A real game first
Build a sky base, train an army and raid other players. The game brings the Ascendants to web, iPhone and Android.
How $KI and Warriors work.
How the $KI token and Warrior NFTs fit together, and why the economy is built the way it is.
The short version
$KI is scarce
420 million $KI, ever. Half of all training rewards are released in the first ~49 days, then the flow halves again and again.
Community-led
No team or investor allocation. $KI rewards are earned by Warrior NFTs and go to the people who hold them.
Warriors earn $KI
Warrior NFTs training in your Dojo share the $KI flow by Battle Power. Stronger roster, bigger share.
Spending burns
Three quarters of every $KI spent on warriors and Dojo upgrades is destroyed for good.
Skill matters
Weekly gameplay rewards are based on raids, trophies and quests, alongside on-chain training.
What went wrong before
We studied the biggest play-to-earn projects closely. They proved people love owning what they play. Their economies broke for reasons you can name, and each one shaped a rule for $KI.
Axie Infinity
2021–2022 · Ronin
- No cap on the reward token. In February 2022 about 250 million SLP was minted a day and about 40 million burned. More than six times out than in.
- Spending made more earners. SLP’s main use was breeding new Axies, which then earned more SLP.
- Expensive to start. A team of three Axies cost roughly $450 to $1,000 in 2021.
- Earning was the only reason to stay. Daily players fell from about 2.7 million (Nov 2021) to under 1 million (May 2022).
StepN
2022 · Solana
- No cap on the reward token. GST had an “infinite supply”, minted for every step walked.
- Spending made more earners. GST minted new sneakers, and new sneakers earned more GST.
- Expensive to start. The cheapest sneaker reached about $1,700 in April 2022.
- Growth had to continue. Monthly users fell from about 705,000 (May 2022) to about 45,000 (December 2022).
The pattern: rewards grew with the number of players, spending created more people earning, and earning was the only reason to stay. $KI is built so none of the three can happen.
Side by side
The same questions, asked of the old play-to-earn economies and of $KI.
| Feature | Axie & StepN | Ascendants |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed maximum supply of the reward token | ✕SLP and GST had no cap | ✓420,000,000 $KI, enforced by the token |
| Rewards do not grow when more people join | ✕More players, more tokens minted | ✓One fixed flow, shared by everyone |
| Rewards shrink on a public schedule | ✕Changed by the team, under pressure | ✓Halves every ~49 days, written in the contract |
| Spending destroys tokens | ~Some burns, far below minting | ✓75% of spending on warriors and Dojos burned |
| Spending never creates new earners from rewards | ✕Breeding and sneaker minting | ✓Warriors are bought, never bred from rewards |
| A strategy game beyond token rewards | ~ | ✓Base building, armies and raids |
| Genesis Warriors can be transferred | ✓ | ✓Withdraw from training first; they are not soulbound |
| Skill-based gameplay rewards | ~ | ~Weekly arena; separate from training rewards |
| Spend to finish builds early | ~ | ~Use $KI in the web game |
| Web and mobile game | ~ | ~Web, iPhone and Android |
$KI: how much, and where it goes
A fixed supply, released on a public schedule that halves.
420M$KI that can ever exist
4.26M$KI a day at launch, shared by all
~49 daysuntil the daily flow halves
0$KI pre-minted for the team
Community-led. There is no team or investor allocation. Every $KI reward is earned by Warrior NFTs training in their Dojos and goes to the people who hold them: 97.5% to the holder, and 2.5% to whoever invited them, if anyone did.
Ideal schedule; real issuance can be slightly lower (rounding, and time when no warrior is training, which is skipped, never paid later).
How $KI moves
- 1A fixed flow of new $KI
Released every second on the public schedule above. Nobody can add more.
- 2Shared by Battle Power
Your warriors’ share of all Battle Power training right now is your share of the flow. 97.5% goes to you; 2.5% goes to the person who invited you, if anyone did.
- 3Spent to grow
Recruiting warriors and upgrading Dojos cost $KI.
- 4Mostly destroyed
75% of that spending is burned forever. 25% goes to the Temple Vault, the treasury.
Burns
How $KI leaves circulation. The more it is used, the more is removed.
75%of the $KI paid to recruit a warrior or upgrade a Dojo is burned
Foreverburned $KI is destroyed and never minted again
Burning never adds minting room: the 420M lifetime cap counts every $KI ever minted, burned or not.
Warriors and Dojos
Warriors are NFTs. While they train in your Dojo they earn $KI. A Dojo has limited room, measured in Focus, so growing means upgrading it.
- The First Awakening: up to 10,000 Genesis Warriors, free to eligible wallets. Everyone starts with equal power and starts training at the same moment.
- A Genesis Warrior opens your Dojo. Submit one from your wallet with the 0.005 ETH entry price to open your Dojo, with that Warrior already training in it. There is no Dojo without a Genesis Warrior.
- Warriors can be transferred. Withdraw a warrior from the Dojo before transferring it. Withdrawal stops its training rewards and follows the contract’s cooldown.
- Upgrades take time. Dojos upgrade one step at a time, at most once every 24 hours.
How players earn $KI
Training
Install warriors in your Dojo. Your share of all Battle Power training is your share of the daily flow. Claim whenever you like.
Example: if 1,000 equal warriors are training at launch, each receives about 4,258 $KI a day before the 2.5% mentor share. Fewer warriors training means more each; more means less each.
The weekly arena
The weekly arena uses points from raids, trophies and quests. Its rules and reward funding are not part of the current on-chain training schedule.
The gameplay rewards recognise performance in the game; the training rewards above are shared by Battle Power.
Web and mobile
The game has web, iPhone and Android versions, with email sign-in across devices. Wallet transactions and on-chain $KI features are handled on the web. The game is not open to players yet.
| Mobile app | Web game | |
|---|---|---|
| Full game: base, army, raids, quests | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sign in with email | ✓ | ✓ |
| Finishing builds early | ✓Paid through the App Store or Google Play | ✓$KI from your wallet |
| Warrior NFTs and the $KI token | ✕ | ✓ |
| On-chain $KI rewards | ✕ | ✓ |
| Play your wallet account on your phone | ✓Sign in by email; $KI spending stays on the web | ✓ |
- Two accounts that never mix. Mobile accounts and wallet accounts never raid each other, and nothing bought in a store can ever become $KI.
- Linking a wallet starts a new account. Your wallet account starts fresh, with its own base, warriors and rewards.
- Finishing early on the web shows on your phone. Spend $KI on the web; the finished building is there when you open the app.
Limits and risks
Read this part. It matters as much as the rest.
- Nothing is guaranteed. $KI can lose value. Warriors can lose value. Nobody can promise a price, a return or a market to sell into.
- Your share changes. When more warriors train, or stronger ones, each warrior earns less. The flow halves every ~49 days whatever happens.
- The contracts can be upgraded. Upgrades wait 48 hours in public first, and nothing can raise the 420M cap, but reward rules can change.
- Details may change. Numbers and features can be adjusted before and after launch.
- Where you live matters. Some features may be unavailable in some countries.
Common questions about $KI and Warriors
How do Warriors earn $KI?
A Warrior earns training rewards while it trains in a Dojo. Its share of the Battle Power training at that moment determines its share of the rewards. The earning section explains the flow and how it can change.
What does Focus mean?
Focus measures the room available in a Dojo and the room a Warrior uses. A Dojo has limited capacity; the Warriors and Dojos section explains how they fit together.
Does burning $KI increase the minting limit?
No. The lifetime cap counts every $KI ever minted, including $KI later burned. Burning removes tokens from circulation without creating new minting room. See Burns and supply and flow.
For help with signing in, linking a wallet or making a deposit, visit support.
Sources
- Ascendants: the contracts and their documentation (supply, schedule, burns, ranks, Dojos, Genesis).
- Axie: SLP minted vs burned, Feb 2022 (Cointelegraph)
- Axie: the decline in players (The Block)
- Axie: daily players down from the 2021 peak (BeInCrypto)
- Axie: breeding costs (Axie whitepaper)
- StepN: token design and energy (StepN whitepaper)
- StepN: lessons from Axie (Decrypt)
- StepN: monthly players, May to December 2022 (Decrypt)
- StepN: sneaker floor price, April 2022 (Dune data, Substack)
This guide explains how $KI and Warrior NFTs work. It is not financial advice or an offer to sell anything. $KI and Warrior NFTs have no promised value.