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Mark Cuban is calling — he wants to know if every IPO is going to feel like a memecoin launch. 

Is he mad about Circle dropping 13% in a week?

The crypto roller coaster never stops. Now, TradFi’s along for the ride.

— Kate Irwin

Ronin weighs its options

Arbitrum’s gaming investment group is offering Ronin up to 750,000 ARB spread across three consecutive years to join them as an “Orbit” chain.

Currently, that’s worth about $367,500, which doesn’t seem like a whole lot.

But in this down-and-out gaming market, maybe that’s enough. 

Ronin’s cofounders shared screenshots on social media of the offer from Arbitrum Gaming Ventures (AGV), noting that it would also include Gaming Content Creator Program access (social content support funded by Arbitrum DAO). 

They’d also get financial assistance with audit costs via an existing $10 million Arbitrum ecosystem audit program.

“Cool to see Arbitrum throwing their hat into the ring,” Jeff “Jihoz” Zirlin, one of the founders, wrote in a pretty neutral-seeming response to the offer, which came from AGV councilmember and Offchain Labs Head of Gaming and Consumer Partnerships David Bolger.

The proposal emphasizes Arbitrum’s continued interest in gaming.

Despite some controversy earlier this year around how much money AGV more broadly was committing to gaming, they’re still pushing forward in the sector. 

AGV was previously known as the Arbitrum Gaming Catalyst. Its founding partner, Daniel Peng, told me back in March that they were talking to over 100 game teams (some of those talks seemed to have resulted in investments since).

Arbitrum Gaming Ventures is now helping fund titles like Wildcard (a fun MOBA-style creature battler), plus gaming startups like Xai Games and Proof of Play (the latter of which recently killed its onchain game Pirate Nation).

“Studio Chain” is also building with Arbitrum, which is a gaming- and entertainment-focused Orbit chain from the My Pet Hooligan-affiliated Karrat Foundation.

Ronin’s founders don’t seem totally sold on the idea of jumping on the ARB train just yet. They’re still open to offers from other sequencers. 

Ronin and Sky Mavis cofounder Aleksander Larsen specifically mentioned Optimism and zkSync as other possible vectors for Ronin to become an L2 besides going the Arbitrum route.

Zirlin also emphasized that these decisions are “not fully up to Sky Mavis.”

“They will be worked on and decided in conjunction with the governing validators,” he explained.

Last week, Ronin’s leaders announced they were planning to rejoin Ethereum, moving away from being a sidechain to turn into a true Ethereum L2. 

The change could help speed up transactions and make Ronin more than just a gaming chain. 

Where will they land? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

But it’s probably a sign that sidechains are over. At least, for now.

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Cards for what?

We don’t yet know what those Monad cards that dropped yesterday are for, besides, well, being a pretty effective CT marketing scheme for Monad. 

I heard they made special “diamond” cards for their biggest critics.

Could the cards be a gateway to a future drop, or some other type of special access? Only time will tell.

But if you want one, reply to this email with your X handle. I’ll nominate the first three readers who respond!

It’s the summer of DATs and the party is going strong. 

But when October rolls around, everyone will be looking to DAS: London to hear from these meta-defining voices on where things stand and where they’re headed.

Get your ticket today with promo code: DROP100 for £100 off

📅 October 13-15 | London

Which one are you?