CoinMarketCap takes a deep dive into YooShi — a memecoin inspired by Yoshi, a green dinosaur in the Super Mario franchise, that has evolved into a metaverse-focused crypto with NFT offerings.
What Is YooShi?
YooShi is a decentralized finance (DeFi) play-to-earn (P2E) non-fungible token (NFT)-based gaming ecosystem on Binance Smart Chain. It started as a memecoin and has now evolved into a metaverse-focused cryptocurrency with various NFT functionalities. YooShi is the first initial DEX offering (IDO) platform on Binance Smart Chain for NFT-based gaming projects, earning its slot in Binance's Most Valuable Builder II program — an initiative that analyzes hundreds of BSC NFT projects and picks the most exciting ones.
Why the Name YooShi?
YooShi is a pun for “Yoshi,” a nod to the lovable green character of the Super Mario video game franchise.. This origin story highlights the project's meme inspiration and early beginnings.
However, YooShi is shaping up to be more than just a memecoin. The project seeks to build the YooShi metaverse with various features including a fully functional game launchpad, a game development system and its own play-to-earn game with NFT integration.
The YooShi platform has seen significant traction since its launch early this year with a tremendous 30-day performance in early November. YooShi's price behavior imitates other popular memecoins like Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE), both of which have broken into the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
How Does YooShi Work?
The YooShi ecosystem is a multi-faceted DeFi platform with varying features and capabilities governed by its native decentralized memecoin, YOOSHI. YooShi is building a metaverse with embedded play-to-earn attributes, creating a world where players can have fun and earn money simultaneously.
The core functionalities of the YooShi platform can be broken down into three basic concepts:
YooShi GamePad: The YooShi gamepad functions as an accelerator for game developers, allowing them to raise funds to pursue their projects by preselling unique in-game assets in the form of NFTs.
- YooShi Labs: YooShi Labs is a DeFi game incubator that provides GameFi game developers with technical support and the necessary tools to design their games and bring their ideas to life.
P2E Guild Alliance (P2EGA): P2EGA is YooShi's play-to-earn game initiative. YooShi's game will feature P2E mechanics allowing players to have fun and extract real value from their gaming experience.
The YooShi platform has a dedicated NFT marketplace for actioning NFTs. YooShi has DeFi options for its users, like an auto farming mechanism that rewards holders of the YOOSHI token with 4% of all transaction fees on the platform. An NFT yield farming system also allows YooShi NFT holders to leverage their NFTs for yield farming.
According to the roadmap, YooShi intends to develop its metaverse and push other aspects of its platform to grow the community.
What Makes YooShi Unique?
As a gaming IDO platform on the Binance Smart Chain, YooShi GamePad enables developers to generate funds by selling NFT-based in-game assets. The YooShi Labs independent Web 3.0 game incubator makes everything from game conception to technical assistance on the blockchain straightforward.
Besides NFT farms and auctions, the YooShi also offers a wide range of NFTs on its marketplace. Many yield farms are now operational on YooShi, with juicy annual percentage yield, or APY, offerings available for its participants.
The YooShi platform has something for everyone. Investors can partake in its DeFi yield farming services and gamers can play and earn in YooShi’s P2E game. Game developers can leverage the YooShi gamepad and Labs to accelerate their projects, while NFT lovers can trade their assets on the YooShi NFT marketplace.
YooShi touts its fair launch system wherein 100% of YooShi supply is seeded as liquidity, eliminating the need for presale or team token allocation. The platform also integrates a whale-proof mechanism, ensuring that no wallet holds more than 1% of the token supply while limiting the maximum token transaction to 5 trillion tokens. This approach provides a safety net against whale manipulation.
It is usually unheard of to see memecoins have this much utility and depth. YooShi is challenging this stereotype with unique DeFi offerings and metaverse aspirations.
Rise of the Memecoins in 2021
Despite their joke origins, memecoins have exploded in popularity and made enormous gains over the years. However, some experts have branded them as shitcoins with no actual inherent value. This is because memecoins are based on internet jokes, puns, or sarcasm. Most memecoins have no other purpose other than being a meme. That being said, this hasn’t stopped this class of cryptocurrency from seeing great price appreciation.
The value potential of a memecoin usually depends on the amount of hype it can generate. Dogecoin, for instance, was able to gain a significant value increase in May 2021 when billionaire celebrity Elon Musk started tweeting about this meme crypto in a positive light. A coin that began as a way to make fun of Bitcoin was now being pushed by the self-proclaimed Dogefather. This was enough to build hype for Dogecoin and send its price skyrocketing.
The demand for memecoins and the communities that form around them is growing so much that there are already hundreds of memecoin scattered around the crypto space. Investors are keen on seeing which memecoin will become the next Dogecoin or Shiba Inu.
Memecoins: How Does YooShi Stack Up?
Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, the two most popular memecoins, are based on dog characters and memes. Despite having little to no actual utility, these coins have risen by over 1000% since their inception, with a combined value of more than $10 billion. Today, there are over 130 memecoins in circulation that were created without purpose or reason, save for the investor’s entertainment.
Memecoins are usually sought after and collected by people who want to be part of the joke. With the rising fame of memecoins, however, this attitude is changing. Many people now treat memecoins as a legit investment vehicle as they seek to capitalize on their rising popularity.
The lack of purpose and value has given memecoins somewhat of a bad rep among some professional crypto traders and crypto haters alike. They often dismiss mememcoins as short-lived crypto bound to diminish in value over time. Whether this is the case or not remains to be seen.
However, YooShi attempts to turn memecoin culture on its head. By creating a rich ecosystem that integrates NFTs, gaming, yield farming and so much more, YooShi clearly distinguishes itself from other memecoins. Through its various offerings, YooShi's memecoin-focused ecosystem brings utility and value to all its participants. This unique approach to the memecoin culture may redefine how we look at memecoins moving forward.
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