SPS DAO 2025 Year in Review

Greetings everyone! As 2025 is drawing to a close I wanted to make a yearly recap of all of the big changes made by the SPS DAO over the course of 2025. There’s a lot to go over here so I’ll try to briefly touch on each topic while focusing on the pertinent details. Without further ado, here is 2025 in review:

---

In January we passed the Token Cleanup for Validator Launch proposal. This proposal removed token minting prior to the transition to the Validator network, cementing our token supply into code as well as splitting all remaining token allocations into corresponding system accounts under the control of the SPS Treasurers.

In February we passed a proposal to redefine the Conclave Arcana Starter packs based on player feedback. This created the packs of only common and rare cards with exclusively regular foils for 1,000 DEC and ensured that Spellbook purchases would include 5 Starter Packs.

We also passed the proposal to Make Rentals Seasonal Only in February. This removed the daily rental option and changed all card rentals to Season Rentals.

Lastly for the month, we also approved funding for a fiat on/off ramp. We have the service set up and operating in game and some players use it occasionally. Ideally, if HIVE ever finishes integrating with Ramp, we’ll be able to have native support for the SPS token to be delivered directly in game, but as of yet we’re still waiting for that to happen for full functionality to be realized.

The SPS Validator Network went live on March 7th!

In April, we passed a proposal to Reduce SPS to DEC Conversion Fee. This changed the conversion fee from 2.5% to 0.5%.

In May, the SPS DAO voted to Restructure Ongoing Development Contracts. This proposal was necessary to significantly reduce spending and help make the DAO more financially stable for years to come.

Towards the end of May, we voted to eliminate LP incentives and to restructure the DAO owned liquidity positions. These proposals significantly cut inflation and cemented protocol owned liquidity as our standard practice moving forward. In short, the DAO isn’t spending money to rent liquidity, it’s now making money by providing liquidity.

In June, we voted to establish the Crypto Gaming Recovery Fund. While this project is still working to get its footing, we have had publications running stories related to the program and Splinterlands, sponsored 30 failed games so far, managed to partner with several other HIVE based games to help further promote the blockchain and have had more than 20 unique applicants find us so far.

We also passed a couple of proposals in June that expanded the number of SPS DAO Treasurers to 14 and established petty cash guidelines for the SPS DAO Treasurers. This created a spending threshold and some basic guidelines that allow the treasurers to handle smaller expenses without needing a proposal to act. Up to this point, only a few hundred dollars have been spent to pay for fees related to DAO bridge servers and website hosting.

Lastly in June, we established a Recovery Fund Committee that helps to find and assess failed Web3 games to propose for sponsorship via the Crypto Gaming Recovery Fund.

In July, we had a cleanup proposal to fix a few issues related to the transition of SPS moving to the Validator Network.

In August we voted to hire SMC to create a Conclave Arcana miniset. This proposal is unique as it marks the first time that the DAO will be the sole beneficiary of a set release.

One of our biggest votes ever happened in September and we passed a proposal to adjust our token distribution strategy. This was pretty monumental as it established a clear three year timeline for all of our remaining token incentives and ensured we’d have rewards for the foreseeable future. We still have to determine what to do after that point, but we now have more room to breathe while we figure it out.

We also expanded the SPS token onto BASE as well as launched DAO operated bridging for ETH, BASE and BSC in September. Later in October we voted to consolidate DAO owned liquidity to further expand our BASE position.

In October the SPS DAO officially represented Splinterlands at HIVEfest as well as helped set up wrapped HIVE tokens and bridging for our home blockchain. Many people from HIVE have expressed gratitude for this development. We passed a proposal to have the SPS DAO establish a HIVE:USDC pool on BASE, but we’re still waiting on the 13 week unstaking period to be able to execute this proposal.

In November, we voted to burn the majority of the Conclave Arcana packs held by the DAO. This was done to encourage more pack sales and ensure that the DAO wasn’t left holding all of the high value packs with most of the remaining jackpot cards and foil variants.

At the end of November, we also finally managed to get Coin Market Cap to update our token data and start using our validator network as the source of truth. Shoutout to @royaleagle for all the help on this one.

---

I tried to include all of the major events directly related to or influenced by the DAO over the year. I didn't include every single proposal as some of them touched on the same areas. It's good to look back and recognize all that we managed to accomplish this year and if you're still reading, thanks for joining us on this journey and being a fellow pioneer in Web3 gaming.

Let's make 2026 even better!