Platform combines Web 3.0 gaming and DeFi for interactive entertainment inspired by Indian Culture and Mythology

Nonfungible tokens, better known as NFTs, have gained value, with some selling for thousands, tens of thousands and even millions of dollars. While this spike in value is promising for investors, it does little in proving the asset's long-term value compared to the top of a price bubble. Therefore, for digital assets to sustain their worth over the long term, something else is missing in the equation. That something is utility, which considers how the asset can be used or what a user can do with it.

Most NFTs are focused on digital art, which only holds appeal to a niche audience, including avid collectors and speculative investors. Fortunately, given these same digital assets, utility is already being tested in the form of playable NFTs. In this utility later, NFTs will take on the intersection of finance, art, entertainment, utility and social status.

ZionVerse showcases this combination of features in their Indian mythology-inspired universe and the first launch of Lakshmi NFTs. For those unfamiliar, the Goddess Lakshmi is the focus of Indian prayers on the day of Diwali.

Modeled after the goddess, NFTs are said to be both a good luck charm and a gamified deposit of USDC, each holding their own GPA or gold procuring ability, a factor that declares their rarity. By combining Web 3.0 gaming and decentralized finance (DeFi), the ZionVerse platform can provide non-inflationary returns and unlimited interactive entertainment. As a member from their team puts it, 

“ZionVerse brings a user-generated gaming platform to Web 3.0 through playable NFTs which provide 3D voxel art, music, access to yield strategies including yield farming on stable coins, perpetual-spot arbitrage on ETH, etc.”

The result is that the ZionVerse and associated NFTs are positioned to be more than a file extension; they are a truly decentralized metaverse gaming system.

Where NFTs meet Indian mythology

All of the content in ZionVerse is based on Indian history, culture and mythology, considering the balance between Good and Evil, and sometimes Order and Chaos in an eternal battle to take over one another. The result is a nature that is both eternal and in a permanent state of flux, the core of Indian Mythology. Ingrained in this belief is the cyclical transition from a Yuga or Age to another. Four Yugas are said to exist, with each one ending in a new battle of Order and Chaos, a balance maintained by a Trimurti or “three-forms,” each its own form of energy.

Here, ZionVerse spins into existence as a battle between these different energies, where each Zion must walk a path of their choosing, one that adheres to their most authentic desires. The caveat is that this path is likely to fall towards the side of order or the side of chaos. Demonstrating the great depth in the culture, the ZionVerse team aimed to connect with the large audience that resonates with these values.

Alongside the showcase of culture is sustainability for the digital economy, a key component to what ZionVerse hopes to achieve. For this reason, they are also introducing many DeFi components through the introduction of their Genesis NFT. Through this provision, investing, trading staking and economic value are given to the community.

In the example of the Lakshmi NFTs, users will gain 108% APY in USDC, paid monthly for a year in non-inflationary returns, in addition to the 3D model and spatial audio users would expect in a standard NFT.

Proving the interest in this idea, all 5555 of the Lakshmi NFTs were sold out in 19 days, at 101 USDC each, bringing more than $560,000 to the platform.

Living a digital life

To give NFTs their utility, ZionVerse has developed a location for holders to have fun and effectively live their digital lives. Taking shape in their composable gaming platform, players will participate in a user-generated gaming platform hosted on the Unity game engine, on technology inspired by Minecraft. The engine itself is 3D voxel-based, integrated with Minecraft content to carry over progress into the ZionVerse. They believe that their form of template-based game creation can make user-generated games possible, similar to what TikTok achieved for videos.

The team has received funding from institutional investors, including Mayfield and Leo Capital, alongside partnerships with Vauld, Ranveer Allahbadia and Akshat Shrivastava, the second-largest finance Youtuber in India.