The Rise of Utility-Driven GambleFi Tokens
GambleFi, as a concept, is nothing new. But we are entering a new phase.
Retail investors have spent most of the last year focused on memecoins.
But the shift from memes back to utility is underway, particularly as investors get burned on increasingly extractive memecoin launches.
Instead, they want coins that actually make some sense. The recent growth of ‘Internet Capital Markets’ tokens, which essentially promise to capture the value of a company via on-chain assets, displays the shift is already well underway.
GambleFi is also likely to benefit.
We all know how profitable iGaming is. Any coin that promises to shift a portion of those profits back to hodlers is going to become an interesting proposition.
Here are three projects in the space to keep a close eye on.
Rollbit (Burn baby burn)
Rollbit is probably the most recognisable name in the GambleFi space right now.
The brand has grown at a staggering pace over the last couple of years, even appearing on the front of Premier League team Southampton last season.
At the heart of its offering is the RLB token, which currently sits above a $100 million market cap (although at its peak, it had touched $800 million).
Rollbit commits to using a share of the revenues it generates to buy back and burn its own token, creating ongoing demand while at the same time reducing supply.
You can track this process in real-time on a dedicated X account. So far, almost 60 percent of the total RLB supply has been burnt, with more than $40 million worth of the token burnt this year alone.
However, it’s worth noting that Rollbit is a predominantly centralised casino, with only surface-level blockchain integration. You could call it a web2.5 operation.
This is perhaps why crypto investors haven’t fully bought into its token, despite the huge volume that is burnt each day.
Bamboo on Base (Memes meet casino)
Last year at the height of memecoin mania, Bamboo on Base shot up to a more than $50 million market cap.
This is nothing unique in itself, as hundreds of coins did the same. But now something interesting and unique is happening around $BAMBOO.
Its team is quietly building an entire ecosystem for its community of holders, centred around GambleFi.
It’s just launched PandaPlinko.io, the world’s first fully on-chain plinko game that can be played with its $BAMBOO token.
It essentially combines the memecoin meta with a vision of GambleFi that can actually be delivered.
Given that memecoin trading is perhaps the biggest casino of them all, this is a natural match. And by committing to a true vision of web3 gambling (including giving players full custody of their funds and a provably fair gaming experience) it should appeal as much to the maxis as the memecoin traders.
It’s early days, but certainly one to watch.
Shuffle (Venture capital enters the game)
Shuffle’s token launch a little over a year ago showed that GambleFi is growing up.
Its slick brand and token model that rewarded early adopters helped it rapidly gain users. But there were some voices skeptical of a project that was heavily backed by venture capital and perhaps doesn’t have the organic community elements that web3 natives demand.
Don’t get me wrong, the team behind Shuffle are executing well, and the project should have a bright future.
Its token is picking up some momentum after a difficult 2024, currently sitting at a $70 million cap, up from $20 million in January.
But it doesn’t appear to deviate beyond that same web2.5 model pioneered by Rollbit. It’s just delivered with a large marketing budget and a slick UI.
Motherland (Mother provides)
Back in September, rapper Iggy Azalea announced that she’d be launching a casino around her successful $MOTHER memecoin.
$MOTHER was one of the first celebrity memecoins to garner significant support. It hit a $200 million market cap in the summer of 2024, but bled out to less than $5 million within nine months, failing to maintain the attention it had initially captured.
Utility, via an online casino product, was meant to solve this issue.
The problem is that the product is a white-label without proper decentralisation. It somewhat dampens the utility for holders because the casino doesn’t offer anything they can’t get elsewhere.
It’s an interesting experiment at the intersection of memes and GambleFi, but unless Azalea commits to something more crypto-native, I can’t see it moving the needle.
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About The Author
Gregory, a digital nomad hailing from Poland, is not only a financial analyst but also a valuable contributor to various online magazines. With a wealth of experience in the financial industry, his insights and expertise have earned him recognition in numerous publications. Utilising his spare time effectively, Gregory is currently dedicated to writing a book about cryptocurrency and blockchain.
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Gregory, a digital nomad hailing from Poland, is not only a financial analyst but also a valuable contributor to various online magazines. With a wealth of experience in the financial industry, his insights and expertise have earned him recognition in numerous publications. Utilising his spare time effectively, Gregory is currently dedicated to writing a book about cryptocurrency and blockchain.
