Author

admin

Decrypt logo
GameFi Guides

WalletConnect Token Lands on Solana With WCT Airdrop

by admin



In brief

  • WalletConnect’s WCT token is launching on Solana.
  • The integration will be accompanied by an airdrop of 5 million WCT tokens to active Solana users.
  • Further chain integrations are “already in development,” WalletConnect told Decrypt.

WalletConnect Token (WCT) is launching on Solana, with 5 million WCT set to be airdropped to the blockchain’s active users.

The launch of WCT as a multichain token aims to open WalletConnect to new users and liquidity, and applications throughout the Solana ecosystem.

The WCT token powers staking and governance across WalletConnect’s network, and will be used for fees and rewards in the future. Current estimates suggest about 145,000 hold WCT—a figure that’s expected to rise given it’s now expanding to a blockchain with more than 100 million monthly active wallets.

In a statement shared with Decrypt, WalletConnect Foundation founder and director Pedro Gomes said the platform has made a concerted shift to becoming a “chain-agnostic protocol” in recent years, following its “very Ethereum-centric” beginnings.

“It makes sense that WCT, the native token, is also a multichain token,” Gomes added. “WalletConnect has been working closely with Solana teams over the past couple of months and I have been continuously impressed by the builders, the community and the energy of the Solana ecosystem.”

Wormhole Foundation’s CCO and co-founder Robinson Burkey said that WCT’s expansion “is a clear signal builders and users want fluid, secure movement of value across ecosystems.”

“A multichain journey”

Further chain integrations are “already in development” as WalletConnect builds out its roadmap—and as its native token becomes more widely available, new governance features and token-based incentives will be unveiled to give the community a greater role in its future.

This latest airdrop also comes hot on the heels of 50 million WCT being distributed to WalletConnect users last year.

Several prominent Solana apps already rely on WalletConnect’s infrastructure—including lending platform Save, perpetual futures exchange Drift, and DeFi protocol Kamino Finance.

Figures from the protocol suggest that, since launching in 2018, it has facilitated more than 278 million connections along with 45 million unique active wallets.

In a statement shared with Decrypt, WalletConnect said that its arrival on Solana “marks the beginning of a multichain journey” that will build on its track record of enabling “secure and seamless connections” between apps and wallets.

Daily Debrief Newsletter

Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Fantasy Life i studio announces free DLC as the "slow-life RPG" sequel gets off to a flying start
Game Updates

Fantasy Life i studio announces free DLC as the “slow-life RPG” sequel gets off to a flying start

by admin



Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time has had an unexpectedly strong start for a sequel to a fairly obscure 13-year Nintendo DS game. And developer Level 5 has now thanked fans for their enthusiasm, pledging to release free DLC in response to “popular demand”.


The Girl Who Steals Time, for context, is a sequel to Level 5’s Fantasy Life – a sort of job-focussed mash-mash of life sim and RPG – which enjoyed modest critical and commercial success when it launched for Nintendo DS back in 2012. Eurogamer’s celebrated its “abundance of features” in our 6/10 review at the time, but noted the result was often “less than the sum of its parts”.


But in this post-Stardew Valley world – where you can’t watch an indie showcase without seeing a dozen new village sims jostling for attention – the newly released Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals seems to resonated with audiences. It’s garnered a positive early critical reception and even surpassed 45K concurrents on its first day on Steam (that’s more than Doom: The Dark Ages managed) – and Level 5 is now celebrating its launch with news of more to come.

Fantasy Life i – features trailer.Watch on YouTube


“In response to the positive reception from players around the world,” it wrote in a message on its website (via Google Translate), “we have decided to release free DLC that will ‘update the world’… so that players can continue to enjoy the game for a long time to come.”


Level 5 hasn’t shared much in the way of specifics, but there’s talk of new recipes and “high-rarity weapons” that can be acquired though dungeons and “other methods”. The studio says it’s working to release the DLC “as soon as possible”, and will share more details at a later date. And it sounds like there’s more on the way; “We plan to continue updating the game,” it adds, “so that you can enjoy the world of Fantasy Life i for longer and more comfortably.”


Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is available now on Steam, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and Switch, with a Switch 2 version coming later this year.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Dusk Wendigo approaching player
Product Reviews

Most players ‘know next to nothing about how games are made’: New Blood devs sound off on gamedev misconceptions

by admin



Hang out with a game developer in a casual setting for an hour and the topic of gamedev misconceptions is bound to come up. It’s always fun to explain what people get wrong about your job, especially if it could lead to fewer misguided assumptions and mean comments on the internet.

Such was the goal of a monster feature interviewing 32 game developers published today at GamesRadar, which included several choice quotes from New Blood, the indie studio known for modern throwbacks like Dusk, Ultrakill, and Gloomwood.

Pulling no punches as usual, New Blood CEO Dave Oshry said that most players “know next to nothing about how games are made,” adding that game development teams have more in common with film and TV production than you’d think.


You may like

“With the exception of solo devs, games are an artistic endeavor that require the cooperation of handfuls, dozens, hundreds or even thousands of people at once working together to create interactive art,” Oshry said. “You can put all the great programmers, artists, animators and sound designers you want in the same building but that doesn’t mean they can make a great game. Great games are made by great teams that work great together. It helps when they’re all friends, too.”

I think most fans understand that it takes a village, but Oshry is also speaking to the surface-level chatter surrounding new games or studios as they’re first announced, the roots of which often begin with the studios themselves. There’s nothing a new outfit with big investors loves more than highlighting all the successful games its employees have collectively worked on, but that has almost nothing to do with what they’ll eventually make together. How many studios “founded by ex-Blizzard devs” have come and gone over the years?

(Image credit: New Blood Interactive)

The idea is to sell a studio’s immense talent so you can attract other talent, which is reasonable and important, but who’s to say if that talent will gel together? That’s the hardest part, according to Oshry, and exceedingly rare.

I rate that one a 5/10 on the misconception scale, but Oshry’s cohort David Szymanski had a spicier take that I subscribe to. The man behind Dusk and Iron Lung is tired of seeing “dev laziness” used as “a blanket explanation for missing/buggy features or seemingly hacky implementation.”

“These decisions are nearly always driven by an unseen web of more complex issues and/or external pressure,” he said.

Not an especially spicy observation, but then Szymanski went on to say that, in some instances, the accessibility of game dev tools these days has become “a bit of a double-edged sword” when complaints start flooding in.

(Image credit: David Szymanski)

“It’s now very easy to acquire enough knowledge to make broad incorrect assumptions about how easy a given task should be,” Szymanski said.

You know, that does sound annoying—8/10 misconception. It’s one level of irritation when someone with absolutely no background in your field makes a wild assumption, but it’s way worse when someone believes they know just enough to tell you how it’s done. When your favorite game is missing a feature that you believe should be there by now, there’s always that one guy who gets 5,000 upvotes on Reddit with a post titled “As a game developer, don’t let them fool you, this should be easy as hell.”

Similarly, Helldivers 2 and Palword devs had some words for fans who intuitively believe that big features can be made within days or weeks when they actually take months. The whole feature’s packed with quotes like that, so make sure to check out the full thing over at GamesRadar.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Eagleopolis has fallen despite Helldivers 2 players slapping up 2.5 billion squids for an opening victory in the battle for Super Earth, leaving six Mega Cities to defend
Game Reviews

Eagleopolis has fallen despite Helldivers 2 players slapping up 2.5 billion squids for an opening victory in the battle for Super Earth, leaving six Mega Cities to defend

by admin


Do you want the good news or the bad news first? Well, good news, Helldivers 2 managed to win the first major order of the battle for Super Earth by slaughtering over two billion Illuminate. The bad news? It’s not stopped Eagleopolis from falling.

As it turns out, not even the biggest number of Helldivers the game’s had since last spring diving in to help try and hold off the invasion of fresh Illuminate baddies was enough to stop one of Super Earth’s seven Mega Cities being reduced to ruins. It’s ok, don’t cry. Hug your SEAF buddy and watch a clip of someone surfing on a Leviathan if that’ll help.

Manage cookie settings

The previous major order, which was the Helldivers’ initial defense of Super Earth after the Illuminate invasion of their home planet began with the arrival of the Heart of Democracy update, ended this morning. Things looked good, the goal of casually killing 2.5 billion Illuminate had been achieved. Let the good times roll right?

Nope, said Arrowhead. “Eagleopolis, a venerable stronghold of Managed Democracy since time immemorial, lies in ruins,” the studio informed us all via its latest MO briefing, “Its tattered shopping centers stand in warning as to the fate that awaits the rest of Super Earth, should our mission fail.”

So, that’s one of the seven Mega Cities which make up Super Earth destroyed, but there’s still a long way to go in the battle for Super Earth, and that win has seen folks make some progress towards wiping out the entire Illuminate fleet or forcing it to retreat.

Eagleopolis, a venerable stronghold of Managed Democracy since time immemorial, lies in ruins. Its tattered shopping centers stand in warning as to the fate that awaits the rest of Super Earth, should our mission fail.

The initial wave of assault is over. The Battle for Super… pic.twitter.com/wWgL8gfaiu

— HELLDIVERS™ 2 (@helldivers2) May 23, 2025

Manage cookie settings

“Illuminate Fleet Strength currently stands at 49%,” Arrowhead continued, “Six Mega Cities remain standing. The Helldivers must dig in, alongside their SEAF allies, and continue to fight, day and night, to defend the heart of our Federation. The surviving Mega Cities must be defended at all costs. The Helldivers must deploy to the Mega Cities as Illuminate pressure shifts among them to prevent them from falling. Once they fall, they cannot be reclaimed.”

Hence the latest order’s goal – successfull extract from missions against the Illuminate 20 million times, in order to strike a further blow to the fleet’s big invisible health bar. And, of course, to avenge Eagleopolis, which I’m sure people on the game’s subreddit would be cut up about if they weren’t too busy post fan art about loving their SEAF trooper buddies in a fashion that totally isn’t getting a bit creepy.

Are you shedding super tears for Eagleopolis? Let us know below!





Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Worldcoin rallies 10% as World Foundation raises $135M
NFT Gaming

Worldcoin and Hyperliquid to extend price rallies

by admin



Worldcoin and Hyperliquid rank among the top two cryptocurrencies by weekly gains. CoinGecko data shows that WLD and HYPE gained nearly 35% in the past week. The two tokens could extend their price rally next week. 

Worldcoin (WLD) has rallied for seven consecutive weeks, seen in the WLD/USDT weekly price chart. In the last 24 hours, WLD gained nearly 2% and nearly 35% in the last seven days. Worldcoin’s rally is likely driven by a series of announcements from the Sam Altman-led AI firm regarding the project’s expansion plans. 

Hyperliquid (HYPE) added 7% to its value on the day, up nearly 35% in the last seven days. The project’s recent gains are attributed to HYPE accumulation and demand from crypto elites like Arthur Hayes, former BitMEX CEO and co-founder of Maelstrom. 

Worldcoin and Hyperliquid price forecast

Worldcoin posted seven consecutive weeks of gains, and the rally continued this week. WLD price could extend its rally according to technical indicators on the weekly timeframe. A 32% increase could push WLD to test psychologically important resistance at $2. 

RSI reads 51, crossing above the neutral level at 50 and MACD flashes consecutively green histogram bars, signaling a positive underlying momentum in WLD price trend. 

In the event of a flashcrash or market-wide correction, WLD could slip to support at $0.914. 

WLD/USDT weekly price chart | Source: Crypto.news

The daily price chart supports a similar thesis with WLD targeting resistance at $1.641, the lower boundary of an FVG. This marks nearly 8% climb for WLD from the current price level of $1.538. 

The $0.835 support is key to WLD as the AI token continues its upward trend. RSI has crossed above 70, into the “overbought” zone and MACD signals positive underlying momentum in WLD price trend.

WLD faces resistance at $2, marked as R2 on the WLD/USDT daily price chart. 

WLD/USDT daily price chart | Source: Crypto.news

HYPE is 13% away from its closest resistance, at R1, marked by $40 on the daily timeframe. HYPE started its upward trend on April 7, 2025. The token could find support at $32 in the event of a correction. 

Momentum indicators on the daily timeframe support further gains in HYPE, RSI climbed towards 83 and is sloping upwards. MACD is flashing green histogram bars above the neutral line, signaling the underlying positive momentum in HYPE price trend. 

The 2024 peak of $42.252 is a key target for HYPE, it comes into play once the token flips resistance at $40 into support. 

HYPE/USDT daily price chart | Source: Crypto.news

WLD and HYPE on-chain analysis 

Worldcoin’s on-chain indicators support a bullish thesis for WLD in the coming weeks. Network realized profit and loss, a metric that identifies the net profit/loss of all tokens moved on a given day shows consistent loss realization from traders throughout the first part of 2025. 

NPL shows likely capitulation in WLD, typically followed by an increase in a token’s price. The whale transaction count in two segments, valued at $100,000 and $1 million and higher shows spikes this week. 

Large wallet investors moved their WLD tokens realizing gains on their holdings, in a relatively small volume compared to the count of traders taking losses in the past few weeks. This shows selling pressure on WLD is relatively low and there is scope for price gain next week.

Worldcoin on-chain analysis | Source: Santiment 

Hyperliquid’s on-chain metrics show a spike in trade volume, weighted sentiment and social dominance alongside the rally. HYPE price rallied this week, driving up the share of HYPE’s mentions across social media platforms and weighted sentiment turned increasingly positive. 

While a spike is noted in social dominance and weighted sentiment, it remains relatively low when compared to the large positive spike observed in March 2025. This was followed by a correction in HYPE and the token started its upward trend in the second week of April 2025. 

Hyperliquid on-chain analysis | Source: Santiment

Derivatives traders bullish on HYPE rally, WLD hype fades

Derivatives data from Coinglass shows that long/short ratio exceeds 1 for HYPE. This implies traders are bullish on gain in HYPE price, and short positions dominate liquidations in the 24 hour timeframe. 

The total liquidations for the last 24 hours are $940,000, a majority of short positions paid for longs, according to Coinglass data. 

Hyperliquid derivatives data analysis | Source: Coinglass

The futures open interest chart for HYPE shows that OI is at its highest level since December 2024. OI has climbed to $1.16 billion, during the ongoing price rally and this marks the total value of open derivatives contracts in HYPE. 

Hyperliquid futures open interest (USD) | Source: Coinglass

Worldcoin derivatives data analysis shows nearly 50% increase in OI in the last 24 hours. Similar to HYPE, short liquidations exceed long and the total volume of liquidations stands above $7 million. 

The long/short ratio is under 1 and shows derivatives traders may not be as bullish on WLD price gain and sidelined buyers should exercise caution when opening a trade in the AI token. 

Worldcoin derivatives data analysis | Source: Coinglass

Catalysts driving gains in WLD and HYPE 

For WLD, one of the largest catalysts is the announcement of Worldcoin’s expansion and the direct token sale to a16z and Bain Capital Crypto. News of a direct purchase of $135 million in WLD has fueled a bullish sentiment among traders. 

Through its official account, the Worldcoin team said that the investment was a direct purchase of non-discounted tokens, by two of the “earliest backers” of the project. 

The funding comes from two of World’s earliest backers and long-term holders — a16z and Bain Capital Crypto.
This wasn’t a venture round. It was a direct purchase of non-discounted liquid tokens.

The circulating supply of WLD has thus increased correspondingly.…

— World (@worldcoin) May 21, 2025

Hyperliquid has made several announcements about bridges built to transfer tokens to the HYPE ecosystem, new listings and partnerships. However, a recent tweet from Maelstrom co-founder Arthur Hayes has supported the social media mentions of HYPE. 

Early on Friday, Messari Crypto reported that a Hyperliquid short-seller got liquidated for $23 million as the token posted nearly 90% gains. 

Tether and its partner Plasma Foundation power zero-fee stablecoin transfers and the initiative was extended to the Hyperliquid exchange, adding to the list of catalysts. 

The on-chain perpetual exchange’s new listings, partnerships and the arrival of zero-fee stablecoin transfers in its ecosystem are currently the largest catalysts driving gains in HYPE token. 

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.





Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Jamie Crawley
Crypto Trends

Crypto Lender Ledn Goes Full Bitcoin Maxi as It Seeks to Reduce Client Asset Risk

by admin



Cryptocurrency lender Ledn is removing support for ether

and will begin offering a bitcoin-only loan model starting July 1 as it looks to simplify its product and sharpen its focus around bitcoin .

The Cayman Islands-registered company may be attempting to broaden its appeal among the corners of the crypto community that say BTC is the only cryptocurrency that is needed. Such BTC advocates are often referred to as “Bitcoin Maxis.”

“With our new hyper-focus on Bitcoin-only lending, we’re going back to our roots and principles that inspired Bitcoin to begin with,” co-founder Adam Reeds said in an emailed announcement on Friday.

Ledn will also stop lending client assets to generate yield as it seeks to remove risk from its business model. Bitcoin offered to Ledn as collateral for loans will remain fully in its custody or that of its partners, Ledn said.

“Traditional finance relies on constantly reusing client assets to create leverage and, ultimately, inflation,” Reeds said. “Bitcoiners instinctively reject that model.”

Cryptocurrency lending was a major casualty of crypto winter in 2022, with the companies including BlockFi, Voyager, Celsius and Genesis going to the wall.

Ledn managed to survive and is now attempting to resurrect the BTC-backed lending sector, with its simplified product offering and helped by the friendlier regulatory approach to crypto in the U.S, co-founder Mauricio Di Bartolomeo told CoinDesk in a recent interview.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
A Helicopter, Halibut, and ‘Y.M.C.A’: Inside Donald Trump’s Memecoin Dinner
Gaming Gear

A Helicopter, Halibut, and ‘Y.M.C.A’: Inside Donald Trump’s Memecoin Dinner

by admin


As US president Donald Trump left the stage at his golf club near Washington, DC, on Thursday night, he pointed to the crowd, brought his index finger to his temple—as if to say: You know what’s coming—then began to dance. To the beat of “Y.M.C.A” by The Village People, Trump shimmied, gyrated, and pumped his arms above his head.

Looking on were more than 200 people who had been invited to the Trump National Golf Club for a private gala dinner. They had won their seats by purchasing large quantities of Trump’s own crypto coin—TRUMP—some holding millions of dollars’ worth.

Courtesy of Sky/LuckyFuture.ai

On the menu for the evening was pan-seared halibut with a citrus reduction, a filet mignon with demi glaze—and, the attendees hoped, a chance to speak to the US president. Four of the guests agreed to tell WIRED about their experience.

By late afternoon, the dinner guests had started to filter through the gates of the golf club. By comparison to Trump’s previous banquets, thronging with DC insiders and members of the Silicon Valley elite, the crypto dinner attracted a mismatched collection of oddballs: independent traders rubbed shoulders with crypto executives, die-hard Trump fans, and even professional sports stars—former NBA player Lamar Odom towered overhead. A handful wore bowties in Bitcoin orange; others sported gold Trump sneakers.

Just after 7 pm, the dinner guests gathered at the window to watch Trump descend in Marine One, his presidential helicopter. A short while later, he appeared from behind a blue velvet curtain to whoops and applause from the crowd. Had they seen the helicopter, Trump asked. “Yeah, super cool!” somebody yelled.

From behind a lectern at one end of the dining room, backdropped by four US flags, Trump delivered a characteristically winding and digressive speech that sources say lasted around 25 minutes. At some point, he got round to crypto.

“We’ve got some of the smartest minds anywhere in the world right here in this room,” said Trump. “You believe in the whole crypto thing. A lot of people are starting to believe in it … This is really something that may be special—who knows, right? Who knows—but it may be special.”

When Trump first promoted his memecoin in January, three days before the inauguration, the limited amount released into circulation rose in value to $14 billion. The remaining 80 percent of the supply is controlled by CIC Digital LLC—a subsidiary of a conglomerate owned by the Trump family—and Fight Fight Fight LLC, formed by longtime Trump ally Bill Zanker. With little more than a social media post, Trump had added billions of dollars to his paper net worth. (The value of the circulating coins has since slumped to roughly $3 billion.)

The team behind the TRUMP coin announced the presidential dinner for the top 220 holders on April 23, promising the top 25 a close-quarters reception with Trump. The attendees would be selected based on who had held the most coins and kept them the longest between the announcement date and May 12, the website explained.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Copy Link
Esports

Napoli edge out Inter Milan to win 4th Serie A title

by admin



May 23, 2025, 04:48 PM ET

Napoli clinched their second Serie A title in three seasons after edging out Inter Milan thanks to a 2-0 home victory over Cagliari in a dramatic finale to the season on Friday.

It sealed a fourth Italian championship for Napoli, and a new record for head coach Antonio Conte. The Italian, 55, has become the first coach to win Serie A with three different clubs after previous titles with Inter Milan and Juventus.

Napoli led defending champions Inter by one point entering the final round and it briefly looked like the title might be staying in Milan in the first half.

Inter took the lead over Como in the 20th minute of a game being played simultaneously to Napoli’s match. But it was Conte’s two big summer signings who ensured the Scudetto headed back to Naples.

Scott McTominay went airborne to redirect a cross from Matteo Politano in the 42nd minute for his 12th goal this season after transferring from Manchester United.

Then Romelu Lukaku, who was signed from Chelsea in August, controlled a long vertical pass and dribbled by two defenders before scoring in the 51st. It was his 14th goal to go with his league-leading 10 assists.

It meant Inter’s 2-0 win at 10-man Como wasn’t enough for the Nerazzurri as Napoli claimed the title by a single point to ignite the celebrations at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, the stadium named after the man who led Napoli to their first two Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990.

After the glory days of Maradona faded, Napoli ended a 23-year wait to win the Scudetto when a team led by Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia marched to glory in 2023.

But having finished 10th last season, Conte has returned Napoli to the summit of Italian soccer.

Romelu Lukaku scored Napoli’s second goal in their win over Cagliari. ISABELLA BONOTTO/AFP via Getty Images

Conte has already won four Italian leagues. He led Juventus to the first three of their nine successive Serie A titles in each of his three seasons in charge from 2011-14, and won it with Inter in 2021.

In between them, he bagged a Premier League title with Chelsea in 2017.

While a handful of coaches have won Serie A with two teams, no one has ever done it with three. Although there is a significant asterisk.

Fabio Capello lifted league trophies with AC Milan (four times) and Roma before steering Juventus to back-to-back triumphs in 2005 and 2006, but the Bianconeri were stripped of both of those titles because of the Calciopoli refereeing scandal.

Conte inherited a team that was coming off a horrible season, having put up one of the worst title defenses in history and churning through three coaches.

Transforming the team back into title winners arguably ranks as one of Conte’s biggest achievements.

After losing an opener to Hellas Verona, Napoli won eight of their next nine games before winning seven in a row from mid-December through to the beginning of February.

Even the exit of star winger Kvaratskhelia to Paris Saint-Germain in January did not slow Napoli down, with just one defeat since his exit.

In the absence of Kvaratskhelia and Osimhen — who joined Galatasaray on loan last summer — Conte has drawn inspired form from Lukaku and McTominay, while building the most solid defence in Serie A.

Napoli have been aided by the fact they were without Europe this season and were knocked out of the Coppa Italia at the round of 16, whereas main rivals Inter reached the final of the UEFA Champions League and semifinals of the Coppa Italia.

Napoli will now return to Europe’s premier competition, with a big summer potentially ahead to bolster a thin squad.

Inter, who not long ago were dreaming of a treble, will now have to turn their focus to the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain on May 31.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Hedge funds are betting against Metaplanet. The GameStop 2021 short squeeze scenario is possible
GameFi Guides

Hedge funds bet against Metaplanet. GameStop scenario?

by admin



On May 23, 2025, Metaplanet topped the list of Japanese stocks as the most active stock. The same day, Metaplanet became the top loser, which didn’t stop it from being the biggest stock in Japan as it still leads by a large margin. The company is allegedly on the brink of a huge short squeeze similar to the GameStop 2021 situation. How did this small hotel operator become the fastest-growing stock in Japan and an international role model Bitcoin accumulator?

While currently Metaplanet poses itself as “Japan’s first and only publicly listed Bitcoin Treasury Company,” it hasn’t always been like that. The company has a rich history predating Bitcoin’s existence, and Metaplanet’s newfound Bitcoin fame is just the latest episode of a long run.

The company started in 1999. At the early stage, it had a different name and was working in various spheres. In 2010, Simon Gerovich, Metaplanet’s CEO, founded a hotel business with budget hotels in Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Japan. 

The COVID quarantine harmed the hotel business. Around the same time, Gerovich learned about Michael Saylor’s Stratgy switch to Bitcoin.

The crucial change occurred in 2024. Here’s how the company puts it on its website:

“In 2024, Metaplanet’s management embarked on a strategic pivot, recognizing Bitcoin as the world’s most scarce monetary asset and transformed the company into a Bitcoin Treasury Company.”

Metaplanet sold all the hotels but one. Ever since, Metaplanet has been following its new plan to aggressively stack bitcoins, which are seen as a long-term reserve asset. The company is working to accrue the wealth of Metaplanet’s shareholders and harness transparency and fairness. The company’s aim is to make its stock more profitable than Bitcoin. On top of this, Metaplanet consults other companies about Bitcoin and Web3.

In 2026, Metaplanet plans to open its Bitcoin Hotel in Tokyo, blending its hotel business origins and the company’s current Bitcoin strategy.

I’m standing on top of the next Bitcoin Hotel in Japan.

365 days from now Metaplanet will transform this hotel, the Hotel Royal Oak, to the first Bitcoin Hotel in Tokyo. pic.twitter.com/c4btm151zM

— isa⚡️ (@isabellasg3) March 27, 2025

Today, Metaplanet is one of the few companies that followed the footsteps of Strategy, becoming a Bitcoin-centred company, sometimes referred to as “MicroStrategy of Asia.” 

As of May 23, 2025, Metaplanet holds 7,800 BTC. It may seem that it’s a humble amount if we compare it to Strategy, with its BTC stack exceeding 576,000 units. However, Strategy’s treasury is extraordinary, and Metaplanet is actually one of the leading corporate Bitcoin holders. Its Bitcoin treasury is around $800 million in value and ranks tenth globally. To emphasize the significance of Bitcoin over fiat money, the main KPI metric used by Metaplanet is BTC Yield.

Metaplanet is Japan’s most volatile stock.
Volatility is the pulse, the flame, the fuel,
and Bitcoin is the spark that keeps it burning bright. $MTPLF pic.twitter.com/WwQZfEjAaO

— Simon Gerovich (@gerovich) May 23, 2025

Earlier this May, the company went through a strong short-seller pressure that didn’t stop it from gaining more value and continuing its exponential growth. It took only a year for Metaplanet to grow its stock price from around 40 JPY to 1,000 JPY. In 2025, the stock’s price gained over 420%. 

Metaplanet’s year-to-date 291.3% return strikingly contrasts with the nearly 5% decline of the Nikkei 225, a compound index reflecting the average value of the top 225 Japanese stocks.

Short squeeze speculations and parallels with GameStop

Despite aggressive Bitcoin accumulation and speedy growth, not all the stats are bullish. According to Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich, Metaplanet is the most shorted stock in Japan. While Bitcoin treasuries are somewhat trendy, and this trendiness attracts retail and institutional investors, hedge funds are betting against Metaplanet and shorting its stocks in bulk. High volatility within 12 months signals an intense battle between Metaplanet bears and bulls.

High volatility and nine-digit trading volumes on the stock exchange signal a possible high-scale short squeeze of the Metaplanet stock. It loosely resembles the 2021 GameStop stock case. In 2021, hedge funds were betting against GameStop. However, the activism of hobby traders from the Reddit group who collectively started to open long positions resulted in an explosive 3,200% growth of the GME stock. Hedge funds couldn’t predict such an outcome and lost $838 million in a single day.

As of May 23, 2025, it is unclear what the future holds for Metaplanet stock and if it will repeat the GameStop trajectory. If hedge funds are not right about the future of Metaplanet, they will pay a hefty price for their mistake. However, if the Bitcoin strategy fails for Metaplanet, the company may get a serious slap.





Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
You’re right: Mario Kart 8’s 200cc speed is way, way off
Game Updates

You’re right: Mario Kart 8’s 200cc speed is way, way off

by admin


The first time anyone jumps into Mario Kart 8’s 200cc mode can be a shock. The engine class is meant to be the hardest challenge in the game, but even so, racing in 200cc can sometimes feel egregiously punishing. There’s a reason for that: Apparently, the number does not accurately represent the jump in speed that Mario Kart 8 really throws at you.

As highlighted by the ever-great Supper Mario Broth, players have crunched the numbers behind all the engine classes only to find that 200cc is a misnomer. If 200cc feels way faster than, say, 150cc, you aren’t imagining it. 200cc is apparently 38% faster than it should be, at least compared to the speed ratio established by slower modes. Here are a couple of graphs breaking it all down. The kicker? What’s called 200cc is really 415cc, relatively speaking.

What makes this so funny, though, is that players have intuited that something was off since the release of the original Mario Kart 8 for Wii U, in 2014. For a decade now, the internet has been full of discussions where fans call 200cc “ridiculous” and “too fast,” only to be met with responses telling them to get good at the game. Some people might commiserate, but it’s also typical to see dismissive replies that tell complainers “you need to get used to it.”

Left with no other choice but to endure it, players will also typically share strategies for surviving 200cc. The most common suggestion? Learn to love braking, maybe even learn how to “brake drift,” which refers to the practice of slowing down slightly before boosting yourself. This way, players can manage corners more easily than they might at full speed. Fans also encourage one another to pick up lighter characters, which handle with more ease.

So far, it’s unclear if follow-up Mario Kart World will include 200cc, or whether or not the mode will accurately represent the speed that the game is supposed to run at. For now, players are mostly celebrating that the woes of Mario Kart 8’s 200cc wasn’t just in their heads.

“This is very vindicating,” reads the top reply to Supper Mario Broth’s X post. “Aaaaaah I knew it!!!” another exclaims.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Close