Splinterlands Launches SPS Governance Token - What to Know

In a groundbreaking announcement, the Splinterlands blockchain based trading card game has launched the SPS (Splintershards) governance token that will slowly give more control over the game's development to the players. In this post, I'll explain what the SPS token is, how to stake the SPS token, and how you can be eligible to take part in the SPS airdrop. Spoiler: Its super easy!!

What Is SPS and Why Does It Matter

At its core, SPS is a governance token that will allow players to gain more influence over how the game develops. Although we have been accustomed to hearing about DeFi governance tokens, I want to take a minute to appreciate the significance of the SPS token. I consider the SPS token to be quite revolutionary in that it is the first (that I know of) token to bring the decentralized governance aspect of DeFi and fuze this with the benefits of blockchain based games. Although many blockchain based games allow players to earn in game crypto that can be used in the gameplay Splinterlands is issuing the governance token that will allow players to control the future of the game itself including such things as DEC inflation rate, Battle settings, in-game rewards distribution, etc.

More Than Governance

Although the SPS token is revolutionary as a governance token, its utility extends beyond merely voting on updates to the game. As it is a cryptocurrency, it can obviously be traded or used to earn passive income through liquidity pools, but SPS can also be staked for a twofold benefit. Staking allows the staker to earn passive income, but it also entitles the staker to take part in certain promotions.

Staking the SPS token thus confers at least three separate benefits. It can be used for voting. It can be staked for passive income, and it is also an "entry ticket" to be eligible for various rewards. Although the documentation is forward looking at the moment, the SPS whitepaper indicates that in many cases, staking SPS tokens will be necessary to take part in Splinterlands airdrops but goes further by saying that staking more SPS can also increase the chances of getting rewards. So, it seems that there will be a two-tiered system in which a certain minimum of SPS might need to be staked to enter a promotion and then as the amount of SPS you stake increases, so does your chance of getting a reward.

Everything from staking to collecting your rewards can be done in the easy to use dashboard within your Splinterlands account.

SPS Airdrop

Although there are some great benefits of holding the SPS token, I'm most impressed by how the Splinterlands team decided to conduct the airdrop. Every day, for the next 365 days, 400 Million SPS tokens will be distributed to players based on the amount of Splinterlands assets that they hold in their account. Whether you hold DEC, lands, Champion Points, unopened Card Packs, or even the Splintertalk Tokens, the contracts will automatically value the total value of your assets and distribute a proportional amount of the daily SPS airdrop.

The awesome thing about this is that EACH day for the next year, you will receive a continual airdrop. I think this is an incredibly fair system as it prevents people rushing to buy cards only to dump them after the airdrop is over, and it also rewards people for ANY contributions they have made to the Splinterlands ecosystem beyond simply buying the cards.

Summary

Given that the SPS token is indeed a governance token, I should add the warning that some of the technical details of this article could change as the decentralized governance is implemented. Based on the community's votes, certain proposals may affect what I have shared here, so its always important to follow the official social accounts to make sure you have the latest news. It is also important to remember that nothing in my articles if financial advice.

As always, thanks for reading.

References

https://sps.splinterlands.com/in-game-governance

https://sps.splinterlands.com/offers

https://twitter.com/splinterlands/status/1419630862497468420