For years, the Metaverse has been synonymous with bulky VR headsets and heavy glasses. But what if the digital world could be projected directly onto your eyes? Smart contact lenses are no longer a dream of science fiction; they are becoming the ultimate frontier of wearable technology.
What Exactly is a Smart Contact Lens?
A smart contact lens is a wearable device that looks like a standard vision-correcting lens but contains a micro-display, tiny sensors, and a power source. Unlike VR headsets that isolate you from the world, these lenses provide Augmented Reality (AR)—layering digital information over your natural field of view.
The Goal: To achieve “Invisible Computing,” where technology disappears into our daily lives, making screens obsolete.
Key Features of the Future “Cyber Eye”
FeatureDescriptionMicro-LED DisplaysHigh-density screens (like Mojo Vision’s 14,000 PPI) that project crisp images directly onto the retina.Eye-TrackingControl the interface just by moving your eyes—no controllers needed.Health MonitoringSensors that can track glucose levels in tears or monitor intraocular pressure for glaucoma.Real-Time ARNavigation arrows, face recognition tags, and live translations appearing in thin air.
Why Smart Lenses Will Change the Metaverse
The biggest hurdle for Metaverse adoption is social friction. People don’t want to wear heavy gear in public. Smart lenses solve this by being:
Discreet: No one knows you are accessing the internet or reading a script.Portable: No batteries to carry in your pocket; energy is often harvested via radio waves or tiny micro-batteries.Always On: Information is available at the blink of an eye, literally.
Mojo Vision: Leading the Invisible Revolution
The most prominent player in this field, Mojo Vision, has already demonstrated working prototypes. Their lens features the smallest, densest display ever made. By focusing on retinal projection, they ensure the image stays in focus even as your eye moves, providing a seamless “heads-up display” (HUD) experience.
Are We Ready for the “Bio-Hacking” Era?
While the technology is exciting, it brings up vital questions about privacy and safety. Will these lenses be comfortable for 16-hour wear? How will we protect our “eye-data” from hackers? As we move closer to a world where our eyes are connected to the cloud, the line between human and machine continues to blur.
Conclusion
The transition from smartphones to smart contact lenses represents the biggest shift in human communication since the invention of the internet. We are moving toward a future where the Metaverse isn’t a place you “visit”—it’s a layer of reality you simply see.
Published: December 25, 2025 at 9:30 am Updated: December 25, 2025 at 9:09 am
by Ana
Edited and fact-checked:
December 25, 2025 at 9:30 am
To improve your local-language experience, sometimes we employ an auto-translation plugin. Please note auto-translation may not be accurate, so read original article for precise information.
In Brief
OpenLedger and Unstoppable Domains have launched the .openx top-level domain to provide AI systems with standardized on-chain identities, enabling automated payments, verifiable outputs, and transparent participation in the Web3 economy.
OpenLedger, a blockchain-based network focused on developing economic infrastructure for AI, reported a collaboration with Unstoppable Domains to introduce .openx, a new top-level domain intended to support on-chain activity within emerging AI-driven markets.
The .openx framework is positioned for environments in which AI systems function as independent economic entities that depend on data, models, and contributors whose roles require clear attribution, compensation, and accountability. Unlike conventional domain structures created primarily for individuals and static websites, .openx is designed specifically for AI models, datasets, and autonomous agents that must establish identity, process payments, and verify the origin of their outputs.
As a Web3-native domain, each .openx address is directly linked to OpenLedger’s payment and attribution infrastructure, allowing AI agents to operate through human-readable identifiers, receive automated compensation, and generate verifiable records of activity without dependence on lengthy wallet addresses, API credentials, or centralized service providers.
“The AI economy today is built on invisible labor and broken incentives,” said the OpenLedger team. “Models generate enormous value, but contributors rarely receive credit or compensation, and users have no way to verify how outputs are produced. The .openx domain introduces an identity layer designed to make AI systems accountable, attributable, and economically transparent by default,” they added.
Establishing Standardized Identity And Economic Infrastructure For AI Systems On-Chain
OpenLedger and Unstoppable Domains announced that the .openx top-level domain will provide AI systems with a standardized identity to operate within the on-chain economy.
As autonomous AI agents increasingly conduct transactions, interact with APIs, and coordinate across protocols, a clear digital identity becomes essential infrastructure. The .openx domain allows AI models and agents to receive automated payments for their activities, document the sources of their knowledge through transparent records, and maintain a single identity across blockchains and applications.
This system also enables seamless integration with decentralized marketplaces for compute, data, and AI services. By combining OpenLedger’s on-chain attribution framework with Unstoppable Domains’ Web3 naming system, the partnership seeks to establish .openx as a core standard for AI operations that prioritize trust, transparency, and economic fairness.
“Unstoppable Domains was built to give ownership and identity back to users,” said Sandy Carter, Chief Business Officer at Unstoppable Domains, in a written statement. “With .openx, that philosophy extends to AI systems themselves, creating a domain layer where agents, data providers, and developers can interact economically without centralized intermediaries,” she added.
The .openx domain is designed to serve AI agents performing autonomous tasks, facilitating trades and negotiations, as well as model developers who publish inference endpoints with integrated monetization. It also supports data networks that need verifiable attribution and contributor rewards, along with protocols and enterprises incorporating AI into on-chain operations. While autonomous agents represent one use case, OpenLedger and Unstoppable Domains emphasize that .openx is primarily intended as foundational infrastructure for a transparent AI economy, where outputs can be verified, contributors are fairly compensated, and trust is maintained through code rather than reliance on external assurances.
Disclaimer
In line with the Trust Project guidelines, please note that the information provided on this page is not intended to be and should not be interpreted as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other form of advice. It is important to only invest what you can afford to lose and to seek independent financial advice if you have any doubts. For further information, we suggest referring to the terms and conditions as well as the help and support pages provided by the issuer or advertiser. MetaversePost is committed to accurate, unbiased reporting, but market conditions are subject to change without notice.
About The Author
Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.
More articles
Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.
Bethesda wants Fallout 5 to be playable for hundreds of hours. The 600-hour goal has brought the series’ history, player expectations, and the “long game” debate back to the agenda.
According to recent information from the Bethesda front, the goal for Fallout 5 is quite ambitious: For players to spend approximately 600 hours in the game under ideal conditions. This approach shows that the footsteps of productions played for years, like Fallout 4 and Skyrim, are being followed.
Bethesda has previously offered long-lasting games with vast maps, side quests, factions, and mod support. However, some players argue that overly long games can create a sense of repetition and lower the quality.
On the other hand, the release of Fallout 5 is not near. Due to The Elder Scrolls VI and other projects, the game is expected to be pushed to the 2030s. Nevertheless, this statement clearly reveals that Bethesda sees Fallout not as a “one-time” experience, but as an experience played for years.
After one month of Monad mainnet launch, the MON token has dropped over 60% from its ATH and hype around the project remains nothing special.
The launch saw strong early metrics, including 150,000+ daily active users but on-chain engagement has since waned as incentive-driven activity proved temporary.
Its limited sustained traction in the competitive blockchain landscape makes it nothing but just another “EVM L1” which is to become a ghost-chain if traction remains the same.
In the hyper-competitive blockchain landscape, very few projects created buzz with as much fanfare as Monad. Backed by a staggering $244 million in funding, including a $225 million round led by Paradigm at a $3 billion valuation, Monad promised revolutionary performance improvements over Ethereum while maintaining full EVM compatibility.
The project was hailed as the “Solana killer” for the Ethereum ecosystem. Its parallel execution model aimed to deliver 10,000 transactions per second (TPS), sub-second block times, and low fees, all without compromising decentralization. But, since its mainnet is now live, did it deliver anything though?
The Hype and the Launch
The culmination arrived on November 24, 2025, when Monad’s public mainnet launched alongside its native MON token. The event was accompanied by a high-profile public sale on Coinbase’s revived token sales platform, raising approximately $188 million at $0.025 per token. It was followed by a substantial airdrop distributing 3.3 billion MON tokens to early community members and testnet participants.
Yet, one month later, as the crypto market navigates the holiday season, Monad’s reality paints a starkly different picture. The MON token, which surged to an all-time high of $0.04876 shortly after launch, has plummeted over 60%, trading around $0.02 as of December 25.
As per DeFillama data, its Total Value Locked (TVL) hovers around $235 million, a modest figure for a chain with such lofty ambitions but not up to the mark while compared to its pre-launch hype. The daily fees barely exceed $5,000, and its initially robust on-chain activity has shown signs of fading. Monad, it seems, is suffering a classic post-mainnet hangover: massive pre-launch hype met with minimal sustained traction.
Where it all starts
Monad’s journey began in 2022, founded by veterans from high-frequency trading firm Jump Trading, which is currently under a massive legal scrutiny. The team re-engineered core components of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and introduced innovations like MonadBFT (a pipelined consensus mechanism), deferred execution, parallel transaction processing, and MonadDB (a custom state database). These allowed Monad to claim unprecedented performance on paper: 10,000 TPS, 0.4-second block times, and 0.8-second finality.
The project’s testnet, launched in February 2025, lived up to much of the promise. It processed billions of transactions, peaked at over 5,000 TPS in real-world stress tests, and attracted hundreds of ecosystem projects. Alongside, developer activity ranked among the top in the industry, and partnerships with Circle, LayerZero, Wormhole, and Chainlink signaled readiness for prime time.
The statistics helped the project with funding poured in, totaling over $240 million from blue-chip investors including Coinbase Ventures, Electric Capital, and Dragonfly. By mid-2025, Monad was one of the most anticipated launches, with pre-market trading on perpetual platforms valuing MON at premiums implying FDVs north of $5 billion.
The launch strategy was meticulously planned for broad distribution. Coinbase hosted a public sale of 7.5 billion MON (7.5% of total supply) at $0.025, prioritizing smaller buyers with a “fill-from-bottom” allocation model. Simultaneously, an airdrop—which sparked chaos at the time—rewarded over 289,000 wallets, with 70% claimed by launch. Total initial circulating supply hit 10.8 billion tokens, aiming to avoid the concentrated dumps plaguing past launches.
On November 24, at 9:00 AM ET, mainnet went live. Validators activated, dApps migrated from testnet, and MON began trading. Circle announced native USDC support from day one, bolstering stablecoin inflows.
Initial surge at the mainnet launch
No doubt, the first days were electric. MON quickly doubled from its $0.025 ICO price, peaking near $0.049 as retail FOMO kicked in. Trading volumes exploded, with centralized exchanges like Kraken listing from day one. On-chain metrics impressed: nearly 150,000 daily active users in the opening week, millions of transactions processed, and stablecoin market cap surging past $400 million at points.
Monad:
> 3 years of building> $225M raised at $3B> VCs have a few years lock-up> raised $187M more though ICO
It was the first ICO on Coinbase with US users eligible to participate, and the chart looks like this
Below ICO price ($0.025) and down 60% from ATH pic.twitter.com/aYBO7zT5lg
— jussy (@jussy_world) December 23, 2025
Notably, gaming and DeFi apps like Lumiterra (an MMORPG) drove viral activity, recording over 100,000 daily unique wallets and millions of daily transactions on Monad. Protocols such as Folks Finance, Kintsu (liquid staking), and emerging lenders like Neverland Money also rolled out incentives, creating a brief flywheel of activity.
Artemis data highlighted strong early usage: 4.7 million transactions in the first weeks, with peaks rivaling established chains. Community sentiment on X was jubilant, with posts declaring Monad the “new king of EVM chains.”
Source: Artemis
Early post-launch spikes showed 150,000+ active addresses and high transaction counts, but daily figures have normalized lower. TPS, while capable of bursts, averages far below the 10,000 headline in organic usage.
Post-Airdrop Activity: The Fade Begins
Here, the time came where reality set in swiftly. As MON went live for trading, airdrop recipients and ICO buyers faced immediate sell pressure. Despite vesting for larger allocations, the unlocked portions flooded markets. It led profit-taking to rampant levels, exacerbated by spoofing incidents and order-book imbalances.
By early December, MON dipped below ICO price briefly, erasing gains. As of Christmas Eve 2025, it’s down nearly 55% from ATH, with market cap reflecting a painful correction.
While initial users explored free tokens, the post-airdrop engagement waned as sustained activity relied on incentives only. Many dApps, still bootstrapping liquidity, offered yields subsidized by ecosystem funds—but these proved temporary.
TVL Tells the Tale
DeFiLlama tracks Monad’s TVL at approximately $235 million as of December-end, ranking it outside the top 20 chains. Early inflows reached $150 million in week one, but growth stalled. Stablecoin dominance (USDC and others) accounts for much of it, with actual protocol TVL being modest.
Source: DeFillama
Monad’s daily fees: a paltry $4,000-5,000, generating minimal revenue ($1,500-2,000). Compared to Hyperliquid’s millions or even Base’s hundreds of thousands as economic activity remains embryonic on the blockchain. Although its DEX volumes and perpetual open interest are present, no breakout apps are capturing liquidity like Hyperliquid did on its chain.
Just Another EVM L1?
Monad’s core selling point—delivering high-performance, fully EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain, and sub-second block times—remains a double-edged sword. This seamless compatibility enables effortless porting of Ethereum dApps, tools, and liquidity, lowering adoption barriers in a developer ecosystem dominated by EVM standards.
However, in a saturated market of EVM chains like Base, Arbitrum, Blast, and Scroll (all benefiting from Ethereum’s security and modular scaling), Monad struggles to stand out purely on technical benchmarks. Plus its competition against non-EVM speed leaders like Solana and Sui also raises the bar for this newcomer, which is largely looking like it’s here to extract value rather than adding any.
Ultimately, on an optimistic side, Monad’s fate hinges on transcending speed claims with a breakout narrative or killer app,such as ultra-low-latency consumer experiences or AI/onchain innovations teased in recent blueprints. As of late December 2025, it risks fading into the crowded pack amid fierce competition and no-such traction.
Welcome to “Ghost Chain” Town
One month in, whispers of “ghost chain” status emerge on X and forums. Low fees are essentially a good thing for blockchain but it leads the project revenue-starved for sustainability. Without viral organic growth, subsidized activity fades, leaving quiet blocks. Comparisons to past hyped L1s (Aptos, Sui post-launch dips) abound, Monad’s TVL-to-FDV ratio is unfavorable, with billions in implied valuation unsupported by fundamentals.
Monad’s trajectory offers cautionary tales for the next wave of hyped L1s. It sets a perfect example that the projects on the verge of being “next Monad,” should heed these to avoid similar hangovers. Throwing VC money for marketing and growth might help initially but long-term goals only could be achieved if the project actually has something value providing. This is not just limited to Monad but other giants like Aptos, Sui, Movement as well.
Key Takeaways
Monad’s story is still unfolding. Its tech is undeniably advanced, and early metrics showed promise. A month of data, however, reveals the chasm between hype and sustained adoption in crypto’s brutal arena.
At ~$0.020, MON reflects disillusionment, but low valuations could attract patient capital if activity rebounds. Its ecosystem grants (38.5% allocation) and upcoming governance may catalyze growth, only if played well. For now, Monad embodies 2025’s L1 reality: building a blockbuster chain requires more than funding and tech—it demands unbreakable user loops in a saturated market.
Also read: Aave’s Governance Meltdown: The Conflict on Brand, Fees, and Ownership
HashKey Capital raised $250 million in the first closing of its fourth crypto fund, aiming for a total of $500 million.
Fund IV will invest in blockchain infrastructure, scalable platforms, and mass-adoption crypto projects using a multi-strategy approach.
The firm manages over $1 billion in assets and was among the first in Hong Kong to launch spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs.
Singapore-based crypto investment firm HashKey Capital has raised $250 million in the first close of its fourth crypto-focused fund, HashKey Fintech Multi-Strategy Fund IV.
The fund has garnered significant attention from investors, including major institutions, family offices, and wealthy individuals, with a new goal of reaching a total of $500 million.
HashKey Capital has completed the first closing of Fund IV with $250 million in commitments. 🎉
This multi-strategy fund will focus on blockchain infrastructure, mass adoption use cases & emerging markets.
Wishing everyone happy holidays as we look forward to an innovative…
— HashKey Capital (@HashKey_Capital) December 24, 2025
According to the official release, HashKey said Fund IV will focus on multi-strategy investments, targeting blockchain infrastructure and projects with potential for mass adoption. The firm combines public-market strategies with selective private-market opportunities to capture inefficiencies and support innovation in the digital assets space.
Furthermore, HashKey Capital CEO Deng Chao commented on the fund, stating, “With $250 million in new capital, we are uniquely positioned to capture the massive growth occurring in emerging markets. These regions are the true testing grounds for blockchain’s real-world applications, and Fund IV will provide the essential fuel to scale those innovations globally.”
Recent track record
The fundraising comes shortly after the firm completed a $206 million initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company manages more than $1 billion in assets and has invested in over 400 blockchain projects worldwide since its launch in 2018. Its first fund achieved a distributed-to-paid-in ratio of more than 10x.
HashKey was also one of the first companies in Hong Kong to launch spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, which makes it a pioneer in the region’s crypto market.
The fundraise comes at a time when crypto market activity is slowing down. After a big market crash in October, many short-term traders and market makers have stepped back. According to data from Glassnode, continued outflows from Bitcoin and Ether ETFs have dropped since early November, which suggests that investors are cautious this period and there’s less liquidity in the market.
Global reach and investor opportunities
HashKey Capital is based in Singapore and has offices in Hong Kong and Japan. It holds multiple Hong Kong licenses, including Type 1, Type 4, and Type 9. Fund IV will allow investors to access both liquid and private crypto opportunities and support projects that could grow worldwide.
Also Read: Clear Street Targets $12B IPO Backed by Goldman Sachs
Published: December 24, 2025 at 9:40 am Updated: December 24, 2025 at 8:55 am
by Ana
Edited and fact-checked:
December 24, 2025 at 9:40 am
To improve your local-language experience, sometimes we employ an auto-translation plugin. Please note auto-translation may not be accurate, so read original article for precise information.
In Brief
According to Outset PR, Asia’s crypto media landscape is fragmented into three localized models, driven by regional players and increasingly shaped by AI as a critical distribution layer.
December offers a natural moment to zoom out. Therefore Mpost took a fresh look at how Asia’s cryptocurrency-focused media dynamics unfolded after the second quarter of 2025.
According to Outset PR, a public relations agency specializing in Web3, there is no single “New York Times of crypto” in Asia. Instead, influence remains local, language-native, and market-specific. In its latest report, the agency explained that Asian crypto media is not converging toward a single global model. Markets are instead split into three distinct playbooks: venture-media complexes (as seen in Vietnam), exchange-anchored ecosystems (China, Hong Kong, Indonesia), and independent media operating under regulation (Japan, South Korea).
Global brands like CoinDesk and Cointelegraph play a secondary role in the region. The real influence is carried by local outlets, key opinion leaders (KOLs), and community channels, which operate in native languages and react faster to local developments.
In Vietnam and parts of Southeast Asia, venture capital and media merge into one funnel. Outlets like Coin68, Kyros, and IVY, along with their associated KOL networks, act as gateways to the wider retail audience.
In China and Indonesia, major exchanges function similarly to media holding companies. Players such as Bitget and Binance, along with their affiliates, fund newsrooms, own local media brands, and shepherd projects from investment through to exchange listing.
In contrast, regulation and culture in Japan and South Korea foster independent media. Public trust is concentrated in a small set of domestic outlets that prioritize compliance, accuracy, and low-hype coverage.
Generative AI is now increasing pressure on every model. As search traffic declines and zero-click answers grow, Asian outlets are responding by doubling down on human-driven commentary and making a long-term bet on building “entity authority” within AI systems.
Notably, Outset PR highlights that South Korea dominates in terms of attention, yet sustained on-chain engagement remains weak. Outset PR also found that while South Korea remains one of the most influential Web3 markets globally, Q2 2025 revealed a widening gap between attention and engagement, between narrative and utility, and between growth and retention.
Furthermore, AI is becoming an active distribution layer, reinforcing audience concentration and rewarding authoritative entities over those with mere reach, the experts note. Examining the evolving structure of cryptocurrency-focused media across regions, data from August to October shows the Asian crypto mediascape experienced a drop in total traffic. Despite this overall contraction, direct traffic remained steady at slightly over half of all visits, indicating that loyal readers continued to engage with their trusted outlets. Simultaneously, a new set of breakout publishers gained ground across multiple markets, illustrating a familiar pattern in Asia: attention is constantly reshuffled across a fragmented landscape, necessitating a localized, country-by-country playbook for media strategy and audience reach.
Outset PR reported that traffic fell by 14.51% from August to October, signaling that fewer casual readers entered the media funnel. As market interest cooled, visibility became more dependent on existing audiences than on new discovery. The agency also found that AI referrals reached 11.49% of traffic, establishing AI-driven discovery as a significant source. This shift means content structure now directly affects visibility, requiring publishers and PR teams to treat AI systems as a fundamental distribution layer.
The future of cryptocurrency-focused media in Asia will not be written by a single dominant voice but orchestrated by a chorus of local players. Success hinges on navigating a triple reality: deeply entrenched local ecosystems, the paradox of high attention but low engagement in key markets, and the urgent need to adapt to AI as a primary gatekeeper of information. For projects and communicators, this means that the blanket strategy is obsolete. The only viable path forward is a nuanced, country-specific approach that respects local authority, builds genuine community trust, and strategically optimizes for the algorithmic landscapes that now shape discovery.
Disclaimer
In line with the Trust Project guidelines, please note that the information provided on this page is not intended to be and should not be interpreted as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other form of advice. It is important to only invest what you can afford to lose and to seek independent financial advice if you have any doubts. For further information, we suggest referring to the terms and conditions as well as the help and support pages provided by the issuer or advertiser. MetaversePost is committed to accurate, unbiased reporting, but market conditions are subject to change without notice.
About The Author
Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.
More articles
Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.
NASA’s SPHEREx telescope has completed the universe’s first unique cosmic map by scanning the entire sky in 102 distinct infrared wavelengths. The telescope revealed the 3D distribution of galaxies.
Following its launch in March 2025, NASA’s SPHEREx telescope completed the first infrared map of the entire sky in 102 color wavelengths. These wavelengths, which are invisible to the human eye, represent rays that are commonly found throughout the universe.
Observing the entire sky in this manner will help scientists understand how dramatic events in the universe’s first moments, right after the Big Bang, affected the 3D distribution of hundreds of millions of galaxies. Additionally, SPHEREx data offers the opportunity to study the nearly 14-billion-year evolution of galaxies and discover the distribution of life’s building blocks within our own galaxy.
First Map Recorded SPHEREx is a spacecraft that orbits from the North Pole to the South Pole approximately 14.5 times a day. Every day, it captures 3,600 images along a single circular strip in the sky and constantly updates its field of view based on Earth’s movement around the Sun. At the end of this six-month process, the telescope looked in all directions of the sky, creating a comprehensive 360-degree map.
The mission, managed by NASA, began operations in May and completed the first all-sky mosaic map by December 2025. During its two-year primary mission, SPHEREx will perform three additional all-sky scans, and these will be combined to further increase the precision of the measurements. The collected data will be accessible to both scientists and the public.
Observation Has Never Been This Detailed The power of SPHEREx distinguishes it from previous all-sky mapping missions. Missions like NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer also scanned the entire sky but could not do so in as many color wavelengths as SPHEREx. Although the James Webb Space Telescope can perform spectroscopy in many more wavelengths, its field of view is thousands of times smaller than SPHEREx’s. This color diversity and wide field of view make SPHEREx unique.
The telescope achieves this success through a combination of six detectors, each equipped with 17-color special filters. Consequently, every image taken contains 102 colors, meaning each sky map actually represents 102 separate maps. SPHEREx will use these colors to measure distances to hundreds of millions of galaxies. While the positions of most of these galaxies were previously mapped in two dimensions, SPHEREx’s data will allow the subtle differences in the universe’s galaxy distribution to be measured in 3D. These measurements will shed light on the moment of inflation during the universe’s expansion process immediately after the Big Bang.
RollerCoin has been named Game of the Year and Best Browser Game at the 2025 Blockchain Game Awards, recognizing the project’s sustained growth and long-term player engagement in the browser-based crypto gaming category.
Launched in 2018, RollerCoin has grown into one of the most widely used crypto gaming platforms, enabling users to earn real cryptocurrency through active gameplay, without downloads or required wallet setup. The platform has reached more than 5 million registered players, distributed over $10 million in rewards, and recorded 86 BTC mined across its ecosystem. Rewards are currently available in more than 16 tokens.
The awards jury cited RollerCoin’s consistent engagement levels and accessibility, pointing to a broader shift in how Web3 games are evaluated, placing greater weight on longevity, usability, and player retention rather than short-term launch performance.
A Fun-First Approach to Crypto Mining
RollerCoin combines arcade-style mini-games with long-term resource management mechanics, allowing players to build and manage a virtual mining operation directly in the browser. Rewards are linked to in-game activity and participation in regular events, reinforcing an active gameplay model.
The platform is free to start and free to play, with no upfront spending required to earn cryptocurrency. This lowers entry barriers for new users while maintaining progression depth for players. Browser-based, mobile-first access and a no-wallet onboarding approach have enabled RollerCoin to attract both experienced cryptocurrency users and players with limited exposure to blockchain products.
Community and Narrative at the Core
Beyond gameplay mechanics, RollerCoin places a strong emphasis on community participation and narrative continuity. Seasonal events, recurring competitions, and an evolving in-game narrative provide continuity between updates. Player-driven initiatives, including contests and collaborative events, influence ongoing content development.
RC has its creator program, which allows community members to contribute miners, mini-games, and other assets that are periodically integrated into the live game environment.
Long-Term Recognition
RollerCoin’s recognition reflects gradual platform development and sustained user engagement over multiple market cycles. The dual award for Game of the Year and Best Browser Game underscores the platform’s emphasis on durability, accessibility, and continued play.
Published: December 24, 2025 at 4:24 am Updated: December 24, 2025 at 4:24 am
by Ana
Edited and fact-checked:
December 24, 2025 at 4:24 am
To improve your local-language experience, sometimes we employ an auto-translation plugin. Please note auto-translation may not be accurate, so read original article for precise information.
In Brief
Stanford’s HAI faculty projects that in 2026 AI development will focus on practical impact across healthcare, law, the workforce, and human-centered applications while emphasizing effectiveness, accountability, and real-world benefits.
Stanford University’s Human-Centered AI faculty has published its projections for AI development in 2026. Analysts suggest that the period of widespread AI enthusiasm is shifting toward a focus on careful assessment.
Rather than asking whether AI is capable of performing a task, the emphasis will move to evaluating its effectiveness, associated costs, and impact on different stakeholders. This includes the use of standardized benchmarks for legal reasoning, real-time monitoring of workforce effects, and clinical frameworks for assessing the growing number of medical AI applications.
James Landay, co-director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI, predicts that there will be no artificial general intelligence in 2026. He notes that AI sovereignty will become a major focus, with countries seeking control over AI through building their own models or running external models locally to keep data domestic. Continued global investment in AI data centers is expected, though the sector shows signs of speculative risk. Landay anticipates more reports of limited productivity gains from AI, with failures highlighting the need for targeted applications. Advances in custom AI interfaces, improved performance from smaller curated datasets, and practical AI video tools are likely to emerge, alongside increasing copyright concerns.
Russ Altman, Stanford HAI Senior Fellow, highlights the potential of foundation models to advance discoveries in science and medicine. He notes a key question for 2026 will be whether early fusion models, which combine all data types, or late fusion models, which integrate separate models, are more effective. In scientific research, attention is shifting from predictions to understanding how models reach conclusions, with techniques like sparse autoencoders used to interpret neural networks. In healthcare, the proliferation of AI solutions for hospitals has created challenges in evaluating their technical performance, workflow impact, and overall value, and efforts are underway to develop frameworks that assess these factors and make them accessible to less resourced settings.
Julian Nyarko, Stanford HAI Associate Director, predicts that 2026 in legal AI will be defined by a focus on measurable performance and practical value. Legal firms and courts are expected to move beyond asking whether AI can write, toward assessing accuracy, risk, efficiency, and impact on real workflows. AI systems will increasingly handle complex tasks such as multi-document reasoning, argument mapping, and sourcing counter-authorities, prompting the development of new evaluation frameworks and benchmarks to guide their use in higher-order legal work.
Angèle Christin, Stanford HAI Senior Fellow, notes that while AI has attracted massive investment and infrastructure development, its capabilities are often overstated. AI can enhance certain tasks but may mislead, reduce skills, or cause harm in others, and its growth carries significant environmental costs. In 2026, a more measured understanding of AI’s practical effects is expected, with research focusing on its real-world benefits and limitations rather than hype.
AI To Focus On Real-World Benefits, Healthcare, And Workforce Insights In 2026
Angèle Christin, Stanford HAI Senior Fellow, notes that while AI has attracted massive investment and infrastructure development, its capabilities are often overstated. AI can enhance certain tasks but may mislead, reduce skills, or cause harm in others, and its growth carries significant environmental costs. In 2026, a more measured understanding of AI’s practical effects is expected, with research focusing on its real-world benefits and limitations rather than hype.
Curtis Langlotz, Stanford HAI Senior Fellow, observes that self-supervised learning has greatly reduced the cost of developing medical AI by eliminating the need for fully labeled datasets. While privacy concerns have slowed the creation of large medical datasets, smaller-scale self-supervised models have shown promise across multiple biomedical fields. Langlotz predicts that as high-quality healthcare data is aggregated, biomedical foundation models will emerge, improving diagnostic accuracy and enabling AI tools for rare and complex diseases.
Erik Brynjolfsson, Stanford HAI Senior Fellow, predicts that in 2026 the discussion of AI’s economic impact will shift from debate to measurement. High-frequency AI economic dashboards will track productivity gains, job displacement, and new role creation at the task and occupation level using payroll and platform data. These tools will allow executives and policymakers to monitor AI effects in near real time, guiding workforce support, training, and investments to ensure AI contributes to broad-based economic benefits.
Nigam Shah, Stanford Health Care Chief Data Scientist, predicts that in 2026, creators of generative AI will increasingly offer applications directly to end users, bypassing slow health system decision cycles. Advances in generative transformers may enable forecasting of diagnoses, treatment responses, and disease progression without task-specific labels. As these tools become more widely available, patient understanding of AI’s guidance will be essential, and there will be growing emphasis on solutions that give patients greater control over their care.
Diyi Yang, Stanford Assistant Professor of Computer Science, emphasizes the need for AI systems that support long-term human development rather than short-term engagement. She highlights the importance of designing human-centered AI that enhances critical thinking, collaboration, and well-being, integrating these goals into the development process from the outset rather than as an afterthought.
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About The Author
Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.
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Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.
In recent years, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have rapidly evolved from digital collectibles into a transformative force in the gaming industry. Nowhere is this shift more evident than in NFT gaming—a market poised for extraordinary growth.
According to recent projections, the NFT Gaming Market is expected to reach a staggering $540 billion by 2025 and double to $1.08 trillion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.84%. One gaming sector increasingly aligned with this momentum is the eGames market, where competitive gameplay, digital economies, and immersive experiences are already thriving. The convergence of NFTs and eGames may redefine how players interact, earn, and own within virtual gaming spaces.
The Current eGames Market: A Hotbed of Investment and Innovation
The eGames market—comprising competitive digital games and esports platforms—has experienced explosive growth, attracting major investments from some of the world’s leading casino operators. These establishments see eGames as a future-proof avenue to reach younger, digitally-native audiences who are less interested in traditional gaming tables and more engaged with dynamic, competitive digital games.
Casinos like those operated by Bloomberry Resorts, particularly the renowned Solaire Resort & Casino in Asia, have embraced the eGames trend. Solaire has invested significantly in state-of-the-art digital gaming lounges, complete with tournament-ready setups, streaming capabilities, and partnerships with major esports brands. Their approach to integrating eGames alongside traditional casino options signals a broader shift—one that is highly compatible with the integration of NFTs. Solaire’s eGames offers, and these games naturally lend themselves to NFT integration by offering rare, tradable in-game items, unique skins, or verifiable digital assets that can enhance player engagement and retention. As platforms like Solaire demonstrate, the infrastructure and consumer appetite are already in place—making the leap to NFTs a logical next step.
Technologies Driving NFT Adoption in eGames
Several emerging technologies are enabling the seamless incorporation of NFTs into eGames, adding new layers of utility, security, and player ownership. Here are three pivotal technologies shaping this evolution:1. Web3 Games and Decentralized Platforms
Web3 technology is at the heart of NFT gaming. Built on decentralized blockchains, Web3 games allow players to truly own their in-game assets, unlike traditional games where the publisher retains control. In 2025, several Web3 games have gained serious traction—such as Big Time, Illuvium, Champions Ascension, and Shrapnel—offering high-quality gameplay with full NFT integration.
These games highlight what’s possible when NFTs are treated as core game elements rather than afterthoughts. For eGames, this model opens the door for competitive players to win unique NFT trophies, trade exclusive skins, or even monetize their gameplay in new and secure ways.
2. Smart Contracts and Blockchain-Based Economy
Smart contracts automate the creation, exchange, and tracking of NFTs in real-time. In eGames, smart contracts can be used to facilitate provably fair gameplay, reward systems, and tournament payouts. For example, an esports tournament could automatically mint unique NFT medals for winners, distribute prize pools securely, and log all player stats immutably on the blockchain. This enhances trust, transparency, and security—critical for competitive environments.
3. Cross-Platform NFT Wallets and Interoperability
Another key enabler is the rise of user-friendly, cross-platform NFT Wallets. These allow players to store, trade, and use their NFTs across multiple games and ecosystems. In the eGames context, a player might earn an NFT weapon in one game and carry it into another, provided both games are built on interoperable blockchain standards. This flexibility not only enhances user experience but also creates a more interconnected digital economy—one that casino-backed eGames platforms can tap into.
The Future of NFTs in eGames: 2026 and Beyond
As we move into 2026, the synergy between NFTs and eGames is expected to deepen across several key dimensions:
• Increased Customization & Ownership: Players will be able to own unique digital avatars, skins, weapons, and virtual real estate—all represented as NFTs. This ownership extends beyond mere cosmetics, with NFTs often impacting gameplay or serving as badges of achievement.
• Play-to-Earn (P2E) and Competitive Monetization: With eGames already centered around skill-based competition, NFTs offer a new revenue layer. Players can earn NFTs through gameplay, trade them on secondary markets, or stake them for rewards—creating a sustainable loop of engagement and income.
• Tokenized Tournament Ecosystems: Major eSports and eGames events may introduce NFT ticketing, VIP access passes, or digital collectibles linked to specific tournaments. These NFTs could provide access to exclusive content, limited-edition in-game items, or even voting rights in community decisions.
• Casino Integration and Regulation: As eGames expand within casino environments, NFT elements will likely come under more formal regulation. However, this could further legitimize NFT use in gaming, bringing stronger consumer protections, licensing standards, and mainstream adoption.
Conclusion
NFTs are not just a buzzword in the gaming industry—they’re quickly becoming foundational to the next era of digital play. With the NFT gaming market on track to hit $1.08 trillion by 2030, and the eGames sector attracting massive investment and interest, the convergence of these two worlds appears inevitable. Through Web3 platforms, smart contracts, and interoperable economies, NFTs are poised to enhance the eGames experience with real ownership, player-driven economies, and decentralized competition.
By 2026, it’s highly likely that NFTs will feature far more heavily in eGames—offering players not just the thrill of the game, but true ownership of the digital assets they earn and cherish. For more of the latest tech trends, do check out our Gaming page.
