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Sci-fi or blockchain reality? The ‘Ready Player One’ OASIS can be built

Enter the OASIS: The economy of the liveable arcade in the science fiction film could only be built using blockchain technology.
Distributed ledgers, in the form of blockchain technology, are jostling their way into financial markets,.

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Enter the OASIS: The economy of the liveable arcade in the science fiction film could only be built using blockchain technology.

Distributed ledgers, in the form of blockchain technology, are jostling their way into financial markets, healthcare systems and the global supply chain, but perhaps the most significant disruption has yet to come. In recent months, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have taken the spotlight as a stamp of legitimacy for digital goods, ranging from art to worn-out internet fads. However, the gaming industry is uniquely suited for the integration of NFTs, something already recognized by several notable entities in the gaming industry, particularly Sony, Ubisoft, GameStop and even Sega.

If you find this hard to conceive, the analogy of the livable arcade depicted in Ready Player One presents a functional way of elucidating what shape a blockchain-based gaming industry could take. The film, based on the Ernest Cline novel of the same name and directed by Steven Spielberg, tells the story of a teenager on a quest to find the keys to a hidden fortune within the virtual world of the OASIS — the Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation. Interestingly, the connection to blockchain technology was made even prior to the film’s release.

Without it being majorly obvious at first glance, blockchain technology, beyond NFTs, could certainly provide the operational base layer for the vast majority of the weird and wonderful concepts portrayed in the film. From the Pizza Hut delivery drones (see this academic report) to facial recognition technology, you’ll find that these types of technologies are no longer reserved for the big screen — they’re already making their way into the real world.

Related: Hype is over: How NFTs and art will benefit from each other moving forward

Let’s start with the basics

Having to pay only $0.25 to boot up the game, everyone enters the OASIS at the same level. Pretty much everything else incurs additional in-game fees — a relatively common concept in gaming. In this way, currency in the OASIS is used as fuel for the network, much like the SAND token in The Sandbox, which exists on the Ethereum blockchain. Similar to the OASIS, albeit on a much more rudimentary level, this allows players to purchase in-game services, trade and vote on decisions that affect the gaming network.

Beyond this, players use familiar gaming tools to navigate through the realm of the OASIS, such as a heads-up display (HUD) and a user interface (UI) inventory. Of course, these concepts exist in blockchain-based games too, in titles such as Neon District (a role playing game) and Dissolution (a first-person shooter). Unlike traditional gaming networks, these games have been developed with blockchain technology, which allows players to truly own their acquired assets. Further development will see future gamers offloading excess in-game items to reclaim real-world value.

Traditional gaming, as it stands today, is not conducive to how the OASIS operates. Value is largely siloed to the respective game as it exists on the particular platform. In this way, an individual playing Call of Duty would not be able to exchange value with another playing FIFA or Fortnite. More significantly, interoperability doesn’t exist between the gaming networks of the likes of Microsoft and Sony, further isolating the enormous potential exchange of value between these worlds.

On the contrary, blockchain-enabled gaming grants players the ability to bring their assets to decentralized exchanges and conduct value swaps much like those seen on automated market makers like SushiSwap and Uniswap. These platforms operate a little differently from centralized crypto exchanges such as Binance or Coinbase in that there is no central authority approving the transactions. Instead, the authority of funds and trades is distributed among users, thus removing any single point of failure.

Related: Unpopular opinion? The problem with blockchain gaming is blockchain

While there certainly are a few extra steps when compared with the seamless transactional flow visible in the OASIS, this infrastructure allows players to interchange value between games and, indeed, gaming networks. It also allows players to truly own their in-game collectibles, setting up a future where previously intangible digital assets can become legitimate commodities.

Building tokenized economies

The amount of time and money spent on gaming, particularly during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns, is staggering. The gaming ecosystem is projected to exceed $300 billion in valuation by 2026, outshining other major entertainment industries such as film and music. Moreover, the global tokenization market is expected to reach $4 billion by 2027. Many avid gamers yearn for the chance to earn a slice from this pie, although that is a privilege reserved for “elite” gamers.

Similarly, in Ready Player One, players champ at the bit in the OASIS, using methods to earn a living not unlike those used by gamers in our universe. Envisioning the intersection of the remote working (gig) economy and gaming industry, a digital economy running on a blockchain network seems like a natural progression. A crypto-powered gig economy has obvious advantages, and gaming industry ideals overlap with the primary features of blockchain technology, with a significant number of crypto entrepreneurs capitalizing on the esports market.

More significantly, marketplaces selling crypto game NFTs experienced explosive growth during 2020, and even more so during 2021. In fact, NFT sales topped $2 billion in the first quarter, excluding sales associated with NBA Top Shot, which recently exceeded 1 million users.

In the broader economy of the OASIS, players are incentivised to level up by competing for “artifacts” — rare, powerful items that are typically obtained by completing challenges. Aligning perfectly with the way NFTs are already working, like in the Gala Games world of Mirandus, NFTs grant players competitive advantages and are indisputably owned by the players that acquired them. On a similar note, the virtual fashion revolution has already begun in gaming, and we may see a metaverse populated with luxury fashion brands sooner than you think.

Related: Gamified yield farming with nonfungible tokens

Next-level gaming

Like any conventional role playing game, within the OASIS there are non-playable characters (NPCs) who populate the environment and with whom players can interact. Naturally, such an immersive virtual experience would require a for-now inconceivably high level of responsiveness and adaptability built into its fabric. You might know where this is headed: the world of artificial intelligence, or AI.

Another concept that pops up in Ready Player One is the Halliday Journals, which is a library of all the memories of the creator of the OASIS. It is used by players to find clues to the keys and is described as being rendered through CCTV footage and written diary entries. On that point, I couldn’t help but think of Neuralink and its proximity to the gaming industry. A project developed by Elon Musk, Neuralink is a neural implant that will allow users to control their computer or smart device.

Perhaps in the future, we may see a gamified brain-machine interface secured with and operating on blockchain technology to deliver an immersive experience such as the OASIS. Can you imagine such an experience integrated with Todd Morley’s “blockchain tower,” replicating the Halliday Journals, where memories are stored and represented by NFTs in a completely interactive environment?

A decentralized utopia

Ultimately, Ready Player One presents a cautionary tale, inspiring viewers to remain tethered to the real world. In the same vein, we must remain grounded in our ambitions for blockchain technologies. This paradisial vision of crypto-based gaming still has some maturing to do before it leaves its indelible mark on mainstream gaming networks.

With that said, blockchain-based games are steadily gaining momentum, and the features of blockchain gaming have the potential to enhance traditional gaming business models — the most familiar being free-to-play with in-game cosmetic purchases (Fortnite), physical copies or digital downloads with added content purchases (Xbox, Playstation or Nintendo games), and freemium games (Eve Online or World of Warcraft).

The value of these games and their respective networks usually accumulate in the pockets of gaming publishers, with players often having little pull in gaming networks where they generate astronomical value. This model is not aging well and is proving unreasonable for games that have network effects. A particularly recent example is that of the backlash against Call Of Duty: Warzone for facilitating a pay-to-win advantage.

Blockchain-based games have chosen to differentiate themselves on two major qualities: the first being digital ownership — permitting players true, immutable possession of their in-game assets — and the second being a free market, within which players can exchange their accrued value among themselves. With the sheer amount of funding flooding into the blockchain gaming space, the combination of digital ownership and free-market participation could result in the gaming industry becoming the industry most thoroughly enhanced by blockchain technology.

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.

Eric Kapfhammer is the chief operating officer of Polyient Capital, where he oversees strategies and network investments and specializes in legitimizing the role of NFTs in global digital economies. Eric is also the founder of LogosBlock. Prior to launching LogosBlock, he led a data science team at Microsoft focused on applying statistical and machine learning methods to computer and network security. Eric is a member of the board of directors of Ibis Security, a blockchain-focused payments and security firm. He earned a BA in business and international relations from the University of Puget Sound and an MSc in finance from Seattle University.

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Key shipping company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

The Illinois-based general freight trucking company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganize.

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The U.S. trucking industry has had a difficult beginning of the year for 2024 with several logistics companies filing for bankruptcy to seek either a Chapter 7 liquidation or Chapter 11 reorganization.

The Covid-19 pandemic caused a lot of supply chain issues for logistics companies and also created a shortage of truck drivers as many left the business for other occupations. Shipping companies, in the meantime, have had extreme difficulty recruiting new drivers for thousands of unfilled jobs.

Related: Tesla rival’s filing reveals Chapter 11 bankruptcy is possible

Freight forwarder company Boateng Logistics joined a growing list of shipping companies that permanently shuttered their businesses as the firm on Feb. 22 filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with plans to liquidate.

The Carlsbad, Calif., logistics company filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California listing assets up to $50,000 and and $1 million to $10 million in liabilities. Court papers said it owed millions of dollars in liabilities to trucking, logistics and factoring companies. The company filed bankruptcy before any creditors could take legal action.

Lawsuits force companies to liquidate in bankruptcy

Lawsuits, however, can force companies to file bankruptcy, which was the case for J.J. & Sons Logistics of Clint, Texas, which on Jan. 22 filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas. The company filed bankruptcy four days before the scheduled start of a trial for a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a former company truck driver who had died from drowning in 2016.

California-based logistics company Wise Choice Trans Corp. shut down operations and filed for Chapter 7 liquidation on Jan. 4 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, listing $1 million to $10 million in assets and liabilities.

The Hayward, Calif., third-party logistics company, founded in 2009, provided final mile, less-than-truckload and full truckload services, as well as warehouse and fulfillment services in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Chapter 7 filing also implemented an automatic stay against all legal proceedings, as the company listed its involvement in four legal actions that were ongoing or concluded. Court papers reportedly did not list amounts for damages.

In some cases, debtors don't have to take a drastic action, such as a liquidation, and can instead file a Chapter 11 reorganization.

Truck shipping products.

Shutterstock

Nationwide Cargo seeks to reorganize its business

Nationwide Cargo Inc., a general freight trucking company that also hauls fresh produce and meat, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois with plans to reorganize its business.

The East Dundee, Ill., shipping company listed $1 million to $10 million in assets and $10 million to $50 million in liabilities in its petition and said funds will not be available to pay unsecured creditors. The company operates with 183 trucks and 171 drivers, FreightWaves reported.

Nationwide Cargo's three largest secured creditors in the petition were Equify Financial LLC (owed about $3.5 million,) Commercial Credit Group (owed about $1.8 million) and Continental Bank NA (owed about $676,000.)

The shipping company reported gross revenue of about $34 million in 2022 and about $40 million in 2023.  From Jan. 1 until its petition date, the company generated $9.3 million in gross revenue.

Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024

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Key shipping company files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

The Illinois-based general freight trucking company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganize.

Published

on

The U.S. trucking industry has had a difficult beginning of the year for 2024 with several logistics companies filing for bankruptcy to seek either a Chapter 7 liquidation or Chapter 11 reorganization.

The Covid-19 pandemic caused a lot of supply chain issues for logistics companies and also created a shortage of truck drivers as many left the business for other occupations. Shipping companies, in the meantime, have had extreme difficulty recruiting new drivers for thousands of unfilled jobs.

Related: Tesla rival’s filing reveals Chapter 11 bankruptcy is possible

Freight forwarder company Boateng Logistics joined a growing list of shipping companies that permanently shuttered their businesses as the firm on Feb. 22 filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with plans to liquidate.

The Carlsbad, Calif., logistics company filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California listing assets up to $50,000 and and $1 million to $10 million in liabilities. Court papers said it owed millions of dollars in liabilities to trucking, logistics and factoring companies. The company filed bankruptcy before any creditors could take legal action.

Lawsuits force companies to liquidate in bankruptcy

Lawsuits, however, can force companies to file bankruptcy, which was the case for J.J. & Sons Logistics of Clint, Texas, which on Jan. 22 filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas. The company filed bankruptcy four days before the scheduled start of a trial for a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a former company truck driver who had died from drowning in 2016.

California-based logistics company Wise Choice Trans Corp. shut down operations and filed for Chapter 7 liquidation on Jan. 4 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, listing $1 million to $10 million in assets and liabilities.

The Hayward, Calif., third-party logistics company, founded in 2009, provided final mile, less-than-truckload and full truckload services, as well as warehouse and fulfillment services in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Chapter 7 filing also implemented an automatic stay against all legal proceedings, as the company listed its involvement in four legal actions that were ongoing or concluded. Court papers reportedly did not list amounts for damages.

In some cases, debtors don't have to take a drastic action, such as a liquidation, and can instead file a Chapter 11 reorganization.

Truck shipping products.

Shutterstock

Nationwide Cargo seeks to reorganize its business

Nationwide Cargo Inc., a general freight trucking company that also hauls fresh produce and meat, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois with plans to reorganize its business.

The East Dundee, Ill., shipping company listed $1 million to $10 million in assets and $10 million to $50 million in liabilities in its petition and said funds will not be available to pay unsecured creditors. The company operates with 183 trucks and 171 drivers, FreightWaves reported.

Nationwide Cargo's three largest secured creditors in the petition were Equify Financial LLC (owed about $3.5 million,) Commercial Credit Group (owed about $1.8 million) and Continental Bank NA (owed about $676,000.)

The shipping company reported gross revenue of about $34 million in 2022 and about $40 million in 2023.  From Jan. 1 until its petition date, the company generated $9.3 million in gross revenue.

Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024

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Tight inventory and frustrated buyers challenge agents in Virginia

With inventory a little more than half of what it was pre-pandemic, agents are struggling to find homes for clients in Virginia.

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No matter where you are in the state, real estate agents in Virginia are facing low inventory conditions that are creating frustrating scenarios for their buyers.

“I think people are getting used to the interest rates where they are now, but there is just a huge lack of inventory,” said Chelsea Newcomb, a RE/MAX Realty Specialists agent based in Charlottesville. “I have buyers that are looking, but to find a house that you love enough to pay a high price for — and to be at over a 6.5% interest rate — it’s just a little bit harder to find something.”

Newcomb said that interest rates and higher prices, which have risen by more than $100,000 since March 2020, according to data from Altos Research, have caused her clients to be pickier when selecting a home.

“When rates and prices were lower, people were more willing to compromise,” Newcomb said.

Out in Wise, Virginia, near the westernmost tip of the state, RE/MAX Cavaliers agent Brett Tiller and his clients are also struggling to find suitable properties.

“The thing that really stands out, especially compared to two years ago, is the lack of quality listings,” Tiller said. “The slightly more upscale single-family listings for move-up buyers with children looking for their forever home just aren’t coming on the market right now, and demand is still very high.”

Statewide, Virginia had a 90-day average of 8,068 active single-family listings as of March 8, 2024, down from 14,471 single-family listings in early March 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Altos Research. That represents a decrease of 44%.

Virginia-Inventory-Line-Chart-Virginia-90-day-Single-Family

In Newcomb’s base metro area of Charlottesville, there were an average of only 277 active single-family listings during the same recent 90-day period, compared to 892 at the onset of the pandemic. In Wise County, there were only 56 listings.

Due to the demand from move-up buyers in Tiller’s area, the average days on market for homes with a median price of roughly $190,000 was just 17 days as of early March 2024.

“For the right home, which is rare to find right now, we are still seeing multiple offers,” Tiller said. “The demand is the same right now as it was during the heart of the pandemic.”

According to Tiller, the tight inventory has caused homebuyers to spend up to six months searching for their new property, roughly double the time it took prior to the pandemic.

For Matt Salway in the Virginia Beach metro area, the tight inventory conditions are creating a rather hot market.

“Depending on where you are in the area, your listing could have 15 offers in two days,” the agent for Iron Valley Real Estate Hampton Roads | Virginia Beach said. “It has been crazy competition for most of Virginia Beach, and Norfolk is pretty hot too, especially for anything under $400,000.”

According to Altos Research, the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News housing market had a seven-day average Market Action Index score of 52.44 as of March 14, making it the seventh hottest housing market in the country. Altos considers any Market Action Index score above 30 to be indicative of a seller’s market.

Virginia-Beach-Metro-Area-Market-Action-Index-Line-Chart-Virginia-Beach-Norfolk-Newport-News-VA-NC-90-day-Single-Family

Further up the coastline on the vacation destination of Chincoteague Island, Long & Foster agent Meghan O. Clarkson is also seeing a decent amount of competition despite higher prices and interest rates.

“People are taking their time to actually come see things now instead of buying site unseen, and occasionally we see some seller concessions, but the traffic and the demand is still there; you might just work a little longer with people because we don’t have anything for sale,” Clarkson said.

“I’m busy and constantly have appointments, but the underlying frenzy from the height of the pandemic has gone away, but I think it is because we have just gotten used to it.”

While much of the demand that Clarkson’s market faces is for vacation homes and from retirees looking for a scenic spot to retire, a large portion of the demand in Salway’s market comes from military personnel and civilians working under government contracts.

“We have over a dozen military bases here, plus a bunch of shipyards, so the closer you get to all of those bases, the easier it is to sell a home and the faster the sale happens,” Salway said.

Due to this, Salway said that existing-home inventory typically does not come on the market unless an employment contract ends or the owner is reassigned to a different base, which is currently contributing to the tight inventory situation in his market.

Things are a bit different for Tiller and Newcomb, who are seeing a decent number of buyers from other, more expensive parts of the state.

“One of the crazy things about Louisa and Goochland, which are kind of like suburbs on the western side of Richmond, is that they are growing like crazy,” Newcomb said. “A lot of people are coming in from Northern Virginia because they can work remotely now.”

With a Market Action Index score of 50, it is easy to see why people are leaving the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria market for the Charlottesville market, which has an index score of 41.

In addition, the 90-day average median list price in Charlottesville is $585,000 compared to $729,900 in the D.C. area, which Newcomb said is also luring many Virginia homebuyers to move further south.

Median-Price-D.C.-vs.-Charlottesville-Line-Chart-90-day-Single-Family

“They are very accustomed to higher prices, so they are super impressed with the prices we offer here in the central Virginia area,” Newcomb said.

For local buyers, Newcomb said this means they are frequently being outbid or outpriced.

“A couple who is local to the area and has been here their whole life, they are just now starting to get their mind wrapped around the fact that you can’t get a house for $200,000 anymore,” Newcomb said.

As the year heads closer to spring, triggering the start of the prime homebuying season, agents in Virginia feel optimistic about the market.

“We are seeing seasonal trends like we did up through 2019,” Clarkson said. “The market kind of soft launched around President’s Day and it is still building, but I expect it to pick right back up and be in full swing by Easter like it always used to.”

But while they are confident in demand, questions still remain about whether there will be enough inventory to support even more homebuyers entering the market.

“I have a lot of buyers starting to come off the sidelines, but in my office, I also have a lot of people who are going to list their house in the next two to three weeks now that the weather is starting to break,” Newcomb said. “I think we are going to have a good spring and summer.”

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