In this update we want to communicate our vision and give you an overview of the Shroom protocol so you have a high-level perspective. Additional articles will follow during the coming days discussing the details of each component.
Shroom is a DeFi protocol and DAO focused on in-game asset minting, launch, and trading. The protocol is 100% driven, owned, and governed by its community without central parties or middlemen.
We are laying out the foundations for a truly decentralised ecosystem that enables minting, final ownership, and cross-platform trading of these virtual items, and that will help game developers to decouple and easily bootstrap their in-game economic structures and currency systems.
Virtual items, fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFT), are undeniably becoming the next big trend in crypto, but have been used in gaming for many years. We are only starting to scratch the surface of what will soon become a booming industry with enormous opportunities unlocked by recent innovations in the DeFi space.
Key takeaways:
- In-game assets and gaming are a healthy and growing industry decoupled from crypto market dynamics/cycles that will surpass $200B in 3 years.
- Shroom is leveraging NFT standards and DeFi innovations and applying them as novel applications for game items minting, trading and promotion.
- Community-led decentralised protocols such as Shroom have undeniable advantages compared to centrally promoted solutions and pseudo-DEXes.
- Our ecosystem will bridge and democratise access to crypto capital markets, unlocking new opportunities for gamers and game developers of all sizes.
The opportunity
In-game assets are a BIG deal. Poised for explosive growth in the coming years, the gaming industry is expected to surpass $200B in 2023, with video game assets trading well over $50B/year (Juniper Research). The industry is very healthy and has excellent perspectives.
Ethereum token standards are the perfect pairing to make these kinds of assets valuable, unique, tradeable, and easily transferable beyond walled gardens into the NFT Metaverse. All of this while tapping into the growing global crypto capital market and liquidity.
However, adopting these standards is challenging for conventional video game creators, particularly the small and medium-sized, since taking care of the blockchain side of the development is oftentimes cumbersome and expensive.
Vision
Our mission is to enable the issuance/minting, launching, and trading of these assets with unprecedented ease. Breaking the barriers of entry for thousands of game developers and gamers while helping bridge the gaming and blockchain worlds for a truly open ecosystem. Game developers tapping into DeFi liquidity, capital and Yield Farming minting processes, and DeFi LPs/farmers supporting, driving and owning in-game economies.
Yield Farming is a remarkable innovation that can be captured and fitted inside a sustainable positive feedback loop where the farmers get vast value after the initial stages. With Shroom, farming acquires a whole new meaning acting as a booster for talented video game creators.
A decentralised future.
Following the trend of CEXes slowly capitulating to DEXes such as Uniswap, the future of in-game digital assets is clearly decentralised. The flourishing in-game assets trading industry will progressively move away from CeFi exchanges and will ultimately give rise to on-chain primary and secondary markets, where items are managed in a P2P fashion.
The synergies between these two thriving markets (DeFi/crypto and gaming) will only increase with time, the possibilities are endless. Shroom DAO might ultimately become the first-ever fully decentralised game publisher, where the community drives and supports the end-to-end launch of video game titles.
Protocol Components
▹ Launchpad module: A yield farming module where LPs help game devs bootstrap their in-game assets by staking SHROOM and other pairs, while being rewarded with tokens from the games.
▹ DEX module: A decentralised exchange where users can easily trade, cash out, and swap a curated directory of gaming tokens and projects.
▹ Mint module: a dApp for generating ERC-20s, ERC-721NFTs, and dual ERC-1155
▹ Governance module: a set of smart contracts for driving the protocol direction (currently using snapshot.page but might move to Aragon eventually)
▹ Tokens:
- SHROOM: Ecosystem meta-token
- GSWAP: DEX token
- Ecosystem NFTs and rarities
Launchpad
The game launchpad module repurposes yield farming into a system for supporting in-game assets minting and launching of promising video game titles. LPs will be able to provide liquidity to game devs via SHROOM pairs, and support them during the first stage of their in-game money systems and currencies inception.
Projects/Games entering the launchpad are subject to community vote and can only be accepted after a comprehensive quality checklist. Shroom will support game developers to bootstrap their ecosystem of assets, taking care of all the blockchain logic and liquidity complexity. In exchange, LPs will get rewards via tokens and % of the games items trading fees.
DEX module
Our DEX (GameSwap) will be initially focusing on in-game assets exclusively. First with 3rd party launched games, and later supporting big video game titles. The fees generated in the DEX will be routed as follows:
- 60% GSWAP holders
- 30% SHROOM holders
- 10% Ecosystem’s NFT holders.
Tokens
Shroom’s ecosystem tokens are designed to drive governance, align incentives among ecosystem members while keeping it 100% decentralised, and to offer supporters the opportunity to benefit from the platform’s services.
SHROOM:
- Ecosystem governance (project direction, games, new dApp proposals, etc.)
- Used as main farming pair in the games launchpad module
- Used as an in-game asset in 3rd party and in-house games
- 30% of the DEX fees routed to $SHROOM
GSWAP:
- DEX dApp governance
- Receives 2x of the DEX fees (60%)
- Incentivise liquidity for bootstrapping the DEX
NFTs:
Additional reward tokens have been suggested by the community and might be added as we go. SHROOM’s NFTs will be unique gems that will provide bonuses and multipliers on top of SHROOM and GSWAP, rewarding actions supporting the ecosystem (eg. providing liquidity during the current intermediate stage)
Mint module
The Shroom Mint is a dApp where game devs and users can mint new collections of NTFs or wrap existing video game assets. The Minting operation requires a small fee paid in SHROOM. Newly minted items will be directly tradable on the DEX.
If the minted items come from a launchpad project, these might include additional metadata like small additional fees which will be accrued during the life-cycle of the item.
Governance module
As a DAO, the project will be always led by the community, which will be driving the strategy and direction. The goal is creating an unstoppable globally distributed organisation running fully on-chain without central points of failure or authority. Any decision can be subject to a community vote.
Voting will take place on our snapshot page for now. But better options are being considered for the mid-term, like migrating to an Aragon DAO.
ROADMAP
This document and roadmap provide initial feature proposals and suggestions from the core team. It is intended to serve as a foundation and guidance. Each stage and feature is subject to community revision and approval.
COMING NEXT
After the SHROOM fair-launch via farming, initial community formation, and governance system introduction, our immediate focus is preparing the liquidity for the DEX bootstrapping.
Immediate tasks for the coming few weeks are as follows:
- Preparation of the upcoming round of farming where we will mint the GSWAP token. The second farming round is ready to be launched and is only waiting for discussions with the community on the details and voting.
- Set several funds aside for development, design, and marketing.
- Deploy the first iteration of the DEX: DEX UI concepts and in-depth features will be explained in the following update.
- Add the first game(s) to our launchpad.
Join us!
Are you game?
We are just starting this amazing journey and we invite anyone who shares our vision and ethos to join our community of builders. Feel free to reach out for additional info through hey@shroom.finance or via our social media channels:
- Game Devs: We will help you promote your game, bootstrap your assets, and link them to the crypto world and its vast liquidity.
- Yield Farmers: Participate in our upcoming LP program(s), helping bootstrap cool games where you will be driving governance and getting interesting token rewards.
- Developers: If you would like to work at the intersection of gaming and DeFi, come and help us build the future, we have several grants and funds lined up for your help.
- Designers: Bring your artistic input! There will be a separate token fund for design tasks. We are starting from a blank canvas without creative limits.
- Marketers & Influencers: Use your skills and influence for creating real tangible value in a battle-tested industry. Become an ambassador; share our success.
💬 Social Media
- Join discussion in our Discord at https://discord.gg/eZcFahS
- Don’t miss any update by following our twitter at twitter.com/ShroomFinance
- Also checkout the memes on our Telegram at https://t.me/shroomfinance
