Aavegotchi

Aavegotchi (GHST) serves as the governance token for the Aavegotchi NFT Gaming protocol. Those who hold GHST tokens gain voting rights within the AavegotchiDAO, which manages every aspect of the protocol, including Aavegotchi's main game, the Gotchiverse, and the Aavegotchi NFTs themselves.

The Aavegotchis are pixelated ghost characters that are supported by the ERC-721 token standard. These NFTs feature dynamic metadata that evolves over time through player interactions.

The worth and uniqueness of an Aavegotchi are influenced by factors such as its collateral stake, traits, and wearable items.

Collateral stake revolves around an inventive ERC721 Aavegotchi NFT that controls an escrow contract filled with Aave-backed ERC20 collateral, or "aToken," which earns yield through Aave's LendingPool. Traits are determined by random attributes at creation, kinship, and accumulated experience (XP).

The name "Aavegotchi" pays homage to Aave, which means "ghost" in Finnish, and the protocol is built on the Aave system, one of the top lending protocols in DeFi. The token symbol cleverly spells out "ghost" without the vowel.

Aavegotchi was developed by Pixelcraft Studios, a company based in Singapore.

Jesse Johnson, the co-founder and COO of Pixelcraft Studios, previously worked in significant positions such as director of business relations/development and manager of international market development at various firms, including China Intop Exhibition Co and ZB Group. The other co-founder, known as Coder Dan, acts as the CEO at Pixelcraft Studios.

Stani Kulechov, the creator of Aave, was the initial advisor for the project.

In November 2020, Aave put its support behind Pixelcraft Studios with an investment. The project's mainnet was initially set to launch on January 4, 2021, but was delayed until March 2021 due to high transaction fees on the Ethereum network. Given that Aavegotchi demands daily user interaction, the community opted to launch the project on Polygon, Ethereum's leading side chain.

On March 20, 2023, Pixelcraft Studios announced the completion of a long-term token sale, successfully raising $30 million. The sale leveraged a decentralized fundraising method, DAICO, as suggested by Ethereum's creator Vitalik Buterin, starting on September 14, 2020.

Each Aavegotchi NFT manages an escrow contract that holds their "Spirit Force," which is also referred to as "collateral" or "aTokens," a collection of yield-generating tokens from the Aave Protocol. As these tokens earn yield, an Aavegotchi's Spirit Force balance grows over time.

Aavegotchis have a minimum required amount of Spirit Force, initially defined by their base rarity score. When a Portal is opened, it generates ten Aavegotchis, each with a distinct set of traits. Users can summon only one from these ten, and the other nine are permanently burned. An Aavegotchi's traits, created through Chainlink VRF, an on-chain random number generator, combine to establish the base rarity score.

These traits not only affect an Aavegotchi's rarity but also its performance within the Gotchiverse game. To summon an Aavegotchi, you must stake the necessary type of Spirit Force. This minimum stake remains consistent throughout the Aavegotchi's life, although there is no cap on the maximum Spirit Force for each NFT. If the minimum amount is removed, the Aavegotchi returns to the Nether Realm, and the NFT is burned, with the collateral going back to its owner.

Aavegotchi has introduced several innovations and features to the NFT gaming world. Notably, it was the first significant NFT protocol to launch on Polygon. The platform has awarded millions through its original play-to-earn system known as Rarity Farming, which rewards the most active participants in the Aavegotchi community with GHST tokens based on rarity, kinship, and experience points.

The flagship game, the Gotchiverse, has been available on Polygon's mainnet since March 2021. Within the Gotchiverse, players use their Aavegotchi NFTs as web3 avatars to explore, build, fight, earn, and socialize. The Gotchiverse fair-launch playdrop introduced four new ERC-20 tokens collectively known as Gotchus Alchemica: FUD, FOMO, ALPHA, and KEK, serving as the four elements of the Gotchiverse and used to craft and upgrade Installation NFTs on a player's land parcel. Additionally, a fifth ERC-20 token called GLTR was created to incentivize Alchemica liquidity providers, primarily used to speed up the crafting and upgrading of Installations in the Gotchiverse.

Another cutting-edge feature is Gotchi lending, an advancement on the standard scholarship model popularized by other play-to-earn games. Gotchi Lending eliminates the need for intermediaries and minimizes the risk of human error, allowing players to safely lend their Aavegotchi NFTs to others using a smart contract that automatically divides any earned tokens as per the contract's terms once the lending period concludes.

Aavegotchi also made history as the first NFT gaming protocol to offer their governance token as collateral on Aave in February 2022. A cross-chain governance proposal passed on Aave, permitting GHST to be listed as a new collateral option on Aave's Polygon Market alongside BAL, CRV, DPI, LINK, and SUSHI.

The GHST token has a capped total supply of about 52,747,802 tokens, which was established following the closure of the bancor bonding curve used to dynamically adjust the token supply.

The allocation of GHST tokens is as follows: 5 million for the private sale, 500,000 for the pre-sale, and an unlimited amount for the public bonding curve sale, which was later voted to close under AGIP-64. Additionally, 1 million tokens are allocated to the ecosystem fund, and another 1 million to the team fund.

The project benefits from the security of the Polygon blockchain, which operates on a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Validators on this network stake their MATIC tokens as collateral to participate in the PoS system, earning MATIC tokens in return.

The Aavegotchi smart contracts are open source, allowing anyone to access and check for potential issues or hidden vulnerabilities. All contracts have been through several audits by respected industry experts and have remained free from exploits since their launch.

GHST is available on numerous major cryptocurrency exchanges. The token is paired with other cryptocurrencies on centralized platforms like Binance, Crypto.com, Kraken, OKEx, MXC, and Bilaxy. You can also find it on decentralized exchanges such as Quickswap and Uniswap.