I know we haven’t done one of these in a while, but I’ll be doing a presentation on OpenSim — and on AI — at this year’s OpenSim Community Conference, so we’ll need some recent stats!

The big news is that OSgrid reported the equivalent of 864,868 standard region equivalents this month — normally, its land area is around 35,000 regions. If it still had 35,000 regions, the total OpenSim land area this month would have been 142,108 — still an impressive number, but not 971,976!

And even with the smaller number, OSgrid would still be the largest grid by land area.

According to OSgrid president Dan Banner, the regions are from someone working on a continental project.

“They were trying to map out North America,” Banner told Hypergrid Business. “I will check with them and see what’s valid or not and clean up if not.”

For the land area chart below, I’m using the 35,000-region land area number for OSgrid, not the 800,000-region land area.

In other OSgrid news, the grid is celebrating its 18th anniversary this year, and there will be an annual fundraiser with an auction next week.

In other OpenSim stats news, total number of registered users went up by more than 2,000 compared to this past January, when I last ran the stats, while the total number of active users went down by a little over 3,000. The reason is probably because I only have 241 active grids on my list right now, down from 300 in January.

There have probably been a ton of new grids added over the past few months that I’m missing, and a bunch that changed their loginURLs or domain names, or who moved their stats page — grids who should be showing up in the stats but aren’t.

If you’re one of those grids, email me at [email protected].

I am now tracking a total of 2,582 public grids, of which 241 were active this month, and 191 published their statistics.

Our stats do not include most of the grids running on DreamGrid, a free easy-to-use version OpenSim, since these tend to be private grids.

OpenSim is a free, open-source, virtual world platform, that’s similar to Second Life and allows people with no technical skills to quickly and cheaply create virtual worlds and teleport to other virtual worlds. Those with technical skills can run OpenSim worlds on their servers for free using either DreamGrid, the official OpenSim installer for those who are more technically inclined, or any other distribution, while commercial hosting starts at less than $5 a region.

A list of OpenSim hosting providers is here. If you offer region rentals and are not on this list, email me!

You can download the recommended Firestorm viewer here and find out where to get content for your OpenSim world or region here.

Hypergrid Business newsletter is now available

Every month on the 15th — right after the stats report comes out — we will be sending out a newsletter with all the OpenSim news from the previous month. You can subscribe here or fill out the form below.

Hypergrid Business content update

As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve scaled back on Hypergrid Business these last couple of years, mostly due to being super busy with AI coverage at my day job. But then someone offered to buy the site from me. And, in an attempt to get the best possible price for it, I looked up its latest traffic and performance stats. Keeping in mind that these are at a time when I’m barely updating it.

• According to Google Analytics, there were 11,129 pageviews over the last 30 days, with 5,119 unique visitors. 
• Over the past year, there were 157K views by 66,041 unique visitors. 
• From 2009 to 2023, monthly traffic went from 5,000 pageviews to over 100,000, over 200,000, and, one month, hit 346,981. 
• The total number of views over that period was 8.7 million. During the first half of 2023, page views hovered between 29K and 39K a month.

So if we have more content on the site, pageviews would probably go back up. Most of the people would be coming for the VR and AR articles, sure, but, in the process, they might learn something about OpenSim.

But then I found a few more positive indicators. Our Google Search Console shows that Goolge is still showing Hypergrid Business links to millions of people, it’s still listed as a Google News source and it’s included in Google Discover.

Also, a few other nice indicators:

What could someone do with a site like this, with all of its history and domain credibility? Well, they could use it as a launch pad for up-to-date content about VR and AI.

And, since the readers are tech-friendly — in fact, OpenSim readers don’t mind being on the raw, bleeding edges of technology! — they probably wouldn’t mind too much if AI was used to help research and create the content, as long as a real human was overseeing the whole process closely.

In fact, someone recently contacted me with a job doing just that, editing a mostly-AI-generated newsletter about AI.

So that’s an option. I could sell it to someone looking to do something like that.

Or I could keep the site and do something interesting.

For example, I’m very curious about how AI will affect content creators. These are people who create images, text, virtual environments, games — and communities! How will AI affect what they’re doing? What new opportunities will they have — and what will be taken over by automation?

As someone who’s been writing for a living all her adult life, this is a deeply personal question to me.

So I think I’ll be using Hypergrid Business to start exploring it. Maybe I’ll set up some automations to pull  in the stats, say, so that these reports take less time to do. Or maybe I’ll pull in information from OpenSimWorld, grid calendars, and social media feeds and do weekly summaries of the top goings-on on the hypergrid. Or maybe grid owners and organizers can use AI to help them generate regular stories about what’s happening in their communities.

There are a lot of possibilities here. I’m looking forward to doing some exploring.

Top 25 grids by active users

When it comes to general-purpose social grids, especially closed grids, the rule of thumb is the busier the better. People looking to make new friends look for grids that already have the most users. Merchants looking to sell content will go to the grids with the most potential customers. Event organizers looking for the biggest audience — you get the idea.

Top 25 most popular grids this month:

1. Wolf Territories Grid: 10,860 active users
2. OSgrid: 4,265 active users
3. Alternate Metaverse: 2,399 active users
4. DigiWorldz: 2,095 active users
5. GBG World: 2,051 active users
6. WaterSplash: 1,650 active users
7. Darkheart’s Playground: 1,570 active users
8. Sciattisi Grid: 1,408 active users
9. Groovy Verse: 1,374 active users
10. Trianon World: 936 active users
11. AvatarLife: 928 active users
12. Neverworld: 926 active users
13. Sanctum Astra: 913 active users
14. AviWorlds: 875 active users
15. Party Destination Grid: 802 active users
16. Littlefield: 800 active users
17. Craft World: 582 active users
18. Gentle Fire Grid: 576 active users
19. BloodMoon: 536 active users
20. ZetaWorlds: 525 active users
21. SpaceGrid: 399 active users
22. Kitely: 395 active users
23. Herederos Grid: 383 active users
24. Astralia: 380 active users
25. Jungle Friends Grid: 356 active users

Online marketplaces for OpenSim content

I don’t currently have the latest Kitely Market stats because I forgot to email Kitely CEO Ilan Tochner and ask for them.

The Kitely Market is the largest collection of legal content available in OpenSim. It is accessible to both hypergrid-enabled and closed, private grids. The instructions for how to configure the Kitely Market for closed grids are here.

New grids

The following grids were added to our database this month: Nitro, Wild Grid, and WoodstockSim.

If you know of any public grid that we’re missing, please email me at [email protected].

Top 40 grids by land area

All region counts on this list are, whenever available, in terms of standard region equivalents. Active user counts include hypergrid visitors whenever possible.

Many school, company, or personal grids do not publish their numbers.

The raw data for this month’s report is here. A list of all active grids is here. And here is a list of all the hypergrid-enabled grids and their hypergrid addresses, sorted by popularity. This is very useful if you are creating a hyperport.

You can see all the historical OpenSim statistics here, including polls and surveys, dating all the way back to 2009.

• OSgrid: 864,868 regions
• Wolf Territories Grid: 33,253 regions
• Kitely: 17,840 regions
• ZetaWorlds: 17,018 regions
• Groovy Verse: 14,097 regions
• DigiWorldz: 3,494 regions
• Neverworld: 2,620 regions
• Discovery Grid: 1,614 regions
• Tag Grid: 1,465 regions
• Friends Grid: 1,184 regions
• ArtDestiny: 1,089 regions
• Craft World: 969 regions
• GBG World: 955 regions
• AviWorlds: 737 regions
• Kinky Haven: 685 regions
• AvatarLife: 600 regions
• Virtual Worlds Zone: 558 regions
• Littlefield: 533 regions
• Darkheart’s Playground: 410 regions
• Furry World: 358 regions
• EdMondo: 309 regions
• Virtual Vista Metaverse: 262 regions
• Migrating Coconuts: 247 regions
• Open Virtual Worlds: 241 regions
• BloodMoon: 226 regions
• MisFitz Grid: 217 regions
• Japan Open Grid: 201 regions
• Counter Earth: 179 regions
• Kater and Friends: 166 regions
• Adreans-World: 164 regions
• SpaceGrid: 160 regions
• Utopia Skye: 150 regions
• XTalent: 149 regions
• GerGrid: 141 regions
• I Love You Grid: 140 regions
• WestWorld Grid: 137 regions
• Outworldz: 134 regions
• Arcadia Asylum: 134 regions
• Logicamp: 133 regions
• Jungle Friends Grid: 124 regions

Do you know of any other grids that are open to the public but that we don’t have in our database? Email me at [email protected].

Hypergrid Business editor and publisher Maria Korolov is a science fiction novelist. During the day, Maria Korolov is an award-winning freelance technology journalist who covers artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and enterprise virtual reality. See her Amazon author page here and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, and check out her latest videos on the Maria Korolov YouTube channel. Email her at [email protected]. Her first virtual world novella, Krim Times, made the Amazon best-seller list in its category. Her second novella, The Lost King of Krim, is out now. She is also the publisher of MetaStellar, a new online magazine of speculative fiction.

Latest posts by Maria Korolov (see all)

OSGrid, OpenSim’s largest and oldest public world, will hold its annual fundraiser and auction starting on September 22 in order to support the grid’s hosting environment and community operations.

“The future of OSgrid is powered by your passion and creativity,” organizers said in their call for donations last month.

The event wants creators to donate unique virtual items, including furnishings, avatars, services, jewelry, and entire regions in OAR format, the organizers said. All donated items must be created exclusively for the event and cannot be for sale or available elsewhere.

“ECHO 1 is starting to look fuller,” OSgrid staff member Caro Fayray said in a Facebook post this week. “But we still need more items. And the sooner I have them, the more time for people to view them before the auctions.”

And, of course, people can donate at any time via the grid’s donation page.

Preview of auction items will be available on the Echo 1 as they are received. Contributors or those with questions can contact an admin or Caro Fayray in-world for more information.

Hypergrid link: hg.osgrid.org:80:ECHO 1

Running on volunteers and donations

OSGrid operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization run entirely by volunteers, according to the grid.

All proceeds from the auctions go directly toward keeping the virtual worlds alive and thriving. The fundraiser celebrates community talent while providing crucial financial support for the grid’s operations.

OSGrid has a clear preference when it comes to donations. They’d rather have regular monthly donations of $10 to $15 than big one-time payments, according to their official donation page.

“We strongly prefer a regular donation of $10.00 or $15.00 per month to a one-off payment of $50.00,” administrators said. “This lets us better plan for the growth of the grid.”

Their math is simple: “If 10% of the active userbase paid us $10.00 per month, it would be sufficient to permanently keep the grid infrastructure online, and give us plenty of room to expand as required.”

Just turned 18 and ready to party

OSGrid recently hit a major milestone — its 18th birthday. The grid threw a week-long beach party celebration at the end of July and the beginning of August.

“For 18 years, we have been a cornerstone of the open metaverse, a hub for creators, explorers, and communities,” organizers said.

For the event, the grid transformed Event Plaza into a coastal paradise with “sun-drenched shores, swaying palm trees, cool tunes drifting on the virtual breeze, and a bonfire or two to gather around with old friends and new ones.”

OSGrid has been running almost continuously since 2007. The grid serves double duty — it’s both a testbed for developers and a creative sandbox for builders, scripters, educators, and explorers.

In addition, its LBSA Plaza serves as the unofficial crossroads of the hypergrid, where newcomers get their first taste of virtual worlds and developers test cutting-edge features. That’s where I go if I need to ask someone a quick question about OpenSim, or to meet other people without having to run around for active regions or ongoing events.

Hypergrid link: hg.osgrid.org:80:LBSA Plaza

There’s also no charge to connect regions to the grid in any quantity. You can run a region on a home computer, and, as long as you’re online, anyone can visit the region. You just need to download and run the pre-configured OSgrid region installer. Besides having to have your computer on and the region running for anyone to visit, the other downside to self-hosted regions is that you can only support as many simultaneous visitors as your home computer’s bandwidth allows. However, there are OpenSim hosting providers that can run a region for you at a low cost, and attach it to OSgrid — or any other open grid — for better performance and always-on connectivity.

OSGrid is also hypergrid-enabled, meaning users can hop between hundreds of other grids, attend cross-grid events, and share creations across the entire OpenSim metaverse. In particular, OSgrid users can buy content from the Kitely Market and have it delivered directly to their avatars.

Back from a rough patch

Earlier this year, the grid had about a month of downtime during an extended maintenance nightmare.

“This slightly extended downtime has allowed us to come back stronger, offering a more professional and stable experience for the entire OSgrid community,” grid administrators said in an announcement in April, when the grid came back up.

The problem? Their database had become bloated and broken.

“The current database is a massive burden to the grid,” administrators said. “Sixty percent of it is probably never used, and it kills the performance of our state-of-the-art hardware.”

According to the latest Hypergrid Business data, January 2025 showed OSGrid as the largest grid by land area in the OpenSim ecosystem, with 35,873 standard-sized regions. Today, the grid’s stats page shows a total land area of more than 55,000 square kilometers. With more than 15 standard region equivalents per square kilometer, this means that the grid is now more than ten times bigger than it was then.

I’m checking with the grid managers now to see what’s up with that. Sometimes, people spin up huge tracks of land for roleplay activities — endless stretches of open ocean for naval warfare, or miles of deserts for quest adventures.

About a week ago, a social media post accused a region on the Kitely grid of distributing infringing content.

Strictly speaking, any infringement complaint needs to be made by the original content creator, through official channels. That wasn’t the case here.

It was a pseudonymous user, DMCA GridSkipper, claiming that the Fashionistas Island had some infringing content — but offered no details about what specifically that content was or whose copyright was being infringed.

“It didn’t even include all the information required by a DMCA, primarily the infringing content was never identified,” Kitely CEO Ilan Tochner told Hypergrid Business. In addition, the person reporting was using a throw-away email address and a brand-new Kitely account.

Despite the lack of concrete information, the grid took action.

“We took the report seriously despite the questionable nature of the reporter’s identity as it really shouldn’t matter who reported it if the content itself was indeed being distributed without a proper license,” said Tochner. “We responded quickly to the possibility that there was infringing content to ensure that if it existed it would be promptly removed from our service.”

Within two hours, the grid set the region access to private, so that only the region owner could visit it, and contacted the region owner. Eventually, the grid took down all the content.

Kitely requires a formal complaint about any content to be done by clicking a Report World link on the world’s World Page, sending an email or internal message, posting the information on the forum or filing a DCMA take down notice on their website copyright notice link.

Some grid owners claim that they cannot remove or limit access to content before receiving a formal complaint from the content author or before being served with a formal DMCA. In fact, that is one of the excuses for infringing content in OpenSim and virtual worlds, in addition to 10 other excuses Maria Korolov wrote about last year.

But grids are increasingly getting more proactive when it comes to protecting creator rights on their platforms.

For example, DigiWorldz recently banned use of Athena Mesh bodies following informal complains on social media forums, even without formal DCMA notice or filing. The grid took the action after confirming with the original author that use of the meshes was violating copyrights.

David Kariuki is a technology journalist who has a wide range of experience reporting about modern technology solutions. A graduate of Kenya’s Moi University, he also writes for Cleanleap, and has previously worked for Resources Quarterly and Construction Review. Email him at david@hypergridbusiness.com.

Latest posts by David Kariuki (see all)

One of my interests is the relationship between the real world and the virtual. If the virtual can inspire or inform the real, it then transcends its technical isolation.

Curating an art exhibition is just such an opportunity. In the physical realm, curating is labor intensive, so decisions on placement carry considerable overhead. On the other hand, virtual simulation can be quite rapid and efficient, conditions that support flexible outcomes.

In real life, my profession is that of photographer. Photographers typically aren’t involved in the planning of an exhibition. We basically record what is, not what’s yet to come. But is there a practical way to use photography of the artwork to then rapidly create a virtual gallery and curate an exhibition that will exist in physical reality?

When Rafael Perea de La Cabada came to me for archival quality photography of his art in advance of an upcoming exhibition, our conversation turned to the challenges for him to curate the show. He wanted to explore various ideas but was feeling restricted by the physicality of moving artwork from his studio to the distant exhibition location, and then into various trial-and-error positions in the gallery. I proposed the creation of a virtual environment for rapid creation of a space that we could walk through, virtually, in which to curate his show quickly and creatively. The application for doing this was OpenSim.

In OpenSim, a simple box can be quickly stretched and resized to make a floor, wall, picture frame or a ‘canvas’ on which to apply the JPEG photographic image of an artwork. Photographic images of sculpture can be post-processed to have transparency around the art, preserved by saving to the PNG format (sculptural art photographed against a solid color background or black is fairly easy to separate from the background).

Lights are also available to simulate general illumination. Build times vary with the size of an exhibition, but a virtual gallery with all the essential details can be created in a handful hours, and curating the show can begin immediately as artwork images are uploaded.

Perea had previously engaged me to photograph his artwork with archival protocols. This meant high-resolution captures, flat, even lighting with suppression of ambient light contamination, and the inclusion of captures that included a color chart for setting white balance in post-production. While these are ideal images for all purposes, a virtual gallery could just as well be populated with basic clean phone photography. After all, the virtual gallery is created to facilitate curating a show, not making the final presentation.

Note: Depending on the number of artwork images and their native resolution, you may be able to handle file transfers via email, but if not, then a free account with Dropbox will have plenty of capacity to handle all the transfers.

To make virtual curating work, every artwork photo needs to be documented with real-world measurements. This is because the virtual gallery and contents will be built to scale, which is actually easier than it sounds. Artists typically already know the dimensions of their work. I put those dimensions into the filenames of the artwork images when I prepared them. This kept the dimensions intrinsically associated with each artwork. The artwork sizes were provided to me with the dimensions as inches. Since the viewer for OpenSim used metric I made conversions.

To build any gallery, it’s first necessary to acquire some reference material. For the Perea project, I knew the gallery would be the Ann Foxworthy Gallery at Allan Hancock College. Google searching produced a number of images, and the gallery director also supplied digital images and overall dimensions.

This gallery has a number of wall angles, but as with the art, I built the gallery to scale so all the components readily fit together. I also added some optional details (such as the track lighting). Note that the ceiling is best if it’s a single object (linked multiple objects if necessary) that can be moved aside, to provide easy placement access for the art.

There is, of course, a learning curve to working in a virtual 3D environment, and this deters many people, including artists, from using software like OpenSim. Yet of all the 3D tools I’ve used, including Maya, Modo, SketchUp, ZBrush and 3D Studio, OpenSim is the fastest and most user friendly.

The trade-off is the ultimate visual quality. High-end applications like Maya are used for cinema quality CGI. OpenSim is not, by itself, capable of that level of visual realism.

ut our purpose was to curate an art exhibition virtually, which only the artist and a handful of other people would see. For that kind of project, OpenSim fills the bill, as you can see below in sample images.

For the Perea exhibition, he had a preliminary set of ideas as to how the art would be arranged. Once the virtual gallery was assembled, and the photos of his artwork were uploaded and attached to “canvases” sized to the dimensions of each piece, I moved each artwork into the initially proposed locations on the walls. Then we could begin to try various ideas. This process was so fast, we could often sit on the phone while I made the changes and forwarded screenshots via email.

Alternatively, Perea could have run his own OpenSim viewer and seen the changes I made, or make his own changes. There’s a lot of flexibility here, but in this case he focused more on direction and had me running the controls.

Perea commented more than once that this process was a great relief.

To give the virtual project an added sense of completion, I exported 360-degree panoramic views, making it possible to create a virtual tour. Recent Firestorm and Second Life viewers have a 360-degree snapshot feature.

Nine key positions were effective in providing a walk-through experience. The 360-degree panoramic views were also valuable for sharing and collaborating with other stakeholders, such as the gallery director. And to move back into the realm of the physical world, a photographic 360-degree virtual tour was made on-site. This preserves the exhibition, immersively and in perpetuity.

Tours were made with 3DVista, a commercial application for virtual tour production.

Curating an art exhibition takes careful planning. Much of that process is conceptual, but the actual installation of art requires considerable physical work. Using a 3D environment like OpenSim presents the opportunity for a gallery director, curator, or the artist to previsualize an exhibition immersively, at scale and relatively quickly. This then makes possible the highly effective exploration of curating options, before labor intensive and essentially permanent installation decisions are implemented.

Link to the 360-degree OpenSim virtual tour. Click on art to open info panel.

Link to the 360-degree photographic virtual tour. Again, click on art to open info panel.

Lawrence Pierce specializes in new media design and production. He began as a computer game programmer and has been a systems consultant to corporations such as DuPont and the J. Paul Getty Art Trust, art director on the first computer game for MTV and a featured artist in the Hollywood Reporter.

Latest posts by Lawrence Pierce (see all)

About a week ago, a social media post accused a region on the Kitely grid of distributing infringing content.

Strictly speaking, any infringement complaint needs to be made by the original content creator, through official channels. That wasn’t the case here.

It was a pseudonymous user, DMCA GridSkipper, claiming that the Fashionistas Island had some infringing content — but offered no details about what specifically that content was or whose copyright was being infringed.

“It didn’t even include all the information required by a DMCA, primarily the infringing content was never identified,” Kitely CEO Ilan Tochner told Hypergrid Business. In addition, the person reporting was using a throw-away email address and a brand-new Kitely account.

Despite the lack of concrete information, the grid took action.

“We took the report seriously despite the questionable nature of the reporter’s identity as it really shouldn’t matter who reported it if the content itself was indeed being distributed without a proper license,” said Tochner. “We responded quickly to the possibility that there was infringing content to ensure that if it existed it would be promptly removed from our service.”

Within two hours, the grid set the region access to private, so that only the region owner could visit it, and contacted the region owner. Eventually, the grid took down all the content.

Kitely requires a formal complaint about any content to be done by clicking a Report World link on the world’s World Page, sending an email or internal message, posting the information on the forum or filing a DCMA take down notice on their website copyright notice link.

Some grid owners claim that they cannot remove or limit access to content before receiving a formal complaint from the content author or before being served with a formal DMCA. In fact, that is one of the excuses for infringing content in OpenSim and virtual worlds, in addition to 10 other excuses Maria Korolov wrote about last year.

But grids are increasingly getting more proactive when it comes to protecting creator rights on their platforms.

For example, DigiWorldz recently banned use of Athena Mesh bodies following informal complains on social media forums, even without formal DCMA notice or filing. The grid took the action after confirming with the original author that use of the meshes was violating copyrights.

David Kariuki is a technology journalist who has a wide range of experience reporting about modern technology solutions. A graduate of Kenya’s Moi University, he also writes for Cleanleap, and has previously worked for Resources Quarterly and Construction Review. Email him at david@hypergridbusiness.com.

Latest posts by David Kariuki (see all)

KuCoin Pay and 2Game Digital are pushing crypto deeper into gaming. The two companies have joined forces to bring crypto payments and blockchain-powered rewards to global gaming communities — starting with an exclusive promotion on August 29, 2025, offering gamers discounts, bundles, and early access to the 2Game Token ICO.

Key Takeaways

• KuCoin Pay integrates into 2Game Digital’s ecommerce, esports, and loyalty platforms.

• 2Game Token will power rewards, gated perks, and competitive features.

• Launch promotions kick off August 29 with 20% discounts and ICO early access.

• 2Game’s esports and play-to-earn ecosystem gains crypto integration.

• GCL Global Holdings is targeting Asia as a hub for Web3 gaming growth.

A New Era for Web3 Gaming Commerce

KuCoin, one of the world’s leading crypto exchanges, is pushing Web3 deeper into gaming through its payment arm, KuCoin Pay. Its new partnership with 2Game Digital, part of GCL Global Holdings (Nasdaq: GCL), allows millions of players to pay with cryptocurrency across 2Game’s ecosystem — from its global ecommerce store to its esports division and loyalty-driven 2Game Pro platform.

KuCoin Pay supports over 50 cryptocurrencies, including KCS, USDT, USDC, and BTC, allowing for fast, borderless, and secure transactions.

Kumiko Ho, Head of Payment Business at KuCoin, said:

“This partnership with 2Game Digital is another milestone in our mission to make cryptocurrency a frictionless part of everyday life.”

The 2Game Token and Community Engagement

2Game is also preparing to introduce its 2Game Token, which is intended to support loyalty programs, unlock gated rewards, and enable competitive features across its ecosystem. The company aims to become one of the first gaming platforms to combine ecommerce, esports, and play-to-earn mechanics under a unified Web3 infrastructure.

Sebastian Toke, Group CEO of GCL, added:

“This partnership not only opens the door to a new era of secure, instant, and seamless transactions, it also allows us to tap into a thriving global crypto community.”

Launch Promotions Begin August 29

To make the partnership immediately tangible, KuCoin Pay and 2Game Digital are rolling out a series of promotions from August 29, 2025.

Gamers who pay with KuCoin Pay here will unlock:

• 20% discounts on select purchases

• Special pricing on new releases

• Biweekly limited-time bundles

• Early whitelist access to the 2Game Token ICO

The promotion is intended to help onboard gamers into the ecosystem while offering added incentives for early participation.

Strategic Impact on the Gaming and Web3 Sectors

GCL is strategically focused on the growing Asian gaming market, where Web3 adoption in esports and digital commerce is accelerating. Through KuCoin Pay, 2Game Digital hopes to offer an accessible on-ramp for gamers to explore blockchain-based commerce.

For KuCoin, the move aligns with its broader effort to normalize crypto transactions in mainstream industries. For 2Game Digital, it represents an attempt to explore how blockchain can enhance user interaction, loyalty, and commerce — without altering core gaming experiences.

FIFA Rivals, the high-energy mobile football game from FIFA and Mythical Games, has entered into a multi-year partnership with Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, bringing the iconic German side into its fast-growing digital arena.

The collaboration marks FIFA Rivals’ first official club partnership and a major step in the game’s expansion across Europe. It also introduces new ways for fans around the world to engage with Dortmund, both in-game and in real life.

As part of the 2025/26 season rollout, fans and players can look forward to:

• Dortmund stars in-game: Players including Karim Adeyemi, Serhou Guirassy, Nico Schlotterbeck, Gregor Kobel, Jobe Bellingham, Yan Couto, and Daniel Svensson will feature as playable characters.

• Official collectibles: BVB kits will be available in FIFA Rivals starting in August.

• Fan rewards and giveaways: Challenges and events offering digital BVB items, matchday tickets, and official merchandise.

• Real-world activations: Upcoming events with Borussia Dortmund, including at the club’s FanWelt.

To kick off the partnership, FIFA Rivals is running a BVB Launch Giveaway Week from August 18–24. During this time, all players can log in daily to receive a free Borussia Dortmund player card pack featuring select first-team stars. A new official BVB emblem will also be available, with additional limited-edition emblems offering stat boosts in the in-game store.

“This partnership with Borussia Dortmund is a strategic step in expanding FIFA Rivals’ global footprint and deepening our engagement within the European football ecosystem,” said Jung Suh, Chief Business Officer at Mythical Games. “BVB’s global brand, forward-thinking approach, and commitment to fan experience make them an ideal partner as we continue to bridge the worlds of interactive entertainment and sport.”

Carsten Cramer, Managing Director of Borussia Dortmund, added: “It creates a unique bridge between the digital and real worlds, enabling us to connect with our fans around the world in innovative ways. Borussia Dortmund stands for passion, community, and innovation—values that align perfectly with this project.”

About Mythical Games

Acknowledged by Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas 2021 and named one of Forbes’ Best Startup Employers in 2024, Mythical Games is a next-generation studio focused on player ownership and digital economies. The team has worked on major franchises such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Magic: The Gathering, Madden NFL, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Marvel Strike Force, Modern Warfare 3, and Skylanders. Its own titles, Blankos Block Party and NFL Rivals, are already played by millions of fans worldwide, pioneering new ways to securely trade and engage with digital game assets.

About Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund is one of Germany’s most storied football clubs, founded in 1909 and boasting over 10 million domestic fans, along with a rapidly growing international following. The club has won eight Bundesliga titles, five DFB-Pokals, and in 1966 became the first German side to win a European trophy. Dortmund went on to lift the UEFA Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup in 1997. With annual revenues exceeding €500 million, BVB is today not only one of Europe’s most successful clubs on the pitch but also among its strongest commercially.

In the digital art and collectibles world, two concepts are reshaping how creators and collectors think about ownership: provenance and dynamic metadata. Much like how sites not covered by Gamstop introduce alternative ways for players to interact with online gaming markets, these blockchain concepts address some of the biggest questions around authenticity, long-term value, and interaction in the digital space. While provenance connects a digital asset to its verified origin, dynamic metadata introduces a way for that asset to evolve, adapt, and respond over time. Together, they are pushing the boundaries of what a digital collectible can be.

Understanding Provenance in NFTs

Provenance, in its simplest form, is the documented history of an item — who made it, who has owned it, and what changes it has gone through. In traditional art, provenance can be a chain of paperwork, receipts, and expert assessments that verify an artwork’s authenticity. In NFTs, provenance is recorded directly on the blockchain, creating a transparent, permanent, and tamper-proof record. High-profile collections, such as Bored Ape NFT art, have drawn attention to how ownership history and authenticity can be publicly tracked and verified.

When an artist mints an NFT, that act becomes the first block in the asset’s digital history. Every transfer, resale, or modification is captured in the blockchain ledger. This creates a public record that anyone can verify, which drastically reduces the possibility of fraud or counterfeit claims.

In practice, provenance helps:

• Prove originality: It is possible to confirm that an NFT came from the original creator’s wallet.

• Track ownership history: Collectors can see the entire chain of owners, adding prestige if the NFT was previously held by well-known figures.

• Support valuation: Just as in physical art, an asset with a clean and traceable history can command higher resale prices.

The transparency offered by provenance not only builds trust but also strengthens the long-term value of the NFT market as a whole.

The Problem Provenance Alone Cannot Solve

While provenance secures the history of an NFT, it does not address how that asset’s data or appearance can evolve. Once minted, most NFTs are static — their metadata, which stores attributes like the image, description, or properties, is fixed. This works for certain forms of digital art, but in a world where interactivity and adaptability are in demand, static NFTs can feel limited.

This is where dynamic metadata enters the picture.

What Is Dynamic Metadata?

In the simplest sense, metadata is the set of descriptive details that define an NFT, such as its name, image URL, properties, attributes, and sometimes even traits like rarity or level. Traditionally, this information is fixed at the time of minting and does not change. Dynamic metadata disrupts that idea by introducing the ability for this information to evolve over time or adapt based on predefined rules.

With dynamic metadata, an NFT is no longer just a static digital certificate pointing to a fixed image or file. Instead, it becomes a flexible, adaptable digital object capable of responding to events, user actions, or environmental conditions. The concept essentially brings NFTs closer to living entities within the blockchain environment.

For example:

• A sports card NFT might automatically update a player’s score, statistics, or image after every game.

• A digital pet NFT could grow, change colour, or gain new accessories as its owner interacts with it.

• A piece of art could shift its visual design based on real-world factors like weather, time of day, or even stock market trends.

The essence of dynamic metadata lies in the idea of ongoing transformation, allowing NFTs to have a continuous lifecycle rather than being frozen in the state they were minted.

How Dynamic Metadata Works Technically

Dynamic NFTs still use blockchain-based tokens, but the difference lies in how their metadata is stored and accessed. Similar to certain NFT DApps, the NFT can reference an endpoint or smart contract that updates over time instead of pointing to a fixed file. This allows creators to program logic that determines when and how changes occur.

A common architecture might include:

1. Smart contract logic: The NFT’s contract contains functions that can alter the metadata under specific rules.

2. Off-chain triggers: An external event or API call updates the metadata through the smart contract.

3. On-chain verification: Each change is recorded or referenced on the blockchain, keeping the update process transparent.

This combination makes it possible to maintain trust in the asset’s authenticity while still allowing for controlled evolution.

Why Dynamic Metadata Is Gaining Popularity

There are several reasons why creators and collectors are gravitating towards NFTs with dynamic metadata:

1. Ongoing Engagement

Instead of buying an asset once and leaving it untouched, dynamic NFTs keep the owner invested over time. The changes themselves become part of the experience, whether they are cosmetic, functional, or narrative-driven.

2. Long-Term Relevance

Many static NFTs can lose attention after the initial minting hype fades. Dynamic updates can keep a project in the public eye for months or even years by introducing fresh content or features.

3. Gamification Opportunities

Dynamic traits are perfect for game-like systems. Progression, unlocking new abilities, or earning achievements can be directly reflected in the NFT’s metadata.

4. Deeper Storytelling

Projects can tell evolving stories. For instance, a series of NFTs could change chapter by chapter, revealing new visuals and lore as the narrative unfolds.

5. Real-World Integration

Linking NFTs to real-world data streams — like sports results, environmental conditions, or even stock market prices — allows them to remain relevant and tied to events outside the blockchain. In sports-related projects, this could also extend to educational resources such as tips on live betting, where NFTs might unlock real-time insights or predictive data based on current matches.

The Intersection of Provenance and Dynamic Metadata

Provenance and dynamic metadata may seem like separate features, but they are deeply connected. Provenance ensures that all updates to an NFT are traceable back to the authorised creator or contract. Without a trustworthy record of changes, dynamic metadata could introduce opportunities for tampering or unauthorised modifications.

For example, if an NFT changes appearance after a major event, provenance makes it possible to confirm that this update came from the original project, not from a copycat trying to pass off a modified version as authentic. This combination of secure history and adaptive content sets the foundation for more complex and valuable digital assets.

Use Cases That Combine Both Concepts

When provenance (the historical record of an NFT) works hand-in-hand with dynamic metadata, it produces assets that are both trustworthy and adaptive. Some notable examples include:

1. Evolving Digital Art

An artist could mint a piece that shifts over time, perhaps starting as a black-and-white sketch and slowly gaining colour, texture, and detail. Provenance confirms that each stage was authored by the same artist, adding value to the final state.

2. Sports and Athlete Collectibles

Player cards can automatically refresh with new statistics, achievements, or even images after games. Provenance guarantees that these updates are official and not forged by third parties.

3. Music NFTs with Unlockable Content

A music track could gain remixes, bonus verses, or behind-the-scenes content over time. Dynamic metadata delivers the updates, while provenance proves they are from the original musician.

4. Virtual Fashion in Digital Worlds

Clothing or accessories in a metaverse can change appearance based on events, like glowing during virtual concerts or changing style for seasonal updates. Provenance assures authenticity for resale or collection.

5. Charity and Fundraising Collectibles

An NFT could visually evolve as donation goals are met, offering a transparent, verified record of progress along with engaging updates for supporters.

These cases illustrate how combining both elements can produce collectibles that are not only secure in origin but also engaging in function.

Challenges and Risks

Dynamic metadata offers exciting potential, but it also comes with hurdles that developers and collectors need to consider:

1. Technical Complexity

Creating reliable, updatable NFTs requires advanced smart contract development and robust backend systems. Poor implementation can lead to bugs, broken links, or unintended updates.

2. Dependency on Off-Chain Data

If the data source goes offline or stops providing updates, the NFT may lose its dynamic features. Even decentralised storage solutions require long-term maintenance.

3. Security Concerns

Since metadata can change, there is a risk of unauthorised edits if the update mechanism isn’t locked down. This could harm trust in the asset.

4. Overcomplication

Not every NFT benefits from being dynamic. Adding unnecessary changeable features can confuse buyers and inflate production costs without delivering meaningful value.

5. Market Education

Many buyers still don’t fully understand how dynamic NFTs work or why they’re different from static ones. This gap in understanding can slow adoption and resale value, and it’s common to see discussions framed around phrases like help me understand NFTs, reflecting the curiosity and confusion that still surrounds the technology.

The Future of NFT Provenance and Dynamic Metadata

The combination of verified history and adaptable metadata is shaping what may become the next standard in the NFT space. Over the next few years, several developments are likely:

1. Marketplace Evolution

NFT marketplaces may begin to display provenance records alongside real-time metadata updates, giving buyers a full view of both the asset’s history and its current state.

2. Cross-Project Interoperability

Dynamic NFTs could react to events across multiple ecosystems — for example, an NFT from one game gaining traits when an achievement is unlocked in another.

3. Legal Recognition

As NFTs become more integrated into commerce, provenance records may play a role in court cases or formal ownership disputes, especially for high-value assets.

4. New Creative Industries

Sectors like digital fashion, sports media, and interactive storytelling could expand rapidly as the ability to change NFT data unlocks new product types.

5. Standards and Protocols

The community may establish formal guidelines for dynamic metadata formats, update rules, and verification methods to ensure compatibility across wallets, applications, and networks.

If the early adoption trends continue, the future could see NFTs evolve from simple collectibles into complex, interactive digital objects whose authenticity and adaptability make them valuable for years rather than months.

NFTs have come a long way from the hype cycles of 2021. In July 2025, the market is more mature, utility-driven, and deeply integrated with Web3 and real-world apps. Gone are the days when profile pictures alone dominated the conversation. Today’s NFTs unlock gaming experiences, fractional real estate ownership, cross-chain interoperability, and even AI-powered interactivity.

In this article, we’ll explore the top NFTs still trending in July 2025, why they’re capturing attention, and what their success tells us about the future of digital assets.

Top 7 NFTs Still Trending in July 2025

1. Bitcoin Ordinals & “Early Birds”

As NFTs became multi-chain, Bitcoin’s Ordinals protocol gained serious momentum in 2025. In mid‑July, the Early Birds collection went viral on Ordinals, blending whimsical design with a strong meme‑culture vibe. Priced around ~0.00014 ETH (BTC‑equivalent), it’s become a lightning rod for collectors seeking novelty beyond Ethereum’s ecosystem (CryptoTicker).

2. Bored Ape Yacht Club 2.0 & CryptoPunks Next Gen

Legacy giants remain major players. BAYC 2.0 has reasserted its blue‑chip status by expanding into the metaverse, partnering with luxury fashion brands, and integrating play‑to‑earn elements. Similarly, CryptoPunks Next Generation has been revitalised with reimagined utilities and collaborations catering to both longtime holders and new entrants.

3. Moonbirds

Moonbirds retain their cult following. The collection of 10,000 artful owls continues to deliver value through staking (“nesting”) rewards, ongoing governance participation, and Ethereum‑based upgrades—all hallmarks of community‑centric utility.

4. Pudgy Penguins & Phygital Expansion

The Pudgy Penguins have successfully bridged digital and physical. Their in‑browser 3D game (Pudgy World), plush toy lines, and strategic retail tie‑ups (e.g., Walmart) highlight their evolution from PFP collectibles to full‑spectrum entertainment brands.

5. RobotEra & Pikamoon – Next‑Gen GameFi

Game‑centric NFT projects like RobotEra and Pikamoon are showcasing how blockchain can elevate interactive experiences. Their immersive gameplay and play‑to‑earn utility position them as strong contenders in GameFi’s next chapter.

6. Treasure NFT

Treasure NFT blends gamified mechanics with defi-like infrastructure, offering yield, interactive events, and strong graphics that resonate with Web3 users. It exemplifies the rising trend of multi‑layered functionality in NFT apps.

7. iNFTs

AI-powered collectibles are surging, especially after the ERC‑7857 “intelligent NFT” standard launched early 2025. These iNFTs introduce interactivity and adaptability, marking a key NFT form and function evolution.

Why These NFT Narratives Matter

• Utility-first NFT design: Access to events, gaming, or real assets replaces pure speculation.
• Multi-blockchain momentum: Bitcoin and Polkadot bridged new value zones.
• Institutional & real-world tie‑ins: RWA, Metropoly, and regulatory clarity foster mainstream adoption.
• AI & interactivity: ERC‑7857 brings a layer of intelligence to digital ownership.

Tangem: The Best NFT Wallet for Secure Management

As NFTs become more valuable digital assets, secure storage and easy management are more critical than ever. That’s where Tangem Wallet excels. With advanced bank-grade security, Tangem allows you to safely store, manage, and trade your NFTs across multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, and even Bitcoin Ordinals.

Its card-based hardware design eliminates the need for complex seed phrases, making NFT ownership as simple as tapping a card. Tangem is the most reliable and user-friendly solution for collectors navigating today’s multi-chain NFT world to keep their digital treasures safe.

What to Watch Beyond July 2025

• Upcoming drops like “Early Birds” on Ordinals may spark fresh mini‑boom cycles.
• The continuation of tokenization trends in real estate and collectibles
• Integration of AI into gamified NFTs and iNFT evolution.

Final Take

July 2025 shows NFTs firmly in their utility-driven phase—far past hype, deep into real-world relevance. From blue‑chip legacies to innovative AI and asset‑backed models, NFTs are delivering tangible value. This maturity suggests 2025 could be the year NFTs break fully into mainstream adoption, if you know where to look.

*All investment/financial opinions expressed by NFT Plazas are from the personal research and experience of our site moderators and are intended as educational material only. Individuals are required to fully research any product prior to making any kind of investment.

Decentralization is the future.

The non-fungible token market has come a long way from simple JPEG avatars to a full-fledged digital collectibles economy. But in 2025, it will undergo an even more radical transformation. Under the influence of Web3, metaverses, and machine learning, NFTs are gradually turning into “smart assets” – objects with behavior, memory, and the ability to respond to their environment. It is this evolution that lays the foundation for the next growth cycle.

One of the projects at the forefront of this transformation is Nexchain – a high-tech blockchain infrastructure that combines speed, scalability, and artificial intelligence tools. Today, the platform offers the best crypto presale, and soon, it will become a full-fledged environment for the creation of smart tokens, game characters, and trainable collections.

What are Smart NFTs?

If a classic token is just an object with metadata, then AI-powered NFTs are a dynamic unit that are capable of adaptation. Such tokens can:

• Change appearance depending on time, place, or owner’s actions;
• Learn based on interactions and store “memory”;
• Act as autonomous agents in a metaverse or game;
• Assess the external environment and make decisions based on embedded logic.

Thus, smart digital collectibles are turning into living digital entities that work on the principle: “If …, then …”. They can adapt, react, and evolve. For example, a virtual pet that learns to understand its owner. Or an NFT painting that changes depending on the weather in your city.

What Role Does Nexchain Play?

Integrating AI into NFT requires a special architecture: high speed, flexible smart contracts, and modular logic. Nexchain NFT tools provide exactly this infrastructure. With native support for AI integrations, cross-chain compatibility, and low-gas computing capabilities, the platform becomes an ideal foundation for creating smart tokens. This base allows you to issue smart tokens and ensure their functioning in real time – from games and AR applications to decentralized marketplaces.

Nexchain offers:

• AI SDK and API for developers;
• Support for EVM-compatible contracts;
• Dynamic tokenomics tools;
• Infrastructure for scalable next-gen NFT platforms.

Use Cases: from AI characters to Trainable Collections

Such assets can no longer be considered static JPGs or animations – they are elements of a living digital environment, where evolving NFT utilities are becoming the new standard. The emergence of NFT and artificial intelligence creates new formats of digital interaction. Below are some examples of how this will work:

• AI characters in the metaverse. NFT avatars with their own behavior and character that evolve depending on interactions with the user;
• Trainable collections. For example, a card or an item that “remembers” the history of battles or trade deals and changes its characteristics;
• Dynamic portraits. Artistic NFTs that change according to the owner’s mood (analyzes their voice, phrases, or correspondence style);
• DAO agents. NFTs that vote or perform actions in smart contracts on behalf of the user based on trained preferences.

Where Will Smart Tokens Be Used?

The development of such assets opens the way to new markets. Thanks to AI and Web3, collectible tokens are no longer just objects for storage. They are becoming part of everyday digital interaction. Smart digital collectibles are already finding application in:

• Games, where NFT becomes a trainable ally or enemy;
• Metaverses, where interactivity is more important than design;
• AR/VR applications, where the user interacts with the surrounding space through AI modules;
• Museums or galleries, where AI-NFT independently curates exhibits;
• Social networks, where NFT avatars conduct a dialogue with subscribers.

Why You Should Start with Nexchain

If you are a developer, artist, collector, or just follow technology, 2025 will be the starting point for a new era of NFT. But only those platforms that integrate AI not as a “feature”, but as a basic component, will be able to set the tone for the market.

Nexchain is one of the few projects that offers a comprehensive infrastructure: from a fast blockchain network to tools for creating and launching AI NFTs. Combined with a transparent roadmap, an active community, and native support for decentralized applications, this makes the platform a great entry point for those who want to stay one step ahead.

If you believe that intellectual assets are the future, start building it with Nexchain.

Want more? Connect with NFT Plazas

Join the Weekly Newsletter
Join our Telegram
Follow us on X
Like us on Facebook

*All investment/financial opinions expressed by NFT Plazas are from the personal research and experience of our site moderators and are intended as educational material only. Individuals are required to fully research any product prior to making any kind of investment.

Decentralization is the future.