YGG Unveils Onchain Guilds Based on Coinbase, Expands Blockchain Ecosystem in the Philippines

Each story begins with a memorable scene or unique setting.

For Web3 Games in the Philippines, this scene played out in countless Filipino homes during the pandemic: students and workers, confined by lockdowns, discovered they could win and create value together.

What started as a curious mix of gaming and cryptography later became a cultural phenomenon.

But this was just the proverbial testing ground. Fast forward to late 2024, the scene has matured well beyond those early days of play-to-win.

Although the initial gold rush may have subsided, something more substantial took root. The Philippines, which served as the starting point for this experiment in digital economies of scale, has maintained its position as the world’s most engaged market for Web3 games for three consecutive years.

Pioneers over the years

Today, Yield Guild Games (YGG), a pioneer of the guild model that has mobilized thousands of players into communities, is expanding its vision beyond gaming.

In an exclusive interview with DecryptGabby Dizon, founder of Yield Guild Games, spoke with the easy confidence of someone who has seen a crazy idea turn into a movement.

“We’ve always had guild communities within YGG since day one,” says Gabby Dizon. “We first started with Axie (with) the scholarship program, then we expanded to other games and added quests and reputation on top of that.”

It is with this first model that YGG conceptualized Onchain Guilds, a platform that allows collectives to build and manage their reputation through verifiable records of their work and achievements on the blockchain.

Whether you’re a gaming team, an artist, or a group of content creators, the platform provides tools to track contributions, manage shared assets, and access opportunities from YGG’s partner network.

Think of it like LinkedIn meets Discord, but with real proof of what you’ve accomplished.

“Reputation is visible on the channel,” Dizon notes, explaining how groups can now create trackable histories of their accomplishments. “It’s in your wallet, so you own it, not a social network or any other platform.”

Base of attachment

Guild protocol Web3 announced today at the YGG Play Summit that its Onchain Guilds platform will launch on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer-2 network.

Designed to improve transaction speed and reduce costs while maintaining the security and decentralization of Ethereum, Base was developed using the Optimism stack.

L2 allows developers to deploy decentralized applications more efficiently while allowing users to interact with the Ethereum ecosystem at a significantly lower cost.

This is especially important in the Philippines, where Web3 gaming is not just a hobby: it is an important economic force and a source of livelihood for those earning an average annual income between $3,000 and $12,000.

The country has been at the top of the global rankings for interest in Web3 games for the past three years, with a crypto awareness rate of a staggering 96%, according to a study by ConsenSys. Thanks to YGG Pilipinas alone, the community has 1.2 million members across social platforms.

And it’s growing quickly as YGG’s vision extends beyond gaming, he said. Decrypt. Earlier this year, YGG launched its Future of Work division, exploring how these same tools could help freelancers, content creators, and even AI data labeling teams organize and build their reputations collectively.

“People are starting to do things like data labeling for AI companies, providing data for deep networks that will allow them to make money,” he explains. “I think a lot of online transactions will eventually move on-chain.”

Base’s decision to end its world tour in Manila, after stops in Latin America, Africa and India, highlights the Philippines’ role as a frontier market for Web3. The platform “construction marathons» have created a buzz in emerging economies, where digital ownership and verifiable credentials are being touted as game-changers.

Digital Sports

For community members actively participating in its popular guild advancement program, YGG offers staking as a way to increase quest rewards, with plans for broader participation mechanics tied to casual games by early 2025. Decrypt it was said.

Reputation, Dizon notes, is an essential characteristic of human interactions. Whether on Web2 or even offline, when speaking or interacting with a person or group, the way in which they are known, based on what they do or have done, often opens up the way in which the others perceive them.

Drawing an analogy with traditional sports teams, Dizon explains how Onchain guild reputation works.

“If you think about the LA Lakers, they have a certain reputation. They’ve had different members over the decades, but the team itself maintains its reputation: they’ve won championships, they have a win-lose record collectively .”

In some ways, the launch of Onchain Guilds on Base feels less like a product release and more like a coming-of-age moment for Web3 communities. As Dizon puts it so well, with the characteristic optimism of someone who saw the future arriving sooner than expected: “It’s just a natural evolution of our mission. »

According to Dizon, this is what YGG’s Onchain Guilds are building for digital communities: a platform where they could earn and create value together by leveraging blockchain technology.

Edited by Sébastien Sinclair