Gods Unchained Single-Handedly Crowns ERC721s Ethereum Kings

Hello defiers! Here’s what’s going on in Decentralized finance:

• Non-fungible tokens surpassing transactions on all token types because of Gods Unchained
• LocalEthereum adds BTC and changes name to LocalCrypto

Gods Unchained Hitting it Out of the Park

Digital cards game Gods Unchained is pushing Ethereum transactions into another level –and the network has been chugging along just fine.

The Ethereum-based game is single-handedly making non-fungible tokens surpass transactions from all other token types. Gods Unchained uses ERC721 tokens to represent its cards. The standard allows each token to have unique characteristics, unlike ERC20 tokens and ETH, which act more like shares or money and are interchangeable.

Gods Unchained has been selling its trading cards since July, with some going for as much as TK. The cards are currently being activated which means they’re being turned into tradable tokens, ahead of the launch of the game’s marketplace. This has boosted Gods Unchained token transfers to over 22k just in the last 24 hours and over 8 million in the past week, as users anticipate they’ll be able to start trading their cards soon. CryptoKitties comes in at a far second among the most active non-fungible tokens, with +17k in the past week and +3k in the past 24 hours, according to Etherscan.

Image source: Gods Unchained

All this activity pushed total ERC721 transfers to a daily record of over 3.7 million on Nov. 17, four times more than the previous all-time high of 846k just two weeks ago, according to CoinMetrics. That beats ERC20 daily transfers by a lot, as they’re now hovering at around 500k.

Image source: CoinMetrics

Impact on Ethereum

Meanwhile, Ethereum continues to operate normally with network utilization at 81 percent, about 10ppts lower than one month ago, while transaction fees have remained stable, according to Etherscan. This is important to point out after the experience with CryptoKitties, which slowed down the Ethereum network with far fewer transactions. The digital cats, which are also ERC721 tokens, have had 4.7 million transfers total, fewer than what Gods Unchained have done in one week. Gods Unchained has been able to avoid this by batching hundreds of transfers in single transactions.

This signals at this stage, with the technologies available, Ethereum can withstand a blockbuster application. Don’t forget that it’s also supporting all of DeFi and ether trading.

Non-Fungible Tokens’ Potential

Gods Unchained growth has been so explosive in part thanks to the shortcomings of non-blockchain games. Its users surged when Blizzard Entertainment banned HearthStone players who supported Hong Kong protests. In a brilliant move, Gods Unchained called out Blizzard on the move and invited the banned players over.

The difference between the two models is that while, Blizzard owns the games it produces and also the assets inside the games, such as cards and weapons, Gods Unchained users own in-game assets, which can be traded in open markets just like any digital token. Because users are just Ethereum addresses, it’s hard for companies to censor or ban them, and the game’s code can be forked if players’ disagree with decisions management is taking.

The gaming industry moves $100 billion per year. Blockchain-based platforms are bound to take a slice of that. We’re moving towards a model where all assets will be transacted seamlessly and freely across the world. That will include collectible cards –especially those with names like “Amazon Hearteater ;)

The fact that these gaming assets will be traded just like cryptocurrencies blurs the line between gaming and finance. Because of the open source nature of many blockchain projects, developers will be able to take these cards and build things like Amazon Hearteater futures, or use them as collateral for loans. We can’t know what these markets will look like, but it will be exciting... and also kind of weird.

LocalEthereum Adds bitcoin

LocalEthereum is now LocalCrypto. The peer-to-peer trading platform, which started out as a fiat-to-crypto on ramp for ETH, is now adding BTC.

LocalCryptos, serves more than 100,000 users worldwide, is non-custodial and has end-to-end encrypted messages. The name change also suggests Bitcoin may be just the start.

RealT listed the first property-backed token on decentralized exchange Uniswap. Buyers of these tokens own a fraction of the home (an actual house in Detroit), and receive income from its rent. Now the treat: RealT is offering The Defiant subscribers 2x rental income for 2 months! Annual return on these homes is in the double-digits right now. Click on this link http://realt.co/ref/defiant to find out more.