Thursday Thoughts - 06/30/2022
In this short newsletter, I share the most interesting things that I’ve read, heard, and/or watched over the past week.
What I’ve Tried:
Walken
Walken is a move to earn app available on iOS and Android.
The game is also free to play. Walken gives you a CAThlete when you first sign up. In the current stage of the game, this Pokemon inspired pet can only only do two things, level up and go on races.
CAThletes level up by burning Gems and WLKN tokens.
You earn Gems based on the amount of steps taken in real life. This data is taken from your phone and wearable devices. For me, the app is connected to Apple Health and pulls information from my Apple Watch. Gems are an in-game currency and not tied to the blockchain in any way.
The way you earn actual money is by racing your CAThlete. This is equivalent to battling in Pokemon. Right now, racing is just click and watch. There’s no skill involved other than choosing the type of the race. You are rewarded WLKN tokens for every win. These tokens are the governance and economic tokens for the game. Currently WLKN is trading at $0.12.
The free CAThlete earned by signing up is not a NFT. But it will turn into one when it gets to level 6. This mechanic offers a clear pathway to owning an actual asset from playing the game. You don’t need to purchase a NFT to start earning and playing, unlike most other blockchain games.
This app isn’t completely new in the move to earn scene. However, I enjoy the free to play aspect. I also like that I don’t have to do anything special to earn Gems. I don’t need to walk around with the app open. I can just go about day as I normally would without the game.
Fountain
Fountain is an audio player that pays you for listening to your favorite podcasts. You earn sats, fractions of a bitcoin, based on how long you listen. I have been using it on and off for a week and earned 650 sats or roughly $0.15.
This app is still very early. As such, I ran into a couple of issues while using the app. The app sometimes stops playing my podcast and I need to force close and open the app to get the episode to resume. I also noticed that my phone ran hot with a ton of background battery use during my first time using the app.
The concept of paying for listening to podcasts is fascinating. It reminds of Brave rewarding BAT for viewing ads through Brave Rewards. It appears that Fountain generates revenue from selling promotions, collecting fees on support transactions, and offering subscriptions. I wonder if these activities are enough to offset what it pays users to listen.
What I’m Pondering:
“a conversation is like having a catch with someone. A good partner tosses the ball directly into your glove, making it almost impossible for you to miss it; when he is on the receiving end, he catches everything sent his way, even the most errant and incompetent throws.”