Blockchain Gaming Tokens Set To Rise: Crypto Marketplace Founder

• Despite the bear market, billions are still being poured into blockchain gaming tokens.
• Investors such as Animoca Brands and Andreeson-Horowitz are investing heavily in crypto games.
• Hatu Sheikh, founder of DAO Maker, is particularly excited about 2 game projects right now.

Blockchain gaming has quickly become one of the hottest sectors in crypto.

Despite 2022’s crypto bear market, investors have poured $4.9 billion into blockchain gaming and adjacent industries – such as gaming metaverses and gaming guilds – this year alone.

A recent report by DappRadar noted that cryptogaming popularity increased by over 2,000% – as defined by blockchain activity – from Q1 2021 through Q1 2022. The same report pointed out that 52% of all blockchain activity in Q1 came from blockchain gaming .

Insider recently spoke with crypto veteran Hatu Sheikh, the co-founder of DAO Maker, who shared two blockchain gaming projects that he finds particularly compelling in the growing space.

Blockchain games can bring big returns

Gaming and crypto have long been intertwined, and they are only becoming more closely linked thanks to the emergence of the metaverse.

The metaverse refers to a more physical version of the internet. It is an online space where people can interact using virtual avatars, own plots of digital land, and buy and sell goods using native virtual currencies.

In the past year, retail investors’ attention has turned to the metaverse, and many blockchain gaming companies have begun developing their own versions of the metaverse. All of the biggest blockchain gaming metaverses – such as Axie Infinity, Decentraland and The Sandbox – use their own cryptocurrencies to allow players to purchase land and digital goods in-game, and as the valuations of these companies rose, so did the prices of their cryptocurrencies in the universe

For example, during the crypto bull run of 2021, the price of the original token for Axie Infinity, AXS, rose over 17,772%, while other prominent gaming tokens such as The Sandbox’s SAND rose 15,505%, and Decentraland’s MANA rose 4,115%.

It’s worth noting that during the last bear market in 2022, however, the prices of these tokens have fallen dramatically: AXS is down over 83% year-to-date, while SAND is down nearly 80% and MANA is down 73% this year- to date.

But despite this recent contraction, funding continues to flow into the space.

Major gaming brands such as FaZe, Ubisoft and Zynga have all developed partnerships and plan to incorporate crypto into their ecosystems. And in May, the venture capital Andreeson-Horowitz established a gambling fund of 600 million dollars.

Crypto Gaming Tokens to Consider

Hatu Sheikh also believes in the future of the blockchain gaming industry.

Sheikh co-founded blockchain platform DAO Maker in 2019, and since then the company has engaged in thousands of crypto projects, helped founding teams raise millions of dollars across a variety of projects, has over 360,000 followers on Twitterand has seen its original cryptocurrency – The DAO – grow to a market cap of over $100 million.

Needless to say, Sheikh is well versed in the blockchain gaming world. In a recent email exchange with Insider, Sheikh noted that while he is optimistic about the entire blockchain gaming industry, he is particularly excited about the following projects.