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Wipes

A player character opens fire in the desert.
Game Reviews

Arc Raiders Wants To Make Progression Wipes Less Unfair

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In most extraction shooters, as well as a number of online survival games, players are all-too-familiar with the necessary evil known as a global wipe, in which everyone’s inventory and stats get reset to start all players off again on the same footing. It can sting a bit, but it helps balance out the game for newcomers, as folks who’ve been playing for years could otherwise build up a virtually limitless stockpile of goodies to maintain supremacy. Upcoming PvPvE extraction shooter Arc Raiders, however, has some different ideas on how to implement this in a way that won’t cost everyone their precious, hard-won loot.

In particular, the developers are trying to solve one of the biggest problems with mandatory wipes: It’s really unfair to those who only have limited windows of opportunity to play the game. It sucks when you log a few hours in one week, get tied up with life stuff for the remainder of a month, then come back to find out even the meager earnings you scored during that first week are now gone due to the wipe. Arc Raiders developer Embark is aiming to solve that.

In a blog post titled “Expedition Project,” Arc Raiders’ design director Virgil said that the studio “absolutely [sees] the benefits a global wipe provides [but] one thing a mandatory wipe does not do is respect the investment of those players who do not have as much time to play overall.”

Enter “Projects,” a feature that unlocks after level 20 with a scheduled eight-week window to complete, after which you’ll unlock the ability to reset your character. Should you fail to finish your project within the eight-week window, you can hold on to all of the progress you made, including your gear. You can then continue your progress during the next eight-week period that opens up.

Read More: Arc Raiders’ 2-Year Delay Explained: Game Was Boring

Rewards for completing a Project include unique cosmetics and buffs that get activated when the next expedition rolls around. “Completing a reset,” the dev blog states, “should never give a player a power or combat advantage over anyone who has not completed a reset.” That last point is particularly important given that Arc Raiders is embracing PvP which, in an extraction context, can often result in some unfair situations anyway.

Wipes can make for a rough introduction to this genre of game, and in the end sort of ensure that the game only appeals to those who have considerably more time to play them. Hopefully Arc Raiders’ Projects will solve that dilemma.



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Solmate launches with $300m to establish Solana treasury in UAE
NFT Gaming

Solana wipes out billions, key catalysts hint at rebound

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Solana crashed to a vital support level last week as sentiment in the crypto worsened and liquidations jumped.

Summary

  • Solana has wiped out billions in value this month, with over $400 million in bullish positions liquidated as investors pull back.
  • Still, inflows into the new REX-Osprey SOL + Staking ETF and the upcoming Alpenglow network upgrade offer potential catalysts for a rebound, setting the stage for a possible retest of $250 if the token can hold key support levels.

SOL crashes as liquidations jump

Solana (SOL) token plummeted to a low of $192, down by 20% from its highest level this month, erasing billions of dollars in value.

CoinGlass data shows that Solana bulls suffered substantial liquidations during this crash. Most of these liquidations occurred last Monday, when they jumped to over $250 million.

Solana positions worth $82 million were liquidated on Friday, bringing the cumulative weekly figure to over $400 million. Liquidations of bullish trades are a bearish catalyst because it means that exchanges are shutting down bullish positions.

The surge in liquidations coincided with the substantial decline in the futures open interest. Data shows that the open interest dropped to $13.4 billion on Sunday, down from the monthly high of $17.1 billion. Falling open interest is a sign that investors are staying in the sidelines during this crash.

Still, Solana has some bullish catalysts that may drive it higher in the coming weeks. The first one is the recently launched REX-Osprey SOL + Staking ETF (SSK), which continues to experience inflows, a sign of robust demand. It now holds about $301 million in assets, making it one of the biggest altcoin ETFs.

In line with this, Solana will benefit when the Securities and Exchange Commission approves the multiple spot SOL ETFs that companies like Canary and Grayscale have filed. SSK’s performance is a sign that investors are still interested in the coin.

Additionally, Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade is scheduled for release in the coming months, which may enhance its performance. This upgrade will introduce new features in the network, including faster speeds and a transition from the proof-of-authority architecture to proof-of-staking.

Solana price technical analysis 

SOL price chart | Source: crypto.news

The daily timeframe chart shows that the Solana price crashed and bottomed at $191 last week. This was a significant level as it coincided with the bottom of the trading range of the Murrey Math Lines and the 38.2% Fibonacci Retracement level. 

The decline also coincided with the 100-day Exponential Moving Average. Therefore, it is likely that the SOL price will bounce back and possibly retest the psychological level at $250. Such a move would imply a 26% upside from the current level.

A drop below the ascending trendline that links the lowest swings since June will invalidate the bullish Solana price forecast.



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Crypto Gamble Wipes Out 87% of Smart Digital Group’s Market Value
NFT Gaming

Crypto Gamble Wipes Out 87% of Smart Digital Group’s Market Value

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Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

Smart Digital Group’s Nasdaq-listed shares collapsed after the company announced plans to build a cryptocurrency asset pool focused on Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The selloff wiped out a huge chunk of market value in a single day, with the stock plunging roughly 87% on heavy volume.

Company Announcement And Missing Details

According to the firm’s press release, the plan was first disclosed in a filing that said the asset pool would emphasize “stability and transparency” and concentrate on major coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The release also said more specifics — including the pool’s size and allocation — would be provided later, subject to regulatory and market conditions. Reports say that scarcity of concrete numbers left investors with little to judge.

$SDM
Smart Digital Group Announces Plan To Establish A Diversified Cryptocurrency Asset Pool

Smart Digital Group plans to establish a diversified cryptocurrency asset pool, focusing primarily on established digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The initiative aims to…

— stock setter (@MarcJacksonLA) September 26, 2025

Market Reaction And Price Moves

On the day of the announcement, Smart Digital Group’s share price fell from levels near the prior close to intraday lows reported at about $1.63 to $1.88.

The fall represented an 86–88% move in some reports, with many outlets using an 87% figure to sum up the drop.

The company had been a hot name earlier this year — one report shows a market cap around $364 million and a run that included a 123% jump over the prior six months — but Friday’s session erased most of that gain.

Total crypto market cap currently at $3.73 trillion. Chart: TradingView

Trading desk sources and market coverage point to two big drivers: panic selling by retail holders and sharp re-pricing by short sellers.

Price swings were extreme. Many investors said they had expected clearer rules about how corporate cash or balance-sheet assets would be used, and they did not get it.

Regulatory And Analyst Concerns

Based on reports, regulators have been watching trades tied to companies that announce crypto-treasury moves, and in this case the SEC and FINRA interest was mentioned in several stories.

Analysts and commentators said the lack of disclosure was a red flag, noting that companies that have publicly moved into crypto in the past sometimes saw gains — but only when management spelled out the guardrails and the source of funds.

Some market watchers cautioned that the fall may include an element of overshoot. When confidence evaporates fast, prices can move past what fundamentals alone would justify.

Other observers said the decision to shift part of a corporate balance sheet into volatile assets raises straightforward risks: accounting complexity, custody questions, and regulatory scrutiny.

Featured image from Financial Content, chart from TradingView

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.





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Puffpals 2
Game Reviews

$2.6 Million Cozy Game Wipes Its Websites, Ghosts Its Backers

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How could a game with a name as fluffy as PuffPals: Island Skies ever do anything wrong? How could a company called Fluffnest be anything other than the cuddliest love-bunnies on the internet? It’s too implausible to even consider. Except… Launched on Kickstarter in April 2022, PuffPals: Island Skies promised to bring the experience of a game like Animal Crossing to the PC, with the very modest goal of just $75,000. But people were excited, the project got a lot of buzz, and in the end it raised an incredible $2.6 million (kinda). Today, the website for the game is gone, backer refunds are being ignored, and multiple lawsuits against the company behind the project have been lodged.

Two people, David Pentland and artist usLily, started Fluffnest—also via Kickstarter—in 2020. As superbly documented by Mujin on YouTube (thanks PCG) it became an instant success, created gorgeous plushies that developed a large fanbase, with hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, and a drop-based store that meant each plush was only available for a limited time. In 2022, the pair began the project to create a game set in the world of their plushies, an Animal Crossing-like cozy game with all the fishing, farming and friendship that cozy gamers crave.

That $75,000 figure may seem like a warning sign from the start. It’s not enough to develop the loading screens, let alone a game. But over the years, that’s kinda how Kickstarter’s become. Projects don’t receive any funds at all if their target isn’t met, so if you put your actual forecast costs, say $5 million, you’ll almost definitely not raise and it not get a penny. So developer’s come in very low, ensuring that they get something, with stretch goals in place to encourage more pledges that could actually deliver the game. And that’s obviously a disastrous model, meaning games that need $5m might raise $100,000 and keep, and then clearly can’t deliver, resulting in abandoned projects and furious backers. It happens all the time.

But in the case of PuffPals, it seemed to work. $75,000 became $2.56 million, more than double their top stretch goal figure. As Mujin reveals, however, a lot of that figure was extremely fudged: You could back the project for $20 to get the game on release, but afterward there were “add-ons,” where you could pay another $40 or so to get a plush toy too, and those plushies were ones that had sold out and were highly sought after by collectors. The money still counted toward the Kickstarter total, but a significant portion of it was going toward the toy and its shipping. Which is to say, that $2.6m figure was by far not what they had to spend on the game.

The project then began to follow the failing Kickstarter playbook to the letter. Updates started to slow down, promises would be forgotten or explained away, and wild excuses would be given for why communication had been bad, all always accompanied by new promises that all these things would improve. You’ll always get the six month silence, followed by the “Sorry we’ve been so quiet, we’ve been working so hard!” update accompanied by scant few gifs and a bunch of concept art to “prove” it. And then, of course, a promised alpha build will get delayed and delayed, each missed milestone accompanied by an excuse that contradicts the last. Next you get the heartfelt apologies and promises to improve communication, along with a boast that the build is just moments away, before another stretch of silence ending in claims that the build, due years before, is “on track.” It’s all so painfully common.

© Kickstarter / Kotaku

But the PuffPals debacle took it all to a new level, by seemingly not only messing their Kickstarter backers around, but customers of their main business too. During the waits, Reddit sleuths spotted that PuffPals trademarks had expired a year ago, and that the game was seemingly being entirely created by outsourcing company Room 8, while the plushies side of the business started having its own major troubles, customers not receiving shipments, claiming they had been overcharged, and delivery prices being almost tripled. It then became apparent the company was being sued for failure to pay back business loans.

Then things got even worse. Fluffnest was going out of business. Blaming rising shipping costs, the company declared it was coming to an end. And yet even here, in this statement, it said, “Island Skies production is secured and will not be affected.” Which, given it hadn’t given any substantial proof of life in years, and it had already been revealed that the entire game was being created by outsourced companies, was quite the claim.

The last update to appear on PuffPals appeared May 21 this year, which was an extraordinary screed of excuses and blame laid at the feet of the company they’d paid (and then not paid) to develop the game. And, of course, every word of it contradicts the promises made in previous posts, even as recently as a month earlier.

Today, the game’s pre-order page is an Expired Domains landing page, the Kickstarter has been abandoned for four months, and people who worked on the game have reported going unpaid. And obviously no one is getting refunds—but it’s important to remember that Kickstarter backing doesn’t guarantee a delivered project, so that’s always murky ground.

Various lawsuits reported by Mujin show judgments being made against Fluffnest, ordering the company to repay owed money totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, the company hired to actually make the game, Room 8, is now suing Fluffnest and David Pentland for $1.9 million.

While the various litigations drag through the courts, it’s impossible to know how a super-cute cozy game became such a multi-million dollar disaster. Was this begun in good faith, before collapsing around their ears? Was it a deliberate scam? Was Alpha 2 ever actually a thing that existed? We don’t know, and given court dates stretch as far away as summer 2027, we likely won’t know for a very long time. Either way, it’s astonishingly unlikely anyone will get any of their money back, whether a backer or a developer hired on the project, or even a bank providing one of the many loans. Meanwhile, people will just have to play one of the other 72,482 cozy village life games on PC instead.



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Bitcoin price data. Image: Tradingview
Crypto Trends

Crypto Market Wipes Out September Gains as Bitcoin Barely Hangs On: Analysis

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In brief

  • The crypto market is now deep in the red for September, shedding close to 5% in total value in 24 hours.
  • Bitcoin is holding onto a slim 1% gain for the month, staying in the green for now.
  • Technical indicators suggest market exhaustion, but prediction markets remain somewhat optimistic.

Brace yourselves, the Red September curse is upon us.

The crypto market has officially entered negative territory for September, despite Bitcoin holding on to a slight gain, after a brutal week that erased $162 billion from crypto valuations. The wipeout canceled out the gains generated from the bullish two-week start to the month, back when Bitcoin briefly notched its second-best September performance in 13 years.

Crypto market cap data. Image: Tradingview

The seasonal curse, though, doesn’t seem to be affecting traditional markets, despite September also being historically the worst month of the year for Wall Street. The S&P 500 gained 0.64% over the past 24 hours while gold retreated 1.2% from recent highs near $2,670 per ounce showing investors still want risk instead of hedge.

That risk appetite, however, does not appear to currently extend to crypto—outside of a few, recent overperformers, such as the still only-a-week-old Aster.

The crypto market’s longstanding correlation with broader risk assets is today offering little relief, with Bitcoin unable to hold the line at the crucial $111,000 support mark and Ethereum breaking below $4,000, triggering cascading liquidations across digital assets.



The crypto market as a whole has dropped 4.7% so far today, falling to $3.73 trillion and extending a seven-day decline that has revived talk of September’s notorious weakness for digital assets.

Bitcoin’s remaining 1% gain for the month, trading now at just above $109,000, represents the sole barrier preventing the entire crypto market from posting even bigger monthly losses—a precarious position given the asset’s 67% market dominance means minor selling pressure could flip the narrative completely red.

Bitcoin price data. Image: Tradingview

Red September: The fundamentals behind the curse

September has historically delivered negative returns for crypto markets in eight of the past 11 years, a phenomenon traders attribute to institutional portfolio rebalancing after summer holidays and fiscal year-end adjustments.

This year’s pattern seems to be following the script: Despite early buyings pushing the total market cap above $4 trillion with trading volumes surging 27% in the opening days of September, profit-taking mid-month could end up pushing performance to a monthly net loss.

The mechanics of the current selloff reveal how leverage amplified the damage. When Ethereum dropped 9% below the psychologically important $4,000 level—its first breach since August—it triggered $500 million in long liquidations on that asset alone. The contagion spread immediately to smaller tokens more prone to volatility.

The Altcoin Season Index, which measures capital rotation between Bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrencies, fell sharply over the week from 77 to 69 points as investors retreated to the perceived safety of the largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. In other words, traders are getting rid of their tokens, some of them rotating into Bitcoin, as the nervousness intensifies.

Alctoin Season Index. Image: Coinmarketcap

For what it’s worth, the way the Alcoin Season Index is structured, it does not matter whether traders are swapping altcoins for Bitcoin or exiting the market completely: Bitcoin dominance increases in either scenario.

What’s more, regulatory headwinds are compounding the observable technical weakness in the charts. The Senate’s October 1 crypto tax hearing and SEC/CFTC joint roundtable on September 29 create event risk that could catalyze selling if outcomes disappoint. Historical data shows crypto markets typically decline 3-5% in the 48 hours preceding major regulatory announcements as traders reduce exposure.

Can Bitcoin save crypto from Red September?

At the moment, the charts say Bitcoin is holding the life saver, but it’s losing its strength.

Users on Myriad, a prediction market operated by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, believe there’s a nearly 60% chance today will be another red day for BTC, meaning the price of Bitcoin will close the day lower than when it started.

On the plus side, Myriad prediction market users place the odds at 68% that Bitcoin manages to stay above $105K throughout the September. But, for context, those odds have dropped rapidly in just the last few hours, falling from 84% early this morning.

Looking ahead to “Uptober”—with October being historically the best month for crypto markets—Myriad users currently favor the price of Bitcoin reaching $120K, but only by a slight margin over the $110K to $11K range. So, perhaps a green month ahead—just not that green.

Do the charts agree with predictors?

Bitcoin’s technical structure suggests the largest cryptocurrency by market cap may struggle to prevent the broader market from slipping into September losses, despite currently trading above $109,000 and within an ascending trend that has been in place since March.

Bitcoin price data. Image: Tradingview

While Bitcoin maintains a golden cross formation—where the 50-day moving average sits above the 200-day line, typically a bullish configuration—momentum indicators tell a different story. The Squeeze Momentum indicator has flipped to a bearish impulse, marking a shift in short-term direction that often precedes deeper corrections.

The Average Directional Index, or ADX, reads just 17, well below the 25 threshold that signals a strong trend in either direction. This weak trend strength means Bitcoin lacks the momentum to push decisively higher or lower, leaving it vulnerable to external shocks.

The Relative Strength Index—basically a thermometer of how hyped an asset is—sits at 42, having declined from overbought conditions above 70 just weeks ago. This rapid deterioration in momentum while price remains elevated often marks distribution phases where larger holders sell into residual buying interest.

Bitcoin’s ascending channel, while appearing bullish at first glance, actually constrains upside potential. The coin has been bouncing at a very solid support line, showing that bulls refuse to die when prices dip too much. However, the top doesn’t match the bottom, and prices are showing a “lower highs, higher lows,” pattern that usually ends in compression before an explosive movement in the near future.

Bitcoin’s inability to reclaim $115,000 after three attempts this month has created a descending triangle on shorter timeframes, a pattern that resolves lower 67% of the time, according to technical analysis textbooks. The measured move target from this formation points to $108,000, which would represent a 5% decline sufficient to push the entire crypto market into negative territory for September.

The good news for bulls? September will be over in five more days. The bad news? Uptober is no guarantee either.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.

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