What Crypto Tokens Are Used in Gaming? – Top Gaming Coins of 2022
What a great time to be alive and into play-to-earn games! If you share our level of enthusiasm and you're eager to buy crypto gaming coins, you'll find here all the info you need to get started.
There's a reason why we keep talking about crypto gaming coins and the games or ecosystems they belong to. Ok, yes, one of the reasons is that we are also a crypto gaming platform ourselves. But the main reason is that play-to-earn crypto games are still on everyone's lips this year, even during a bear market.
There are so many crypto games out in the cryptocurrency space and so many gaming coins to choose from that one article wouldn't be enough to cover them. New gaming platforms appear almost daily with exciting blockchain games, crypto in-game rewards, and non-fungible tokens.
What a great time to be alive and into play-to-earn games! If you share our level of enthusiasm and you're eager to buy crypto gaming coins, you'll find here all the info you need to get started. Let's not dilly dally any longer and discover what crypto coins are, how you can use these digital assets in and out of a crypto game ecosystem, and some of the best gaming tokens by market capitalization of the moment.
Ready. Set. Go read!
What are crypto gaming tokens?
The video game industry has always worked with the concept of in-game assets that players could either buy with money to advance in the game, or win as a reward for their efforts to be the best. In-game currencies have existed for a while now in video games and they served gamers to buy all sorts of in-game items like skins, weapons, clothes, cars, etc, but they never had any real world value before blockchain technology came to disrupt it all.
Blockchain gaming companies offer us a new way to play games and earn crypto: play-to-earn crypto gaming platforms and games. Blockchain games used tow types of tokens: gaming cryptocurrencies and NFTs. What's the deal with them?
Gaming cryptocurrency tokens
A gaming coin, also known as a native token, is an in-game cryptocurrency for a particular game. You can use these gaming coins to buy in-game stuff, characters, and weapons, among other things. You can also use them to purchase land in the virtual real estate game Decentraland or to enter tournaments on mobile eSports game platforms like Win.app.
Token holders can also sell these gaming coins for a profit on a crypto exchange or another. Ultimately, you decide what to do with the native token of a specific game.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
Other types of digital tokens used in crypto gaming are non-fungible tokens. These little babies need no introduction! They're the reason everyone's crazy about P2E games: players want to own them, and game developers want to integrate them into their games.
In essence, an NFT is a digital asset you have complete ownership of. It might be a Win Hero from the Paios tribe or an Axie creature. It can be a plot of land where you can build virtual theme parks like in The Sandbox or a funky pair of digital sneakers that you can use in move-to-earn apps.
Take a look at our older articles and get up to speed with what NFTs are, how to buy them, and how to value and sell them. Whatever questions you might have about NFTs, we pretty much covered them in these blog posts.
How to use gaming crypto coins
Gaming coins have many uses, some more obvious than others. You might think that you can only use these coins while playing games to make in-game purchases and in-game transactions, but in reality, they have many more uses.
Use to advance your gameplay
Some games require you to buy the native token beforehand to participate in tournaments, enter battles, and buy weapons or characters. You can also win the gaming tokens as rewards. Crypto games usually develop these coins as payment tokens that power the game's ecosystem and economy.
Utility token
Utility tokens are created to be used for a specific purpose in a DApp or a game.
These tokens hold utility within the game but might not be valid outside of it. For example, the Smooth Love Potion (SLP) token from the game Axie Infinity is a utility token meant to help the players breed their Axies, the game's creatures. Outside of the Axie Infinity metaverse, SLP tokens have no actual use.
Governance token
While some tokens have utility only, other digital assets can also be used as governance tokens. Such tokens give the holder of the digital currency the right to vote and participate in the decision-making process of the virtual reality platform, gaming platform, etc.
Sell or trade on crypto exchanges for profit
The beauty of gaming crypto coins is that they have value outside the game itself. Unlike the in-game currencies of past games, which had no value in the real world, crypto gaming coins can be sold or traded on exchange platforms. You can exchange your native tokens for fiat currency or trade them with other digital assets you're interested in. If you invest in gaming coins with the purpose of reselling them later, you stand the chance of making quite some profit.
Top 5 gaming industry digital assets by market cap
Everybody always asks the same question: what's the best gaming cryptocurrency? We believe it's a bit like asking what's one's favorite color. Each person will have a different answer.
Instead, we propose looking at the top 5 gaming coins by market capitalization. Numbers don't lie, so let's see what they say.
ApeCoin APE
The ApeCoin ecosystem, including the world-famous Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs and the crypto game Benji Banana, is powered by the APE token. At the time of writing this article, APE ranks as the first gaming coin by market cap.
ApeCoin token holders have access to a Decentralised Autonomous Organization (DAO) that manages the ecosystem and votes on how it should be used. The DAO was established to foster collaboration among ApeCoin owners and construct and sustain the ecosystem openly.
Copyright © Apecoin
Decentraland MANA
The native token of the Decentraland ecosystem, MANA, ranks among the top gaming tokens in terms of market cap.
Decentraland is a virtual world project that works as a DAO, allowing MANA owners to decide the platform's future. Decentraland users can create their own avatars and buy in-game real estate where they can create virtual theme parks, for example.
Copyright © Decentraland
The Sandbox SAND
The Sandbox is a virtual world gaming crypto platform similar to Decentraland. SAND, the token used in the platform's ecosystem, is one of the best gaming tokens by market cap. You can use it to buy plots of land, create virtual worlds or exchange it for other coins.
Copyright © The Sandbox
Axie Infinity AXS
The play-to-earn battling game Axie Infinity has two tokens, AXS and SLP. While we mentioned what SLP is used for earlier, AXS gaming tokens are needed to buy, trade, or sell the game's creatures.
Players can earn AXS gaming tokens by selling the creatures they breed or winning battles against their opponents.
Copyright © Axie Infinity
Enjin Coin ENJ
Enjin enables the creation of in-game assets, NFTs, and other interesting ideas. Enjin coin employs the ERC-1155 token standard, which is based on Ethereum.
This blockchain-based coin is bought by developers, who then use it to create blockchain in-game products, giving gamers access to the Enjin coin without having to use cryptocurrency exchanges. The token also enables blockchain-based trading.
Source: https://beincrypto.com/learn/enjin-coin/
Other crypto gaming coins you should know about
Now that we've checked the biggest gaming tokens by market capitalization, we can discover other awesome projects and their native cryptocurrencies. Some of these projects are still in the early stages, so keep them in mind as you'll hear more and more about them in the crypto news.
FTW - Win.app gaming coin
The FTW token (For the Win) powers up the Win.app gaming ecosystem. The soon-to-be-launched play-to-earn gaming platform will feature multiple games where players can earn rewards and NFTs for their gaming efforts.
Win.app also developed a native wallet and WIN SDK, the developers' software development kits that can be integrated into any mobile game, turning it into play-to-earn instantly.
FTW tokens can be used to enter competitions, participate in tournaments and player-versus-player rounds, trade or sell for fiat currencies, and of course, buy Win Heroes NFTs.
GALA - Gala Games token
Gamers should have control over their games, according to Gala Games. The platform's primary goal is to employ blockchain technology to make gaming more innovative. Thanks to this, users are given control over their games and in-game materials.
GALA holders have a say in proposed changes to the ecosystem's governance. They also decide which games get featured on the network.
Copyright © Gala Games
YGG - Yield Guild Games coin
YGG is the native coin of Yield Guild Games, a DAO that invests in NFTs. The organization sells and rents out to players NFTs from all kinds of P2E projects. Community members use the assets in exchange for a portion of the rewards they earn while using the rented NFTs.
Copyright © Yield Guild Games
ALICE - My Neighbor Alice
ALICE is the native cryptocurrency of the P2E game My Neighbor Alice, centered on buying plots of land where users can farm. Players can purchase land on any of the existing six islands, cultivate it, and get animals from the marketplace.
ALICE tokens serve as the native currency. They can be used for marketplace purchases, and gamers can earn ALICE coins by completing different quests. Users can also stake the coins and earn rewards.
Copyright © My Neighbor Alice
GODS - GODS Unchained
Gods Unchained is a free-to-play tactical card game that offers players ownership of their in-game items. It emphasizes competitive play, as players must outsmart their rivals by creating decks that can counteract different strategies.
The ecosystem's native token, known as GODS, is used to build NFTs, pay for items, and give out rewards. GODS is an ERC20 token.
Copyright © Gods Unchained
ATLAS - Star Atlas
ATLAS is the native token of Star Atlas, a multiplayer metaverse game. The strategy-based game blends several genres. Players must create tactical plans of action to deal with opposing groups in this situation. Deep space exploration, warfare, and building space stations and spacecraft are the three main foundations.
Star Atlas and the Sandbox joined forces to revolutionize gaming interoperability between Ethereum and Solana. The partnership will result in the Star Atlas Vox Edit competition, allowing players to take on the role of envoys from the Sandbox.
Copyright © Star Atlas
Are gaming tokens a good investment?
The constant expansion of the blockchain gaming industry and the evolution of the metaverse show crypto investors that gaming crypto coins can be considered a good investment.
Of course, gaming coins have a volatile nature like any other crypto coins, so you should do plenty of research before you take the plunge and invest. Gaming coins are still relatively new and developing. Therefore, they don't have tried-and-tested results to display.
It's crucial to perform exhaustive research and understand the foundations behind each gaming token before putting any money into it.
Last thoughts
You're either a player excited to learn more about the various coins your favorite P2E projects have developed or an investor thinking of expanding his portfolio with some crypto gaming coins. No matter the case, this article should have put you on the right track regarding crypto gaming and the cryptocurrencies used within these projects. Our job here is done!
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