Echelon Prime, Parallel TCG and Moving Towards Better Crypto Gaming

Crypto gaming has faced significant challenges over the past year, partially due to the dwindling activity on riskier assets in crypto, such as NFTs, and partially because many participants (particularly those in NA and EU) view gaming projects skeptically, often perceiving them as vaporware with little genuine interest. Unfortunately, this was the reality for quite some time: P2E games often suffer from unsustainable tokenomics or unreasonable promises (which they fail to deliver upon). However, the general lack of interest in gaming provides a chance to look into new P2E games in the space.

Parallel TCG is one of these newer P2E games. Beta access for Parallel Prime began in July 2023. The game is smooth and well-crafted - it’s an uncomplicated implementation of a classic collectible card game. Its use of NFTs makes sense and is not forced. The design of PRIME tokenomics seems to have been well thought out. In comparison to other gaming projects, Parallel's tokenomics appear more robust and sustainable, partially due to the presence of multiple token sinks. Additionally, the recirculation of tokens deposited into token sinks ensures that PRIME is mostly in circulation, which allows the token to be used as a currency, as showcased by the $126M volume on Parallel Alpha cards.

Cosmetics as sinks is not a revolutionary concept, and has been explored both in crypto gaming as well as in traditional gaming - who have seen strong success, as can be seen by Fortnite and CS:GO. Upcoming Sinks such as Lending, borrowing cards by paying interest in PRIME; and Bonding, paying interest from your match earnings, will flesh out the in-game economy more as they add more complicated financial interactions between users.

Despite their strong tokenomics, PRIME has a large chunk of supply coming into circulation due to ongoing unlocks. Currently, around 1.6M PRIME (roughly 1.4% of total supply) is being emitted every month to investors and the reserve. In my view, Echelon Prime is likely to do well in the gaming space, but the supply hang for PRIME is important to keep in mind.