The GameFi sector is in chaos. After $4.5 billion poured into projects during 2022's peak, funding collapsed 80% to just $900 million by 2024 as the market realized a harsh truth: most GameFi projects are spectacularly boring.
Seriously. You've got teams raising millions to build the 47th play-to-earn farming simulator, the 23rd "revolutionary" battle royale, and enough generic NFT trading card games to make Pokemon blush. Everyone's chasing the same tired formulas, slapping "Web3" onto Web2 mechanics and hoping nobody notices. It's like putting a Ferrari sticker on a Honda Civic and calling it a supercar.
Then there's Ivan.
Now, before you start picturing some gold-toothed, Adidas-wearing character straight out of Eastern Promises who settles disputes with vodka and intimidation, let me stop you right there. Yes, Ivan is Russian. No, he's not about to challenge you to arm wrestling in a steam bath.
This is a 40-year-old who gets genuinely excited about encrypted NFTs and spends his free time figuring out how to make Google Maps into a treasure hunting playground. Think less "Bond villain" and more "that brilliant friend who can solve any puzzle but still gets confused by assembling IKEA furniture." Peak nerd energy.
While every other founder was pitching VCs on elaborate roadmaps and tokenomics, this guy was sitting in meditation on a mountain (his actual address) in Thailand, reading The Count of Monte Cristo, when he had a vision about encrypted NFTs and treasure hunting.
Most people would file that under "weird meditation experience" and get back to scrolling LinkedIn. You know, normal Tuesday stuff.
Ivan didn't.
Instead, this professional poker player and esports veteran did something that would make most startup advisors physically ill. He built a game where people hunt for real coordinates using pirate maps to win crypto tokens. No business plan. No market research. No funding.
Just pure, unadulterated weirdness.
And it worked.
Today, while billion-dollar GameFi projects are shutting down and token prices are crashing, Skullcoin has a passionate community that shows up every day saying "good morning" and waiting for new treasure hunts. Yes, people voluntarily wake up and say good morning to a Discord channel about treasure hunting. Try explaining that to your normie friends. They've won three hackathons across different chains, attracted sponsorship from active meme communities, and built something that even Ivan admits "sounds completely insane."
Here's what makes this story fascinating (and why you should care): In an industry drowning in copycat projects and venture capital, Ivan found success by doing the exact opposite of everyone else. While others were building for investors, he built for users. While others were following trends, he created them.
And the best part? His approach works in any industry, not just crypto.
While Others Wrote Business Plans, Ivan Launched a Game
After his mountain meditation epiphany, Ivan could have done what most people do with crazy ideas: think about them forever.
Instead, he made a decision that would define everything: "In 2023 we just test, try to play the test game in Discord."
That's it. No elaborate development process. No investor pitches. He created 10 story episodes, threw them on Discord, and said "solve these puzzles for $100."
Why Discord? Because that's where his potential users already were. Why $100? Because that was enough to get real feedback without breaking the bank.
This wasn't market validation in the traditional sense. This was market creation. He didn't ask people if they wanted treasure hunting games. He built one and watched what happened.
Founder's Lesson #1: Test with real stakes, not surveys
Most founders spend months building MVPs that nobody asked for. Ivan had the resources to put real money behind his tests, but you don't need cash to create stakes. Offer early access, exclusive NFTs, points that unlock future features, or anything else that has genuine value to your potential users.
Your action step: Before building anything, create the simplest possible version of your core value proposition and put real stakes behind it. If you're building a productivity app, offer to personally organize someone's workflow in exchange for detailed feedback. If you're creating content, give early readers exclusive access to your next piece.
The "Unfair" Advantage Nobody Talks About
Here's where Ivan's story gets really interesting. When I asked how he funded those early prizes, his answer was refreshingly honest: "I put from my own pocket in the very beginning because I'm professional poker player."
Translation: He had been preparing for this moment his entire life without knowing it.
"I spend the whole my life with gaming. I traveled around the world playing world championships and I founded an Esports team like about 20 years ago. I'm very good in management."
This wasn't a career pivot. This was career convergence. Everything he'd learned about competition, game psychology, team management, and risk assessment suddenly became relevant.
Founder's Lesson #2: Your weird experience is your moat
Ivan's combination of professional gaming and poker created insights that pure crypto founders miss. He understood fair competition, prize psychology, and community building at a visceral level.
Your action step: List three skills from your non-startup background that seem irrelevant to your idea. A teacher building software understands user onboarding differently than an engineer. A chef creating content knows timing and presentation in ways that pure marketers don't.
The Google Maps Genius Move
While other GameFi projects were burning millions building virtual worlds, Ivan made a decision that sounds obvious in hindsight but was radical at the time.
"To save millions on budget, we just took the Google Maps as a completely built metaverse."
Skullcoin's tagline "decrypt reality" perfectly captures this approach: finding hidden treasures in the real world rather than building fake ones.
Think about that. Instead of building a world, he used the world. Instead of creating new infrastructure, he leveraged existing infrastructure. Instead of competing with Google's mapping budget, he partnered with it (Google definitely didn't get the memo, but hey, sometimes the best partnerships are the ones where only one party knows they're partnering). Google's legal team is probably reading this right now thinking 'Wait, what partnership?'
This solved three fundamental GameFi problems that billion-dollar projects still struggle with:
The AI Problem: "If AI can solve your game, it means AI could take all the value from the game"
The Infrastructure Problem: "If you build any first-person shooter, you have to download client-side. And it can be hacked"
The Economics Problem: "If you give away your token again and again, how can it rise in price, as most will potentially sell it once they received it?"
His solution? Create games that require human pattern recognition on infrastructure that already exists, with economics based on fair competition rather than token printing.
Founder's Lesson #3: Leverage what exists instead of building what doesn't
The biggest mistake startup founders make is rebuilding things that already work perfectly fine. Ivan's genius was recognizing that Google Maps is already a better metaverse than anything he could build.
Your action step: List everything you think you need to build. Now identify what already exists that you could use instead. Focus your limited resources on the unique value only you can create.
The No-Roadmap Revolution
In a space obsessed with flashy roadmaps and future promises, Ivan made another contrarian bet: complete transparency about not having a plan.
You know the type - 47 slides with words like 'synergy' and charts that look like they were designed by someone who's never seen actual data.
When I asked how he keeps the community engaged without roadmaps, his answer was pure Ivan: "We just feel community, we feel our users, we feel and understand what they want, how to change, like, pivot, pivot, pivot."
This isn't chaos. This is extreme responsiveness. While other projects are locked into elaborate roadmaps they can't deliver, Ivan's team can pivot instantly based on user feedback.
"I'm here not for validation, because you know, the problem with lot of bloggers, the people in crypto, they're seeking for validation. I was a very successful esports player. I just put my ego down a long time ago."
Founder's Lesson #4: Ego is the enemy of iteration
Most founders get attached to their original vision and miss what users actually want. Ivan's ego death from competitive gaming taught him something invaluable: winning matters more than being right.
Your action step: Identify one assumption about your users that you're emotionally attached to. Now design a test that could prove you wrong.
The Fair Competition Framework
Here's Ivan's most profound insight, hidden in plain sight: "The same idea used in proof of work in Bitcoin mining. The idea comes from ideas of Satoshi Nakamoto. So he created perfect zero sum game where the miners finding the target hash. And this idea just evolve to idea for human minds."
He's not just building games. He's building human skill competitions that create sustainable value.
This framework answers the core question: How do you create lasting value in a world where everything can be automated?
Answer: Focus on capabilities that require uniquely human skills.
Founder's Lesson #5: Find your equivalent of "human skill competition"
Every successful business ultimately provides value that can't be easily automated or replicated. Ivan found his in human pattern recognition.
Your action step: Ask yourself: What human capability does my product require that AI can't easily replace? If the answer is "none," you're building in the wrong direction.
The Validation Paradox
When I asked Ivan about validation, his response revealed something counterintuitive: "I don't see any other way how to build GameFi. I want to see, I want to come to Solana and say, okay, guys, you got 10 million funding, like what are you building really? But no project appears."
He's not seeking validation. He's providing it.
This is the validation paradox: The most innovative founders don't validate their ideas against existing markets. They validate existing markets against their ideas.
Founder's Lesson #6: Sometimes the market is wrong, not you
Ivan saw that GameFi was fundamentally broken and built the solution he wished existed, regardless of whether the market "wanted" it yet.
Your action step: Instead of asking "Does the market want this?" ask "What's fundamentally broken in this space that nobody else is fixing?"
The Compound Interest of Weird
As our conversation ended, I realized something: Ivan's success isn't just about one good idea. It's about the compound interest of consistently making unconventional choices.
Problem analysis over traditional market research. Test-and-build feedback loops over linear development cycles. Google Maps over custom virtual worlds. Real-time adaptation over rigid roadmaps. Human skill competitions over automated systems.
Each choice seemed small. Together, they created something nobody else could replicate.
The transformation is complete: From a guy with a crazy idea on a mountain to a founder who's figured out what everyone else is missing.
And the craziest part? He's just getting started.
"These two months will be huge. End of July and August will be biggest month for the project because we just pushed this seed phrase hunt meta, this game."
The meditation continues. The iteration never stops.
And somewhere, another poker player is probably reading this and getting ideas about treasure maps.
Maybe that's you.
Your Turn: The Treasure Hunter's Playbook
Want to build weird Web3 projects that actually work without burning millions? Here's Ivan's step-by-step blueprint:
Step 1: Find your overlooked problem
Ivan identified fundamental economics and fairness issues in GameFi that well-funded teams ignored
What pain points in your industry do people accept as "just how things work"?
Step 2: Test with meaningful stakes immediately
Create valuable stakes: early access, exclusive features, points, or your personal time
Put something meaningful on the line to get honest feedback
Step 3: Embrace the "too weird" ideas
Treasure hunting with pirate maps sounded insane but became his differentiation
Your weirdest feature idea might be your biggest advantage
Step 4: Build around irreplaceable human capabilities
Create competitions requiring uniquely human skills like pattern recognition or cultural intuition
If AI can solve it easily, humans won't feel it's a fair playing ground
Step 5: Kill your ego before it kills your project
Professional competitors learn to lose gracefully and iterate quickly
Change core features based on user feedback, even if you disagree
Step 6: Skip the roadmap theater
Respond to community needs in real-time instead of following rigid 18-month plans
"Pivot, pivot, pivot" based on actual user behavior
Step 7: Solve the problems everyone ignores
Look for fundamental issues that well-funded teams won't touch because they're "too hard"
Fair competition and sustainable economics matter more than flashy graphics
Ivan (Xenitron) is the founder of Skullcoin, a treasure hunting game that's currently expanding across multiple chains. You can find him on X @Xenitron, explore the game at skullco.in, or join their community for daily treasure hunts. He's always experimenting with new game mechanics and encrypted NFT concepts.
Visit https://boom.money to learn more about the project or follow us on X @boom_wallet Image credit: Generated using perplexity.ai
