Uniswap Labs Acquires Crypto: The Game: “It Has Become a 24/7 Cryptocurrency Reality Show”

The second season of Crypto: The Game (CTG) sold out in 13 minutes. Thousands of fans rushed for one of 800 coveted spots in the survival-based game Basic blockchain. Given this popularity among the mainstream cryptocurrency community and growing interest from outsiders, decentralized exchange Uniswap Labs announced announced today that it has acquired the game.

“We’ve seen CTG generate a lot of excitement and Uniswap is focused on making on-chain experiences more human and fun,” Mary-Catherine Lader, chief operating officer of Uniswap Labs, told Fortune. The purchase amount is not disclosed, but is a mix of cash, tokens and shares.

As part of the acquisition, founders Dylan Abruscato, Tyler Cagle and Bryan Lee will join Uniswap. Together, the companies are currently working on the development of the third season, while also exploring new interactive crypto experiences for consumers. However, the game won’t simply become an advertisement for Uniswap’s wallet or exchange, the companies explained on a call.

“Now that we have the full force of Uniswap Labs behind us, we think this will help us make Season 3 the best yet,” Dylan Abruscato, the game’s co-founder, told Fortune. Abruscato’s career in entertainment extends beyond cryptocurrencies, as his previous jobs include working as a producer for Saturday Night Live and developing the once-viral mobile game HQ Trivia.

CTG drew inspiration from TV shows that pit contestants against each other such as Survivor and Squid Game. In the first two seasons of CTG, contestants signed up with 0.1 ETH (about $367), joined eight tribes of 10, participated in daily challenges, and voted on each other for 10 days, until one person did not win the entire pot. A player based in Japan won the top prize of over $150,000 in the first season, with the prize pool growing to around $250,000 in the second season.

Uniswap Labs sponsored a challenge in season two, joining Adidas, which created branded tracksuits for each player in the form of non-fungible tokens, and cryptocurrency company Wormhole, among other partners. The sponsorship gave Uniswap a “behind the scenes” look at how to do this [CTG] has cracked this code to bring new users into the world of cryptocurrencies,” Lader said.

After its launch in late January, followed shortly by a second season in April, the game has generated a cult status in the cryptocurrency world, with speculators watching from the sidelines via X, Farcasterand even a podcast created by Web3 and the cultural media Boys’ Club. “My mother-in-law, 68, called me after listening to an episode of the podcast and asked me if I thought Ted would repurchase and play anonymously after being eliminated,” Abruscato said.

Abruscato described the fandom as a mix of cryptocurrency enthusiasts on Twitter, venture capitalists, founders and major cryptocurrency influencers such as 3LAU, Packy McCormick, Jesse Pollakand Bored Elon. But more importantly, around 10%-15% are “normies,” in other words, those who have never dealt with cryptocurrencies before, suggesting that gaming may be an opportunity to engage new users in decentralized finance.

While CTG cannot calculate the precise number of spectators who watched the game last season, Abruscato says there were 50,000 unique visitors to the site during a 10-day period. “It’s turned into this 24/7 crypto reality show where there are story arcs of villains and drama and fan favorites, and it’s become kind of a show in the crypto community,” Abruscato said.

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