Sui Gaming Stablecoin Goes Live for SuiPlay0X1 Handheld—Playtron Ecosystem Doubles Down on Crypto Gaming
Sui’s gaming-focused stablecoin launches alongside the SuiPlay0X1 handheld—another blockchain play for the ’play-to-earn’ crowd. Because what gamers really wanted was more volatility wrapped in a ’stable’ wrapper.
Playtron’s ecosystem expands its crypto footprint, betting that gamers will trade loot boxes for token swaps. The handheld device now moonlights as a defi gateway—because nothing says ’mobile gaming’ like managing collateral ratios between levels.
Meanwhile, traditional finance scoffs: ’Finally, a way to lose money on both the game *and* the in-game economy.’
Sui is getting a stablecoin designed for the SuiPlay0X1 handheld. Image: Playtron
As a result, according to CoinGecko, it has become a sector worth $241 billion with Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC both placing in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. So why not just use an established stablecoin that is already out there?
“We believe stablecoins should be programmable at the use case level,” Playtron co-founder and CEO Kirt McMaster told Decrypt, explaining this can’t be done with the major tokens out there. “Game Dollar will unlock new economic models for developers and marketplaces, while enabling consumer incentives only possible via programmable dollars.”
As such, the Game Dollar will be custom-fit to serve the Playtron ecosystem in an attempt to “deepen [its] relationship” with its users by incentivizing and monetizing certain behaviors.
“Since the reserve compound of the stablecoin is accruing yield,” McMaster explained, “the gaming platform can use that capital to incentivize certain behaviors, give customers rewards, acquire new types of customers, etc.”
Playtron compared the Game Dollar to a Starbucks digital wallet that provides users points for buying coffee, with those points available to redeem for rewards. He added that the Game Dollar can be programmed to only allow for certain transactions.
“This differs from more commonly understood purposes of a stablecoin, which does not have the ability to incentivize niche use cases at scale,” McMaster said.
The stablecoin will be used throughout Playtron’s GameOS, a Linux-based operating system optimized to play classic games on Steam or crypto games through the Playtron Store.
The soon-to-launch SuiPlay0X1 handheld device—which will ship this summer—will use this operating system. The Game Dollar will be used for purchases in the Playtron store, called Playtron Select, and there are plans to announce incentives at a later date.
“GameDollar will be native to Playtron and used in our own marketplace in the future,” McMaster told Decrypt, “but as Playtron integrates other gaming marketplaces, the intention is for those marketplaces to use Game Dollar both within GameOS and in their own external stores as a payment option.”
Edited by Andrew Hayward
