"Played games and earned money... Efforts wasted"
High mobile game accessibility among 20s and 30s... Criticism of 'Wemix Delisting'
Expert: "Issue specific to Wemade, no overall negative impact on P2E games"
[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] # Park, a college student in his 20s who usually enjoys gaming, has recently been unable to sleep due to the news of the delisting of the cryptocurrency WEMIX. Park lamented, "I used to mine WEMIX every day because I could enjoy games and earn money, but all my efforts were wasted due to the delisting of WEMIX." He expressed frustration, saying, "I mined, invested on exchanges, and ultimately invested a lot in WEMIX, so where can I get compensation for my efforts and money?"
According to the industry on the 8th, Wemade received a dismissal ruling regarding the injunction application to suspend the effect of WEMIX trading support termination (delisting) filed against four cryptocurrency (coin) exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit) belonging to the Digital Asset Exchange Association (DAXA) the day before.
Among the MZ generation in their 20s and 30s, complaints are pouring in through coin-related communities such as "The game is over," "I lost all my WEMIX coins," and "I farmed mining every day." Farming refers to repetitive actions to obtain items in games, similar to farming, hence called Farming.
Unlike other coins, WEMIX attracted great interest among young people with high game accessibility because it can be mined in the mobile game 'Mir4' created by Wemade and exchanged for real coins. On YouTube, searching for 'Mir4 mining' or 'Mir coin' yields dozens of related videos. This shows how popular WEMIX was among the MZ generation. This is why the delisting of WEMIX coins is a bigger topic among people in their 20s and 30s.
The success of 'Mir4'... Will delisting negatively affect 'P2E games'?
The so-called 'game coin' WEMIX had a spectacular start. According to Wemade, the global version of 'Mir4' surpassed 1.3 million simultaneous global users on November 11 last year. According to the Korea Exchange, due to this popularity, Wemade's stock price rose by 827.55% last year. At that time, this stock price increase ranked third among all KOSPI and KOSDAQ stocks. It was a stock price increase rate close to the dream return rate for stock investors called 'ten-bagger' (1000%·ten-bagger·10 hits).
Driving this was 'P2E' (Play to Earn). The possibility of earning coins while enjoying games was attractive to game users. Given this situation, the industry began developing P2E games one after another to preoccupy the blue ocean market (a promising market that currently does not exist or is unknown and has no competitors). Besides Wemade, Netmarble, Com2uS, Com2uS Holdings, Kakao Games, and Neowiz are considered companies actively entering the P2E game market.
Of course, the coin operation situations of each game company differ from WEMIX. However, both users and general investors are expressing concerns that the delisting of WEMIX might have a negative impact on P2E-related coins.
Negative views are also emerging in the securities industry. Kim Se-hee, a researcher at Eugene Investment & Securities, said in a recent report, "The release of games scheduled to be onboarded (linked) to the blockchain game platform 'WEMIX Play' in the fourth quarter has become uncertain," and analyzed, "Most WEMIX transactions occur domestically, and the proportion of domestic holders is high. The impact of simultaneous delisting from the four major domestic exchanges is expected to be significant."
Regarding DAXA's decision to delist WEMIX, he said, "WEMIX was designated as a watch-listed item because even the amount locked as collateral in DeFi (decentralized finance) services was considered circulating volume," and diagnosed, "This incident should serve as a wake-up call to establish 'circulating volume' standards. It could be a case that warns other virtual asset projects, including game companies with similar structures."
However, there is also expert analysis that the overall negative impact on the P2E game industry due to the delisting of WEMIX will not be significant.
Kim Hyung-jung, a professor at Korea University (Graduate School of Information Security), emphasized, "The problem occurred in the company Wemade regarding circulating volume, etc., and it is not a problem with P2E games themselves." He added, "This can be seen as a kind of moral hazard that happened at Wemade," and "It has nothing to do with other companies."
Meanwhile, Wemade is expected to focus on the main lawsuit to normalize WEMIX trading. Wemade stated, "We will continue to strive to clarify the unfairness of DAXA's decision to terminate WEMIX trading support," and "We will prove everything through the main lawsuit and filing with the Fair Trade Commission."
Investors express their intention to appeal the court's decision. Kim Joo-chang, head of the WEMIX Incident Victims' Association, said, "It is unreasonable to terminate trading support without properly securing standards or procedural fairness. We will engage in collective actions such as holding assemblies through discussions."
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