Having A Gas: This Week In Crypto Pop Culture, January 21-25

It’s Friday, January 25, everybody! In case you were too busy suing the NFL for the blown pass interference call in the Saints-Rams game last weekend, Having A Gas is here to fill you in on some of the lighter blockchain and crypto news stories you may have missed.

SAS-sy Gamers

Gaming startup Stasis Gaming is doing the impossible – imagining a world where toxicity and gaming are not one-and-the-same – through the launch of its mainnet this week. The project allows gamers who play League of Legends, Fortnite, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, or Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds on a PC, Xbox One, or PS4 to earn SAS coins, which can be used to purchase gaming accessories from the startup’s partner, Bloody Gaming.

Along with rewarding a player’s skill set and time spent in a game, Stasis says that good behavior will be a factor in how much SAS a gamer can earn.

This raises one big question: What will gamers do if they have to behave themselves?

I know here at ETHNews, we like to talk about governance within the blockchain space, and we like to see new and transformative ideas reshape how we think about and use this technology. While I haven’t been in this space for very long, I think asking gamers to behave themselves is one of the most transformative pieces of governance yet.

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At the end of this week, YouTube channel BTC TV will post the newest episode of “Blockchain Stars,” a “Shark Tank”-style show where blockchain startups pitch their company and compete to receive a $100,000 prize. The show features judges Mark Hamade, a partner with private equity firm Vivaris Capital; Miko Matsumura, co-founder of the crypto exchange Evercoin; and blockchain investor H.E. Khurram Shroff.

Am I the only one getting major déjà vu from learning about this show? Where have I heard about blockchain startups receiving money from some kind of important figurehead acting like a judge? It’s right there on the tip of my tongue, but I just can’t remember.

On top of my déjà vu, I’m trying to wrap my mind around a TV show that only airs one episode a week. What is this, the 1800s?

At least I have the Brave browser to earn BAT while I’m forced to suffer through endless, unskippable YouTube ads.

You’re So Vain, You Probably Think This Token Is About You

If selfies are posited as some kind of philosophical means through which we mark our existence and prove we were here, then what the h*ck does it mean when you tokenize yourself on a blockchain?

I guess that’s for crypto artist Matthew Vernon to figure out with his announcement of DApp Boi, a token that gets its value from the performance of a human being.

Vernon’s ERC20-compliant token, BOI, allows owners to redeem one token for one hour of work, but not all kinds of work. While Vernon does note that the premise has room to get “very, very weird,” the tokens can only be redeemed for help with digital designs and/or development projects. As Vernon puts it: “I will not mow your lawn for you.”

I think this movement needs its own word – like selfie – to really take off. “Personal token” just doesn’t have that je ne sais quoi, you know?

Token plus selfie … telfie. Meh.

Blockchain plus selfie … belfie. Ew.

Wait! I’ve got it! Coin plus selfie, celfie (pronounced with a soft C, of course).

That’s it for Having A Gas. Join us next week, and remember, [insert clever catchphrase here].

Nicholas Ruggieri studied English with an emphasis in creative writing at the University of Nevada, Reno. When he’s not quoting Vines at anyone who’s willing to listen, you’ll find him listening to too many podcasts, reading too many books, and crocheting too many sweaters for his dogs, RT and Peterman.

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