Splinterlands - Runi Analysis

For today's article I want to focus on @splinterlands Runi, analyzing the data that's available to come up with whatever insights we can. Let's dig in.

First things first - a recap on Runi

Runi (Runis?) are the first generative NFT project for Splinterlands, minted on the #Ethereum blockchain and released in late 2022. 3521 Runi were created and each one has a unique set of attributes (head, weapon, body, core, etc.).

Runi utility

The value of Runi currently comes primarily in 2 forms:

• Arena: Runi is a fantastic card in its own right. Every Runi is a maxed level legendary card and has opportunity, rebirth, true strike, and reflection shield. It's an incredible card for reverse speed rulesets but in general works in all sorts of settings, from blast (due to reflection shield) to divine shield & poison (due to rebirth). It's versatile and extremely useful.
  
• Land: Land utility is Runi's other strong point. Described in depth in the Land Whitepaper, Runi gives a big production points bonus and a free power source. It's an essential asset for maximizing high value plots.

Runi can come in both Regular Foil and Gold Foil variations.

While there aren't concrete details on future utility, the team has said many times that it wants to continue making Runi valuable in different ways in the Splinterlands ecosystem. There have been a few details on the ability to combine Runi in the future which would give, among other things, added PP value on Land.

Analytics

Shifting gears, let's look at data on Runi from OpenSea.

Volume & Creator Earnings

Total volume so far since the mint is 785 $ETH, which equates to $1.9M if you take the current price of ETH (note that this is not quite accurate since of course ETH has changed a lot over time). In addition, Splinterlands receives a 5% royalty on sales, which equates to 39.25 ETH ($95k at current prices). This is relatively small, however it's also completely passive income, and assuming increased volumes in the future this could provide a good passive income stream for the Splinterlands company in the future (this is another reason why SPL is incentivized to continue to find ways to drive value to Runi).

Activity is relatively low, however that's also a function of the number of listings and whether holders are willing to part with their Runi (for the most part, they're not).

Floor Price & Sales

The current floor price is 0.29 $ETH, or ~$700. This has remained relatively steady over the last few months.

Sales are largely around the floor price, on Regular Foil Runi, with a few outliers occasionally poppin up. A GF Runi was sold for 1.9 ETH on Jan 3, and another for 0.75 ETH on Dec 30 (that one was probably a Christmas miracle...).

Listings

Only 1% of all Runi are currently listed for sales - that's ~35 out of the total 3521 Runi. This is in a similar ballpark to top collections like Mutant Ape Yacht Club (2% listed), Azuki (1% listed), and Pudgy Penguins (2% listed). it's a testament to the desirability of the collection for top players and the retention rate of these NFTs - if you start going down the ranks on NFT collections on OpenSea you'll generally find that there are considerably higher percentages of items listed for sale.

Holders

The majority (59%) of holders own 1 Runi, while 5 accounts own 50+. 1242 unique wallets own a Runi.

Some notable Runi whales amongst the SPL team include @aggroed with 58 Runi, @yabapmatt with 37, and @nateaguila with 16. I think this is another clear indicator of the expected continued value of Runi over the long term.

The top holder has 110 (!!!) Runi, representing >3% of the supply.

How to get a Runi & use it

If you're looking to get yourself a Runi, here are a few tips:
(1) Start on Blur rather than OpenSea. There are occasionally listings that are better on Blur than OS: https://blur.io/collection/runi
(2) For the OpenSea collection, go to https://opensea.io/collection/runi
(3) If you try buying a Runi and get an error, it might be because the listed Runi is still staked in-game. To check, go to https://peakmonsters.com/@sl-runi/cards and type the ID of the Runi you're trying to buy in the search field on the right. If it shows as being delegated to an account, that means it's staked an cannot be sold (however, sadly, it can still be listed).

(4) Once you've purchased your Runi, in order to play with it or assign it to a land plot you need to stake it to your account using the in-game interface here: https://next.splinterlands.com/collection/manage-runi. You first need to connect your wallet, and then enter your Runi and stake it to yourself (or someone else if you'd like). Once that's done (it takes a few minutes to complete, be patient), you'll be able to use your Runi in battles or stake it on land.

I hope this article gave a useful overview for those of you who are new to Runi, a compelling refresher for those who are not, and a few interesting insights based on the data. Let me know in the comments if there's anything else you'd like to know.

Posted Using InLeo Alpha