Kate Irwin

This is a preview of upcoming newsletter The Drop. To read full editions after launch,&nbsp;<a href="https://thedrop.beehiiv.com/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



There’s been a lot of buzz around Berachain, which <a href="https://x.com/berachain/status/1887485522492203155">launched</a> on Thursday and has already seen over <a href="https://berascan.com/">2 million</a> transactions.&nbsp;



It’s the latest launch by the makers of the Bong Bears NFTs, a collection of 100 smoking bears on the Ethereum blockchain launched back in the 2021 crypto boom.&nbsp;



Berachain, by contrast, is an ambitious Web3 blockchain using “Proof of Liquidity,” with the idea that pooled-up funds will lead to a sustainable ecosystem long-term.&nbsp;



Some, however, are not so sure. An exec with ties to a gaming-focused chain tells me: “[Berachain] bothers me deeply.” They don’t like how the project accumulated a pile of NFT money first and then built a whole chain somewhat randomly years later.



Yet as the pseudonymous Berachain founder Smokey <a href="https://youtu.be/u_eDYZYN9B4?feature=shared&amp;t=80">puts it</a>, Berachain was a series of “happy accidents.”&nbsp;



But there’s another new chain in town. Abstract — which launched last month from the Pudgy Penguins team — continues to hold attention on Crypto Twitter right now, leading some to compare it with Berachain.&nbsp;



One <a href="https://x.com/cnig69/status/1886957776171364813">post</a> that got over 600 likes in less than 24 hours praised Berachain for incentivizing whales and attacked Abstract Chain for catering to “normies and streamers” because Abstract’s platform centers games and livestreaming.&nbsp;



Right now, only about 750 approved accounts can livestream on Abstract (in the past few days, I’ve seen anyone from 57 to 75 streamers live at any given time). Maybe it’ll get more traction than Theta and DLive crypto streaming — or maybe not.



There are already over 35 gaming-related projects on Berachain’s website, suggesting it’s a gaming-friendly chain, too. It got<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/berachain-pre-launch-liquidity"> over $1.6 billion</a> in pre-launch liquidity, while Abstract has just <a href="https://defillama.com/chain/Abstract">$8.49 million</a> in total value locked (TVL) as of Thursday morning.&nbsp;



The bear-themed blockchain has <a href="https://x.com/berachain/status/1887178672995537236">unveiled</a> its token airdrop, too. Berachain is <a href="https://x.com/berachain/status/1887178677810553117">allocating</a> half its token supply to investors (34.3%) and “initial core contributors” (16.8%).&nbsp;



Some early testnet users are <a href="https://x.com/mark_krov/status/1887193558815285305">pissed</a>, as they’re only being allocated a tiny fraction (<a href="https://blog.berachain.com/blog/berachain-airdrop-overview">1.65%</a>) of the airdropped tokens in total.&nbsp;



Another big catch, of course, is that they’re blocking US residents from a number of online sites, including those for the project’s BeraHub, its HONEY stablecoin, and its token and NFT bridges. Will you be able to get around this? I’m currently working from South Africa, so the hub’s site loads for me until I turn on my VPN and choose a US-based IP address. Then, access denied.



Blockchains will inevitably get compared — but it doesn’t make much sense to compare Berachain and Abstract, Abstract Marketing Lead Phineas Totten tells me. “Our product is so distinctly different.”



“We just want to have fun on-chain again,” he adds.



Sony’s Soneium blockchain has also arrived. It launched three weeks ago as a rollup on Optimism. It’s being managed by Sony Block Solutions Labs, separate from Sony Interactive Entertainment and PlayStation.&nbsp;



But that doesn’t mean games on Soneium are 100% out of the picture.&nbsp;



Sam Barberie — head of strategy and partnerships at blockchain gaming infra firm Horizon — tells me he’s been working with Sony on some of their blockchain solutions. Sony’s move into crypto is exciting because they’re, as he puts it, “willing to experiment.” If this experiment works out, he posits, even more big fish could jump into the crypto pond.



“When companies get to see that [success], and the sky doesn’t fall, then it starts to open up more conversations,” Barberie says.



Soneium is a big deal for Web3 — if it can make a splash with US companies or consumers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">PENGU fire fizzles&nbsp;</h2>



PENGU, the Pudgy Penguins’ NFT token, burned big this week.&nbsp;



The team set over <a href="https://x.com/pudgypenguins/status/1887164609133429246">12.1 billion</a> Pengu tokens on figurative fire in a token burn amounting to roughly $150 million, or about 14% of the total supply. That’s keeping their <a href="https://x.com/pudgypenguins/status/1885027033794621514">promise</a> that after the Pengu claim ended, remaining tokens would be burnt. That’s good news.



That burn hasn’t sent the token climbing, though. Pengu is down 5.5% in the past day, and down roughly 73% in the past month. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Raised by wolves</h2>



Yet another gaming-adjacent token may be on the horizon.&nbsp;



WolvesDAO, an invite-only group of Web3 gaming enthusiasts, may be releasing a token. The WolvesDAO hosts Twitter Spaces, but they also have a robust, exclusive Discord server that frequently purges inactive members.&nbsp;



WolvesDAO cofounder Sam Steffanina tells me via DM: “Something along those lines” of a token is in the works following a <a href="https://x.com/WolvesDAO/status/1887181047718203505">few</a> mysterious <a href="https://x.com/WolvesDAO/status/1886842509948580040">posts</a> to the group’s X page.&nbsp;



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to daily Solana news</a> from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Berachain and Abstract are buzzing, but face criticism

This is a preview of upcoming newsletter The Drop. To read full editions after launch, <a href="https://thedrop.beehiiv.com/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market took a turn for the worse over the weekend in price drops that have largely been blamed on <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/trump-tariffs-trade-war">Trump’s promised tariffs</a>. I overheard a handful of X Spaces hosts sound the alarms about it on Monday, acting as though the bull market was over. 



But now that it’s Tuesday, things are already recovering. Tariffs on Mexico and Canada have been delayed, allowing bitcoin and some other cryptos to partially recover.



As often happens, gaming tokens were harder hit.



Immutable’s IMX token fell 14% from Sunday to Monday. Since then, it’s recouped a bit of that loss, but still remains down roughly 26% in the past week.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXee-772v40wcWM_U_lKuws5XG3hC0BMJqWVVfXX7cdD4fQB6mzq4n6MCyH6SvzwlsaZYrUaYIHgfhkf-IcbmmkF-uZDvB42AuWiNU-qV-JPAr9DoH8ye8X90HchLkcwmYQEkhNLqQ?key=1Aue4niH7Xg5RL1f7t8gn2Ac" alt=""/></figure>



Some other market notables:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>SAND, GALA, Ronin, AXS, MANA, BEAM, APE and PRIME all saw similar losses in the same period, with prices dropping anywhere from 21% to 30%.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Notcoin, the Telegram tap-to-earn game’s token, is down about 35% in the past week.</li>



<li>PIXEL fell roughly 32%.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



Still, it’s not all bad news across the gaming token sector.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Sui is only down less than 2% in the past week. Sweat Economy continues to churn ahead, seeing its price rising about 8% in the past week. GoMining is also up modestly, as is Xterio and other smaller market-cap tokens.&nbsp;



That’s just a handful of winners though — price <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/view/gaming/">data</a> shows that most other gaming tokens have had a rough week.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">XP Alert&nbsp;</h2>



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/pudgy-penguins-parent-layer-2-blockchain">Abstract</a>, the blockchain from the Pudgy Penguins team, doesn’t have a native token (yet). But it is issuing <a href="https://docs.abs.xyz/portal/overview">XP</a> — gamerspeak for experience points — and distributing it for the first time <a href="https://x.com/Phin_totten/status/1886780598531834197">today</a>. How did you do?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Deadrop is dead — we all know why</h2>



You’ve probably heard by now that Midnight Society, the studio behind the “vertical extraction shooter” Deadrop, has shut down.&nbsp;



It had promise — think Call of Duty for crypto fans with a heavy Bladerunner vibe. And, I guess, cars you could drive into battle. Kind of cool?



Deadrop’s premature death isn’t surprising, though.&nbsp;



Last year, one of its other co-founders and primary marketer — Guy “Dr. Disrespect” Beahm — admitted in a (since-deleted) <a href="https://x.com/JakeSucky/status/1823741433825698082">X post</a> that he had inappropriate conversations with a minor. That incident was revealed as the reason for Beahm’s permanent ban from Twitch, which had previously been kept under wraps for years.



Shortly after that news broke late last year, the studio laid off some staff in September. Then, last week, the studio <a href="https://x.com/12am/status/1885061680398213160">posted</a> a brief note announcing that it’s shutting down. The studio didn’t say exactly why, and instead asked the broader gaming community to help its 55+ developers find new gigs.&nbsp;



One of its other co-founders, Robert Bowling, purged his social media accounts before the shutdown.



One former Midnight Society employee told me: “It is what it is. We just couldn’t get the Dr. D stink off us.”&nbsp;



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to daily Solana news</a> from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

The Drop Newsletter