So Finnish studio Empires Not Vampires just launched Paradise Chain, a custom L1 built on Avalanche. Yes, yes, I know — “another game-specific chain, drink.” 🍺But hear me out before you auto-comment “L1s are dead”.This chain is purpose-built for Paradise Tycoon, an island farming sim that’s been quietly cooking since 2022 and somehow already pulled 1M+ players without screaming “WAGMI” in every trailer.What’s actually different here?Custom Avalanche-based L1, designed specifically for:p2p tradingcraftingauction house spamquest rewardsUGC monetizationAka: the stuff that normally breaks when you slap a game onto a generic chain and pray.Instead of pretending gas fees don’t exist, they built for high-frequency gameplay + nanotransactions from day one. Radical concept: optimize the chain for the game instead of the pitch deck.UX (yes, actual UX)They’re also rolling out Paradise Cloud, a web hub where players can:move tokensstakedo DeFi things™manage in-game real estatebuy items via webstoreAll without forcing normies to become MetaMask power users. Wallet trauma minimized.Planned extras:AI assistant (because 2026)Block explorer (for the onchain detectives 🕵️‍♂️)The bigger pictureParadise Chain isn’t pretending to be “the chain that hosts all games forever.”It’s more like:“This game already works. Now let’s put real ownership and a real economy under it.”Also worth noting:Avalanche already hosting Off The Grid (Gunz)MapleStory Universe (Henesys)DeFi Kingdoms (DFK Chain)So this isn’t exactly an untested neighborhood.Quote check“Paradise Chain is the result of years of live game development, not a theoretical exercise.”Translation: “We shipped a game first. Sorry, VCs.”TL;DRAnother game launched its own chainBut:game already has userschain is designed for actual gameplayUX doesn’t hate humansNext game planned: Paradise LegendsStill early, still risky, still web3 gaming — but this is closer to “shipping software” than “selling whitepapers.” I’ll allow it. 👀

  As inevitable as web3 gaming is, it’s apparently also inevitable that most blockchain games eventually hit the classic boss fight: Reality.Today’s episode:🗓 27 Jan 2026🎮 Ronin MMORPG – The Forgotten Runiverse📴 Taken offline while the team “evaluates the path forward” (drink 🍺).According to the announcement, they plan to “return to the Runiverse in the future – stronger, better resourced and able to deliver the experience the community deserves.”Translation from Crypto → English:“Servers are off, Discord is on life support, and the roadmap is now a vision board.”This one stings a bit because during peak playtests in 2024 it actually pulled numbers:250,000+ players7,000+ concurrent usersWhich in web3 gaming terms is basically a unicorn riding a dragon holding a DAU chart that goes up.But alas, the great cycle continues:Bold loreRonin chainBig playtest hype“Community deserves better”Web2 reboot arc loading…Not saying it’s dead forever — just temporarily resting in the “We’ll Be Back™” drawer next to:Marketplace relaunchesToken utility revampsAnd that one whitepaper v2.3 nobody finished readingPour one out for The Forgotten Runiverse.Gone from chain, but never forgotten… at least until the next alpha.TL;DR:Web3 game with real players shuts down, promises comeback, enters Web2 cocoon. Nature is healing. 🌱💀  

So… pour one out for Nifty Gateway. Gemini just announced they’re officially pulling the plug on Feb 23, 2025. Trading? Dead. Minting? Dead. Marketplace vibes? Extremely dead. The site is now in “withdraw-only mode”, aka “grab your JPEGs and run.”Yes, that Nifty Gateway.The one that onboarded normies with credit cards.The one that sold Beeple before it was cool.The one that did $1.2B+ in NFT volume during the “number-go-up JPEG” era.Now it’s exiting stage left, quietly, while the Winklevii refocus on the exciting future of… regulatory compliance. 🔥📄🔥What happened?Short version:NFT bull market endedVolumes nuked ~65% since the 2021 glory daysEveryone realized “exclusive drops” aren’t exclusive when liquidity disappearsGemini decided exchanges > JPEG mallsLong version: gestures vaguely at entire crypto market since 2022What you need to do (seriously, don’t be that guy)If you’ve got NFTs sitting on Nifty:Withdraw before Feb 23Connect a wallet (MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, etc.)Pay some ETH gas (yes, one last sacrifice)Verify on EtherscanTouch grassAfter Feb 23:❌ No access❌ No marketplace❌ No “support ticket pls help I forgot”Blockchain is forever, but your access isn’t.Crypto-native perspectiveThis isn’t “NFTs are dead” (again). This is:Market consolidationLess hype, more survivalPlatforms dying, protocols livingSelf-custody wins (as usual)NFTs didn’t disappear — centralized NFT storefronts did. Decentralization stays undefeated.Also kind of poetic that a platform built to “custody NFTs for normies” ends by telling everyone:“Okay actually… take custody yourself. Good luck.”Final thoughtsNifty Gateway was a real one. It onboarded artists, collectors, and credit-card maxxers alike. But like many Web3 startups born in a bull market, it learned the hard way that vibes are not a business model.Withdraw your assets. Screenshot your memories. Save your tax docs.And remember:Not your keys, not your JPEGs. See you all on the next marketplace shutdown announcement. 🚀💀

Title: ETH just dropped its 2025 victory lap thread and… yeah, the numbers are kind of annoying if you’re a rival L1 maxiSo Ethereum posted a very long X thread basically saying “remember when people said we were slow, expensive, and about to be flipped?” Cool, anyway, here’s 2025.Highlights for anyone who doesn’t want to scroll for 10 minutes:DeFi TVL: $99B+, apparently 9x more than any other network.Market share: ~68% of total DeFi.Other L1s: speedrunning TPS demos and retail apps.Ethereum: quietly becoming the global financial clearinghouse.While Solana/BNB/etc. were chasing fast trades and meme volume, ETH just parked itself as the place where actual capital goes to sit. Deep order books, massive lending pools, low slippage — the kind of boring stuff institutions and whales care about. Turns out “number go up without nuking liquidity” is still a feature.The funny part is the L2 narrative reversal. Remember when L2s were “vampires” draining ETH? 2025 basically said nah:Arbitrum, Optimism, Base handle the cheap/high-frequency stuffEthereum L1 handles settlement, security, finalityTVL stays on mainnet anywayRetail gets low fees, ETH keeps the money. Awkward.Tech-wise:Pectra upgrade → smart wallets become standardFusaka → even lower feesPrivacy protocols up 60% YoY, 750+ projects in the privacy ecosystemAnd yeah, Ethereum turned 10 years old in 2025:88M+ smart contracts deployed2.23M daily transactions ATH32k active devs (still lapping everyone)Their closing line was peak ETH energy: “10 years of uninterrupted liveness.” No hype cycle, no reboot, just… still running. Not saying ETH is “done” going up or anything (I’m not your financial advisor, relax), but if you’re still betting on it being dethroned any day now, 2025 probably wasn’t the year you were hoping for.

 Alright lads, Nexpace dropped their Q4 2025 MapleStory Universe ecosystem report, and it’s basically a greatest hits album of “what if we actually ran a Web3 game like a game?”TL;DR:They stopped duct-taping the ship, started adding cannons, and surprise surprise — numbers went up.📊 The “line goes right” section46 MILLION onchain transactions in Q4 on Henesys(yes, that’s more txs than some L2s with 12 VC decks)1.9M lifetime accounts, up from 1.75M in Q3Revenue: ~8M NXPC ≈ $2.8MNot yacht money, but definitely “keep the lights on and annoy Twitter” money.🎮 Engagement: who knew gameplay matters?Q3: ARPU down 14%Q4: ARPU up 59%, landing at 100 NXPC (~$3.48)User count stayed flat, so this wasn’t “number go up because fake users.”This was real players playing more, thanks to:MSN Winter V Update5th Job Advancement (Maplers know 👀)New progression systemsCrazy concept: content > token emissions.🔥 Tokenomics gym arc$50M Nexpace Ecosystem Fund deployedQuarterly NXPC burn introducedNXPC staking goes liveCirculating supply: 231M NXPC+26M emissions-4M burnedNot ultra-sound money, but at least someone’s touching the knobs.🤖 The bot purge heard round the chainThis is the real alpha:37% of all accounts banned since MapleStory N PC launch.Thirty. Seven. Percent.That’s not a cleanup, that’s a Thanos snap.Turns out when you delete bot armies:onboarding improvesretention improvesmonetization improvesWho could’ve guessed? (Everyone except half of Web3 gaming.)🔮 2026 roadmap hopiumNexpace says next year is about:Expanding utilitySupporting scalabilityBuilding long-term ecosystem valueFull launch of Reactor → controlled NFT → NXPC conversionsTranslation: less “wen token pump”, more “let’s not nuke the economy by accident.”🧠 Final takeThis report reads less like a crypto whitepaper and more like:“We ran a live-service MMO for adults and stopped pretending bots are users.”Still early. Still risks. Still crypto.But credit where it’s due — MapleStory Universe is acting suspiciously… normal. Not financial advice, just a Mapler watching devs do the bare minimum and somehow outperform the market.

 So Sky Mavis just hit us with another “this is good for the ecosystem” moment. First: SLP rewards in Origins = gone ☠️Now: AXS rewards = also gone 🪦Replacement: bAXS (Bonded AXS), aka AXS but you can’t instantly nuke it on Binance. According to Jeff Zirlin, rewards are moving to bAXS, a shiny new AppToken built on Limit Break’s ERC20-C. Translation for normal humans: bAXS is backed 1:1 by AXS You can only spend or stake it Selling it? Sure… but there’s a fee That fee depends on your Axie reputation / Axie score Fees go to the Axie treasury (DAO says thanks) So basically: Diamond hands = discounted exit Paper hands = tax bracket unlocked Bots & mercenaries = welcome to fee hell Jeff’s quote says it all: “A good day for $AXS, but the true story is the structural changes to supply.” Crypto translation: “We’re tired of emissions getting farmed and dumped 5 minutes later.” Market reaction?AXS instantly doubled to ~$2, then chilled out like it remembered it’s still a GameFi token in 2026. Market cap sitting around $300M, which means: Bulls: “This is the supply shock arc” Bears: “Congrats, you invented locked rewards with extra steps” Traders: already charting the bAXS fee curve like it’s yield Honestly, this is either: A genuinely smart way to keep value inside the ecosystem, or A very polite way of saying “you can leave, but it’ll cost you.” Either way, Axie just turned rewards into a reputation-weighted economy, and that’s… actually kind of spicy. TL;DR:AXS isn’t dead.It’s just bonded, gated, scored, and mildly judgmental now. 🚀💀

So remember Axie Infinity? Yeah, that Axie. The one we all swore we were “long-term believers” in while watching it bleed for months. Well… surprise. $AXS just woke up from hibernation and chose violence. AXS is up +100% on the week, pumped another ~64% today to ~$2, and is suddenly flexing on the entire mid-cap altcoin zoo. GameFi, left for dead in the last cycle, is once again trending on CT like it never emotionally hurt anyone. The weird part: this isn’t your usual 3am low-liquidity wick to heaven.Volume is actually real: ~$997M spot volume in 24h ~$346M market cap (yes, volume > mcap, welcome to crypto) Futures volume > $500M Open interest around $44M Translation: shorts got cooked, degens opened fresh longs, and everyone is pretending they “saw this coming.” “But why is it pumping?” Pick your favorite narrative, we’ve got plenty: GameFi rotation – Apparently “gaming szn” is back on the menu. High-volatility appetite – Traders remembered they hate slow markets. Futures activity – Short covers + new leverage = spicy candles. Staking changes & incentives – The devs pressed the tokenomics rework button. And the big brain move: Axie Score + bAXS (Bonded AXS). AXS is getting a reputation system where: Your “Axie Score” reflects your contribution to the ecosystem Rewards get paid in bAXS, backed 1:1 by AXS You can spend it, stake it, and trade it Sellers pay a variable fee (to the treasury) Higher Axie Score = lower fee So yes, it’s GameFi meets social credit score meets token sink. Very 2026-core. Even the cofounder came out with the classic line: “Good day for $AXS, but the real story is structural supply changes.” You know it’s bullish when founders start talking about structure instead of price. It’s not just AXS either GameFi as a whole decided to turn green at the same time (totally organic, surely): RON: +20% today, +28% week SAND: +30% today, +32% week SLP: +14% today MANA: +21% today ILV: +15% today Sector market cap sitting around $7B, up ~6% in a day. The graveyard is alive. TL;DR AXS up 100% in a week Volume is real, leverage is back GameFi remembered it exists Tokenomics + incentives are the new hopium Bagholders feeling spiritually vindicated Is this the start of a real GameFi comeback… or just another beautifully violent dead-cat bounce? Either way, congrats to everyone who held through the pain.And condolences to everyone who sold at the bottom “for tax reasons.” 💀 

 So apparently AXS decided to remind everyone it still exists and casually pumped ~45% in a day. No, not a ghost candle on $20k volume. Actual real volume, real participation, and charts that don’t look like a slow death spiral for once. GameFi… is that you? What happened? AXS around $1.29–$1.31, up ~33–45% depending on which candle you’re staring at 24h volume ~$380M (yes, M) Futures volume ~$526M ~$1.5M in liquidations (RIP shorts who faded the frog) Open interest ~$44.6M → not just shorts closing, also fresh degens entering This wasn’t your usual “one whale sneezed and CT pretended it’s a trend.”This was actual demand, aka the thing we forgot existed in 2024. The Chart (aka the thing everyone ignored until it went vertical) AXS has been living in a descending channel for months, printing lower highs like it was getting paid for it. Now? Higher highs Higher lows Broke above the $1.20–$1.30 base Bollinger Bands squeezing → volatility expansion unlocked RSI waking up from the dead Translation: the chart stopped screaming “sell rallies” and started whispering “maybe… just maybe…” Why now? A few reasons: Risk-on is creeping back → people rotating into higher beta junk (affectionate) Short covering + fresh positioning lit the fuse Axie narrative dusted off Staking tweaks Incentive changes Axie Score–based rewards experiment planned for Jan 2026Nothing revolutionary, but enough to remind the market this isn’t completely abandoned PNG land. What’s next? This is the “prove it” zone. If AXS: Holds $1.10–$1.20 →Targets: $1.50–$1.60, then $1.75–$2.00 Loses $1.10 →Congratulations, you’ve unlocked $0.90 PTSD Big green candles are fun, but the real alpha is what happens after CT stops posting frog memes. Bottom line AXS finally showed a pulse after a long, brutal downtrend.Now we wait: Shallow pullbacks + base holding = real accumulation, possible trend shift Full retrace + silence = classic oversold bounce, see you back in the trenches For now, momentum is improving.Whether this is a GameFi comeback arc or just a one-day nostalgia pump…the next few sessions decide. Not financial advice. Just a guy watching a frog run again 🐸📈

 Alright degenerates, gather round. CCP Games’ EVE Frontier (yes, that CCP, the spreadsheet-in-space people) is still trucking along and—brace yourselves—they’re doing exactly what they said they’d do. I know, I know. In crypto gaming that’s basically a mythological event 🦄 🌀 Cycle 4: Now Live (aka “reset the universe, again”) Reminder: every Cycle = 3 months, and at the end the entire universe gets nuked. Full wipe. No mercy. No “ser, my NFT pls.”This is actually intentional so devs can iterate without dragging legacy spaghetti code like a dead altcoin. What Cycle 4 brings: 🚀 Direct ship controls (you are now the pilot, not the intern) 🧬 Character progression finally exists 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Clone characters (because one bad decision per life isn’t enough) 🏗️ Player-built bases (together, like a DAO… but functional) ⚖️ Economy testing, universe balancing 🛸 Making ships actually feel different (crazy concept, I know) Basically: less tech demo, more “oh this is a real game”. 🔗 Cycle 5: Late March / Early April (aka “wen blockchain?” → “now.”) This is where things get spicy for the on-chain crowd. Big headline: 🧳 Migration from EVM testnet to Sui Yes, CCP picked a chain and stuck with it. No “we’re chain-agnostic until incentives end” energy here. Why it matters: 🧠 Third-party devs can finally build “programmable infrastructure” inside the universe Translation: devs can cook on-chain systems inside EVE instead of bolting NFTs onto vibes 🎮 Gameplay updates in Cycle 5: 💥 Better base combat (attack and defense) 🛰️ New scanning & detection systems Find players Or stay hidden like a true low-sec rat 🚢 New ships (because ships = dopamine) 🌌 Travel system updates 🎒 Inventory + HUD improvements (UI nerds rejoice) TL;DR CCP is actually executing Quarterly wipes let them move fast without breaking everything Real gameplay first, blockchain second (rare W) Sui migration unlocks dev ecosystem inside the game This is looking less like “crypto game” and more like “game that happens to be on-chain” Not saying this will flip WoW or cure bear markets, but compared to the usual “mint → roadmap → silence” meta, this is… refreshingly competent. Stay vigilant, pilots. And yes, you can stalk the roadmap on their website like the rest of us. 🫡🚀

 Alright degens, gather round. Polygon Labs just went on a casual $250M shopping spree, scooping up Sequence (gaming + wallets infra) and Coinme (payments, KYC, and actual Bitcoin ATMs) in what’s apparently a mix of cash, equity, and probably some MATIC vibes. Because why just be a blockchain when you can be the entire financial system? 🧩 The buys, explained like you’re on your 3rd coffee Sequence Started as a blockchain game studio (remember Skyweaver?) Pivoted into “we do all the annoying blockchain stuff so devs don’t have to” Wallets with social login, minting, marketplaces, payments, etc. Already Polygon’s preferred wallet partner since 2023 Used by Ubisoft, Magic Eden, Immutable, ApeChain (yes, that ApeChain) Raised ~$50M before getting absorbed into the Polygon hive mind Translation: Web3 gaming infra, but make it actually usable. Coinme Fiat → crypto rails Compliance, KYC, regulation (the scary words) Access to 50,000 US retail locations ~6,000 Bitcoin ATMs (boomer orange-pill machines) Fully licensed + regulated in the US Investors include Pantera, DCG, Ripple, Circle, MoneyGram (Avengers assemble) Translation: “Yes sir, this blockchain is legally allowed to exist.” Rumor mill says Coinme alone cost ~$125M, so Polygon basically split the bill down the middle like civilized adults. 🧠 The real play Polygon isn’t just trying to be: ❌ “cheap L2” ❌ “Ethereum but faster” ❌ “gaming chain of the month” They’re building what they now call the Polygon Open Money Stack™(read: payments, wallets, infra, compliance, onramps, offramps, everything) And the spicy part? 👉 Their stated goal is to become a regulated US payments provider. Yes.Polygon.Regulated.In the US. Somewhere, a maxi just dropped their Ledger. TL;DR Polygon bought gaming infra + payments infra Wants to be crypto’s Stripe + Steam + Coinbase backend Going full “adult in the room” arc Regulation-maxxing instead of yield-maxxing This is either 5D chess or the most expensive pivot since Meta Not financial advice, but if your chain is buying Bitcoin ATMs and KYC infrastructure, you’re clearly not here for vibes anymore. Polygon said: “Mass adoption, but make it mandatory.” 🫡