‘Nyan Heroes’ Launches Solana Token, Up 27% as Airdrop Claims Open

Nyan Heroes, a PC-based hero shooter on the Epic Games Store, launched its Solana-based NYAN token today, opening up its token claim for players who participated in the recent play-to-airdrop campaigns around the game.

NYAN debuted on crypto exchange Bybit early Tuesday, as the game’s official launch partner following the Solana token generation event (TGE). The token popped over $0.46 with $22 million in early volume, and is currently priced at $0.30, per data from CoinMarketCap, with a market cap above $30 million as of this writing.

Bybit is also hosting a rewards campaign, handing out 2.76 million NYAN tokens—about $828,000 worth at the current price—to customers who stake either NYAN, MNT, or USDT stablecoin within the exchange’s platform. The campaign runs for a full week, until May 28.

Nyan Heroes developer 9 Lives Interactive also opened up airdrop claims on Tuesday for players who checked out the pre-alpha demo playtests via the Epic Games Store, or participated in other airdrop initiatives related the game.

However, the team noted that there were technical problems with the claim process, with token distribution partner Streamflow claiming that “network issues” were at play as of 4am ET. It’s unclear whether the hitches have been resolved. Decrypt reached out to 9 Lives Interactive for clarification, but did not receive an immediate response.

The pre-alpha demo, which is currently available to play through May 26 via the prominent PC gaming marketplace, lets players earn points for completing in-game missions, which then convert into allocations of the NYAN token. According to the team, the NYAN token can be used to mint in-game gear on-chain as an NFT, a process called “awakening” within the game world.

“The NYAN token can also be utilized for marketplace transaction fees, rental fees for in-game assets, [and] competition entry fees,” reads a press release, “and players may lock their NYAN in order to receive additional special access, privileges, and rewards in addition to providing access to decentralized community governance.”

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.