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According to a blog post exclusively shared in advance with Decrypt’s GG, Shrapnel has instituted a “comprehensive revision” to the first-person shooter’s token unlock schedule. Unlocks from the community reward pool emissions and ecosystem fund will remain as planned, but other token unlocks in April will shrink by nearly 75% due to the revised schedule.
"As the Shrapnel project has matured, we now have greater clarity on our product delivery timeline,” Shrapnel Chief Operating Officer Aaron Nonis told Decrypt’s GG. “This change aligns with the timeline of additional features as we continue to enhance token utility.”
With the new schedule, fewer tokens will be unlocked in the coming months due to a non-linear structure “beginning with a lower unlock rate and accelerating with an increasing user base and increasing SHRAP utility.” The revisions impact unlock schedules for the team, advisors, seed token holders, and strategic token holders, a Shrapnel representative confirmed.
SHRAP is the Avalanche-based token of the Shrapnel gaming ecosystem, and the token has various purposes. It’s being used as a reward during early access competitions for the game, plus players will be able to use SHRAP to publish their own in-game content, purchase other user-created weapon skins and content, and participate in community votes.
As of this writing, SHRAP is priced at about $0.29, per data from CoinGecko, with a market cap of $127 million. The token is up 48% over the past 30 days, riding the broader wave of rising cryptocurrency prices, although it is down from its all-time high price above $0.43 set in December.
Why does the token unlock schedule matter? Crypto investors closely watch such schedules to see when more tokens will be made available to team members, investors, and beyond, as it increases the circulating supply. As a result, token recipients could dump their holdings on the market, potentially impacting the price.
Shrapnel recently launched its early access game on PC via the Epic Games Store, with a playable version of the extraction-focused multiplayer shooter that is gradually being expanded and enhanced as Neon Machine builds in public. The team is supporting the early access launch with millions of dollars’ worth of SHRAP funneled towards weekly competitions.
According to pseudonymous crypto influencer Champ, who is an advisor to the Shrapnel team, this expanded unlock schedule is better suited for the game’s planned rollout.
“Shrapnel has clear ambitions to become a global entertainment franchise, built on an initial success of the flagship game on PC,” he said, per the blog post. “The new SHRAP unlock schedule positions the product teams to fully pursue that ambition. We see longevity in the project and its economy, and fully support this road to sustainability for the SHRAP token.”
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.