Recently, I saw an release from the 8Hours Foundation about their token, EHrT. I love the look of the PlayTable, the project really intrigues me so it was fascinating to gain more insight in to the token’s usage. The device is the world’s first Blockchain/RFID enabled games console and it has gained significant interest as a result. After looking in to the token economics, I realised they are driven by usage and adoption, something that drew me to VeChain. As EHrT is yet to be listed on any exchange but the PlayTable is already in mass production, I thought it was the right time to do another tokenomics article.

(Update: EHrT has since been listed, it is available on Bitrue.com)

What is EHrT?

EHrT is the native currency of the PlayTable ecosystem, used for anything and everything PlayTable.

Toy makers and game developers have to buy EHrT from the open market to register toys or assign data to their products. Hobbyists selling commissioned figurines on Etsy will need EHrT to mint NFTs and parents, transforming a child’s favourite toy will too. Purchases of games are made in EHrT, selling/buying NFTs and so on. There is demand for EHrT throughout the life cycle of production and consumption on the platform.

When EHrT is spent, 50% is burned. This in-built deflationary mechanism means, over time, EHrTs circulating supply reduces. As real world demand from growing adoption increases, there will be more competition for fewer EHrT, aka, classic market scarcity driven appreciation.

The foundation recently announced VIM World: Read about it here.

This is where the major use and value driver of EHrT token really clicked in my head.

VIM World — The Value Driving Heart of the EHrT Economy

VIMs are the souls of play things. They can be assigned to a physical toy (or cards, dice etc.) with RFID chips, or assigned digitally via NFT. They allow your VIM to carry data and evolve over time, tracking attributes such as ownership, scarcity and game history, achievements and other trackable data.

Imagine, say, WarHammer, with its myriad characters and figurines. Through the PlayTable, these play pieces take on an entirely new dimension, interacting with the playtable via RFID, generating their own data and creating a unique history in their own game world. This data has value for other players, who covet certain attributes, skills or rarity.

Where VIM really succeeds in creating value is in the ranking system, driven by EHrT. Players feed their VIMs EHrT to unlock benefits, better their stats and gain strength over their opponents. This creates a huge pool of organic demand from real world users looking to increase the value and power of their VIMs.

Players rank up a VIM by either spending a maximum daily limit of EHrT or a larger bulk amount to immediately jump a level.

Upgrade tiers and the amounts of EHrT required to level up

Players will naturally want to increase their competitive edge in games. In this economic model, a VIM gains the monetary value of the EHrT it contains as well as the additional unique data of the play piece generated through use, making VIM’s value more than just the sum total of their EHrT.

Envisage a scenario where someone is able to gain a rare limited edition VIM from a major licensed brand game, such as Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, THEN ranking that playpiece up to an S tier with EhrT. An S Tier, 1 of 50 figurines would be able to command a premium from collectors in the second hand market.

That scenario could be reality — 8Hours secured an exclusive deal with Reiner Knizia, the licence holder for Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, LEGO, Disney, Game of Thrones and more. These brands (and IP owners) can create new value channels, reward loyalty, create events and produce unique VIMs and playpieces, tapping in to another emerging market — Physical/digital play. There is a value proposition for all participants of this ecosystem.

In terms of mass adoption potential, EHrT doesn’t seem to have any competition in the blockchain gaming world. PlayTable and VeChain’s collaboration is the first of its kind. 8Hours also have a list of reputable gaming companies working with them, as well as venture capital interest and famous advisors such as Kai Huang, co-founder of the Guitar Hero franchise which generated over $2 Billion in revenue.

Mass Adoption — The Only Success Vector

For PlayTable to be a success, it needs to be adoptable at mass scale. Thankfully, PlayTable opted to build its applications on VeChainThor because of its much more user friendly GAS payment methods and business-focused transaction model.

VeChainThor allows users to harness the power of blockchain but never have to manage transaction fees, thanks native MPP/Fee delegation functionality. This removes the biggest road block for adoption — users having to buy/store and manage crypto assets, navigate clunky transaction interfaces, work out Gwei costs (or what Gwei even means) and generally deal with alien technology. If it is hard to adopt blockchain, no one will adopt blockchain. Today, it is still too hard to use other blockchains for the average person.

Many games have their own digital currencies — Call of Duty, Apex Legends and Fortnite, as examples, all have purchasable in-game currencies. Using EHrT won’t even be noticeable to a contemporary gamer.

Also, finally, as for VeChainThor— any source of writing of data to the network burns VTHO, so, whether you want a PlayTable, EHrT or none of the above, everyone has a reason to be excited about the success of this console. Christmas 2020 I hope to be PlayTable-ing with my family!

In summary:

EHrT is vital at every turn for the PlayTable, from developers to manufacturers to hobbyists to players. It has a built in deflationary mechanism and, with the addition of VIM World, it has demonstrated a robust economic model that drives organic value. On top of that, it has a great list of partners, advisors and a finalised product already being shipped. PlayTable certainly shaping up to be VeChain’s first Unicorn.

EHrT whitepaper: https://8hoursfoundation.org/static/media/whitepaper_english.0275726c.pdf