Rewarding Exercise with Cryptocurrency
Walken, a move-to-earn and win-to-earn blockchain game, has garnered $4.7 million in a funding round led by Infinity Ventures Crypto and Shima Capital, with participation from Morningstar Ventures, Ghaf Capital Partners, Dex Ventures, Huobi Ventures, Yield Guild Games (YGG), and many others. The funding will be directed towards advancing game development and improving the product within a sustainable economy.
Walken is a game that allows players to compete for crypto rewards with physical activity, such as walking, running, winning competitions, or improving their game-based characters known as CATthletes. Steps walked or ran in real life are converted into Walken's in-game soft currency called Gems, with each Gem equaling about 1’000 degrees. Gems allow players to level up their CATthletes, improving their performance in competitions. WLKN is the game’s native cryptocurrency token, which players receive by winning matches. WLKN tokens can be used by players to upgrade their CATthlete’s performance or to purchase NFT items through an in-game marketplace.
Players can start using Walken for free, as the game provides an entry-level CATthlete and a wallet to start earning crypto upon signing up. The game incentivizes players to monetize their health and exercise through cryptocurrency, encouraging people who might not typically exercise to start moving more frequently. However, Walken also aims to onboard millions of non-crypto users to introduce them to experiences that blockchain and decentralized finance can offer by using the game’s user-friendly interface and simple gameplay.
Walken is already booming in popularity, with over 10’000 new users from over 110 countries signing up to closed beta on iOS and Android. Beta testers recorded a combined total of 830 million steps in just 3-months. Walken was in closed beta but just recently launched for public beta.
Setting New Trends in Wellness and Crypto
To learn more about Walken and the upcoming release, go to CoinTelegraph.com:
“With powerful backers committed to Walken’s mission and vision, the project will blend gameplay with a healthy lifestyle, combining personal health and fitness with game elements that tie into the NFT market. Its primary focus will remain as rewarding game players for physical activity and owning NFTs of Cathletes and their equipment, trading and breeding Cathletes, and upgrading and boosting them to earn more tokens.
Driven by an exponentially growing community, Walken is prepared to define the future of move-to-earn Web3 gaming. It already features a fully functional mobile app on iOS and Android, with NFTs and transactions recorded on the Solana blockchain.
The recently forged partnerships and funding raised have spearheaded the release of the much-anticipated game, with more ways to provide players additional utility for their tokens, fueling the demand for in-game assets, encouraging in-game investments and contributing to sustainable tokenomics.
Walken has onboarded Blockwiz, a premium crypto marketing solutions provider, to help with expansion in new markets.”
From Move-to-earn wellness project Walken seals $4.7M funding round - Coin Telegraph.
Photo Source: Walken via Walken.io
What element of the game are you most or least interested in?
Written by Yellow Brick Road
June 1st, 2022