🙅‍♂️ A step too far

Welcome back to The Drop!

Today we’ve got a troubling gaming update, as well as some news from the entertainment side of crypto.

Let’s dive in.

— Kate Irwin

P.S. Let me know how you’re liking The Drop! Send me an email at [email protected].

Pixels founder faces death threats

Luke Barwikowski, founder of the pixelated MMORPG Pixels on Ronin, has revealed that he’s received repeated death threats against him and his family because of his role in the crypto gaming industry.

“I don't think people understand the amount of death threats Web3 founders get — it's kind of crazy,” he wrote. “I have thick skin & good opsec though.” 

OpSec, or operations security, is a term that refers to one’s security process that prevents sensitive info from getting into the wrong hands. 

“It’s not just me,” Barwikowski added, suggesting other crypto founders face similar threats.

In a message, he told Blockworks that many of the threats come from who he believes are “botters,” or people who break the rules by deploying bots to exploit the Pixels game for financial gain. When the team finds and restricts the bot accounts, those botters can become angry, resulting in death threats directed at the team.

The threats have reportedly come through direct messages and replies on X, Discord, Telegram and email, Barwikowski said.

When it comes to death threats online, the Pixels founder suspects they’re all too common. “I would bet most Web3 game founders have had them,” he added. 

Skarly, the pseudonymous founder of the game Onchain Heroes, responded: “fr, im [sic] terrified to dox.”

Karel Vuong, co-founder of the gaming-focused EVM blockchain Treasure, told me he’s also been subjected to “ample” death threats as well as other threats of violence.

Unfortunately, harassment in the gaming industry is a broader problem. 

A 2023 Game Developers Conference survey found that 40% of developers who responded said they had received some type of harassment from players. 

While some founders in blockchain gaming adopt pseudonyms to protect their privacy, there are other strategies that could help. It’s wise to collect all evidence of the threats, notify your close family or friends to raise awareness about the concern, and notify local law enforcement to begin a record of the incidents.

Taking steps to protect your digital privacy could help in real life, too. Omitting location info on social media accounts and using a VPN could help mask your location. Plus, sites like DeleteMe could help purge your digital footprint.  

Blurring out your home on GPS sites, or exploring ways to obscure your name from your property on public records before buying a home could also help make it harder for someone to discern your location.

Story launches IP Portal

The team behind the Story blockchain has launched what it’s calling IP Portal — a platform that lets anyone register their own IP onchain. 

The platform also lets creators license their IP, opt into AI training on their work if desired, and “remix” other IPs in a way that retains attribution to the original artists.

Story is framing this as a way to address AI companies training models on artists’ work without permission. I personally don’t think this would actually stop the AI crawlers — especially if your work has already been reuploaded or distributed elsewhere — though it is an interesting way to bring art onchain and license it out to others. 

My take? It’s still a good idea to register your work with the US Copyright Office if you want to have a paper trail to protect it.

Seven Deadly Sins anime gets NFTs

Soneium-based fan protocol Yoake is launching NFTs using art from the Netflix anime show The Seven Deadly Sins about a decade after the show’s launch. The news dropped last week, and the mint and art reveal is taking place today.

Yoake licensed the anime franchise, which was originally a manga (comic) series created by Nakaba Suzuki and published by Japanese manga and books publisher Kodansha.

This batch of NFTs will be of this shot from the show, where the lead protagonist Meliodas (left) sits with Zeldris (right):

These NFTs are only available to mint on OpenSea as part of the deal. Minting will cost 0.002 ETH per NFT, which is about $5 at the time of writing. There will be no capped supply for the first 72 hours, however, so don’t expect scarcity or much post-mint trading with this collection. Over 7,000 NFTs had already been minted at the time of writing.

“We’re proud to facilitate bringing top-tier franchises like The Seven Deadly Sins directly to fans with Yoake,” OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer said in a statement.

This NFT go-round is just the beginning, according to a rep for the project, who said that other future collections will showcase other shots from this show. They added that the main utility of these NFTs is “access to future YOAKE experiences” and that buyers will be considered early contributors.

Many years ago, I watched a few seasons of The Seven Deadly Sins. It’s a fun, cheeky show with an upbeat vibe. Expect sexualized female characters, bright colors and filler episodes. Online, it’s been criticized for its questionable character relationships (to put it lightly) and for its animation and art quality going downhill as the seasons progressed. I’ll admit, I didn’t finish the show.

It sounds like Yoake plans to license more existing Japanese IP, so stay tuned.

Mintify Foundation releases MINT token

Lately, there’s been a trend of marketplaces and platforms launching tokens, like OpenSea or Kaito.

Now, crypto trading platform Mintify’s Foundation arm is launching a MINT token on Solana, which they’re calling a “currency for the onchain capital markets.” 

In an exclusive interview, Mintify Founder and CEO Evan Varsamis explains the firm has expanded beyond just NFTs.

“All assets, all chains, one interface” is the promise, Varsamis says, though the team is focusing “heavily” on fungible tokens on Solana and Base as well. 

They’re also planning to launch an iOS app, not to be confused with Mintifi, another financial platform. And there’s an AI-powered tool slated for launch in the next “couple months.”

Varsamis founded the Mintify Foundation, and David Accute is the Mintify Foundation’s CEO.

When I asked who else is in the foundation, Varsamis said: “I guess I can only share like, one of the names for whatever reason.”

“It’s nothing weird, it’s more of like, the other party’s like a legal office,” he added.

Ronin NFTs are live on OpenSea starting today: