Venture capital (VC) firms have become much more selective with the crypto projects they invest in, representing a shift from the previous cycle due to market maturation, according to Eva Oberholzer, the chief investment officer at VC firm Ajna Capital. 

“It’s harder because we have reached a different stage in crypto, similar to every cycle we have seen for other technologies in the past,” Oberholzer told Cointelegraph.

She added that market maturation has slowed down pre-seed investing, as VCs pivot their attention to established projects with clear business models. Oberholzer said:

“It’s more about predictable revenue models, institutional dependency, and irreversible adoption. So, what we see right now is that crypto is not driven by any memecoin frenzies or other trends, but it’s more about institutional adoption.”

The shift in VC activity reflects the broader trend of institutional crypto investment and the focus on revenue-generating digital asset businesses, as opposed to the price speculation that drove investment during previous crypto cycles, including the 2021 bull market. 

Related: VC Roundup: Bitcoin DeFi surges, but tokenization and stablecoins gain steam

The traditional financial world demands yield and revenue-producing crypto businesses

Traditional financial investors, including Wall Street firms, venture capitalists, and institutional funds, are increasingly demanding crypto projects that provide established, predictable revenue streams.

VC firms are concentrating on stablecoin projects and investing in other forms of payment infrastructure that can generate fees, Oberholzer said. 

Real-world asset tokenization (RWA) platforms are also on the radar of VC firms due to the revenue models associated with minting and managing tokenized RWAs onchain.

Matt Hougan, the chief investment officer (CIO) at investment firm Bitwise, recently told Cointelegraph that the quest for yield is driving Wall Street investment in Ether (ETH).

“If you take $1 billion of ETH and you put it into a company and you stake it, all of a sudden, you’re generating earnings. And investors are really used to companies that generate earnings,” Hougan said.

The smart contract layer-1 blockchain hosts the majority of the stablecoin, RWA market, and decentralized finance (DeFi) activity that generates stable revenues through fees and other forms of financial rent for its owners.

Magazine: TradFi is building Ethereum L2s to tokenize trillions in RWAs: Inside story

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/venture-capital-game-has-changed-due-to-market-maturation-vc-exec/feed/ 0 56099 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/doodles-to-launch-first-telegram-game-kyles-journey-on-ton-blockchain/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/doodles-to-launch-first-telegram-game-kyles-journey-on-ton-blockchain/#respond Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:03:35 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/doodles-to-launch-first-telegram-game-kyles-journey-on-ton-blockchain/

Doodles has rolled out Doodles UP! – Kyle’s Journey, its first competitive blockchain game, now live inside Telegram. Powered by the TON Blockchain, the title is instantly accessible to more than a billion users, combining fast-paced competition with the chance to earn rare digital rewards.

Key Takeaways

• Kyle’s Journey is Doodles’ first game and first release on TON Blockchain.

• The title launches August 13, 2025, directly inside Telegram.

• Players can compete in real time, climb leaderboards, and unlock rare in-game items.

• Doodles NFTs are trading at 0.91 ETH, down 6.8% in 24 hours.

• The launch reflects a wider trend of NFT brands expanding into interactive gaming.

Inside ‘Doodles UP! – Kyle’s Journey’

In Doodles UP! – Kyle’s Journey, players follow Kyle as he escapes into a surreal portal world, catching bugs—his favorite snack—for points.

The gameplay blends casual fun with competitive elements, allowing players to face each other in real-time matches, track their positions on global leaderboards, and earn in-game currency to unlock rare, collectible items.

Early access players who join the waitlist will receive a rare loot box and bonus rewards. Although Doodles has never produced a game before, the project has integrated Elympics’ multiplayer infrastructure to support fair, real-time play across devices.

Why Launch on Telegram via TON Blockchain?

Choosing Telegram is a calculated move. The platform passed one billion monthly active users in March 2025, giving Doodles an immediate path to a vast global audience. TON Blockchain is built directly into Telegram, enabling users to store and send cryptocurrency, process payments, and interact with games and mini-apps without leaving their chats.

This setup removes many of the barriers that have slowed blockchain gaming in the past. Players don’t need to create separate wallets or handle complex onboarding. Games run within Telegram, with wallet creation and transactions handled in the background.

Telegram’s track record in Web3 gaming is already strong. Hamster Kombat, a tap-to-earn mini-game, attracted more than 300 million players, while Notcoin reached millions through similar viral gameplay. Launching Kyle’s Journey on TON puts Doodles in front of one of the most active audiences in the blockchain space.

Source: Doodles UP! – Kyle’s Journey

Doodles’ Shift from NFTs to Gaming

Doodles began in 2021 as an Ethereum NFT collection recognized for its vibrant, playful art. Over the years, it has expanded into a wider entertainment brand. In May 2025, it launched the DOOD token on Solana to add utility for holders and connect with future projects such as Doodles 2.

The launch briefly pushed NFT sales up 97 percent, according to Cointelegraph, before market volatility saw the project’s market cap drop from over $100 million to around $54 million, a shift that Blockworks described as common in token rollouts.

The move into gaming signals Doodles’ intent to reach beyond NFT collectors. By releasing a game that is instantly accessible through a familiar platform like Telegram, the brand is positioning itself to engage both crypto-native users and casual mobile gamers.

Market Snapshot for Doodles NFTs

Current figures show a challenging market backdrop. As of this week, Doodles NFTs have a floor price of 0.91 ETH, or about $4,325.76, reflecting a 6.8 percent drop over the past 24 hours. Trading volume is 43.50 ETH, down 34.2 percent in the same period, with 46 sales—a decline of 19.3 percent.

The collection’s market capitalization is 9,128 ETH, with 4,303 unique owners representing roughly 43 percent of the supply. From its all-time high of 23.95 ETH in May 2022, the floor price has fallen by around 96 percent. In this context, Kyle’s Journey could be an attempt to re-energize existing holders while drawing in new players.

NFT Brands Moving into Gaming

Doodles’ expansion reflects a broader shift in the NFT sector. Projects like Azuki have introduced immersive environments such as “Hilumia,” and Yuga Labs is continuing work on the Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Otherside metaverse.

Interactive experiences can widen a project’s reach, provide real in-game uses for NFTs, and create ongoing engagement loops. For Doodles, launching on Telegram offers the chance to merge its recognizable visual identity with a gaming experience that could reach millions of new users.

So there I was, alone in a diner with the corpse of a man I’ve never met. Before I could get my bearings straight, I heard the police on the scanner announcing that a murder had been called in and they’d be at the diner in 4 minutes. I panicked.

Before I knew it, the body was stashed somewhere I hoped no one would find it. With seconds to spare, I cleaned up my fingerprints, stashed the mystery man’s belongings, and slowly opened the door to greet two officers who had weapons drawn on me.

Just 30 seconds later, I was pronounced innocent and allowed to go on my merry old way. Except, I found that hiding this guy’s corpse was more fun than I had anticipated and, apparently, the universe was giving me an unlimited number of times to replay this scenario. It was like the movie Groundhog Day with a dash of Weekend at Bernie’s thrown in for good measure.

If you hadn’t already guessed it, the game is called Hide the Corpse, and it’s available on the Meta Quest platform for just $15. It’ll give you several hours of dark comedy goodness, and PSVR 2 players will soon get to join in on the fun on August 18 when it launches on the PlayStation Store.

A puzzle game like no other

Hide the Corpse – Official Announcement Trailer – YouTube

Watch On

Hide the Corpse is sort of an elaborate game of reverse hide-and-seek. The game has over half a dozen levels, each with at least six different places to hide the mystery man Gus’s corpse.

Despite what the subject matter might make you think, Hide the Corpse is a strangely family-friendly title that has no foul language, no violence (other than dragging a corpse around, I suppose), and little else that might trigger you to hide its existence in front of your kids.

That, of course, meant that my son and I spent hours laughing until we cried as we struggled to drag around Gus’s insanely heavy corpse without running into the furniture in our real living room. Seriously, it’s a hilariously good time that’s guaranteed to make you laugh.

Dragging Gus around is entirely physics-based, and since he’s supposed to be the weight of an average full-grown adult, that means Gus is quite challenging to move around. Even more so given that you only have four minutes to somehow bring him to a legit hiding spot and cram him into whatever dimensions said spot allows.

The intro level takes place in an apartment where you can hide Gus in strangely conspicuous places like the bathtub, the armoire, under the bed, and three other spots I don’t want to ruin. You’d think the cops would find him in these places, but they’re, thankfully, no Sherlock Holmes.

The goal is to just hide Gus’s corpse from plain sight, a goal that becomes zanier and zanier as you progress through the levels. And I promise that you never realized how heavy a corpse could be in zero gravity until you get to the space level!

Gus isn’t the only object you’ll need to hide, though. The man somehow has several of his belongings scattered randomly in each level, including his comb, wallet, favorite record (this is 70s themed), driver’s license, and a few other nicknacks. Each of these also needs to be hidden from plain sight to get the best score.

Oh, and don’t forget to erase every single one of the fingerprints you left along the way. Seriously, those little blue fingerprints appear on anything you’ve touched, even if you didn’t realize you’d touched it. It’s an almost overwhelming amount of stuff to do in just four minutes, but it results in some gratifying gameplay in a short span.

When the time is up, either at the four-minute mark or when you open the door for the cops, you’ll get graded on your performance. I’m not sure who grades someone on their ability to hide a corpse, but I hope I never run across them in real life.

Once you find enough hiding spots in each level, you’ll unlock a new level to play in. The scenarios are incredibly varied, ranging from the apartment you start in to the diner I spoke of earlier, a zero-gravity space station, an art museum, and more. The latest update in mid-July added a ton of new modifiers, including a heavier Gus and the ability to double the hiding time.

Alone or with friends, it’s a riot

While it’s a single-player game, I found it to be the most fun when casting the gameplay to a TV while others in the room were watching. This always elicited people asking to try it and then spending multiple sessions in the game until someone pried the headset from their cold, not-dead hands. Definitely not dead. That only happens in the game.

It’s the kind of zany, whimsical, unique fun that I love seeing from indie developers and a reminder of the late 90s and early 2000s era of gaming, where just about any theme or concept could make a game, no matter how surreal or ridiculous. Plus, at just $15, it’s tough to say no to for a few fantastic hours of entertainment with friends and family.

Be on the lookout for the Epic Games Store, as it should appear on the Google Play Store soon. After losing its appeal of a judge’s order, Google will now have to overhaul its app store policies. This includes letting third-party app stores onto its platform.

Steam has added Gotchi Guardians—a multiplayer tower defense game developed by Pixelcraft Studios—to its store with a full release scheduled for the third quarter of 2025.

Set in the same universe as Aavegotchi, Gotchi Guardians introduces web3 elements such as NFT-based cosmetic items and support for crypto payments, whilst aiming to stay within Steam’s guidelines around blockchain content. Pixelcraft Studios has stated that gameplay mechanics are not affected by any blockchain-linked purchases or assets.

The game has previously been available in browser-based form and has undergone several rounds of balancing and feature updates with a full PC release expected later this year.

Key Insights

• Gotchi Guardians is now listed on Steam with a full launch expected in Q3 2025
• The game is developed by Pixelcraft Studios, the team behind the Aavegotchi ecosystem
• Optional blockchain features include cosmetic NFT skins and in-game payments via $GHST
• Gameplay combines multiplayer tower defence and roguelite mechanics

What is Gotchi Guardians?

Gotchi Guardians is a multiplayer tower defense game that supports up to eight players per match. Each player must survive waves of non-player enemies, known in-game as “Licks,” whilst also competing with others in the same session.

The game incorporates roguelite design elements, such as randomised map hazards, variable match conditions, and periodic boss waves. Players choose from six different characters, each offering a unique ability that influences strategy—for example, generating in-game currency when damaged or enhancing tower performance.

In addition to enemy waves, matches include mechanics that allow indirect interference between players, creating both cooperative and competitive dynamics.

What can we expect from the Steam release?

The full release on Steam will include cross-platform multiplayer and seasonal leaderboards. Pixelcraft Studios has confirmed long-term plans for additional content, including new playable characters (Guardians), maps, and limited-time events.

Whilst the game does not require interaction with blockchain technology, players who own Aavegotchi NFTs will be able to use them as in-game cosmetic overlays. The platform also supports purchases using $GHST, the Aavegotchi ecosystem’s token, processed through the Base blockchain. These purchases are optional and do not provide gameplay advantages.

The game director, Jason Slama, previously worked on titles at CD Projekt Red, including GWENT and The Witcher. His involvement brings experience in designing competitive strategy games, which is reflected in Gotchi Guardians’ structure.

Pixelcraft’s development roadmap indicates ongoing support following launch, including balance adjustments, expanded gameplay features, and community-driven events. The studio has already tested many of these systems during the browser-based phase of the game earlier this year.

Metaverse platform The Sandbox has rolled out a new trivia game template as part of its Game Maker 0.11 update, enabling creators to design interactive quiz-style games within the platform’s virtual environment.

Rather than using traditional menu-based interfaces, the template relies on player movement and timed responses inside a 3D space. Players must physically move their in-game avatars to stand on tiles representing their chosen answers. Incorrect answers result in elimination, turning the quiz into a survival-based challenge.

The template is fully editable, allowing users to input their own questions and adjust the format to suit different types of gameplay.

What’s new in The Sandbox?

The Trivia Game Template is the main addition in the Game Maker 0.11 release that allows users to create games where players answer multiple-choice questions by moving to in-world tiles. Once the timer runs out, tiles with incorrect answers collapse, and players standing on them are removed from the game.

Creators can customise the questions, the layout of the tiles, and the number of rounds. The system uses The Sandbox’s existing logic and interaction tools and does not require external programming. A full guide is available on the platform’s Gitbook, and additional tutorials have been shared via live-streamed sessions.

The template is available for free through the Game Maker software.

Why is this significant?

The introduction of the trivia format broadens the types of games that can be built within The Sandbox, which has so far focused largely on exploration, platforming, and combat-based gameplay. The new template introduces knowledge-based challenges with time pressure and physical positioning, offering a different type of player engagement.

This move may appeal to a wider range of creators, including educators, event organisers, and those looking to create social or competitive experiences based on quizzes. Whilst The Sandbox has not announced any official trivia competitions, the template enables users to build such formats independently.

This latest update reflects The Sandbox’s continued investment in expanding creative tools for its user base and encouraging a variety of game types within its platform.