Envisioning RWA + New Narratives in Gaming: Will it Become the Engine of This Bull Run?

1. Has the bull run arrived?

Looking back from November 2025, two years later, at the magnificent cryptocurrency market, one might be surprised to find that October 23, 2023, may be a typical marker for the start of this bull run: within 24 hours, BTC jumped directly from 30,000U to 34,000U. Many of my friends who had heavily invested around 20,000U were overjoyed, saying, "See, see, I told you the crypto bull run would definitely come!" There were also some friends who missed the opportunity and were still debating, saying: "The current on-chain data shows no new money entering the market, and the total amount of stablecoins like USDT is still at a low point. This is a false bull run amplified by the Bitcoin ETF news, and there will be a wave of correction!"

The positive viewpoint of "The Bull Has Arrived" is very clear, the three major benefits in the future are enough to support the bull run:

1. Bitcoin ETF accelerates the influx of funds from traditional financial institutions;

2. Bitcoin will halve in May 2024, and the mining cost will rise to above 28,000.

3. The U.S. does not raise interest rates and may even cut rates;

Regardless of whether it’s a real bull or a fake bull, what I’ve been pondering is: to support a true bull run lasting at least 12 months, there must be a new narrative for the entire industry to move forward. Among the three positive factors supporting the bull market, the first and third are external forces, while the second is the four-year halving rule known to everyone on Earth since the release of the BTC white paper. So, what are the new industry narratives that can support this bull market? If we don’t develop properly ourselves and only rely on external information and policies, we are likely to be a fleeting phenomenon.

Let's take a look at the development trajectory of the last bull run: Starting from July 2020, the DeFi summer began, and Bitcoin took off from around 10,000U. DeFi is a major innovation in the industry that uses smart contracts to simulate certain functions of the real-world financial system, allowing for collateralized earning, decentralized trading, and derivatives, among other things. Then, some influencers started to promote it; subsequently, the applications of NFT and Gamefi 1.0 emerged, enabling many novice users to enter the space without needing to learn the knowledge-intensive DeFi, allowing them to participate and, importantly, also become wealthy. Finally, the concept of the metaverse became widespread, with Facebook rebranding itself as Meta. The bull run peaked in November 2021, with Bitcoin's price reaching 69,000U.

2. The New Narrative of This Bull Run

Did you see? At least Defi, NFT, Gamefi 1.0, and the Metaverse are the four innovations that represent the evolution of the crypto industry during the last bull run. So what are the new evolution points in this bull run, or the new narratives we often talk about? Let's summarize:

1. SocialFi decentralized social, the case is the recently emerged Friend.Tech;

2. Chain Game 2.0, is a web 2.5 chain game: assets are on the chain while the game is centralized, focusing on highly playable games, and then making use of the on-chain assets.

3. RWA (Real World Asset), a massive track that can link the vast old wealth of WEB2 with the cryptocurrency industry, and Depin, which has been repeatedly mentioned in the Hong Kong crypto circle these days, is also one of the RWA tracks.

4. The rise of the Bitcoin ecosystem is, after all, regardless of WEB2 or WEB3, BTC has been regarded as a value store akin to gold. Why can't we do something with it? Even gold can be used to create various derivatives in the financial industry.

Today, we will focus on the third point RWA, because I have always felt that RWA is the extended narrative of the last bull run engine Defi. Think about it, DEFI generates a bunch of virtual coins using code, and then plays around with smart contracts, simulating the real financial system. It's like children playing house, with a dad, a mom, pots and pans, and rice, oil, and salt. BUT, what impact does this have on the real world? None! Currently, among virtual coins, except for BTC which has a certain consensus in the WEB2 world, other coins seem to be just air to outsiders. So what does a bunch of extremely complex operations based on air mean?

Does that mean Defi has no meaning? Not at all! It can only be said that the DEFI that started in a bull run is just the first half of this new narrative. It has laid the groundwork for participation, the rules, and the direction, just like when you want to prepare a full banquet, DEFI has already set up the kitchen, utensils, and chefs for you. Now you just need to wait for the ingredients to arrive so that you can officially start cooking. Therefore, I understand RWA as the second half of DEFI, just like the two parts of "A Chinese Odyssey", "The Moonlight Box" and "The Monkey King Takes a Bride"; the two must be viewed in connection to see their beauty.

3. How to Navigate RWA

What is RWA? The full name is Real World Asset, which translates completely to "tokenization of real-world assets." Corresponding to real-world assets, RWAs can also be categorized into tangible assets and intangible assets based on the type of underlying assets. Tangible assets mainly include real estate, bulk commodities, and artworks; intangible assets include bonds, stocks, and carbon credits. Since RWA is based on real-world assets, it requires an off-chain process supported by legal frameworks for asset confirmation and value recognition, followed by tokenization through DeFi protocols and circulation in on-chain markets, while monitoring the value changes of off-chain assets through oracles.

RWA actually already has some practical application cases. The stablecoins we often use, such as USDT and USDC, are RWA. For example, the physical asset "Satoshi Island" and this year's hottest RWA, U.S. Treasuries, are all examples of on-chain token issuance supported by physical assets. In fact, the concept of a Bitcoin ETF is a reverse financial RWA, where WEB2 funds participate in Bitcoin investment through a compliant ETF financial product. Meanwhile, RWA U.S. Treasuries allow WEB3 funds to participate in U.S. Treasury investments without needing to cash out, achieving an annual return of around 5%.

The vigorous wave of STOs in 2018 was an early attempt at RWA. During that time, a number of attempts emerged to make traditional assets compliant and put them on the blockchain, leading to the rise of several Web3 startup projects aimed at this goal, such as tZERO, Polymath, Aspen, and others. There were also some case attempts, such as Aspen REIT, Resolute.Fund, and Fundament Group. However, due to various reasons such as market conditions, economic cycles, and regulations, the STO market did not develop as smoothly as expected.

The current mainstream approach to RWA is relatively simple, which is to tokenize (Tokenization) in a way similar to securitization, allowing funds in the crypto space (such as various stablecoins) to have ownership or income rights of real-world physical assets or financial assets. This is a straightforward one-to-one correspondence, and ownership is also subject to the constraints of real-world laws. To diversify the approach to RWA and encourage more users to participate, it is necessary to design better application scenarios for RWA. We believe that this will stand out in the current bull run and can be defined as the basic application infrastructure of RWA.

Imagine, if in a game scenario similar to Monopoly or The Sims, you enter a stock exchange, link your wallet, and can actually use the game tokens or U in your wallet to purchase stocks from major companies, then enjoy the benefits provided by the enterprises. Or, when we virtual travel to a city through a gamified scenario, we can conveniently buy REITs shares of the city's landmark buildings, becoming one of the investors in physical assets. Isn't that fantastic? Of course, we are only considering the user product experience here; regarding legal regulations and how to connect with the actual securities sector, that would require a project team skilled in navigating such complexities.

In fact, the RWA foundational application settings described above can be considered a part of the metaverse in a broad sense, but they are more hardcore in terms of security and their integration with WEB2, so they need to be singled out as a new narrative. Currently, it seems that the RWA in gaming scenarios should attract more users to join, as it not only allows WEB3 players to connect their tokens in their wallets with the real world, but also enables WEB2 players to experience the uniqueness of WEB3 products: there is no need to complete so many document signings in the real world, just a wallet connection; the shares held are constantly reflected on the chain and can be traded at any time.

So the question arises, how can we make it easier for Web2 players to transition into Web3 and recognize the new gameplay of RWA+ games? We can think from their perspective: when a Web2 user from the real world wants to enter the virtual world of RWA+ Web3 or even the nascent metaverse, what difficulties will they face, and what demands will they have internally?

First, they will be overwhelmed by the Web3 information that they have never encountered before, such as public chains, wallets, DeFi, and other basic knowledge that seem simple and straightforward, but are actually unfathomable, making it difficult to know where to start. Then, they will be attracted by various innovative projects and models in Web3, seeing one wealth myth after another, always eager to jump in, but fearing to become the kind of retail investors who end up with nothing left. Therefore, they look everywhere for people to consult, hoping to learn the true scriptures of Web3 investment or find reliable investment advice. Furthermore, they hope to find a truly enjoyable gaming experience in the virtual world of Web3, and even more so, they wish that the noble identity in the virtual world can extend to the real world, allowing them to participate in some high-end activities with a sense of ceremony, achieving a full integration of online and offline.

The imagination above seems too beautiful, but it is indeed the most simple and fundamental wish in the hearts of most players transitioning from Web2 to Web3. So, are there any products or games in the market now that can meet or partially meet the above needs? We specifically searched the market and found the following cases for your reference.

4. Case Studies of RWA+ Games

1. DeFi Kingdom

Want to learn about Web3, but find reading articles, studying white papers, and doing desktop research too tedious? Is there a product that allows you to learn Web3 knowledge while playing games? There really is such a project, DeFi Kingdom is one of them.

DeFi Kingdom is a product from the last bull run, a Play2Earn game based on the Harmony blockchain. But it is not just a game; it is also a Dex and an NFT marketplace. The entire game map can be said to visualize and gamify the functions of Dex and NFTs. For example, in the Gardens, users can provide LP through the Druid and receive Jewel token rewards. In the Marketplace, users can purchase the main game token Jewel and stake it in the Jeweler bank to earn xJewel tokens, enjoying a series of rights within the project.