What is xPet.Tech?

xPet.Tech is a browser extension plugin game based on the Ethereum L2 network Arbitrum. This application appears to be a pet-themed raising game, but it is actually a “financial Ponzi” game.

Reasons for xPet’s Popularity

Originating from SocialFi but gaining immense popularity in GameFi, the blockchain project xPet.Tech has experienced a resurrection in its token price over the past week, surging over 900% in the last 7 days, with a market capitalization surpassing $50 million.

The project’s other in-game token, BPET, has also surged, with its market value exceeding $70 million.

On the other hand, according to the Dune data dashboard produced by Hashed, data including the number of users, number of contract accounts, and contract ETH custody volume have all experienced significant growth in the past few days. This means that xPet.Tech is indeed attracting broad market user participation.

xPet Game Mechanics

GameFi elements

xPet.Tech is a browser extension plugin game based on the Ethereum L2 network Arbitrum. This application appears to be a pet-themed raising game, but it is actually a “financial Ponzi” game. Here is a brief overview of the gameplay mechanics:

After installing the plugin, players need to enter a referral code to start playing (if you don’t have a referral code, you can use: xpet_413df764). Afterward, players can obtain a free pet, and once the pet is leveled up to level 7 or above, they can start playing.

Farm mode (FARM)

After meeting the level requirements, users can start picking berries as long as they hang up. The picked berries need to be processed in the factory before they can be converted into BPET tokens that can be liquidated.。

However, pets are not perpetual motion machines, and the Berry output of pets is limited by a cycle! According to the official introduction, the amount of BPET that players can earn in each cycle is equivalent to the number of BPET they invested in upgrading until the player upgrades again to start the next cycle. In other words, the BPET produced by the farm is equivalent to the BPET invested in pet upgrading, and when the pet reaches its maximum level, no more Berry can be produced. Therefore, the farm mode is not the main source of profit for xPet players.

Adventure Mode (PvE)

After the pet reaches level 10, players can unlock a new feature that will be available on December 26th - Adventure Mode (PvE). This is the real source of profit for players in this game. Players can earn BPET by letting pets adventure to clear dungeons. These BPET are not newly issued but come from 10% of the total income of the game the day before (income from activities such as mall fees, factory upgrade costs, etc.). The higher the level of the pet and the higher the level of the adventure dungeon, the more BPET can be obtained.

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Therefore, as long as new players continue to enter, the allocatable income from PvE will continue to increase. (On the contrary, if the growth rate of players stagnates, the economic incentive will decline.)

In addition, PvE can also obtain xEGG fragments. Collecting enough fragments can synthesize xEGG NFT. The total quantity of NFT is only 10,000, and there are differences in rarity. Specific functions will be opened in the future.

However! It should be noted that if players withdraw the rewards from PvE, it will lead to the degradation of pets. Therefore, the traditional “mine-sell-withdraw” is not feasible in this game, and players must be careful.

SocialFi elements

xPet.Tech was actually launched during the heyday of SocialFi some time ago. Initially, the project required users to install a browser extension plugin that randomly placed treasure chests in some tweets. Users had to reply with xpet under the tweets to open the treasure chests and get token airdrop points. This is why we often see people suddenly reply “xpet” under tweets.

But later, it seems that the official added a word limit to the replies to tweets, so those users who want to open the treasure chest have all changed to copy and paste the official introduction text.

In addition, since the XPET token has been issued, the rewards for opening the treasure chest now are not points but rewards such as “BPET tokens, food”, which is the main source for players to get free pet stamina (❤️).

It must be admitted that using this “viral MLM” mechanism as a way to cold start the project is effective in attracting a large number of users who want to take advantage, but it also makes many native users of social platforms quite disgusted and seriously affects the experience of native users on the platform.

In addition, the player’s pets and levels will appear on the individual page of the “X,” which is one of the few features that can be associated with “social.”

Can xPet recreate the STEPN craze?

The content introduced today is only the core part of xPet.Tech, and there are many auxiliary functions (such as staking, borrowing, Earn together, XPET, and BPET exchange functions, etc.) that have not been introduced. Interested parties can refer to the official whitepaper.

Overall, xPet.Tech is different from recent rising tokens such as glyphs or meme coins which are not well-designed; it is a well-thought-out on-chain application. This application is similar to the once highly popular STEPN and is still in its early stages, perhaps having the opportunity to recreate the trend of that time. It should be noted that these applications are essentially Ponzi schemes packaged as games, so participants should carefully consider the risks they can bear.

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