Listen... I know what you're thinking. Isn't DEC the valuable currency you earn from battles, selling cards, competing in tournaments, etc.?
It is, but there is an underlying currency that may turn out to have much more value.
Rundown
Splintershards, or SPS, is a currency that is a part of Splinterlands alongside DEC. Now, why do I say SPS may prove to be better in the long-term? Because of its limited supply.
This may be one of my longer and more informative posts, so sit back and grab a drink or something while you read.
Here we have the allocation of SPS taken directly from its white paper.
As you can see, the document explicitly states,
"The maximum total supply of SPS tokens will not exceed 3,000,000,000."
This basically means that once all 3,000,000,000 tokens are released, there will be no more means to obtain them unless through the market/other owners of SPS.
Airdrop
First, airdrops. This current feature is the primary reason I see more potential value to be had in SPS than in DEC. I see immense value in receiving FREE Splintershards simply by just owning assets that you can obtain by playing the game.
Above is a list of anything that is considered an asset to Splinterlands. As you can see with my data as an example, my total airdrop points at the time of writing this blog is 5,611. Every day while the airdrop takes place, you will receive a given amount of SPS based on your assets and total airdrop points in relation to the total pool of airdrop points between all players. The more airdrop points (or technically percentage of airdrop points) you have that contribute to the total, the more SPS you will receive as a result of your airdrop.
Here we can see how many airdrop points each asset is worth. Assets such as DEC and Collection Power are worth 1 airdrop point each, whereas owning a plot of land will net you 10,000 points.
Staking and Rewards
Next is staking. When you begin to accrue SPS, you can stake your earnings to freeze them in the system to earn interest... thus earning you even more! Which is the craziest part of this to me, you can receive SPS for free, stake it, earn more SPS from interest, which you can just throw back in to increase your overall staked Splintershards. Now, the APR for staking your shards is extremely variable this time around, as it is based off of popularity and the total amount people currently have staked.
Here is what the APR was on 8/12/21 at around 2pm CDT.
And here is what the APR is currently as I am writing this article (8/13/21 11:50 CDT)
As you can see, the interest rate is rapidly declining due to an insurgence of new players and attention being brought to this game. That is a 19.16% decrease over almost 33 hours! Actually, the percentage was at about 260% when I started this article. None of which is necessarily a bad thing, earnings from APR will decline, but as the game's popularity skyrockets, value in DEC and especially SPS may continue to rise.
On the positive side, as players who are currently playing while the interest rate is still as high as it is, we are very lucky indeed. A month from now, this interest rate may not even be 100%, so staking now ahead of time will net you much higher earnings potential than that of a player who starts in even a month.
Unlike the airdrop, staking and the interest you can earn associated with it will be around for the next 65 months, whereas the airdrop will only last 12. Also note that the last supply of SPS will not be given out until the end of the 65 months, so a bit longer than 5 years still before all of it is out on the market.
Play To Earn
The last section I would like to discuss is 'Play to Earn.' The other sources of SPS don't really apply to the average player, and the private sale may already be over (you can correct me on that).
This is very intriguing information, as Play to Earn Splintershards are not currently in the game; however, they are planned for release before the end of 2021. You will apparently earn SPS from ranked battles, tournaments, and guild brawls... all of which reward DEC. So this would mean that once Splintershards earnings are implemented into the base earnings aspect of the game, players' earnings potential may dramatically increase. There is also monthly SPS allocated for 'Land Expansion,' which will be interesting to see how they make use of the new land feature.
My Current Thoughts
Finally, I would like to input my thoughts. The reason I am saying SPS is the real Play to Earn aspect of Splinterlands is because of its potential, and earning now ahead of the game with airdrops and high staking rewards are something I believe everyone should consider trying.
I believe the best bang-for-your-buck right now will be investing in growing your account as soon as possible through DEC to increase your overall assets and earn more airdrop points for more SPS. I personally have transferred about $35 worth into DEC in this game this week to put myself in the 5,000 range and as a result of this, I have turned my daily airdrop from 0.003 SPS into 0.958 over three days. Through daily quests and acquiring new cards to raise my power, I expect to earn over 1 SPS in airdrop earnings from this next drop. I immediately stake all SPS to accrue maximum interest, and already have $0.48 worth.
My method is essentially investing in one currency (DEC) to rapidly rise another (SPS), as both steadily increase in value with the game's popularity.
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I would also like to express immense gratitude to everyone who reads and upvotes my posts, as I put a lot of time into creating these articles (especially this one lol). I also plan to set aside a portion of my blogging earnings to give back to the community!
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All screenshots concerning facts over SPS allocation and airdrop points were obtained from the SPS white paper.
Please note that I am not a financial advisor, nor do I claim or try to be. Please only invest what you can comfortably afford to lose. Any decisions you make concerning SPS and where you put your money are not my responsibility.