After publishing my breakdown on blockchain gaming, a number of people have asked “What are your thoughts on STEPN?” So, here they are!

In 2018, Vietnamese game creator Sky Mavis launched Axie Infinity, a Pokemon-like game universe in which players acquire and battle digital pets called Axies. The game took off in developing countries such as the Philippines, promising more money than many could make in their day jobs and popularizing play-to-earn as a business model. To date, the game has earned over $4 billion in NFT sales. However, the startup’s recent $600M+ hacker attack represents a financial blow to an already struggling in-game economy.

Sean Thielen-Esparza is co-founder & CEO of Genesis, a team of multidisciplinary individuals creating tools to empower the sovereign developers, creatives, and users of the new web.

While March has brought exciting news to the NFT market (Yuga Labs, OpenSea), trading volume is on the decline. For example, OpenSea’s monthly volume fell 50% in March from January’s high.

Alex Herrity is co-founder of Anima, a platform and studio for frontier augmented reality and blockchain technology. He’s previously led teams building Epic Games Store, Fortnite, HBO NOW, and Ultravisual (acquired by Flipboard).

Charli Cohen is a fashion designer and entrepreneur who’s been building for the metaverse since 2012. She’s developed digital / physical fashion collaborations for brands such as Pokémon, Ubisoft, and Capcom and created extended reality fashion brand Charli Cohen. She’s currently working on launching digital fashion platform RSTLSS.