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Dear game developers: Blockchain is not pure evil

Blockchain-based play-to-earn games stole the show in 2021, but there are still game developers who are not on board with blockchain.
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Blockchain-based play-to-earn games stole the show in 2021, but there are still game developers who are not on board with blockchain.

Blockchain-based play-to-earn (P2E) games stole the show in 2021, exploding from a fringe hobby into a major part of the decentralized space. They even helped people in developing economies put food on the table, as these games’ economic models do not shun things like farming in-game currency and items to re-sell to other players, which many non-blockchain massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) frown on, to say the least. 

The mainstream gaming industry was taking notes as the P2E rocketship shot for the moon — and its flight has left the industry bitterly splintered. On the one hand, top executives from leading games companies, such as Ubisoft and Square Enix, set their sights on the new market, seeing new business models, new revenue streams, new monetization opportunities — and telling investors that they’re in on what the cool kids are doing can always score a few bonus points.

Related: Play-to-earn games are ushering in the next generation of platforms

On the other hand, though, gamers themselves were less impressed, lashing out against blockchain initiatives even from beloved developers. Developers aren’t rushing to embrace the novel tech, it seems: About 70% of game developers have no appetite for blockchain or crypto, a major recent poll showed. This also means that 30% are interested to various degrees, but the overall sentiment is negative.

Interestningly, the survey included some of the concerns that developers had about developing games on the blockchain. These mostly amounted to all the regular criticisms the crypto community has long grown used to — the environmental impact, scams and monetization concerns. Well, let’s get things straight once again, this time focusing especially on the gaming world.

No, blockchain doesn’t have to set Earth on fire

Blockchain’s environmental impact is the lowest-hanging fruit for a critic to go after but, at this point, this probably has more to do with the perception of the industry than its actual state of affairs. Yes, it is true that Ethereum, the second-largest blockchain by market cap, has a high carbon footprint due to its use of the proof-of-work consensus mechanism — but nothing compels you to develop on Ethereum in the first place.

Related: How blockchain technology is transforming climate action

It’s no secret that sustainability is one of the major fronts in the DeFi battle for Ethereum’s throne. Multiple other blockchains, from Cardano and Avalanche to WAX and BNB Chain, flaunt their low energy consumption to attract more eco-friendly dev teams. Blockchain gaming is no different, and the vast majority of game developers build their projects on eco-friendly chains.

Granted, the main reason for building on Ethereum is the fact that you enter a developed ecosystem worth almost $310 billion, which is more promising for your bottom line than moving into one with a lower market cap. That being said, cool projects bring more people and transactions into any blockchain network, which drives up its token price and market cap. Furthermore, as dozens of chains support the Ethereum Virtual Machine, which is the runtime environment for smart contracts, developers will have an easy time migrating their apps back to Ethereum once the network fully moves to proof-of-stake.

Moreover, developers can take one step further and build sustainability into their economy by design. They can hard-code royalty payments to carbon offset providers into their NFTs and tokens, committing themselves to eco-friendliness in the firmest way possible. Energy and finance are already shopping hard for carbon credits, after all, so it could make sense to adopt a similar strategy as part of a larger quest for eco-friendly decentralization. Sure, this would carve into the studio’s earnings, but sustainability is worth it.

No, blockchain isn’t all about scams

Crypto does have a scam problem — that is undoubtedly true. Over the past year, scammers, fraudsters and hackers were able to make off with $14 billion worth of cryptocurrency. Crypto scams come in all shapes and sizes, including rug pulls, social engineering, and pump-and-dumps. Everyone entering the space should be aware of the possible risks, that’s for sure.

Related: Beware of sophisticated scams and rug pulls, as thugs target crypto users

That said, though, the mainstream gaming industry has a scam problem too, and it actually spiked in 2021, as Lloyds Bank found. COVID-19 brought more people and money into gaming, and scammers go wherever money flows, using all of the tried and tested techniques, from phishing to malicious third-party sites claiming to offer free in-game currencies. At the same time, the survey revealed, only 8% of gamers had seen tips on how to spot fraudsters.

In both industries, there are also cases of questionable behavior on the developer side. From crowd-funded projects sitting for years without updates to early releases sold on Steam without ever seeing further development, the mainstream stage is not without its scammers. On the crypto side of things, there are, similarly, developers disappearing with the money raised through token sales and other scams.

All in all, fraud can happen in any space incorporating anything of value, whether it’s a magical sword that helps your game character deal with those pesky dragons or, let’s say, real estate. Both for crypto and mainstream games, education must play a major role in eradicating scams. Developers working on blockchain projects should make sure to convey the ABCs of avoiding fraud to gamers at every possible opportunity.

At the same time, the crypto space offers additional safeguards against scams. When integrating with decentralized services, such as exchanges or yield farms, developers can inspect their code on-chain, as it’s available in the open. They can also use the maturity and market cap of specific protocols as a measure of their security, as both are indicative of the larger investor trust and more solid protections.

No, blockchain isn’t bad for monetization

The concern about possible monetization issues seems somewhat misplaced at first glance. Blockchain was designed from the get-go as a protocol for transferring value, which, if anything, is actually quite conducive to monetization efforts. A P2E game naturally has to include a strong economic component that would allow both players and developers to turn in a profit.

At the same time, though, there is a problem here. Any blockchain game becomes part of the larger ecosystem. This ecosystem is inherently turbulent, volatile, and speculative, and these are risks both players and developers must be ready to weather to even get into the business. Here is one quick example: To play an NFT game, you usually have to bear the upfront cost of purchasing your NFTs. To be able to do that, you first have to buy the chain’s native token that the game sits on, which means exposure to its fluctuations that will also be there if you want to cash out by selling your NFTs later. Similarly, any fungible in-game tokens will inevitably bounce up and down in value with the overall crypto market. Or will they?

The answer, once again, depends on the choices that the developers make. The studio can opt to build the game’s economy around a stablecoin, which does not fluctuate in value over time despite whatever rollercoaster ride the crypto market is on. The reason why teams rarely do that is that they are looking for a token economy that will soar fast, which is only possible with a more dynamic coin. It also creates the risk of extra instability on top of the general crypto market movements, as an economy built this way can begin to collapse as soon as the token flips or the player base growth slows down.

Related: Cointelegraph Research report analyzes GameFi’s bumper 2021 and trends for 2022

Developers can, however, avoid this problem by getting more creative with their monetization. They can use the programmable nature of blockchain tokens to algorithmically control their price dynamics through burning and minting them based on the demand and wider market fluctuations. At the same time, they can add indirect monetization through second-market fees on NFT sales, which would effectively make for an endless revenue cycle and align their interests with those of the users. If developers release NFT content that players want, they will be able to get a cut in all of the subsequent resales, thus compensating for what they could have made by driving up their token’s price.

Like any other technology, blockchain is not inherently good or evil. It’s a protocol with its own design flaws that savvy developers can mitigate by making smart design choices. While not every game has to embrace decentralized technology, there is nothing wrong with experimenting with the value that blockchain brings to game design, and doing so in a safe and sustainable manner is first and foremost a matter of choice.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Adrian Krion is the founder of the Berlin-based blockchain gaming startup Spielworks, with a background in computer science and mathematics. Having started programming at age seven, he has been successfully bridging business and tech for more than 15 years, currently working on projects that connect the emerging DeFi ecosystem to the gaming world.

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Wendy’s teases new $3 offer for upcoming holiday

The Daylight Savings Time promotion slashes prices on breakfast.

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March 8, 2024

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Daylight Savings Time, or the practice of advancing clocks an hour in the spring to maximize natural daylight, is a controversial practice because of the way it leaves many feeling off-sync and tired on the second Sunday in March when the change is made and one has one less hour to sleep in.

Despite annual "Abolish Daylight Savings Time" think pieces and online arguments that crop up with unwavering regularity, Daylight Savings in North America begins on March 10 this year.

Related: Coca-Cola has a new soda for Diet Coke fans

Tapping into some people's very vocal dislike of Daylight Savings Time, fast-food chain Wendy's  (WEN)  is launching a daylight savings promotion that is jokingly designed to make losing an hour of sleep less painful and encourage fans to order breakfast anyway.

Wendy's has recently made a big push to expand its breakfast menu.

Image source: Wendy's.

Promotion wants you to compensate for lost sleep with cheaper breakfast

As it is also meant to drive traffic to the Wendy's app, the promotion allows anyone who makes a purchase of $3 or more through the platform to get a free hot coffee, cold coffee or Frosty Cream Cold Brew.

More Food + Dining:

Available during the Wendy's breakfast hours of 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. (which, naturally, will feel even earlier due to Daylight Savings), the deal also allows customers to buy any of its breakfast sandwiches for $3. Items like the Sausage, Egg and Cheese Biscuit, Breakfast Baconator and Maple Bacon Chicken Croissant normally range in price between $4.50 and $7.

The choice of the latter is quite wide since, in the years following the pandemic, Wendy's has made a concerted effort to expand its breakfast menu with a range of new sandwiches with egg in them and sweet items such as the French Toast Sticks. The goal was both to stand out from competitors with a wider breakfast menu and increase traffic to its stores during early-morning hours.

Wendy's deal comes after controversy over 'dynamic pricing'

But last month, the chain known for the square shape of its burger patties ignited controversy after saying that it wanted to introduce "dynamic pricing" in which the cost of many of the items on its menu will vary depending on the time of day. In an earnings call, chief executive Kirk Tanner said that electronic billboards would allow restaurants to display various deals and promotions during slower times in the early morning and late at night.

Outcry was swift and Wendy's ended up walking back its plans with words that they were "misconstrued" as an intent to surge prices during its most popular periods.

While the company issued a statement saying that any changes were meant as "discounts and value offers" during quiet periods rather than raised prices during busy ones, the reputational damage was already done since many saw the clarification as another way to obfuscate its pricing model.

"We said these menuboards would give us more flexibility to change the display of featured items," Wendy's said in its statement. "This was misconstrued in some media reports as an intent to raise prices when demand is highest at our restaurants."

The Daylight Savings Time promotion, in turn, is also a way to demonstrate the kinds of deals Wendy's wants to promote in its stores without putting up full-sized advertising or posters for what is only relevant for a few days.

Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024

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Inside The Most Ridiculous Jobs Report In Recent History: Record 1.2 Million Immigrant Jobs Added In One Month

Inside The Most Ridiculous Jobs Report In Recent History: Record 1.2 Million Immigrant Jobs Added In One Month

Last month we though that the…

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March 8, 2024

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Inside The Most Ridiculous Jobs Report In Recent History: Record 1.2 Million Immigrant Jobs Added In One Month

Last month we though that the January jobs report was the "most ridiculous in recent history" but, boy, were we wrong because this morning the Biden department of goalseeked propaganda (aka BLS) published the February jobs report, and holy crap was that something else. Even Goebbels would blush. 

What happened? Let's take a closer look.

On the surface, it was (almost) another blockbuster jobs report, certainly one which nobody expected, or rather just one bank out of 76 expected. Starting at the top, the BLS reported that in February the US unexpectedly added 275K jobs, with just one research analyst (from Dai-Ichi Research) expecting a higher number.

Some context: after last month's record 4-sigma beat, today's print was "only" 3 sigma higher than estimates. Needless to say, two multiple sigma beats in a row used to only happen in the USSR... and now in the US, apparently.

Before we go any further, a quick note on what last month we said was "the most ridiculous jobs report in recent history": it appears the BLS read our comments and decided to stop beclowing itself. It did that by slashing last month's ridiculous print by over a third, and revising what was originally reported as a massive 353K beat to just 229K,  a 124K revision, which was the biggest one-month negative revision in two years!

Of course, that does not mean that this month's jobs print won't be revised lower: it will be, and not just that month but every other month until the November election because that's the only tool left in the Biden admin's box: pretend the economic and jobs are strong, then revise them sharply lower the next month, something we pointed out first last summer and which has not failed to disappoint once.

To be fair, not every aspect of the jobs report was stellar (after all, the BLS had to give it some vague credibility). Take the unemployment rate, after flatlining between 3.4% and 3.8% for two years - and thus denying expectations from Sahm's Rule that a recession may have already started - in February the unemployment rate unexpectedly jumped to 3.9%, the highest since February 2022 (with Black unemployment spiking by 0.3% to 5.6%, an indicator which the Biden admin will quickly slam as widespread economic racism or something).

And then there were average hourly earnings, which after surging 0.6% MoM in January (since revised to 0.5%) and spooking markets that wage growth is so hot, the Fed will have no choice but to delay cuts, in February the number tumbled to just 0.1%, the lowest in two years...

... for one simple reason: last month's average wage surge had nothing to do with actual wages, and everything to do with the BLS estimate of hours worked (which is the denominator in the average wage calculation) which last month tumbled to just 34.1 (we were led to believe) the lowest since the covid pandemic...

... but has since been revised higher while the February print rose even more, to 34.3, hence why the latest average wage data was once again a product not of wages going up, but of how long Americans worked in any weekly period, in this case higher from 34.1 to 34.3, an increase which has a major impact on the average calculation.

While the above data points were examples of some latent weakness in the latest report, perhaps meant to give it a sheen of veracity, it was everything else in the report that was a problem starting with the BLS's latest choice of seasonal adjustments (after last month's wholesale revision), which have gone from merely laughable to full clownshow, as the following comparison between the monthly change in BLS and ADP payrolls shows. The trend is clear: the Biden admin numbers are now clearly rising even as the impartial ADP (which directly logs employment numbers at the company level and is far more accurate), shows an accelerating slowdown.

But it's more than just the Biden admin hanging its "success" on seasonal adjustments: when one digs deeper inside the jobs report, all sorts of ugly things emerge... such as the growing unprecedented divergence between the Establishment (payrolls) survey and much more accurate Household (actual employment) survey. To wit, while in January the BLS claims 275K payrolls were added, the Household survey found that the number of actually employed workers dropped for the third straight month (and 4 in the past 5), this time by 184K (from 161.152K to 160.968K).

This means that while the Payrolls series hits new all time highs every month since December 2020 (when according to the BLS the US had its last month of payrolls losses), the level of Employment has not budged in the past year. Worse, as shown in the chart below, such a gaping divergence has opened between the two series in the past 4 years, that the number of Employed workers would need to soar by 9 million (!) to catch up to what Payrolls claims is the employment situation.

There's more: shifting from a quantitative to a qualitative assessment, reveals just how ugly the composition of "new jobs" has been. Consider this: the BLS reports that in February 2024, the US had 132.9 million full-time jobs and 27.9 million part-time jobs. Well, that's great... until you look back one year and find that in February 2023 the US had 133.2 million full-time jobs, or more than it does one year later! And yes, all the job growth since then has been in part-time jobs, which have increased by 921K since February 2023 (from 27.020 million to 27.941 million).

Here is a summary of the labor composition in the past year: all the new jobs have been part-time jobs!

But wait there's even more, because now that the primary season is over and we enter the heart of election season and political talking points will be thrown around left and right, especially in the context of the immigration crisis created intentionally by the Biden administration which is hoping to import millions of new Democratic voters (maybe the US can hold the presidential election in Honduras or Guatemala, after all it is their citizens that will be illegally casting the key votes in November), what we find is that in February, the number of native-born workers tumbled again, sliding by a massive 560K to just 129.807 million. Add to this the December data, and we get a near-record 2.4 million plunge in native-born workers in just the past 3 months (only the covid crash was worse)!

The offset? A record 1.2 million foreign-born (read immigrants, both legal and illegal but mostly illegal) workers added in February!

Said otherwise, not only has all job creation in the past 6 years has been exclusively for foreign-born workers...

Source: St Louis Fed FRED Native Born and Foreign Born

... but there has been zero job-creation for native born workers since June 2018!

This is a huge issue - especially at a time of an illegal alien flood at the southwest border...

... and is about to become a huge political scandal, because once the inevitable recession finally hits, there will be millions of furious unemployed Americans demanding a more accurate explanation for what happened - i.e., the illegal immigration floodgates that were opened by the Biden admin.

Which is also why Biden's handlers will do everything in their power to insure there is no official recession before November... and why after the election is over, all economic hell will finally break loose. Until then, however, expect the jobs numbers to get even more ridiculous.

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/08/2024 - 13:30

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Shipping company files surprise Chapter 7 bankruptcy, liquidation

While demand for trucking has increased, so have costs and competition, which have forced a number of players to close.

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March 8, 2024

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The U.S. economy is built on trucks.

As a nation we have relatively limited train assets, and while in recent years planes have played an expanded role in moving goods, trucks still represent the backbone of how everything — food, gasoline, commodities, and pretty much anything else — moves around the country.

Related: Fast-food chain closes more stores after Chapter 11 bankruptcy

"Trucks moved 61.1% of the tonnage and 64.9% of the value of these shipments. The average shipment by truck was 63 miles compared to an average of 640 miles by rail," according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics 2023 numbers.

But running a trucking company has been tricky because the largest players have economies of scale that smaller operators don't. That puts any trucking company that's not a massive player very sensitive to increases in gas prices or drops in freight rates.

And that in turn has led a number of trucking companies, including Yellow Freight, the third-largest less-than-truckload operator; J.J. & Sons Logistics, Meadow Lark, and Boateng Logistics, to close while freight brokerage Convoy shut down in October.

Aside from Convoy, none of these brands are household names. but with the demand for trucking increasing, every company that goes out of business puts more pressure on those that remain, which contributes to increased prices.

Demand for trucking has continued to increase.

Image source: Shutterstock

Another freight company closes and plans to liquidate

Not every bankruptcy filing explains why a company has gone out of business. In the trucking industry, multiple recent Chapter 7 bankruptcies have been tied to lawsuits that pushed otherwise successful companies into insolvency.

In the case of TBL Logistics, a Virginia-based national freight company, its Feb. 29 bankruptcy filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia appears to be death by too much debt.

"In its filing, TBL Logistics listed its assets and liabilities as between $1 million and $10 million. The company stated that it has up to 49 creditors and maintains that no funds will be available for unsecured creditors once it pays administrative fees," Freightwaves reported.

The company's owners, Christopher and Melinda Bradner, did not respond to the website's request for comment.

Before it closed, TBL Logistics specialized in refrigerated and oversized loads. The company described its business on its website.

"TBL Logistics is a non-asset-based third-party logistics freight broker company providing reliable and efficient transportation solutions, management, and storage for businesses of all sizes. With our extensive network of carriers and industry expertise, we streamline the shipping process, ensuring your goods reach their destination safely and on time."

The world has a truck-driver shortage

The covid pandemic forced companies to consider their supply chain in ways they never had to before. Increased demand showed the weakness in the trucking industry and drew attention to how difficult life for truck drivers can be.

That was an issue HBO's John Oliver highlighted on his "Last Week Tonight" show in October 2022. In the episode, the host suggested that the U.S. would basically start to starve if the trucking industry shut down for three days.

"Sorry, three days, every produce department in America would go from a fully stocked market to an all-you-can-eat raccoon buffet," he said. "So it’s no wonder trucking’s a huge industry, with more than 3.5 million people in America working as drivers, from port truckers who bring goods off ships to railyards and warehouses, to long-haul truckers who move them across the country, to 'last-mile' drivers, who take care of local delivery." 

The show highlighted how many truck drivers face low pay, difficult working conditions and, in many cases, crushing debt.

"Hundreds of thousands of people become truck drivers every year. But hundreds of thousands also quit. Job turnover for truckers averages over 100%, and at some companies it’s as high as 300%, meaning they’re hiring three people for a single job over the course of a year. And when a field this important has a level of job satisfaction that low, it sure seems like there’s a huge problem," Oliver shared.

The truck-driver shortage is not just a U.S. problem; it's a global issue, according to IRU.org.

"IRU’s 2023 driver shortage report has found that over three million truck driver jobs are unfilled, or 7% of total positions, in 36 countries studied," the global transportation trade association reported. 

"With the huge gap between young and old drivers growing, it will get much worse over the next five years without significant action."

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