Berachain and Abstract are buzzing, but face criticism

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There’s been a lot of buzz around Berachain, which launched on Thursday and has already seen over 2 million transactions.

It’s the latest launch by the makers of the Bong Bears NFTs, a collection of 100 smoking bears on the Ethereum blockchain launched back in the 2021 crypto boom.

Berachain, by contrast, is an ambitious Web3 blockchain using “Proof of Liquidity,” with the idea that pooled-up funds will lead to a sustainable ecosystem long-term.

Some, however, are not so sure. An exec with ties to a gaming-focused chain tells me: “[Berachain] bothers me deeply.” They don’t like how the project accumulated a pile of NFT money first and then built a whole chain somewhat randomly years later.

Yet as the pseudonymous Berachain founder Smokey puts it, Berachain was a series of “happy accidents.”

But there’s another new chain in town. Abstract — which launched last month from the Pudgy Penguins team — continues to hold attention on Crypto Twitter right now, leading some to compare it with Berachain.

One post that got over 600 likes in less than 24 hours praised Berachain for incentivizing whales and attacked Abstract Chain for catering to “normies and streamers” because Abstract’s platform centers games and livestreaming.

Right now, only about 750 approved accounts can livestream on Abstract (in the past few days, I’ve seen anyone from 57 to 75 streamers live at any given time). Maybe it’ll get more traction than Theta and DLive crypto streaming — or maybe not.

There are already over 35 gaming-related projects on Berachain’s website, suggesting it’s a gaming-friendly chain, too. It got over $1.6 billion in pre-launch liquidity, while Abstract has just $8.49 million in total value locked (TVL) as of Thursday morning.

The bear-themed blockchain has unveiled its token airdrop, too. Berachain is allocating half its token supply to investors (34.3%) and “initial core contributors” (16.8%).

Some early testnet users are pissed, as they’re only being allocated a tiny fraction (1.65%) of the airdropped tokens in total.

Another big catch, of course, is that they’re blocking US residents from a number of online sites, including those for the project’s BeraHub, its HONEY stablecoin, and its token and NFT bridges. Will you be able to get around this? I’m currently working from South Africa, so the hub’s site loads for me until I turn on my VPN and choose a US-based IP address. Then, access denied.

Blockchains will inevitably get compared — but it doesn’t make much sense to compare Berachain and Abstract, Abstract Marketing Lead Phineas Totten tells me. “Our product is so distinctly different.”

“We just want to have fun on-chain again,” he adds.

Sony’s Soneium blockchain has also arrived. It launched three weeks ago as a rollup on Optimism. It’s being managed by Sony Block Solutions Labs, separate from Sony Interactive Entertainment and PlayStation.

But that doesn’t mean games on Soneium are 100% out of the picture.

Sam Barberie — head of strategy and partnerships at blockchain gaming infra firm Horizon — tells me he’s been working with Sony on some of their blockchain solutions. Sony’s move into crypto is exciting because they’re, as he puts it, “willing to experiment.” If this experiment works out, he posits, even more big fish could jump into the crypto pond.

“When companies get to see that [success], and the sky doesn’t fall, then it starts to open up more conversations,” Barberie says.

Soneium is a big deal for Web3 — if it can make a splash with US companies or consumers.

PENGU fire fizzles

PENGU, the Pudgy Penguins’ NFT token, burned big this week.

The team set over 12.1 billion Pengu tokens on figurative fire in a token burn amounting to roughly $150 million, or about 14% of the total supply. That’s keeping their promise that after the Pengu claim ended, remaining tokens would be burnt. That’s good news.

That burn hasn’t sent the token climbing, though. Pengu is down 5.5% in the past day, and down roughly 73% in the past month.

Raised by wolves

Yet another gaming-adjacent token may be on the horizon.

WolvesDAO, an invite-only group of Web3 gaming enthusiasts, may be releasing a token. The WolvesDAO hosts Twitter Spaces, but they also have a robust, exclusive Discord server that frequently purges inactive members.

WolvesDAO cofounder Sam Steffanina tells me via DM: “Something along those lines” of a token is in the works following a few mysterious posts to the group’s X page.

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