Shuffle Token — First deflationary Token introducing the ‘Heap’

Disclaimer: This token has no real-world use case. It is not meant to ever be a serious currency. It is simply a social experiment, for researching how a deflationary token with a “Heap” structure works and behaves under different conditions/trends!

Shuffle token has been around for over 3 months now and I’ve been following it closely since shortly after the launch. The ‘Heap’ component of Shuffle brings a lot more interesting dynamics to consider when deciding whether to grab a bag of it, than with other token-models like for example, the most renowned deflationary token BOMB.

For the people that don’t know what SHUF is, check this quick summary:

Shuffle is a basic ERC20 token with additional functionality. On each transfer of SHUF token, two things happen: 1% of the transferred value goes to a randomly picked address of the top 512 holders, creating a hybrid of a never-ending lottery ticket and a stacking mechanism. 1% of the tokens are burned (destroyed forever), decreasing the circulating supply and thus increasing the value of the remaining tokens, rewarding all the qualifying token holders equally. The most distinctive characteristic of Shuffle Monster is the 1% transaction shuffle. On each transaction, 1% of the transferred SHUF is rerouted to a random SHUF holder, within a limited pool containing only the top 512 holders. One of the first unusual behaviors to emerge was users splitting their token stack into multiple wallets. This may be a wise move, given that there is an equal chance of receiving a reward regardless of whether an address holds 50000 SHUF or 1000 SHUF (so long as it is in the top 512 SHUF wallets). This redistribution encourages transactions, and therefore generates more token burn, and more rewards for “the Heap”. This wallet splitting behavior also leads to the next unique tokenomic phenomenon, Heap Wars. Each time a user deposits enough SHUF into a new wallet, they “kick out” another SHUF wallet from “the Heap”. This constant competition in the heap forces holders to keep moving and adding to their stack, in order to maximize their spots on “the Heap”. This encourages further burning and reward distribution.

It has the basic features of a deflationary token along with the additional component of the Heap, which distinguishes it from BOMB and its clones. You might not understand it at the first glance. The key takeaways and reason this mechanic is so interesting, are:

A 1% redistribution of any transaction happens to transfer SHUF to a single wallet inside the Heap, which is chosen randomly. It’s not evenly distributed or proportionally distributed to the top holders, like with PoS coins. The practical ROI is highest at exactly the top 512th position. So you would need a specific amount of SHUF to be at this position. But the amount to be exactly 512th holder changes over time, quickly due to what the SHUF community has termed the “Heap Wars”, which is a kind of a King-of-the-Hill game mode for maintaining your position in a specified area.

As someone who put a few ETH into Shuffle to test these mechanics out and observe and analyze what I saw, I also want to position myself as best as I can for maximum profit. My goal is to get as many Heap spots as possible, for the cheapest price as possible and make an educated guess as to what level the minimum Heap level could rise in the short and mid-term in order to determine the amount of SHUF I will hold per Heap spot in the longer timeframe. This is so that I don’t need to rearrange my wallets too often and lose more SHUF in this process.

But wait, does the Heap even do and change anything? Let’s look at the numbers: