Doreen Wang
DeFi Game Aavegotchi Preps for Jan. 4 Mainnet Launch With NFT Auctions
A retro, Tamagotchi-inspired game that came to life at the end of DeFi Summer is launching in full on Jan. 4.
WE RECOMMEND THE VIDEO: Top 3 Altcoin 'Hidden Gems' To Watch in November 2020 | Best Cryptocurrency Investments | Low Cap
As bitcoin's price climbs higher, what is the best cryptocurrency investment to buy in november 2020? Which altcoins are hidden gems as we head into 2021?
Initially funded by an ecosystem grant from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Aave, Aavegotchi aims to “make DeFi fun.”
In November, Aave officially announced its investment in Pixelcraft Studios, the Singapore-based company building Aavegotchi. And now the non-fungible token (NFT) game is hosting a series of raffles to reward early adopters ahead of its mainnet launch next month.
Subscribe to Blockchain Bites, our daily update with the latest stories.
But what do these pixelated little ghosts do?
In short, each Aavegotchi is a playable avatar that represents DeFi collateral that is earning yield on Aave. That said, you can also battle the spooky little critters, level them up and equip them with wearables that change traits. As for the ghost theme, that’s because “aave” means ghost in Finnish.
Since an Aavegotchi represents locked assets, its owner can liquidate the underlying stake at any time. But in doing so the Aavegotchi will disappear. So it’s a test to see what happens to playability when characters have real value beyond their gaming value.
Do you keep the NFT? Or would you rather have the crypto assets it represents?
Summoning Aavegotchi with aTokens
Users can summon an Aavegotchi by staking specific aTokens into their desired gotchi. aTokens (for example, aUSDC, aLINK, etc.) are interest-bearing tokens pegged 1:1 to the value of the underlying crypto asset that is deposited in the Aave protocol.
“We wanted to build a game around aTokens because of how intuitive their benefits are,” explained Coder Dan, Aavegotchi’s pseudonymous co-founder and CEO. “For instance, if you hold 1,000 aUSDC in your wallet now, you will likely find a higher balance in your wallet next time you look. That’s because the interest accrues natively in your wallet, in real time.”
There are two ways to acquire aTokens. Users can visit Aave and deposit tokens as collateral into the Aave protocol or they can swap other Ethereum-based assets for aTokens on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap.
Non-whales welcome
The team behind Aavegotchi is building the game with Aave’s DeFi platform at its heart but it’s also incorporating the latest Chainlink oracles to create a fully on-chain experience – especially with provably random distributions.
On Tuesday, Aavegotchi rolled out its second of three NFT raffles using Chainlink’s random number generator to “level the playing field” for smaller investors. (In other gamified DeFi experiments, large holders tend to win.)
“We love whales, we want whales,” Aavegotchi founder Jesse Johnson told CoinDesk in a call, referring to those holding large numbers of tokens. “But at the same time, it’s nice for normal, retail-type people to play the game by holding GHST tokens in smaller amounts. And also have the chance to win high-end items.”
This raffle, which ended today, featured superhero-themed wearables for mainnet Aavegotchi to become “Aavevengers.”
“Everything we’ve done at this point is not the actual game, but all things leading up to it,” Johnson explained. “You’re not winning wearables, but vouchers to claim wearables once the game launches.”
Just like tickets, the Vouchers can be traded on OpenSea or other NFT marketplaces. Johnson said these raffles are really just a stress test and community-building exercise.
Mainnet launching on Aave V2
The Aavegotchis were set to arrive around the end of 2020 via the first “Haunt” but that date was pushed back so the game could be “Aave V2–made from day one,” Johnson said.
Version 2 of the protocol launched last week.
Thursday, 14 January 2021