Aftermath of Wemade... Game Companies' Issued Cryptocurrencies 'Collapse'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Riding the wave of Play to Earn (P2E) games utilizing Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), the prices of cryptocurrencies issued by domestic game companies have plummeted following the WEMADE incident.

According to the domestic cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, as of 9 a.m. on the 15th, the price of WEMIX was 6,675 KRW. This represents a decline of about 75% from its peak of 27,120 KRW recorded on November 22 last year. WEMADE had raised expectations for building a P2E and blockchain-based game ecosystem platform through WEMIX. In the global game MIR4, the in-game currency 'Heukcheol' could be converted into WEMIX, allowing players to earn real money by playing the game. Consequently, WEMIX's popularity steadily increased. However, controversy arose over allegations of a 'rug pull' after news surfaced that WEMADE sold WEMIX without separate disclosure. Following this, additional sell-offs by investors continued, causing the price to plunge.

Kakao Games' cryptocurrency 'BORA' experienced a similar trend. As of 9 a.m. on the same day, BORA was priced at 1,187 KRW on Bithumb. Compared to 1,633 KRW recorded on November 25 last year, this marks a 27.3% decrease. Although the rebranding to BORA 2.0 on the 8th of this month was expected to be positive news, the price dropped following explanations about the introduction of a 'dynamic token economy due to token inflation.' This was interpreted by the market as meaning tokens could be issued without limit. On the 8th and 12th, prices fell by 8.25% and 9.81%, respectively. The BORA project is led by Metabora, a subsidiary of Kakao Games, which plans to release about ten P2E games within the year.

Experts explain that distrust toward cryptocurrencies operated by game companies has taken root in this situation. Professor Wi Jung-hyun of the Department of Business Administration at Chung-Ang University said, "Cryptocurrency management should be based on fairness and trust, but it is not transparently disclosed, leading to distrust," adding, "It is important whether the game company has stable game service capabilities and whether there is a possibility of circulating the cryptocurrency outside the game, but expectations for these have also diminished." He continued, "The WEMADE incident likely affected Kakao Games, which is in the same industry, and similar issues will arise with newly issued game-related coins."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.