Recently I’ve been following a few play-to-earn dApp pools. Watching the output inflation slowly grind prices down, I have to say it’s a bit heartbreaking. The mechanism design clearly knows it needs to control emissions, but once the project goes live it turns into “just boost daily active users first.” The result is what they’ve minted gets no takers—slippage only keeps getting worse.

Why do project teams always love “release the water first, then close the net”?
Probably because they need to prop up the numbers to show investors. In the end, the bag is picked up by retail users and newcomers.

After the recent airdrop season ended, the task platform’s anti-sybil measures have become even harsher. The points-based system has turned into something like clocking in for work—wallet addresses are churning at a crazy pace. But when you look at on-chain fund flows, the big players were already sitting in the shade with their chairs set up. To put it plainly: in the play-to-earn space, you can’t support valuation with gold-farming output alone—you have to see whether the economic model has real demand underpinning it.