Proof of Play said on Tuesday it is shutting down, saying it could not build a product and sustainable business that proved its blockchain-gaming thesis at scale. The studio is open-sourcing as much of its code and art as possible, including the Pirate Nation Unity app, smart contracts and an internal agent workflow tool on GitHub. Founder Pirates NFTs, Pirate Nation artwork, IP and logos are being released under CC0. The PIRATE token was trading around $0.001285 on Wednesday, up 10% in 24 hours, while Shiba Story Go! has been acquired by a third party and will continue independently.

CNBC host Jim Cramer said on air that he is selling his Bitcoin after asking IBM CEO Arvind Krishna whether quantum computers could eventually break the cryptography protecting crypto holdings. Krishna said that in three to four years he would become "rather paranoid," prompting Cramer to say he would sell his coins and add that Ethereum might be "even worse." Bitcoin still rose about 1.6% on the day of the remark, and traders on Crypto Twitter quickly revived the long-running "inverse Cramer" joke. Decrypt’s Morning Minute also ran through a wide set of market updates. Major crypto assets were slightly higher while U.S. stocks pushed to fresh all-time highs, with BTC up 0.5% to $64.1K and ETH flat at $1,868. Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $211 million on Tuesday and $380 million across the first two sessions of the week, while ETH ETFs added $53 million. Elsewhere, Justin Drake and five other researchers proposed EIP-8361, a tapered issuance burn mechanism aimed at reducing Ethereum inflation as staking rises. The newsletter also highlighted Cloudflare Wallets for AI agent payments, Circle’s $701 million in Q2 revenue, Wells Fargo’s tokenized deposit plans, BitGo’s WBTC move to Chainlink, Robinhood Chain meme coin gains led by CASHCAT, and a softer NFT market.

Web3 game developer Proof of Play said on Aug. 5 that it is ceasing operations. The team said it once believed blockchain games could drive the next generation of the decentralized internet, but failed to build a product that could validate that idea at scale or sustain the business. As part of the shutdown, Proof of Play will open-source what it can, including the Pirate Nation Unity app and Pirate Nation smart contracts. Founder Pirates NFTs, Pirate Nation artwork, intellectual property and branding have been released under a CC0 license. The Pirate Nation Foundation remains independent and will keep supporting the PIRATE token, with its website still running. Proof of Play points will not be redeemable for anything. Shiba Story Go! has been acquired by a third party and will operate independently. Proof of Play, a blockchain gaming startup, raised a $33 million seed round in September 2023, co-led by a16z and Greenoaks.

Proof of Play, a blockchain gaming studio and onchain technology company, said on Aug. 4 that it will cease operations. The company said it had initially believed games built with blockchain technology could help open a new decentralized internet, but it ultimately failed to create a product that could validate that idea at scale or support a sustainable business. As part of the wind-down, Proof of Play said it will open-source as much of its code and art assets as possible for future builders, including Pirate Nation-related apps, smart contracts, founder NFTs, and intellectual property released under a CC0 license. The company also said the Pirate Nation Foundation, which operates independently from Proof of Play, will continue to support the $PIRATE token and keep its website online. Proof of Play points will not be redeemable. Separately, Shiba Story Go! has been acquired by a third party and will continue operating independently.

The coming week carries a dense schedule for crypto markets and adjacent sectors. Circle, SpaceX, Hut 8, and American Bitcoin are all set to release quarterly results, while token unlocks for Succinct (PROVE), Ethena (ENA), and Hyperliquid (HYPE) are also on the calendar. At the same time, several products and services are approaching end-of-life milestones, including DeFi dashboard Zapper, crypto wallet Ctrl Wallet, and Polygon liquid staking token MaticX. Exchanges are making changes as well: Binance will stop supporting the Sophon mainnet and migrate SOPH to Ethereum on a 1:1 basis, and Coinbase plans to suspend trading in IDEX, LRC, OMNI, PIRATE, and FIS. The week also includes Polymarket’s shift to TWAP-based settlement for crypto up/down markets, a planned compensation update from AFX Trade after its bridge exploit, and an upcoming XRP Ledger software release that restores revised features previously removed over security flaws. Macro data are also due, with the U.S. set to publish July unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, and wage figures on Aug. 7.

Blockchain gaming is undergoing a harsh reset as major titles like Pirate Nation, Ember Sword, and Nyan Heroes shut down. Annual funding fell to $293 million from a 2022 peak of $10 billion, pushing the sector toward retention-focused design, stablecoin payments, and AI-driven development.

Coinbase has announced the listing of Pirate Nation (PIRATE), a move that could boost the token’s visibility, liquidity expectations, and short-term market sentiment. Investors are watching for further listing details and trading conditions.

Coinbase announces listing of Pirate Nation (PIRATE) token, effective immediately. The GameFi token sees price surge expectations and potential sector-wide impact.