Why Ape hold BAS? (December 23, 2021)
An in depth dive into the utility model for the BAS token.
One of the most challenging aspects to crypto is creating a well designed token utility model to amplify the products of the project whilst bringing a real value add to the token holders and ecosystem. Ultimately the tokenomics, products and community define the success or failure of the token.
In this article we focus on the tokenomics and utility, presenting the main mechanics we aim to embed into the token and how they fit into the greater ecosystem.
Note: The ideas expressed in this article have been provisionally approved on an initial legal revision after lengthy study, some aspects may change (unlikely) pending further revisions.
At Block Ape Scissors, we aim to innovate and look to the future of blockchain gaming, as such we have spent extensive time researching various models, this has unfortunately also led to some miscommunication and confusion surrounding our tokens utility, which we aim to resolve in this article.
Our goal is to improve upon current ideas in the blockchain and NFT gaming space, providing innovative ways to make our token interact with our NFT ecosystem and the greater metaverse whilst casting our eyes forward to any regulatory issues that will emerge as crypto mass adoption and subsequent government regulations are enforced over 2022 and following years.
We believe this to be in the best interest of our holders in order to create sustainable growth and value over the coming years, as well as to create a gaming ecosystem that is able to scale above and beyond where crypto gaming is currently, capturing the attention of the global mainstream market.
The aims of our token utility model are:
- 1.Constant buy pressure
Mechanisms to create constant buying pressure are essential to the long term survival of a token. In order to achieve stability beyond the fluctuations of the market and turn a cryptocurrency from a speculative asset into a utility token, there needs to be some form of actions on behalf of the product and token holders that cause a continuous demand from the market.
2. Increased holders
As the project grows and so does the demand of the products being offered, things should be designed in such a way that the BAS token is bought and held by the growing user base. This creates a more decentralized ownership of the token and more stability to the market as users enter and exit the ecosystem.
3. High TVL
The concept of locking tokens is also a key aspect to ensuring the long term growth of the project, there should be mechanics in place to ensure that as the user base and products grow, so does the amount of BAS being ‘locked’ in smart contracts, clearly providing some product or service in exchange.
4. Spending Requirement
Combining with mechanism 1, it is important for there to be a spending element to the BAS token, requiring ecosystem users to replenish their BAS holdings over time.
5. Holder rights
It is essential that the community of token holders be respected within the decision making process of the project development, as such a governance element to the token is important to empower holders with a voice on decisions. It is also important that there be a value add and access to special opportunities and services through holding the token.
(All numbers are arbitrary and merely for explanatory purposes)
- 1.The BAS token will act as a booster on in game earnings.
Example:
A player winning a game and holding 100 BAS may win 10 in game BANANA tokens, whilst a user holding 1000 BAS may win 20 in game BANANA tokens. The tokens won will interact with the NFTs held by the player, e.g. Bananas will augment APE characters, whilst Lootbox tokens will be required to mint NFT items and so forth.
The benefit to the player is that the more BAS he holds, the more he wins playing and by consequence the faster he can augment his NFTs to unlock more features within the ecosystem and improve his competitive gaming experience, turning them into more valuable assets.
This mechanism works as it allows all players regardless of BAS held to still progress as they play, however still incentivising larger spenders to purchase more and to hold it in order to increase their in game earnings. Please note that holding the BAS token will not provide an advantage in terms of gameplay between players, i.e. a player holding more BAS won’t be more likely to beat a player holding less, it is only upon the game completing and the result being set that he earns more in game tokens.
This mechanic not only creates demand (Point 1) for the BAS token as more gamers enters the ecosystem, but also results in them holding the token whilst playing our games due to the value add it brings, increasing our holder count (Point 2) and decentralisation of token ownership.
2. Tribes will allow their members to stake BAS
Tribes will be collectives of apes within the game, operating like conventional player guilds. They will be led by an ‘Alpha’ ape and a council. In order to create a tribe there shall be certain conditions that will have to be met through the use of special NFT items and character requirements (to be explained in subsequent articles).
All members of the tribe will be able to stake BAS to the tribe, and all members of the tribe will avail of the average BAS of the tribe:
Average BAS = Total BAS staked in tribe / Total players in tribe
A % of all earnings of tribe members is sent to the tribe and divided by the tribe members based on their share of staked BAS. This will essentially turn tribes into BAS centered e-sports teams, where Tribe alphas and councils will need to identify high skill players to bring into the tribe, alongside large BAS token holders.
The result means high skill players win more due to their BAS multiplier being higher than if they were playing on their own, and large BAS token holders passively earn in game tokens from the talent of the tribe, which they will then be able to use to mint or augment their NFTs for play or to be sold on the marketplace.
This mechanism creates an incentive for large BAS holders who may not play the game much, to hold their tokens (Point 2) and stake them to tribes cultivating strong players, allowing them to simply earn in game tokens to augment the value of their NFT inventories.
(Tribe mechanics and further incentives for participating in them shall be explored in subsequent articles.)
3. BAS backed NFTs
Minting NFTs within the BAS ecosystem will require a payment in BAS and an in game token (e.g. Lootbox tokens for Items). The BAS paid is split between the game development studio and a smart contract that holds BAS for NFT ‘disenchantment’, whilst the in game token is burnt. This means that the player can, if he wishes, turn his NFT back into BAS based on the current minting price of an NFT minus an operator fee.
The amount of BAS paid to mint will be calculated along a curve where as more BAS is stored in the smart contract, the less BAS it will cost to mint. The logic here is that as the BAS gaming ecosystem grows, and more players join, more NFTs will be minted and held by players and more BAS will be locked within this smart contract, i.e. there will be high ‘TVL’ behind the NFTs. In order to compensate for the expected rise in BAS price due to more being bought and locked, it is necessary that the price of BAS decrease along with the increase in TVL, in order to keep the minting price stable and the game still accessible to everyone. Conversely, a decrease in TVL will result in an increase in BAS required to mint. The BAS received for disenchantment will be regulated with the same maths and all logic will be handled by smart contract (subject to multiple audits).
Example (All numbers are purely arbitrary for explanatory purposes):
NFTs in BAS = 100
NFT TVL = 100 BAS
Mint Price = 1 BAS
Disenchant Return = 0.9 BAS
BAS price = 1 usd
Now fast-forward a month later, and the BAS ecosystem has gained a lot of players who have both purchased BAS and minted NFTs.
NFTs in BAS = 1000
NFT TVL = 800 BAS
Mint Price = 0.8 BAS
Disenchant Return = 0.72 BAS
BAS price = 1.2 usd
This system and the mathematical equations that regulate it, will signify that regardless of how many players are in the BAS ecosystem, the ‘cost’ of minting and the value received through disenchantment will remain fairly constant, allowing players a fairer experience compared to conventional legacy gaming.
This mechanism is therefore designed to increase TVL (Point 3) and provide a spending requirement (Point 4) of the BAS token as the products scale. Due to the game-NFT interactions and competitive metas of our games, we expect there to be a floating peg (i.e. above disenchantment market price) for the NFTs in meta.
4. NFT trading volumes to buybacks
Given the volumes of NFTs traded within blockchain ecosystems, it only makes sense for the BAS ecosystem to take a portion of comissions from NFT trading volumes and to utilize them for buybacks. The team is still currently deliberating on how to best enact these buybacks, i.e. whether they should be event based or automatic through smart contract functions, however there shall certainly be a mechanism by which trading volume commissions within our NFT marketplace are utilized to buyback BAS.
The bought back BAS will then be used in a number of ways, one of which will be to send the BAS to the NFT TVL smart contract. The effect this has is that the price of NFTs for players minting will be decreased, an effective countermeasure should the BAS token price spike making the game NFTs alot more expensive.
The effect this mechanism has is that it creates constant buying pressure (Point 1) on the token, as well as for the NFT TVL rerouting of BAS, increased token TVL (Point 3).
5. Governance
The BAS token will allow holders to cast votes on ecosystem development. As we grow there will be grant programs, bounties and gaming related events sponsored by the BAS treasury based on the communities votes. The BAS treasury shall also follow the communities guidance on the development of new games and experiences surrounding the BAS universe. You can view the BAS Governance forum (Point 5) on https://snapshot.org/#/blockapescissorsdao.eth
6. Alternative Utility
The BAS team also aims to develop technology that can act as the entryway for other game studios into the NFT and blockchain world. As such we shall be developing b2b centred products such as an NFT launchpad, where we shall vet, incubate and assist game studios and gaming related NFT projects to launch their NFT collections.
The BAS team is committed to upholding the highest standards with regards to offering these secondary products to the community, and BAS token and NFT holders will receive benefits (e.g. pre-sale whitelisting for NFT launches) for these events, products and services.
This secondary set of products and mechanisms will stimulate buy pressure (Point 1) and bas holding (Point 2) as well as provide exclusive opportunities (Point 5) to holders.
We hope this article provides much needed insight into the utility and operations of the BAS token. The team is currently developing the smart contract and underlying infrastructure of these solutions and an up to date roadmap shall be released in January along with more in depth articles on the following topics:
- Gamester Utility
- BAS Tribes
- NFT and Game token ecosystem
- BAS x Metaverse
- Game development roadmap
- NFT launchpad release
- Marketplace Development
We apologise for the long wait to release this information and appreciate your patience, its been quite a journey getting to this stage and we are only at the beginning of what the BAS ecosystem has planned.
We thank the whole team, our partners, Binance and most importantly the community for all the support, we wouldn’t have gotten here without you and we look forward to the brightest of futures as we keep innovating and building upon what we set out to achieve.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy holidays, and the warmest of wishes to you and your families.
And lastly, Always remember,
Ape together,
Ape Strong.