MakerDAO Launches Bounty Program to Get a Foothold in Blockchain Gaming

MakerDAO, the organization behind the Dai (DAI) stablecoin, is making a bid for Dai to serve as a “real parameter” of dollar-pegged value for video game economies.

As blockchain and crypto gain increasing traction with the gaming industry, MakerDAO argues nonetheless that “soft currencies” for in-game economies “don’t always feel authentic.” In a March 11 blog post, the organization wrote:

“Like flight miles or credit card points, a soft currency’s unit of account isn’t always relative to the value of an actual currency. With Dai, players know exactly how much their game skills are worth.”

An appeal to developers

Proposing that Dai can serve as a key integration between decentralized finance (DeFi), fiat-gateways and video game economies, MakerDAO is launching a Dai Gaming Initiative Bounty Program to incentivize developers to build using Dai for rewards.

Notably, MakerDAO says it is open to seeing Dai integrations in both legacy games and blockchain games, observing that both are developing strategies at levels of increasing economic complexity to shape player engagement and behavior. 

With the advent of blockchain games, a new category of crypto assets, known as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has emerged. Their key feature, well-suited for gaming, is that they have unique and collectible — rather than currency-like — properties.  

MakerDAO’s approach is both to widen the use of Dai in online gaming marketplaces and to establish a series of partnerships with NFT creators to design Dai-branded, in-game blockchain assets.

The bounty program is tiered into four categories, beginning with a 5,000 DAI prize for the best DSR integration in a game. DSR — or Dai Savings Rate — is a DeFi feature that allows Dai holders to lock their tokens in a smart contract to earn additional Dai as dividends.

Two further prizes — at 2,500 DAI each — are offered for the best player-versus-player experience and the best player-versus-evil experience. For this latter, “ingenuity” will apparently be rewarded. 

Lastly, two 1,500 DAI rewards will be given for the most creative integration of Dai in a game. 

A quickfire industry

Just this week, Cointelegraph reported on the launch of a blockchain game network from the creator of the popular Facebook game FarmVille, and a fundraising round for Horizon Blockchain Games, led by an investment firm co-founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.