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April's Record-Breaking Meme Coin Attention Affects On-Chain Gaming

Author: Adriana Parker
Cryptocurrency had a turbulent April this year, as a record-breaking number of meme coins gained widespread attention and liquidity. This newfound attention caused major shifts in the on-chain gaming ecosystem. According to the analysis conducted by blockchain analytics firm, DappRadar, there was an overall decrease in on-chain gaming activity of 10%, with an average of 672,000 unique active wallets recorded. Virtual world trading was the hardest hit, with a huge decline of 74% in total trading volume, compared to March. Additionally, the number of recorded land sales dipped to a low of 16,149.

The current craze surrounding meme coins was identified by DappRadar as being one of the main factors in these declines within the Web3 gaming sector. Trading activity shifted to the short term trends of meme coins, thus causing a decrease in liquidity for virtual land and other low-value Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

However, there were some upswings in April. Even the most affected gaming blockchains still saw some single digit increases in daily unique active wallets. The top performer was WAX, 5.2% above that of March's. Moreover, the Sandbox experienced an 18.83% increase in trading volume, surpassing the $1 million mark due to their Mega City 3 Land Sale offering.

In general, cryptocurrency has seen a shift in sentiment from the metaverse to memecoin craze. In the early days of the blockchain gaming hype it was conceivable that virtual land could command prices of up to $450,000 as it did for a Snoop Dogg neighbour in February of 2022. But today, with the attention shifted towards meme coins, such prices are unlikely to be seen again.

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