Introduction

According to DDM, in the first half of 2022, the gaming industry had $8.3B worth of deals, with blockchain deals taking $2.9B, roughly 35% of the pie. This number already exceeds 2021’s total investment in gaming by $2.4B as well as by $0.9B for the blockchain segment.

Crypto-based venture capital firms have been taking huge bets on crypto-gaming being the next narrative, with the segment having the most deal count and USD value invested compared to other segments, read more here.

This shows not only that venture capital firms are heavily betting on blockchain gaming, but also shows the potential value proposition that blockchain brings to the table for metaverse and gaming applications.

This report aims to uncover the top performers who have made the most profit in the gaming and metaverse segments. The addresses that have demonstrated ‘Smart’ on-chain behavior can be good indicators to follow as the GameFi industry becomes more mature.

Smart Money Gaming Labels

We have come up with multiple 'Smart Money' Gaming labels to capture the different high performers for both NFT and tokens. The methodology and definition of each label will be explained further below.

Smart Money Metaverse NFT Trader

The Smart Money Metaverse NFT Trader consists of the top 20 addresses who have realized profits from Metaverse NFTs. The Metaverse NFTs in the calculations consist of Otherdeed for Otherside, Sandbox LAND, Decentraland LAND and many others that fall under the category of Metaverse.

The Metaverse is a network of immersive virtual worlds that blend various gaming, entertainment, commerce, and communities, enabling users to engage with one another. Metaverse NFTs allow participants to prove their ownership and authenticity of assets within the virtual worlds, thereby fuelling a Metaverse economy. This includes sub-categories such as land and real estate, avatar, productive assets and more which is further explained in our previous Introduction to Gaming report.

Profit Leaderboard Analysis

The table below shows the PnL leaderboard for the top 20 addresses who have realized profits from Metaverse NFTs. To highlight, the top wallet has grossed nearly 1000 ETH from an initial spend of 180 ETH, profiting more than 800 ETH on Metaverse NFTs alone.

The table also shows the profit multiple (profit/spent) as well as the profit/sales (sales being the number of NFTs sold) ratio in order to further categorize the addresses. For example, with a profit multiple of 17.44, rank 18 in the leaderboard was able to make a huge return on his investment of just 7 ETH into a profit of 123 ETH. A notable wallet that has been very active in the NFT space is Pranksy, who is ranked 11th in the Metaverse profit leaderboard. Based on the data, Pranksy has a profit multiple of 0.09 and a profit/sales ratio of 0.25. This shows that in order to make a profit of 179 ETH, Pranksy had to spend a grand total of 2004 ETH as well as sell 719 Metaverse NFTs.

Depending on the type of trader you are, you would find different addresses to be more useful to follow, for example if you are looking for addresses who focus on just a few projects, a higher profit/sales ratio addresses would be more suitable. Moreover, if you’re looking for addresses who can identify NFTs with high returns, a higher profit multiple address would be one to follow.

_Table 1: Profit Leaderboard by Smart Money Metaverse NFT Trader All units of measurement are in ETH Source: Nansen Query_

Metaverse NFT Accumulation Analysis

The Metaverse NFT projects that these Smart Money Metaverse NFT Traders commonly hold serves as a decent indication of what they might be bullish on and have conviction in. It would be meaningful to track these projects as they could potentially provide good profit returns before or when the next bull market hits. It could also give insights to some overlooked projects that are worth following. The following table summarizes the top 10 NFT projects that are ranked by the total number of Smart Money Metaverse NFT Traders wallets holding.

_Table 2: Top 10 Metaverse Collection Holded by Smart Money Metaverse NFT Trader
Source: Nansen Query_

Multiple NFT projects in the table are quite well known across the NFT communities already such as The Sandbox, Otherdeed for Otherside, and Meebits. It is noteworthy that traditional retail brands such as Adidas are also entering into the Metaverse NFT space, suggesting an increased conviction in the space.

The Sandbox ASSETS is the most accumulated Metaverse NFTs. Among the top 20 Smart Money Metaverse Traders, 12 of them owned this NFT in their wallet. An ASSET NFT refers to the voxel assets on the Sandbox platform that are user generated via Voxedit. An ASSET can be an entity such as tree and building, equipment such as sword and shield, or block used mainly for aesthetic purposes including grounds, walls, mud, sand, and body of water. Players can monetize their user generated ASSET by selling or trading their virtual assets in the Sandbox’s Marketplace or other secondary marketplaces such as OpenSea and Rrible. Each Asset also has different tiers, ranging from basic, rare, epic to legendary. These tiers add special characteristics to an ASSET such as speed and strength that further lifts the value of that particular ASSET and introduces the concept of scarcity.

A common narrative in the Metaverse NFT space is that Sandbox has the potential to grow to be the largest. This user generated ASSET NFT serves to show a potentially growing economy and Metaverse ecosystem. Players are more engaged in the community from creating and selling those in-game virtual assets. The popularity of this Sandbox ASSETS is confirmed by Nansen data. 40% of the Sandbox ASSETS NFTs owners hold the NFT for at least 90 days. As of November 5th, 2022, nearly 180k NFTs are owned by Diamond Hands or wallets that have never sold any NFTs from the collection and this upward trend is expected to continue. This confirms once more how Metaverse NFT traders are bullish on holding the Sandbox ASSETS NFT.

Smart Money Gaming NFT Trader

The Smart Money Gaming NFT Trader consists of the top 20 addresses who have realized profits from Gaming NFTs. The Gaming NFTs in the calculations consist of Axie Infinity, Sidus NFT Heroes, Treeverse and many others that fall under the category of Gaming.

The key difference between Gaming NFTs and Metaverse NFTs is that the former involve the act of gameplay that is governed by a set of rules, whereas such rules are not compulsory for participation in the Metaverse. This includes sub-categories such as Role-playing games, GameFi, Play-to-Earn which is further explained in our previous Introduction to Gaming report here.

Profit Leaderboard Analysis

The table below shows the PnL leaderboard for the top 20 addresses who have realized profits from Gaming NFTs.

The top wallet has made more than 1041 ETH from spending about 176 ETH on Gaming NFTs. It is also notable that the 3rd ranked address in the leaderboard was able to flip a mere 2.69 ETH into 427 ETH in profits, having a profit multiple of 159.

On average, Smart Money Gaming NFT Traders see a higher return on investment as compared to Smart Money Metaverse NFT Traders. This is seen by the average profit multiple of the top 20 addresses in Gaming being 14.97 compared to 4.21 for Metaverse.

_Table 3: Profit Leaderboard by Smart Money Gaming NFT Trader All units of measurement are in ETH Source: Nansen Query_

Gaming NFT Accumulation Analysis

A similar analysis is performed on the Smart Money Gaming NFT Trader wallets. The following table summarizes the top 10 Gaming NFT projects that are ranked by the total number of Smart Money Gaming NFT Traders wallets holding.

_Table 4: Top 10 Gaming NFT Collection Holded by Smart Money Gaming NFT Trader Source: Nansen Query_

The most popular Metaverse NFT projects among Smart Money Gaming NFT Traders are Parallel and CyberKongz. 5 out of the top 20 addresses are holding these two NFT collections in their wallets. Some other interesting Metaverse NFT collections that are also owned by the this smart label are Loot, Realms (for Adventures), Northern Guilds - Guild of Thor, Ether Orcs Genesis, Ragnarok Meta, Solarbots, Antebellum Genesis Land and Crypts and Caverns.

Parallel is a NFT sci-fi trading card game backed by VC crypto firm Paradigm. It is an apocalyptic themed metaverse where humans escape from an energy crisis on earth to find salvation, seeking alternative sources of energy on new lands and establishing new colonies. Humans depart to different destinations in the universe and form five new human civilizations in parallel known as EARTHEN, MARCOLIAN, AUGENCORE, KATHARI, and SHROUD, each with its own strength and abilities. More detailed TLDR descriptions on each parallel can be found in this article.

Each NFT card has different attributes and rarities, ranging from common, uncommon, rare, legendary, prime, special edition, perfect loop (animated) to asset. Cards can be playable cards used in-game or collectibles that ensure governance rights or future royalties. Some of the cards such as this special edition one are highly prohibitive in the secondary market with a current price of 911 ETH! There are currently 8 types of asset NFT cards with average price of 8 ETH. Some of these NFT cards were available through an airdrop called Pack Drop. Several Pack Drops have happened already and future announcements can be monitored through Parallel’s Twitter handle.

The potential for using AR/VR and the possibilities for Marvel Comics inspired movies and TV shows may be the reason why Parallel becomes popular among Smart Money Gaming NFT Traders. An encouraging argument that Grandview Research has made is that the collectibles or trading card game industry is expected to grow continuously in the next couple of years. More prospective arguments related to Parallel are discussed in this article.

According to Nansen Data, 41% of the Parallel NFT owners hold the NFT for less than 7 days. This indicates that the majority of Parallel owners are quick flippers. The fact that the amount of distinct wallets owning parallel NFT (as shown in purple line) continues to rise further supports their growing acceptance and popularity even under the bear market environment.

Smart Money Metaverse Token Trader

The Smart Money Metaverse token trader consists of the top 20 addresses that have realized profits from metaverse tokens. The metaverse tokens in the calculations consist of ApeCoin, Decentraland, The Sandbox and many others that fall under the category of Metaverse.

Profit Leaderboard Analysis

*Only tracks Ethereum token trades on Uniswap V2 & V3, Sushiswap, and some Curve pools are considered (~90+% of DEX volume on Ethereum) **This PnL is only for tokens acquired and sold via dex trades (e.g. if you get an airdrop and sell it, it doesn't count as profit) ***Removed MEV Bots

The top address made about $6.1M profit from metaverse tokens alone. Two notable metaverse tokens that the top 20 addresses are holding right now are StarLink and The Sandbox. 4/20 addresses hold $36k worth of Starlink tokens and 3/20 addresses hold $124k The Sandbox tokens. Most addresses make their profits by trading only 1 token. Only 6 wallets trade more than 1 metaverse tokens with 4 tokens being the highest.

_Table 5: Profit Leaderboard by Smart Money Metaverse Token Trader Source: Nansen Query_

Smart Money Gaming Token Trader

The Smart Money Gaming Token Trader consists of the top 20 addresses who have realized profits from Gaming Tokens. The Gaming Tokens in the calculations consist of Axie Infinity, Illuvium, Sweat Coin and many others that fall under the category of gaming.

Profit Leaderboard Analysis

*Only Ethereum token trades on Uniswap V2 & V3, Sushiswap, and some Curve pools are considered (~90+% of DEX volume on Ethereum) **This PnL is only for tokens acquired and sold via dex trades (e.g. if you get an airdrop and sell it, it doesn't count as profit) ***Removed MEV Bots

The top address made about $5.6M profit from trading three gaming tokens including Illuvium, Axie Infinity and Smooth Love Potion. Among all the top 20 wallets, 6/20 addresses hold $357k worth of Illuvium tokens. The majority of the smart money gaming token traders trade only 1 gaming token with 3 tokens being the highest.

_Table 6: Profit Leaderboard by Smart Money Gaming Token Trader Source: Nansen Query_

Smart Money Gaming Infrastructure Trader

The Smart Money 'Gaming Infrastructure' Trader consists of the top 20 addresses who have realized profits from gaming infrastructure tokens. The gaming infrastructure tokens consist of guilds, chains, marketplaces and other platforms that support gaming. The gaming infrastructure tokens in the calculations consist of Enjin, Immutable X, Merit Circle and many others that fall under the category of gaming infrastructure.

Profit Leaderboard Analysis

*Only Ethereum token trades on Uniswap V2 & V3, Sushiswap, and some Curve pools are considered (~90+% of DEX volume on Ethereum) **This PnL is only for tokens acquired and sold via dex trades (e.g. if you get an airdrop and sell it, it doesn't count as profit) ***Removed MEV Bots

The top address made about $2.6M profit from gaming tokens alone. There are no notable tokens under the gaming infrastructure umbrella being held by the top 20 addresses. As mentioned in a previous article, guild tokens who fall under this category experienced one of the largest drawbacks YTD. Again, most addresses make profits from trading only 1 token.

_Table 7: Profit Leaderboard by Smart Money Gaming Infrastructure Trader Source: Nansen Query_

Smart Alerts

In order to track the successful addresses who have done well in the various segments, setting smart alerts on these addresses might be useful to track what tokens or NFTs they are purchasing.

Custom Smart Money NFT Alerts

The parameters set for these are the top 20 most profitable addresses for trading metaverse and gaming NFTs. NFT addresses and labels come from Nansen attribution data. All Nansen labeled NFTs in each segment are included in the analysis.

1. Following the Top 20 addresses on any NFT transactions
2. Following the Top 20 addresses on only the current Metaverse NFT transactions

1. Following the Top 20 addresses on any NFT transactions
2. Following the Top 20 addresses on only the current Gaming NFT transactions

Custom Smart Money Token Alerts

The parameters set for these smart alerts are the top 20 addresses for tokens with a minimum of $10k transactional value.

Token addresses are taken from Coingecko. The tokens fall under the top 1500 market cap and are individually sorted into the various segments, with some tokens returning bad price feeds removed. More information on the tokens that are tracked can be found in the smart alerts below.

1. Following the Top 20 addresses on any token transactions
2. Following the Top 20 addresses on only the current Metaverse tokens addresses

1. Following the Top 20 addresses on any token transactions
2. Following the Top 20 addresses on only the current Gaming tokens addresses

1. Following the Top 20 addresses on any token transactions
2. Following the Top 20 addresses on only the current Gaming Infrastructure tokens addresses

Conclusion