It’s an exciting time in the cryptocurrency market as more projects than ever are springing up with innovative metaverse-related ideas.
One such project is Silks, which looks to leverage blockchain technology and produce a first-of-its-kind derivative gaming experience.
This article will discuss the Silks project in detail — highlighting what it is, how its in-world economy functions and the exciting roadmap the developers have set out.
What is Silks? A brief overview
Silks is a blockchain-enabled play-to-earn (P2E) metaverse game comprising a rich virtual world where players can interact with various in-game nonfungible token (NFT) assets and exciting gameplay features derived from the real world of thoroughbred horse racing. The game offers a unique approach in P2E gaming by linking each of its featured horses to a real-world thoroughbred racehorse.
These links form the foundation of how Silks players can earn rewards: When a horse wins a race in real life, the owner of the corresponding Silks horse will receive a prize denominated in the game’s native transactional token, STT. Rewards are also distributed via other inventive gaming mechanisms such as staking and breeding, providing scope for Silks players to generate consistent income through their in-game exploits.
In the Silks Metaverse, players can purchase plots of virtual land and construct stables to accommodate their Silks horses. Land and stables, and Silks avatars and horses, are all structured as NFTs, allowing players to trade these in-game assets through the secondary marketplace.
The Self-sustaining Silks ecosystem
Rewards for Silks horse owners are distributed in STT that can be used to purchase items in the secondary marketplace.
There’s also the game’s governance token, SLK. According to the white paper, this metaverse will be governed through a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), with SLK tokenholders able to vote on proposed changes to the platform. Players can convert STT into SLK at a variable exchange rate.
Another fundamental of the Silks ecosystem is mining: To achieve the one-to-one link between Silks horses and their real-world counterparts, decentralized datasets are used with information on each thoroughbred’s bloodlines, development progress and racing results.
Miners verify data through a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, with mining rewards distributed in SLK. At Silks’ launch, the initial datasets will be centralized; however, as the Silks metaverse expands over time, these datasets will become entirely decentralized. Ultimately, this mining process can offer consistent income for many community members.
NFTs: A crucial element of the Silks Metaverse
The Silks avatars that players use and the game’s horses are both structured as NFTs. Players must own a Silks avatar before owning a Silks horse, as these avatars help identify players in the Silks Metaverse.
The initial crop of Silks horses will be minted in mid-2022. However, subsequent crops will be minted annually to coincide with the registration of yearlings — one-year-old thoroughbred horses — in the real world. All horse NFTs will be sold via a blind sale, meaning a player has the chance to obtain a high-value horse regardless of financial situation.
Since the Silks metaverse will have a finite amount of virtual land, players can purchase one-acre plots structured as NFTs. This land is necessary to construct stables for Silks horses and is purchased with STT.
The future of Silks
Looking ahead, Silks’ development team has detailed plans to add more structures and player roles to the Silks Metaverse, allowing sub-economies to develop among like-minded community members.
The Silks roadmap details plans for Silks avatars’ public sale during the second quarter of 2022. Next is the inaugural public sale of Silks horses, then land and stables will be available for purchase in the third quarter of 2022. Metaverse registration and on-ramping are scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2022, allowing Silks players to generate racing and breeding rewards.
Learn more on the website.
