With its growing and ever-stronger influence in the gaming world, cryptocurrency opens a broad field of services not only for traders and enthusiasts but also for gamers. Since it is a very new trend in the gaming community as a whole and even more so in the one oriented toward exploits, hacks and in-game trading, such as OwnedCore.com, it is crucial to understand how these spheres are crossing.
Why Ethereum is Popular Among Gamers
Ethereum has gained fast popularity among gamers because of the flexibility in its design and its uses within areas of gaming ecosystems. This is because, out of all the cryptocurrencies, Ethereum is something more than just a means of payment; on the platform, Ethereum enables dApps and smart contracts key to any serious gaming environment. The concept of an in-game economy is already so well-engrained in the mind that cryptocurrency like Ethereum fits in these worlds.
A major advantage of Ethereum, though, is the flexibility it offers for gaming-related transactions. As of 2024, Ethereum remains the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, after Bitcoin, having a market cap of more than $300 billion. Because of its distinctive properties, it is perfect for developers to build decentralized gaming platforms and marketplaces of in-game assets, hence the frequently occurring ETH to USD conversions in gaming-related transactions.
Gaming Tokens and NFTs: A Perfect Match
The rise of non-fungible tokens, also known as NFTs, is one of the basic ways Ethereum has influenced the world of gaming. In simple terms, NFTs are unique digital assets; this uniqueness makes them suitable for in-game virtual items, skins, and collectibles. Other games, such as Axie Infinity and Decentraland, have utterly implemented NFTs so as to allow players to purchase, sell, and trade in-game assets.
What makes Ethereum stand out for this particular topic is that it does indeed support the creation and trading of these through the ERC-721 standard.
As of early 2024, there have been sales exceeding $25 billion in NFTs and the majority of that is due to the gaming sector. Going forward in the coming years, this trend doesn’t end anytime soon, either. Casual and competitive gamers are both finding a way to profit from their experiences with NFTs.
Play-to-Earn Models and Their Appeal to Gamers
The so-called P2E games are also changing the facial outlook, while players can make real money through these games. Cryptocurrencies, especially Ethereum, stand at the heart of this shift. During these games, tokens are being doled out to players that might be changed with cryptocurrency or some other basic digital assets within the game. One such famous example of this model is Axie Infinity, where a player earns AXS tokens in the game that they can convert to Ethereum or some other cryptocurrencies.
For gamers who invest a significant amount of time in virtual worlds, the P2E model is particularly attractive since it offers the possibility of financial reward. According to recent statistics, Axie Infinity’s revenue has climbed as high as $1.5 billion in 2023, showing the great potential this model has.
Security in the Gaming Industry with Cryptocurrency
One major reason gamers find cryptocurrency appealing is the extra layer of security inherent in it. In a world where gaming exploits and hacks have become so common, even to the point where forums like OwnedCore are entirely dedicated to the subject, using a decentralized currency to operate, such as Ethereum, adds a layer of safety. The blockchain technology that underpins Ethereum ensures each transaction is recorded on a public ledger, which makes trying to manipulate in-game transactions via hackers much more difficult.
Moreover, cryptocurrency wallets grant players control over their assets. If players store items such as rare skins or exclusive in-game currencies in a secure wallet, they are less at the mercy of hacking into the game servers, which has taken down whole inventories of items that were valuable.
Decentralized Marketplaces for Gamers
Another great use of Ethereum is in bringing decentralization into gaming marketplaces. Conventional gaming platforms, such as Steam or Xbox Live, are fully in control and at the heart of their respective in-game economies, which gamers can never take ownership of or transfer. Ethereum is creating the opportunity for decentralized marketplaces where players will be in complete control of their virtual assets-from trading skins to selling virtual real estate.
Other blockchain-based games, like The Sandbox, also allow their players to purchase, sell and trade virtual land and assets. Everything is recorded on the Ethereum blockchain. These decentralized marketplaces are fast-growing and sales in the real estate market of The Sandbox in-game reached over $350 million as of 2024. These figures give one a hint at the rising value of decentralized platforms within the gaming sector.
Conclusion
With Ethereum at the head, as the world of gaming and cryptocurrency continue to collide, it invisibly shapes what the future of the economy in gaming could look like. From in-game transactions down to the security and exchange of various game assets with decentralized marketplaces, Ethereum remains influential across a wide range of game applications. In the context of community gaming at OwnedCore.com, the general impact of cryptocurrency, especially Ethereum, would be important as more games adopt the use of blockchain technology. With ETH to USD transactions fast turning routine and with Play-to-Earn models collaborating to open revenue streams for gamers, Ethereum’s need and use in gaming will only grow in the future.