million as a “suspicious address” continued to drain funds from DeltaPrime’s liquidity pools. 🚨ALERT🚨@DeltaPrimeDefi has faced a security incident on their admin keys. Attacker had control on the private k...
Sep 6, 2024
Gaming
Arbitrum Goes Big With Web3 Gaming Showcase at WebX Asia
Arbitrum Foundation brought Web3 gaming to this year’s WebX in Tokyo, Asia’s leading Web3 conference, with a programme including panel discussions, playable demos and evening soirées. On the show floor, hundreds of attendees stopped by the Arbitrum Foundation and ApeChain booth for the opportunity to get hands-on with playable key titles including onchain RPG Tarochi, memecoin racing title Kitty Kart Racing, and GameFi battler Gensokishi. Image: Arbitrum Also showcased were titles such as Aavego...
Sep 1, 2024
Gaming
Ethereum Gaming Network Geist Is Members-Only to Prevent 'Industrial Farming'
Pixelcraft Studios, the company behind crypto game Aavegotchi, is creating a “members-only” Ethereum layer-3 gaming network called Geist, built with the scaling tech of both Arbitrum and Base. The move comes as the company fears that “industrial farming” is an issue preventing real players from enjoying crypto gaming. “A lot of crypto games are farms,” the pseudonymous CEO and founder of Pixelcraft Studios, Coder Dan, told Decrypt, “[and] there’s nothing wrong with a farmer.” “But the problem is...
Aug 28, 2024
Gaming
Crypto's Hamster Obsession Gets a New Fix: Betting on Rodent Car Races
Every day in crypto seems to bring a new race to capture the attention and coins of the world’s degen traders—many of whom have an apparently insatiable desire for the next sufficiently amusing, ridiculous, or grotesque premise on which to spend their collective billions. Now, a newly organized betting platform is hoping to entice those gamblers with something they (hopefully) haven’t seen before: wagers on real hamsters, racing in real (plastic) cars, streamed in high definition with live comme...
Aug 18, 2024
Gaming
This Week in Crypto Games: 'The Lost Glitches' Beta Hits Epic Store, Members-Only Ethereum Chain
The crypto and NFT gaming space is busier than ever lately, what with prominent games starting to release, token airdrops piling up, and a seemingly constant array of other things happening at all times. It’s a lot to take in! Luckily, Decrypt’s GG is all over it. And if you need a quick way to get caught up on the latest moves around crypto video games, we’re happy to present This Week in Crypto Games. Our weekend roundup serves up the biggest news from the past week, along with a few other tid...
Aug 8, 2024
Coins
Franklin Templeton’s Blockchain Fund Launches on Ethereum Layer-2 Arbitrum
Global asset manager Franklin Templeton’s blockchain-based money market fund has launched within the Arbitrum ecosystem, as real-world asset (RWA) tokenized funds gain traction among investors. Arbitrum is a popular scaling solution for Ethereum. Franklin Templeton’s Nasdaq-listed OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, FOBXX, became accessible in digital wallets on the Arbitrum network on Thursday, the firm said in a statement. FOBXX’s launch on Arbitrum is part of its issuer’s efforts to widen acc...
Aug 6, 2024
Gaming
Ubisoft Reveals ‘Captain Laserhawk’ Game on Ethereum Layer-2 Arbitrum
Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance publisher Ubisoft will make its next big step into the crypto gaming world on Ethereum layer-2 scaling network Arbitrum, as the company announced Tuesday that it is working on Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E. Based in the same universe as the Netflix animated series “Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix”—itself loosely inspired by the 2013 game Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon—Ubisoft says the game will feature characters from other franchises, including Assassin’s Creed...
Jul 25, 2024
Gaming
Ethereum Shooter ‘Planet-X’ Launching on Xai With Real Prizes—Like a Tesla Cybertruck
Planet-X, a free-to-play extraction shooter game, is set to join the Xai ecosystem on Ethereum, offering players the chance to win real-world prizes through in-game treasure hunts—including a Tesla Cybertruck. The mobile shooter game, which ties in tangible rewards with the sci-fi shooter gameplay, will be available for download in open beta on iOS and Android devices via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Planet-X had previously launched NFTs via the Ethereum mainnet, but announced Thur...
Jul 8, 2024
Coins
Xai, Immutable, and Pixels Among July's Biggest Ethereum Gaming Token Unlocks
July is poised to be a big month for crypto gaming token unlocks. Throughout the month of July, over $148 million worth of crypto gaming tokens will be unlocked and can enter the market, according to data from TokenUnlocks. And all of the projects in question have launched tokens on Ethereum. Many crypto projects make their total supply of tokens available across days, weeks, months or years. Often, when a project launches its token, it locks up a significant amount of the supply that’s intended...
Jul 6, 2024
Gaming
Pirate Nation CEO Predicts Thousands of Dedicated Crypto Game Blockchains
Amitt Mahajan—founder and CEO of Proof of Play, the developer of crypto game Pirate Nation—predicts that eventually there will be thousands of dedicated blockchains that each support individual applications. This comes after his experience building the viral Facebook game Farmville. During his time developing the casual farming simulator, Zynga operated approximately 64 databases simply to prevent the game from crashing. To Mahajan, the blockchain is just an advanced database. “At peak, [Farmvi...
Jun 26, 2024
Gaming
What to Expect From Xai as It Aims to Become Ethereum Gaming's Valve
Key contributors to Xai, the Ethereum-based layer-3 gaming network, say they aim to build the next Valve, developing their ecosystem in a similar way to the video game titan behind the Steam marketplace and some of the best-loved games of all time. Tobias Batton, co-founder and CEO of Ex Populus—a game studio that works closely with the Xai Foundation as a “labs company” of sorts, he previously told Decrypt’s GG—explained that the Valve model is how they envision the future of the gaming network...
Jun 21, 2024
Gaming
Ethereum Fighting Game 'AI Arena' Sets NRN Token Launch
Artificial intelligence-driven fighting game AI Arena has set a date for its NRN token launch, following a play-to-airdrop campaign this spring. Earlier this year, AI Arena let 8,000 users play its unique brawler game—built on Ethereum layer-2 scaling network, Arbitrum—while in pre-release for the chance to earn potential token rewards, with a campaign built around social media influencers. Now, those rewards are just around the corner. Those who participated will be able to claim their tokens a...
Jun 17, 2024
Gaming
Creators of Fortnite-Like Ethereum Game 'OpenSeason' Reveal Token Airdrop
The makers of OpenSeason, a crypto-themed battle royale shooter game built around Ethereum NFT access passes, announced details Monday for the studio's upcoming token airdrop to players—and revealed that the giveaway is coming this week. At some point this week, holders of Fractional Uprising Studios NFT membership passes—which are currently required to play OpenSeason—will automatically receive some portion of the 62.1 million “FU Money” tokens that have been earmarked for this week’s initial...
Jun 6, 2024
Gaming
Xai Reveals Vanguard: Genesis Campaign With New Ethereum Games and Rewards
Xai, an Arbitrum-powered Ethereum layer-3 scaling network focused on video games, announced Thursday that it will launch its Vanguard: Genesis campaign beginning June 10, offering up months of game launches and fresh rewards ahead. Set to run through November, the Vanguard: Genesis campaign will feature a suite of new game releases, quests, achievements, and rewards for the Xai community. Games including Crypto Unicorns, Final Form, and The Lost Glitches will launch and reward players for achiev...
Jun 5, 2024
Gaming
Ethereum Gaming Network Xai Launches Bootcamp to Bring Web2 Devs Into Crypto
The Xai Foundation, the core contributor to the Ethereum layer-3 gaming network Xai built on Arbitrum, announced Wednesday that it has teamed up with venture capital firm Outlier Ventures to help bring more traditional or “Web2” developers into the space. The Xai Tokenomics Bootcamp is designed to streamline the development process for new blockchain games and help support the transition of existing Web2 games into models that work well with crypto infrastructure. Developers can tap Outlier Vent...
May 31, 2024
Gaming
Arbitrum Is About to Unlock $250 Million in Funds for Ethereum Games
In an attempt to bolster the Ethereum layer-2 network’s gaming ecosystem, it appears that over $250 million worth of Arbitrum tokens will be unlocked over the next three years, following strongly positive support for a DAO proposal that’s currently being voted on by token holders. Arbitrum is a scaling network that enables cheaper and faster transactions than the Ethereum mainnet. It’s also attracted a number of prominent gaming projects, including the Xai layer-3 network, Treasure's Infinity Ch...
May 30, 2024
Gaming
‘Final Fantasy’ Maker Square Enix Moves to Arbitrum for Ethereum Game NFTs
Square Enix, the video game giant behind the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts franchises, is adopting another Ethereum scaling network for its Symbiogenesis blockchain game. The publisher announced early Thursday that its next NFT character mint for the story-driven game will take place on Ethereum layer-2 network Arbitrum, shifting gears after the first wave of characters was minted on the Ethereum mainnet. “For Chapter 2, we've adopted Arbitrum, reducing the gas fees to about 1/1000 of the pre...
May 29, 2024
Gaming
'Crypto Unicorns' Reveals Airdrop Rewards Amid Move to Ethereum Layer-3 Xai
Crypto Unicorns has announced a “play-to-airdrop” campaign to start next month, amid the game’s migration across the Ethereum scaling ecosystem—from sidechain Polygon to Arbitrum’s layer-3 Xai gaming network. Founded in 2021, the expanding Crypto Unicorns ecosystem includes the core land-based building and battling experience, spinoff jousting, and party games. The project’s NFTs have generated about $35 million worth of trading volume to date. While Crypto Unicorns migrates to Xai, the game wil...