⚔️ Moku Mash

GM! Another day closer to the weekend, amirite?

These bright summery days here in the Pacific Northwest really make me feel like I should step outside. Those gloomy fall clouds can pop up sooner than you think. 

But there are just too many games to play…

— Kate Irwin

Sky Mavis exec Kathleen Osgood joins Moku

Community-focused gaming startup Moku has hired Kathleen Osgood as its chief business officer to cement the firm as a key player in crypto-powered AI gaming.

Osgood was previously Ronin builder Sky Mavis’s Director of Business Development for over three years, and was Jump Capital’s Director of Market Development before that.

Osgood told me in an interview that she’ll be focused on bringing new partnerships, market-makers, and institutions to the a16z Speedrun-backed studio.

“Web3 gaming is broken. Nearly everyone is trying the same model,” Osgood wrote in a post announcing her new role. “It’s not about more games. It's about a different way to earn from games.”

In September, Moku raised $5.35 million in funding from Sky Mavis, a16z Games’ Speedrun, Framework Ventures, 32-bit Ventures, and over a dozen angel investors, plus others.

Moku began in 2021 as a launchpad and engagement platform to organize the Ronin community around different projects, but now has its own Ronin-based NFT collection of 8,888 cutesy characters and a flagship game, Grand Arena. The Mokis look a bit like bear-raccoon hybrids, and wear a range of different accessories and outfits. The floor price for a Moki Genesis NFT is about 219 RON, which is about $96.

“It’s built for AI,” Osgood told me of the upcoming game. “I think a lot of the problem in Web3, and people are seeing, is there are a lot of bots, and there isn’t a sticky audience.”

“Moku is turning it on its head and being like, we’re going to build a game for AI, and we’re going to create this whole AI system,” she said.

Essentially, Grand Arena players can bring select NFTs they own into the game as cards and have them battle each other in a hands-off way where the human player is primarily a spectator. NFT owners can also earn royalties on their assets when they’re used in-game.

NFTs that can connect to Grand Arena will be able to battle others’ NFT characters, and their characters' personalities will change based on what happens.

Some early renderings and art of the game’s environment suggests it may have vertical battler elements in the vein of MapleStory or Super Smash Bros. 

“I think this could transcend and just become like an AI-native competitive layer for all of gaming,” Osgood said. “Even past gaming, it’s mostly idle NFTs, assets, or IP that can come in and plug themselves in.”

Grand Arena has traits of an idle, casual battler game that could be appealing to those holding different NFTs but who maybe don’t have the time to grind levels in different games. 

The Moku team plans to focus on Moki Mayhem with its own NFTs within Grand Arena first, with plans to let third-party collections plug in in the future. 

“It actually is creating a whole new niche within crypto,” Osgood said.

Venture Studio Thesis* acquires Lolli 

Yes, the asterisk is part of the name.

Thesis*, a bitcoin-focused crypto firm that counts Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, and Dragonfly among its investors, is acquiring the rewards startup Lolli.

Thesis* is behind the Fold bitcoin payments app and cards, the tBTC bitcoin bridge, the Embody menstrual cycle tracking app, the Taho crypto wallet, and other products. 

Founded back in 2018, Lolli is a consumer-focused mobile app and online plugin that gives users varying amounts of bitcoin or cash back on purchases from over 25,000 different stores. There are also 1,000 mobile games users can play to earn rewards, too. 

The team told me the Lolli iOS app has seen over 381,000 downloads in total thus far, while the Android app has been downloaded over 111,000 times. Lolli has around 600,000 total users across its mobile apps and online plugin.

Lolli has a 4.8 out of 5-star review on the iOS App Store, but users on both Android and iOS have reported issues with delayed payouts. 

The Lolli team says it processes payout transfers once a week to prevent fraud and ensure secure transactions.

Thesis* CEO Matt Luongo told me they’re aware users want faster payouts and that they’re working to realize this.

“Later this year, we plan to release instant rewards payouts and additional ways for users to redeem their sats,” Luongo said. “Faster, simpler payouts have been one of the most requested features, so we're excited to make it happen.”

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