The Heist: Risky Business

Welcome to The Metadata, the only NFT newsletter that you’ll ever need.

Today we cover:

• The Heist, an idle on-chain game on Solana that’s consistently at the top of the volume charts. Is it worth playing?

• Memeland’s tokenomics are revealed: some back-of-napkin math

• Earn an avatar by playing Parallel Beta

Market Update

Keeping this short today since not much is going on in the markets. BTC and ETH are looking weak, having fully corrected back down from the huge pump after the Grayscale news.

The reality that we’re still in a bear market is trickling down across all sectors, including NFTs. Time to touch some grass.

Notable Collections:

• Bored Ape Yacht Club (26.8 ETH, +5% from last week)

• Mutant Ape Yacht Club (5.2 ETH, unchanged)

• DeGods (4.4 ETH, +6%)

• Azuki (4.2 ETH, -2%)

• Pudgy Penguins (4 ETH, unchanged)

The Heist: A Risky Business

As we continue our trek through the Solana ecosystem, we’ve stumbled upon a project that’s been quietly making waves: "The Heist." It's a topic that’s hitting high volume but hasn’t been the talk of the town—yet.

"The Heist" is an idle game on the Solana blockchain that blends risk and strategy into a unique user experience. Imagine a game with three kinds of primate NFTs—Chimps, Orangutans, and Gorillas—where the stakes are real. The main game loop? Send your primate characters on heists to earn $COCO tokens.

Heistonomics 101

There are four categories of heists, each with varying risk-to-reward ratios. Every hour, each heist type dispenses 667,000 $COCO tokens, distributed among all the NFTs participating in that heist.

Higher-risk heists offer the tantalizing prospect of reward multipliers—think 20X, 10X, or 5X. But be warned: the stakes are high, and the penalties can be severe, from losing valuable items to seeing your NFT getting a one-way ticket to 'jail.' Or even losing your NFT (rare though, 1 in 100,000 chance)

Each NFT comes with four stats that can be improved using $COCO. This isn’t just window dressing; upgrading stats impacts your game significantly, increasing token generation or the likelihood of good fortune. So, choosing between upgrading your characters or buying items becomes a strategic decision point in the game.

We decided to put some skin in the game. We bought an Orangutan for 18 SOL and sent it on a heist at the Currency Exchange. In 10 hours of robbery shenanigans, we earned 2400 $COCO (got lucky on a 2X multiplier when claiming). That’s worth….$1. Enough to buy some candy.

Some back-of-napkin math from talking with community members:

• Gorillas cost ~100 SOL ($2000) while Chimps and Orangutans are priced around 20 SOL ($400). You need at least 1 NFT to start playing

• Gorillas can earn on average 5K - 10K $COCO a day ($2 - $5)

• Chimps and Orangutans can earn on average 1K - 5K $COCO a day, depending on luck and stats ($0.40 - $2). That’s about 200 - 300% APRs when annualized

What’s the value of $COCO? Well, it can be used to upgrade your characters and buy items in the game. Better items and higher stats for your characters mean higher rewards during “heists”. Alternatively, you can sell your $COCO on the open market.

⚔️ PvP: May the Best Thief Win

The game is currently in Season 2, which introduces several new locations and token sinks.

The game might seem straightforward—buy an NFT, send it on a heist, and earn rewards—but the layers of strategy here go deeper. Do you invest your $COCO in stats or items? Which heist will maximize your earnings? Plus, there's the dopamine hit from multiple lootbox-type components; hitting a 20X multiplier or finding a rare item keeps the excitement rolling.

On-chain games are interesting because there’s a clear financial incentive: People who play the game well can make actual money. 

BUT let’s be clear: The survival of the game depends on the team introducing new game loops to draw in new players while carefully balancing the token emissions vs. token sinks. It could die off in a few weeks, or last for months: Who knows?

This game pits you against others in the grand arena of strategy and luck. You can milk this digital cash cow while it lasts but always remember: it’s a chimp-eat-chimp (PvP) world.

Our Favourite Tweets

🐥 Memeland’s airdrop is coming soon. Some back of the napkin math: $200/Captainz?

🐥 Stream your payroll and get a payday loan using NFTs

🐥 Timelines for Parallel Beta

🐥 Earn your Parallel avatar by playing. Rarest one is up for grabs

🐥 Cliff notes on XAI games, a new chain for games

🐥 Farcaster is still small but has exponential growth

🐥 SuperRare’s curation protocol is live

🐥 Capsule heroes… a game by Loopify.

🐥 Gamers are willing to jump through hoops if the game is good.

🐥 ZTX onboarded 200,000 players onto Arbitrum in 1 day

New Projects & Upcoming Mints

🍿 Holograph x Layer Zero’s public mint is live on 7 networks and open for 7 days. Possible airdrop?

🍿 Seedworld, a “user-generated content platform that provides the tools for anyone to become a game builder” launches its PFP mint. The secondary market price on OpenSea now is hovering around mint price (0.04 ETH).

That's it for today folks. If you want more, follow us on Twitter (@the_metadata). If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can subscribe with just one-click:

Disclaimer: This newsletter is for educational purposes only. None of this is financial or investment advice. It is not a solicitation to buy or sell any assets. Minting and buying NFTs is risky. Please do your own research.