TL;DR

• Follow the Hustle and the Nexus Twitter accounts for the latest news.

• Web3 gaming news: SWORLD token launch, FCHAIN, Big Blockchain Game Report, Party Icons $9M round, XPSR-24, Prospect Sports x Abstract CHain, Sakuuru Protocol x Memecore $10M fund, Sparkball raises $2M, and more.

• Macro news: Political crypto donations, Stripe acquires Bridge, Avalanche VISA card, yield on US Treasury Bonds, and more.

🎮 Web3 Gaming and Tech

• Seedworld’s SWORLD token launch was a success, crossing a market cap of $100M

  • Notably, the token launched with a 100% supply unlock and on DEXes only (like XBORG)

  • The token is now trading at a ~$86M market cap (and FDV)

• FCHAIN is a new Avalanche L1 created by Faraway

  • Faraway’s gaming ecosystem has seen quite some growth over the past year and now has over 9 titles

• The Big Blockchain Game List published a game report for Q3 ‘24

  • Unfortunately, the sector continued to decline in this quarter, although at a slower rate than in Q2

• Party Icons announced they raised $9M in a round led by BITKRAFT

  • It’s a party royale title with 3 different game modes

  • In the announcement, it’s mentioned the PARTY token will launch in 2025

• Confiction Labs, the makers of Riftstorm, are launching a 2nd collection XPSR-24

  • The first collection, FICT ZERO, introduced an innovative mechanic: buyers paid 1 ETH for the NFT, which was refunded upon max staking.

• Prospect Sports is a the next game joining the Abstract chain

  • A mobile fantasy sports and sports gaming platform

• Saakuuru Protocol and Memecore announce a $10M fund

  • The capital will be used to acquire game titles and meme communities to grow their ecosystems

  • The fund’s focus will be on the crossroads of memes and games

• SHADOW WAR announced plans to launch their game on PlayStation, and Moonray shared similar news about their own game this week.

• Sparkball announced they raised $2M in a round led by L1D

  • Recently, the game also announced they will launch on the Monad chain

• MegaWeapon (MW) announced CEDEN Network acquired them

  • MW is a multiplayer action title for browser and mobile

  • Back in December CEDEN co-acquired the Raini game studio as well

• Chronosworlds is bringing their game to mobile

• Metalcore is migrating from Immutable to Solana

  • As one of the games that has been tied so closely to Immutable, the news seems rather confusing

🚀 Nexus V1 Alpha Launch

Welcome to edition #50 of the Nexus Power Up Newsletter. This means we’re approaching a full year with 52 editions.

Note: this edition was meant to go out last Friday, but we had some technical difficulties.

You can now try the free features (game database, crypto market overview, and token and NFT charts) of the platform for free, without having to log in 👇

You can also get access through:

• Getting a Nexus Pass NFT now for exclusive lifetime access

Don't miss out—follow our journey on Hustle's Twitter, YouTube channels, and Nexus Twitter.

📈Macro Cryptocurrency News

• According to recent data, the crypto industry has so far given over $190 million in political donations in the 2024 U.S. election cycle–major political donations have included contributions from Coinbase, Ripple, and Gemini executives.

  • Chris Larsen, co-founder and chairman of Ripple, contributed nearly $9.9 million to the Harris campaign. The total number is in stark contrast to the 2020 election when crypto made up only $15 million in donations. 

• Fintech giant Stripe has acquired Bridge, a leading stablecoin platform, for a reported $1.1 billion.

  • This marks Stripe's largest acquisition to date. This acquisition aligns with Stripe's ongoing efforts to expand its offerings and solidify its position as a dominant player in the fintech space.

• The Avalanche Foundation has unveiled a new Visa cryptocurrency card that allows users to spend their digital assets. 

  • The card supports various stablecoins and cryptocurrencies, including USDC, WAVAX, and sAVAX. This launch marks a significant step forward in bridging the gap between traditional finance and Web3. 

• The SEC has approved the listing and trading of options on several spot bitcoin ETFs on the NYSE American and Cboe exchanges.

  • This includes funds from Fidelity, ARK21Shares, Invesco, Franklin, VanEck, WisdomTree, Grayscale, Bitwise, iShares, and Valkyrie. This approval marks a significant step towards increased accessibility and investment opportunities in the crypto market.

• The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond has continued to increase, reaching its highest level since the end of July.

  • This rise follows recent comments from Federal Reserve officials regarding the potential trajectory of interest rate cuts. The 2-year Treasury yield has also climbed, indicating growing investor expectations for higher interest rates.

🌟Token Spotlight by Hustle

• Coin of the Week: APE

• Market Cap: ~$840M

• What is Apecoin? Apecoin finally launched its long-awaited Apechain this week, along with an incentive program. Most of the interest (and so the gain of the token) was driven by memecoins. The question is whether this interest can be sustained, which isn’t always the case, simply look at TRON.

• Delve into Hustle's market wisdom with his “Daily Watchlist” and deep-dive analysis available on the TTOO Discord server and through his “In the Game" show. 

✍️ NFT of The Week

• Pick of the Week: PARTYICONS OGX OFFICIAL

• Why PARTY ICONS?

  • Raised $20M in total

  • Unique game concept (3 genres in 1)

  • Leveraging Web3 to unlock net-new core gameplay

  • Platform play

  • More info on the thesis (by an investor from BITKRAFT)

• Utility

  • Airdrops

  • Staking for PARTY (coming soon)

  • Access to the GOD-mode game

    • When you have access to this game mode, you’ll be able to bet/speculate on other players

• Catalysts

  • PARTY staking coming soon + token in 2025

  • The game is releasing soon and in its final stage of development, which could spark a bunch of new interest

• Counterpoints

  • This mid-supply collection of 5,000 pieces has been steadily climbing since June, starting at 0.05 ETH. With no major corrections during that time, you're likely buying at a premium now.

Nexus Tweets

See you next week!