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The Ownership Paradox: Why Blockchain Games Have Betrayed Digital Property Rights
Every year, my company Emfarsis partners with the Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) to conduct an industry-wide survey of blockchain gaming professionals. And every year, the overwhelming majority of respondents agree that digital asset ownership is the single biggest benefit that blockchain can bring to games; this year was no different, with 71.1% ranking it number one. Even with more people joining the industry — in 2024 we had three times as many respondents as compared to the inaugural survey in 2021 — it’s always digital asset ownership that comes out as the industry’s undisputed North Star.
But while we hail digital asset ownership as blockchain gaming’s defining feature, most blockchain games today are free-to-play and don’t require asset ownership at all. On top of that, much-hyped promises that rest on the premise of digital asset ownership remain largely unrealized. Apparently, blockchain gaming professionals have found themselves in a curious bind where the best proposition they have for gamers is the same thing they are making excuses for.
Digital asset ownership has always been central to blockchain gaming, offering players true digital property rights to own, trade, and monetize in-game assets in the form of tokens and NFTs. Going back to play-to-earn’s heyday of 2020-21, digital asset ownership was how you could tell the difference between a blockchain game and a traditional game. Early games required players to buy one or more NFTs upfront. But this created a barrier to onboarding, as many couldn’t afford the NFT(s) or simply weren’t enthused about having to buy an asset in a game they didn’t even know they liked yet.
Of course, these NFTs weren’t just any old game assets, they were yield generating. Buying an NFT in a blockchain game was more like investing in a tool that you need to do a job — a job that paid in crypto. Some of the more entrepreneurially-minded NFT owners started renting out their assets to would-be players, in return for a cut of their earnings. It was an amazing demonstration of the kind of decentralized, permissionless innovation that is made possible by blockchain — a community-led workaround that was developed by the players, not the game developers.
Amazing as it was, the rental system which was popular in early blockchain games like Axie Infinity, Pegaxy, CyBall, and others, didn’t actually solve the onboarding problem. The limited availability of assets and high entry costs created a bottleneck, so the rental demand couldn’t be met, thus perpetuating the friction with top-of-the-funnel user acquisition.
By 2022, in an effort to lower barriers and attract a broader audience, blockchain games had started to embrace the free-to-play model instead. With this, blockchain-based features of the game were treated as optional enhancements rather than a prerequisite to play. Players could purchase assets later, or commit time and effort to earn them, but only if they desired. There was no explicit requirement to do so.
The move came at a time when blockchain games were being pressured to focus less on financialization and more on fun. And it was seen as necessary if they wanted to nab a share of the big, juicy $220B traditional gaming market, made up of billions of gamers that were unlikely to install a crypto wallet let alone put up cash for an NFT.
This contradiction — where digital asset ownership is both a defining feature and a significant barrier — reflects the complexities of blockchain gaming’s evolution. On one hand, ownership is what makes blockchain games special; on the other, requiring it deters players. To attract traditional gamers, who lack Web3 familiarity, developers have prioritized accessibility.
Findings from the 2024 BGA State of the Industry Report back this up. When asked about the biggest challenges facing the industry, more than half (53.9%) cited onboarding challenges and poor user experience, while another 33.6% said that blockchain concepts are not fully understood. Thus, without clear, tangible benefits, the effort and cost of becoming a digital asset owner is unjustified. This reveals a major pain point for developers trying to sell noobs on a clunky tech stack that feels more like a chore than a choice, so you can see how they arrived at the decision not to force it.
But this raises the question: How much blockchain can a blockchain game omit, before the blockchain game is no longer a game on the blockchain?
This half-hearted approach to embracing on-chain experiences means that potentially transformative Web3-native innovations — like the promise of interoperability, where players could use a sword from Game A in Game B — remain largely theoretical. Some progress has been made, such as enabling NFT profile picture (PFP) collections to become playable avatars, but this mostly caters to existing web3 communities rather than delivering a palpable benefit to lure the Web2 gaming masses.
True interoperability requires industry-wide collaboration, both technically and economically, which is still fragmented across chains and ecosystems. Meanwhile, developers are sweeping Web3 under the rug, treating it as a layer in the tech stack rather than a defining feature. So for most players, the «Web3» part is hidden, optional, and about as impactful as a collectible spoon in a cereal box.
Frankly, the notion of «ownership» in Web3 is vastly overhyped and largely unsupported by any substantial product-market fit. Web3 ownership, as it’s often sold, is a mirage. The reality is: even if you «own» an NFT, its utility and value often depend entirely on the developers’ centralized infrastructure and ongoing operations. What Web3 does offer is increased agency over your assets, allowing for quicker, frictionless sales. But true ownership? Not so much.
There’s actually little evidence to suggest that Web3 ownership has driven sustainable demand. That said, the ability to exert more control over your digital assets is undeniably valuable — just not the «true ownership» that’s often claimed.
That said, there have been some very promising experiments with fully onchain games and creative catalysts such as the Loot NFT collection. Its composable structure allowed developers to build derivative projects, games, and economies around it without needing approval or input from the original creators.
Other recent innovations born in the arena of digital asset ownership include Ethereum standards ERC-6551, ERC-4337, ERC-404 and soulbound tokens (SBTs). ERC-6551 introduced tokenbound accounts, allowing NFTs to act as their own wallets. ERC-4337 delivered account abstraction, enabling customizable wallets that enhance security and usability without relying on centralized custodians. ERC-404 combined the features of fungible and non-fungible tokens, to offer flexible ownership of both unique and divisible digital assets. SBTs gave us non-transferable, identity-linked assets representing credentials for trust and reputation.
While still early on the adoption curve, these advancements empower gamers to unlock experiences that would never have been possible without digital property rights. And the results of the annual BGA survey confirm that the appeal of digital asset ownership remains strong: it gives players agency, control and value.
The challenge now is to let players experience the fun first and discover the value of ownership organically. But we shouldn’t be ashamed to stand up for what we truly believe in. If we want others to get onboard with our vision, we need to develop experiences that demonstrate the benefits of digital asset ownership from the get-go.
Otherwise, we’re not doing anything very special at all. Are we?
Thanks to Nathan Smale, Duncan Matthes and Owl of Moistness for their review of this article.
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Crypto Daybook Americas: Bitcoin Reasserts Itself as Stocks, Bonds Fall, Gold Hits Record High
By James Van Straten (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)
«There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.» Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
Few quotes better capture the current turbulence in global markets. For decades, the classic portfolio of 60% equities and 40% bonds was considered the cornerstone of balanced investing. This allocation typically offered protection in downturns through bonds, while equities drove returns in times of economic growth.
We saw this play out during crises like 2008 and 2020, when iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) surged amid global uncertainty. Today, that dynamic has been upended. With persistent geopolitical tension ignited by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, stubborn inflation and slowing growth, Treasury yields have climbed and bond prices fallen. TLT is now down some 50% from its 2020 highs.
The equity side of the portfolio isn’t faring much better. U.S. stocks are underperforming, caught in what some are calling a broader «Sell America» trade. Even the dollar, which typically strengthens in risk-off environments, is weakening as capital flows shift toward the yen and euro.
In this new regime, alternative assets are taking center stage. Gold has surged to $3,500 an ounce for the first time, cementing its role as a haven. To underscore its meteoric rise: the precious metal has added about $6 trillion in market cap this year, triple the market cap of bitcoin (BTC) at its all-time high. Gold ETF inflows, measured over a 90-day rolling period, are approaching 9 million ounces, the biggest surge since 2022 and among the largest in the past decade.
Bitcoin, while lagging behind gold, is also reasserting itself. It has reached new highs in dominance within the crypto market and is beginning to diverge from U.S. tech stocks. It’s increasingly behaving like an uncorrelated asset, valuable in a diversified portfolio. This Friday, $6.7 billion in bitcoin options are set to expire, including $330 million in call options at the $100,000 strike price, setting the stage for a potentially volatile final week of April. Stay alert!
What to Watch
- Crypto:
- April 22: The Lyora upgrade goes live on the Injective (INJ) mainnet.
- April 25, 1 p.m.: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Crypto Task Force Roundtable on «Key Considerations for Crypto Custody«.
- April 28: Enjin Relaychain increases active validator slots to 25 from 15, to enhance decentralization.
- April 29, 1:05 a.m.: BNB Chain (BNB) — BSC mainnet hardfork.
- April 30, 9:30 a.m.: ProShares expects its XRP ETF, offering exposure through futures and swap agreements, to begin trading on NYSE Arca.
- April 30, 10:03 a.m.: Gnosis Chain (GNO), an Ethereum sister chain, will activate the Pectra hard fork on its mainnet at slot 21,405,696, epoch 1,337,856.
- Macro
- Day 2 of 6: World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) spring meetings in Washington.
- April 22, 8:30 p.m.: Statistics Canada releases March producer price inflation data.
- PPI MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0.4%
- PPI YoY Prev. 4.9%
- April 22, 6 p.m.: Fed Governor Adriana D. Kugler will deliver a speech titled «Transmission of Monetary Policy.»
- April 23, 8 a.m.: Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography releases retail sales data.
- Retail Sales MoM Prev. 0.6%
- Retail Sales YoY Prev. 2.7%
- April 23, 9:45 a.m.: S&P Global releases (flash) U.S. April purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data.
- Composite PMI Prev. 53.5
- Manufacturing PMI Est. 49.4 vs. Prev. 50.2
- Services PMI Est. 52.8 vs. Prev. 54.4
- Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
Token Events
- Governance votes & calls
- Aave DAO is discussing partnering with Ether.fi to create a custom Aave market on EVM layer 2 to “facilitate on-chain credit for everyday payments through the Ether.fi Cash credit card program.”
- April 23, 9 p.m.: Manta Network to host a townhall meeting with its founders.
- April 24, 8 a.m.: Alchemy Pay to host an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on its 2025 roadmap.
- April 30, 12 p.m.: Helium to host a community call meeting.
- Unlocks
- April 30: Optimism (OP) to unlock 1.89% of its circulating supply worth $21.83 million.
- May 1: Sui (SUI) to unlock 2.28% of its circulating supply worth $170.93 million.
- May 1: ZetaChain (ZETA) to unlock 5.67% of its circulating supply worth $10.46 million.
- May 2: Ethena (ENA) to unlock 0.73% of its circulating supply worth $11.92 million.
- May 7: Kaspa (KAS) to unlock 0.56% of its circulating supply worth $13 million.
- May 9: Movement (MOVA) to unlock 2.04% of its circulating supply worth $11.23 million.
- Token Launches
- April 22: Hyperlane to airdrop its HYPER tokens.
- April 22: BNB to be listed on Kraken.
- April 23: Zora to airdrop its ZORA tokens.
- April 24: Initia (INIT) to be listed on Binance, CoinW, WEEX, KuCoin, MEXC, and others.
Conferences:
- CoinDesk’s Consensus is taking place in Toronto on May 14-16. Use code DAYBOOK and save 15% on passes.
- Day 1 of 3: Money20/20 Asia (Bangkok)
- April 23: Crypto Horizons 2025 (Dubai)
- April 23-24: Blockchain Forum 2025 (Moscow)
- April 24: Bitwise’s Investor Day for Bitcoin Standard Corporations (New York)
- April 26: Crypto Vision Conference 2025 (Manilla)
- April 26-27: Harvard Blockchain in Action Conference (Cambridge, Mass.)
- April 27: N Crypto Conference 2025 (Kyiv)
- April 27-30: Web Summit Rio 2025
- April 28-29: Blockchain Disrupt 2025 (Dubai)
- April 28-29: Staking Summit Dubai
- April 29: El Salvador Digital Assets Summit 2025 (San Salvador)
- April 29: IFGS 2025 (London)
Token Talk
By Shaurya Malwa
- Pope Francis’ death on Easter Monday triggered significant activity in crypto markets and prediction platforms as traders aimed to capitalize on the news.
- LUCE, a Solana-based memecoin tied to the Vatican’s Holy Year 2025 mascot, surged 45% in value, reaching $0.013, according to CoinGecko data.
- Daily trading volume in the token skyrocketed to $60.27 million from $5 million the previous day, despite the price being down 95% from its November peak of 30 cents.
- Although unaffiliated with the Vatican, LUCE has attracted around 44,800 holders.
- Meanwhile, a Polymarket bet on who will be the next pope has attracted over $3.5 million in volumes since going live on Dec. 31, with over 18 candidates in the mix.
- As of Tuesday morning, Pietro Parolin leads odds at 37%, followed by Luis Antonio Tagle at 23% and Matteo Zuppi at 11%.
Derivatives Positioning
- HBAR, XLM and TRX have seen the most growth in perpetual futures open interest among major tokens in the past 24 hours. However, only TRX has seen a positive cumulative volume delta, implying an influx of new money predominantly on the bullish side.
- BTC’s open interest in has increased to 695K BTC, the most since March 25. ETH’s open interest held shy of the recent record above 11.9 million ETH.
- Perpetual funding rates for most major tokens remain marginally positive in a sign of cautiously bullish sentiment.
- On Deribit, BTC’s short and near-dated calls are now trading at par or a slight premium to puts, another sign of renewed bullishness. ETH puts, however, continue to trade at a premium to calls.
- Block options flows have been muted on Paradigm, with calendar spreads and April put spreads lifted in BTC and ETH.
Market Movements:
- BTC is up 1.45% from 4 p.m. ET Monday at $88,539.04 (24hrs: +1.16%)
- ETH is up 3.43% at $1,628.60 (24hrs: -0.84%)
- CoinDesk 20 is up 1.49% at 2,544.64 (24hrs: -0.3%)
- Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is up 3 bps at 2.98%
- BTC funding rate is at -0.0058% (-2.1353% annualized) on Binance
- DXY is up 0.1% at 98.38
- Gold is up 4.28% at $3,456.97/oz
- Silver is up 0.5% at $32.57/oz
- Nikkei 225 closed -0.17% at 34,220.60
- Hang Seng closed +0.78% at 21,562.32
- FTSE is up 0.49% at 8,315.81
- Euro Stoxx 50 is down 0.28% at 4,922.48
- DJIA closed on Monday -2.48% at 38,170.41
- S&P 500 closed -2.36% at 5,158.20
- Nasdaq closed -2.55% at 15,870.90
- S&P/TSX Composite Index closed -0.76% at 24,008.86
- S&P 40 Latin America closed unchanged at 2,384.47
- U.S. 10-year Treasury rate is unchanged at 4.42%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures are up 0.98% at 5,235.75
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 1.02% at 18,105.00
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are up 0.87% at 38,660.00
Bitcoin Stats:
- BTC Dominance: 64.39% (-0.09%)
- Ethereum to bitcoin ratio: 0.01839 (1.88%)
- Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 840 EH/s
- Hashprice (spot): $45.0 PH/s
- Total Fees: 6.56BTC / $572,645
- CME Futures Open Interest: 139,765 BTC
- BTC priced in gold: 25.5 oz
- BTC vs gold market cap: 7.22%
Technical Analysis
- If you feel gold’s rally is overstretched or overdone, think again.
- The ratio between gold’s spot price and its 200-day simple moving average, currently 1.3, is well below highs seen in 2011-2012 when the yellow metal rose to its then-record price of $2,000.
- The ratio went as high as 5.80 in the 1980.
- Bitcoin tends to follow gold with a lag of couple of months.
Crypto Equities
- Strategy (MSTR): closed on Monday at $317.76 +0.18%), up 2.02% at $324.19 in pre-market
- Coinbase Global (COIN): closed at $175 (-0.02%), up 1% at $176.75
- Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY): closed at C$15.38 (+0.13%)
- MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $12.29 (-2.92%), up 2.36% at $12.59
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $6.29 (-2.63%), up 2.07% at $6.42
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $6.39 (-3.62%)
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $7.47 (-0.53%), up 2.68% at $7.67
- CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $11.74 (-2.49%)
- Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $29.83 (-8.17%)
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $36.59 (+0.03%), unchanged in pre-market
ETF Flows
Spot BTC ETFs:
- Daily net flow: $381.3 million
- Cumulative net flows: $35.86 billion
- Total BTC holdings ~ 1.11 million
Spot ETH ETFs
- Daily net flow: -$25.4 million
- Cumulative net flows: $2.24 billion
- Total ETH holdings ~ 3.30 million
Source: Farside Investors
Overnight Flows
Chart of the Day
- The chart shows the price of eggs in the U.S. has increased by over 200% since 2024, outperforming BTC’s 100% surge. Gold and the S&P 500 have gained 46% and 21%, respectively, over the same period.
- In other words, asset price growth has failed to compensate holders for the inflation on Main Street.
While You Were Sleeping
- Bitcoin, Euro Options Signal Bullishness Against Dollar Amid Equity and Bond Market Downturns (CoinDesk): Preference for BTC and euro call options over dollar exposure suggests investors are rotating out of U.S. assets and into bitcoin, the euro and gold.
- Dow Headed for Worst April Since 1932 as Investors Send ‘No Confidence’ Signal (The Wall Street Journal): Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon Investments, said the Trump administration’s policies have made the U.S. economy increasingly unstable and difficult to gauge, deterring investment.
- Bitcoin Runs Into Resistance Cluster Above $88K. What Next? (CoinDesk): Behavioral aspects of trading could influence whether bitcoin rallies further or faces a new downturn from the resistance zone.
- Bearish Dollar Bets Move Toward Levels That Raise Risk of Recoil (Bloomberg): Despite widespread bets against the dollar, steady demand for Treasuries and technical signals suggest a rebound is likely, though gains may be limited or short-lived if negative news continues.
- Japanese Investors Sold $20B of Foreign Debt as Trump Tariffs Shook Markets (Financial Times): Much of Japan’s selling likely involves U.S. Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by the U.S. government, said Tomoaki Shishido, senior rates strategist at Nomura.
- Bitcoin, Stablecoins Command Over 70% of Crypto Market as BTC Pushes Higher (CoinDesk): Bitcoin dominance rose to 64.6%, the highest since January 2021, as ether slumped and the ETH-to-BTC ratio fell to a five-year low of 0.01765.
In the Ether
Bitcoin (BTC) is on the cusp of breaking out relative to the Nasdaq 100 Composite, with the current BTC/Nasdaq ratio sitting at 4.96. This means it now takes nearly five Nasdaq units to match the value of one bitcoin. The previous record of 5.08 was set in January 2025, when bitcoin hit its all-time high of over $109,000.
Historically, each market cycle has seen the ratio reach new highs—2017, 2021, and now 2025—highlighting bitcoin’s continued outperformance against the Nasdaq.
Across multiple timeframes, bitcoin is increasingly diverging from U.S. tech stocks. Year-to-date, bitcoin is down just 6%, compared to the Nasdaq’s 15% decline. Since Donald Trump’s election victory in November 2024, bitcoin has rallied 30%, while the Nasdaq has fallen 12%.
When measured against the «Magnificent Seven» mega-cap tech stocks, bitcoin remains around 20% below its all-time high from February this year. This indicates that while bitcoin has shown strength, the top tech names are holding up better than the broader Nasdaq Composite.
Strategy (MSTR), a well-known proxy for bitcoin exposure, is also holding up better than the U.S tech stocks. Since joining the QQQ ETF on Dec. 23, MSTR is down 11%, while the ETF itself has dropped over 16%. The divergence has become more pronounced in 2025: MSTR is up 6% year-to-date, compared to QQQ’s 15% decline.
This is a daily technical analysis by CoinDesk analyst and Chartered Market Technician Omkar Godbole.
Bitcoin’s (BTC) bullish advance has encountered a resistance zone above $88,000, marked by crucial levels that could make or break the ongoing recovery rally.
The resistance cluster’s first and perhaps most critical level is the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) at $88,356. The SMA is widely regarded as a key indicator of long-term momentum. Early this month, Coinbase institutional analysts called the downside break of the 200-day SMA in March a sign of the onset of a potential crypto winter.
So, a fresh move above the 200-day SMA could be taken to represent a renewed bullish shift in momentum.
Such a move would trigger a dual breakout, as the Ichimoku cloud’s upper end is located close to the 200-day SMA. A move above the Ichimoku cloud is also said to reflect a bullish shift in momentum.
Developed by a Japanese journalist in the 1960s, the Ichimoku cloud is a technical analysis indicator that offers a comprehensive view of market momentum, support, and resistance levels. The indicator comprises five lines: Leading Span A, Leading Span B, Conversion Line or Tenkan-Sen (T), Base Line or Kijun-Sen (K) and a lagging closing price line. The difference between Leading Span A and B forms the Ichimoku Cloud.
The third and final level forming the resistance cluster is the high of $88,804 on March 24, from where the market turned lower and fell back to $75,000.
A make-or-break resistance zone?
Behavioural aspects of trading come into play when an asset approaches a resistance zone, especially at key levels like the 200-day SMA and the Ichimoku cloud.
Prospect theory suggests that people are typically risk-averse with respect to gains and risk-seeking with respect to losses, known as the “reflection effect.» So, as traders, people tend to be risk-averse while locking in profits and keep losing trades open.
This tendency is amplified when an asset encounters a significant resistance zone. Traders who entered the bitcoin market around $75K, anticipating a rebound, may feel pressured to take profits as the price approaches this resistance. Such selling could, in turn, slow the price ascent or even trigger a new downturn.
Conversely, if bitcoin successfully breaks through the resistance zone, the fear of missing out could prompt more traders to make bullish bets, further fueling bullish momentum and pushing the price higher.
Crypto Daybook Americas: Bitcoin Reasserts Itself as Stocks, Bonds Fall, Gold Hits Record High
Bitcoin Closing In on Historic Breakout vs Nasdaq
Bitcoin Runs Into Resistance Cluster Above $88K. What Next?
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