Every Play-to-Earn game model requires a healthy in-game revenue system to smoothly run its economic structure. A Play-to-Earn business model is based on blockchain technology which is widely adaptable to the majority of its players.
With the help of blockchain technology, it is quite easy to create a million-dollar economy for a game, usually, this model includes game currencies, non-fungible tokens, bridges, primary in-game & secondary markets, governance model, treasury, and liquidity pools.
For a new player, it is very important to become familiar with the game's economic model before playing the game or investing in its assets.
Today we'll specifically learn about Splinterlands game currencies or tokens i.e. Credits, DEC, SPS, and Vouchers. We'll discuss non-fungible tokens of Splinterlands in upcoming editions.
CREDITS
Credits is a non-transferable game currency in Splinterlands, which is only available within the game.
Value: Credits are not a tokenized currency, therefore they can not be sent to other Splinterlands accounts or received from other accounts. Credits are pegged to US Dollar as "$1 = 1000 Credits" or 1 Credit equals $0.001.
Utility: Credits are a means of payment within the game's environment to purchase certain packs, potions, and cards. Credits are also used for renting cards from Splinterlands marketplace, but some secondary card markets are also accepting Credits as a payment option for purchases, https://monstermarket.io and https://peakmonsters.com are popular card markets you can use Credits for purchases.
Note: Certain promo cards and packs cannot be purchased with Credits.
Buying Credits: Credits can be purchased from the Splinterlands website only.
You may obtain Credits by spending your fiat or crypto monies. The current method includes Credit cards, PayPal, venmo, and some eligible cryptocurrencies.
DARK ENERGY CRYSTALS (DEC)
DEC is the first tokenized currency of Splinterlands, which has a huge market cap and wide circulation across the crypto markets.
DEC was a reward token before SPS rewards, which was awarded for winning battles and opening focus or season chests. Now, it is replaced with SPS to improve its price and curb its additional minting.
Value: DEC is a tokenized alternate of Credits, which was initially intended to be pegged with the US Dollar as "1000 DEC = $1" or 1 DEC equals $0.001, but due to its high trading volume and market cap the price of DEC keeps fluctuating depending on the market conditions. Currently, the approximate value of 1 DEC is $0.0007164 according to the Coinmarketcap.com website.
Utility: DEC can be utilized for buying different game assets including promotional cards and packs. Players may use DEC for rentals also and DEC tokens are widely accepted as a method of payment in primary and secondary markets.
DEC tokens can be used to pair with other Hive-Engine based tokens to create liquidity pools to earn pools rewards and fees for providing liquidity. Players may also invest DEC-paired liquidity in Splinterlands' official liquidity pools to earn SPS rewards within the game. These pools are available on Hive-Engine, BSC, and Matic blockchains.
Buying DEC Tokens: The easiest way to get DEC tokens is buying straightaway from Splinterlands website using any fiat or cryptocurrency as shown in the image below.
But, there are other centralized and decentralized exchanges to trade DEC tokens and then transfer them to the player's account. If you like a feeless purchase and transfer, it is recommended to use Hive-Engine based DEXs for trading DEC.
SPLINTERSHARDS (SPS)
In July 2021, developers of Splinterlands game launched a new token named Splintershards or acronym SPS, the purpose was to utilize it as a governance token and engage its holders in the decision-making process. The aim was to build a decentralized environment and authorize SPS stakeholders to feel more powerful and use their power to vote for changes and improvements in the game.
The SPS governance model is currently active and new improvements are expected to make the game more decentralized, where players may bring new proposals such as to change the course of rewards, create or remove liquidity pools, and much more.
Value: According to the market report 33% of SPS tokens are in circulation out of 3,000,000,00 and its approximate price is around $0.03618. The price of the token is mostly dependent on market conditions and may fluctuate.
Utility: SPS tokens have different utilities which are given below with bullets:
- SPS tokens are now rewards for ranked battles, focus, and season chests.
- SPS token can be put into staking to earn a decent APR and gain voting influence for or against game proposals.
- SPS tokens are required for buying some promo offers.
- SPS can be invested into liquidity pools offered by Splinterlands game to earn more SPS rewards.
- More SPS can be earned by having Land plots and Nightmare packs in the game.
VOUCHER
Voucher is a special type of token that can be received as a reward for staking SPS into Splinterlands game.
Voucher rewards depend on the share of Staked SPS a player has, and are distributed according to the percentage share determined by the reward pool. Each day an estimated amount of 20,000 Vouchers are dropped as rewards for staked SPS holders.
Value: According to Hive-Engine, the current Ask price of a Voucher is around $0.1338221. The price mostly depends on the supply and demand of Vouchers in the open market.
Utility: The main use of Vouchers is to unlock the purchase of promotional packs/cards and obtain discounts during special sale events.
The required amount of Vouchers automatically applies to a promo sale item when you buy from Splinterlands Shop, as in the case of buying a Riftwatchers pack as shown in the image below, 1 Voucher is applied along with the price of a pack in SPS tokens.
Voucher is also used as a discount coupon when buying Validator Node License from Splinterlands Shop as shown below.
There is a Hive:Voucher liquidity pool on Hive-Engine, by adding Voucher+Hive liquidity in the pool, a player can earn SPS rewards on a daily basis which can be redeemed from Splinterlands Pool portal.
In a nutshell, Credits and DEC can be used for purchasing packs & cards and paying for rentals, while SPS tokens can be staked to gain influence and participate in the decision-making process, and Vouchers are key to unlocking promotional sales events and obtaining discounts.
I hope you have obtained the basic knowledge of in-game currencies/tokens in this guide and it will help you better understand Splinterlands' economics.
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