Audit log

Every state-changing event for Yield Guild Games (YGG): moderation decisions on community submissions, plus corrections and updates from the news pipeline. URL-based decisions are designed to carry three independent witnesses — the original source, an Internet Archive snapshot, and a Solana memo signed by our publicly-disclosed publisher key. Archive coverage is still being backfilled, so each decision below reports its own snapshot status rather than assuming one exists.

1. #1publishby system:backfill

   2026-08-19 17:31:23Z
   Score: ? → ? (no score change)
   anchorpending

   chain

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   A2Rswo9MnjBH…GfsYxqmZcopysha256 → base58

   verifying row…

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   {"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"e30af699-88e1-4fb2-b887-7f64d86204e0","kind":"publish","page_slug":"yield-guild-games-ygg","published_at":"2026-08-19T17:31:23.832Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"Yield Guild Games (YGG)","sections":[{"content":"Yield Guild Games was co-founded in 2020 by Gabby Dizon (CEO), Beryl Li, and a developer known as Owl of Moistness. The organization is headquartered in the Philippines and describes itself as 'the world's first and biggest web3 gaming guild.' Its initial model involved purchasing NFT assets used in blockchain games — most prominently Axie Infinity — and lending them to players ('scholars') who could not afford the upfront cost, splitting earnings among the scholar, YGG, and a manager. YGG launched its ERC-20 governance and utility token (YGG) on July 27, 2021, with a maximum supply of one billion tokens. In August 2021, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) led a $4.6 million investment round that also included Animoca Brands, Pantera Capital, Kingsway Capital, and Infinity Ventures Crypto. a16z received YGG tokens under a four-year deal structure (two-year lockup, two-year vesting).","heading":"Overview and Background","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"A16z Leads $4.6M Investment in Yield Guild Games — CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/08/19/a16z-leads-46m-investment-in-yield-guild-games"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Investing in Yield Guild Games — Andreessen Horowitz","type":"official","url":"https://a16z.com/announcement/investing-in-yield-guild-games/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"What Is Yield Guild Games (YGG)? — Binance Academy","type":"other","url":"https://academy.binance.com/en/articles/what-is-yield-guild-games-ygg"}]},{"content":"The YGG token reached an all-time high of approximately $11.17 in late August 2021, shortly after its launch and the a16z investment announcement. As of mid-2026, the token trades near $0.02, a decline of approximately 99.8% from its peak. The total supply of one billion tokens is subject to a vesting and unlock schedule that has introduced recurring inflationary pressure. Token allocations include 45% reserved for community support, 24.9% for investors, 15% for founders, and 15% for treasury and advisors. Analysts at Iconomi and other platforms have noted that YGG faces declining play-to-earn demand, limited token utility outside its ecosystem, and high token-unlock inflation as structural headwinds. These factors are market and structural in nature and do not constitute evidence of fraudulent conduct.","heading":"Token Performance and Value Destruction","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games price today — CoinMarketCap","type":"other","url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/yield-guild-games/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games (YGG): Web3 Gaming Guild, Token Utility and Risks — Iconomi","type":"research","url":"https://www.iconomi.com/blog/yield-guild-game-ygg"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games Tokenomics and Vesting Schedule — Tokenomist","type":"other","url":"https://tokenomist.ai/yield-guild-games"}]},{"content":"YGG's early success was tightly coupled to Axie Infinity's play-to-earn economy. By December 2021, YGG treasury assets peaked at approximately $824 million and the network had supported over 10,000 Axie Infinity scholars who collectively generated $13.6 million in SLP tokens. When Axie Infinity's in-game economy collapsed in 2022 — following the Ronin Bridge hack that affected Axie's parent company Sky Mavis and the broader devaluation of SLP — YGG's scholarship model lost viability. Scholars' SLP earnings declined sharply in both volume and USD value. YGG subsequently pivoted away from asset-driven scholarship programs. Industry research from Caladan (April 2026) reportedly found that 93% of GameFi projects were nearly inactive and average token values were down 95% from 2022 peaks, illustrating the sector-wide contraction. YGG's decline reflects both its own model's dependence on unsustainable game economics and broad sector failure, not fraud.","heading":"Play-to-Earn Model Collapse and Business Risk","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games Update and Outlook — Naavik (July 2022)","type":"research","url":"https://naavik.co/digest/yield-guild-games-update/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Game Guilds — Analysis of Industry Health and Sustainability — DappRadar","type":"research","url":"https://dappradar.com/blog/game-guilds-an-analysis-of-the-industrys-health-and-sustainability"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Understanding Yield Guild Games — Messari","type":"research","url":"https://messari.io/report/understanding-yield-guild-games-a-comprehensive-overview"}]},{"content":"In July 2026, Yield Guild Games announced the shutdown of YGG Play, the company's crypto game publishing arm launched in 2025, and laid off 35 employees effective by August 1, 2026. The company committed to providing eight additional weeks of pay and job placement assistance. Games discontinued include LOL Land and Waifu Sweeper; two titles (Gigachatbat and Ragnarok Breaker) transitioned to their original developers. YGG Play had generated over $9 million in lifetime revenue through Q1 2026 but was described as commercially unsustainable amid the crypto market downturn. Co-founder Gabby Dizon characterized the closure as 'a market decision, not a product decision.' The company reported $20.6 million in treasury assets as of Q1 2026 and projected a four-year operating runway after restructuring. YGG stated it would redirect resources toward supplying behavioral gaming datasets for AI training.","heading":"YGG Play Shutdown and July 2026 Layoffs","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Kills Crypto Game Publishing Arm, Lays Off 35 in AI Pivot — Decrypt","type":"news_article","url":"https://decrypt.co/372852/yield-guild-kills-crypto-game-publishing-arm-lays-off-35-ai-pivot"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games Cuts 35 Jobs as It Shuts Down Web3 Game Publishing — CryptoTimes","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.cryptotimes.io/2026/07/07/yield-guild-games-cuts-35-jobs-as-it-shuts-down-web3-game-publishing/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games layoffs mark major crypto gaming shift — Cryptonomist","type":"news_article","url":"https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2026/07/07/yield-guild-games-layoffs-crypto/"}]},{"content":"YGG's treasury assets have historically been managed by the three co-founders via a multi-signature Gnosis wallet requiring two of three Trezor signatures to validate transactions. Industry analysts have described legacy multi-sig governance models used by guilds like YGG as introducing counterparty risk, operational bottlenecks, and high trust assumptions toward a small set of signers. In August 2025, YGG established a $7.5 million Ecosystem Pool by transferring 50 million YGG tokens to a dedicated on-chain guild mandated to deploy treasury assets into yield-generating strategies. No allegations of theft or misappropriation of treasury funds have been identified in verified sources. Smart contract exposure from staking mechanisms and vault structures represents an additional technical risk category noted by reviewers.","heading":"Treasury Governance and Structural Risks","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games ygg — CollectiveShift","type":"research","url":"https://collectiveshift.io/ygg/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Guild Treasuries: From Scholarships to Venture Studios — ChainScore Labs","type":"research","url":"https://chainscorelabs.com/blog/gaming-and-metaverse-the-next-billion-users/play-to-earn-economics/the-future-of-guild-treasuries-from-scholarships-to-daos"}]},{"content":"Yield Guild Games has publicly warned its community about third-party scam accounts on Telegram that falsely claim to represent YGG. The company has stated that it does not initiate contact with users, solicit investments, request calls or meetings, or conduct business via Telegram direct messages. With the launch of its GAP Season 7 program in October 2024, YGG issued an additional reminder to interact only with official links. These incidents involve third parties impersonating YGG and are not attributable to the company itself. No security exploits or hacks of YGG's own contracts have been identified in verified sources.","heading":"Third-Party Scams and Impersonation","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"YGG scam warning tweet — Yield Guild Games on X","type":"social_media","url":"https://x.com/YieldGuild/status/1841692251878986043"}]},{"content":"No SEC, CFTC, DOJ, or other regulatory enforcement actions against Yield Guild Games have been identified. Canadian securities regulators have noted, through platforms such as Wealthsimple, that they have not evaluated or endorsed the YGG token, which is standard disclosure language applied to crypto assets broadly. The SEC has publicly classified certain play-to-earn gaming tokens as potential securities, but no specific enforcement action naming YGG has been found in available sources. The YGG token's regulatory classification as a security or utility token remains an unresolved legal question in multiple jurisdictions.","heading":"Regulatory Status","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games (YGG) Help Centre — Wealthsimple","type":"official","url":"https://help.wealthsimple.com/hc/en-ca/articles/34176961164187-Yield-Guild-Games-YGG"}]}],"sources_used":[{"credibility":1,"name":"A16z Leads $4.6M Investment in Yield Guild Games — CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/08/19/a16z-leads-46m-investment-in-yield-guild-games"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Investing in Yield Guild Games — Andreessen Horowitz","type":"official","url":"https://a16z.com/announcement/investing-in-yield-guild-games/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Kills Crypto Game Publishing Arm, Lays Off 35 in AI Pivot — Decrypt","type":"news_article","url":"https://decrypt.co/372852/yield-guild-kills-crypto-game-publishing-arm-lays-off-35-ai-pivot"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games Cuts 35 Jobs as It Shuts Down Web3 Game Publishing — CryptoTimes","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.cryptotimes.io/2026/07/07/yield-guild-games-cuts-35-jobs-as-it-shuts-down-web3-game-publishing/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games layoffs mark major crypto gaming shift — Cryptonomist","type":"news_article","url":"https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2026/07/07/yield-guild-games-layoffs-crypto/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games price today — CoinMarketCap","type":"other","url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/yield-guild-games/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games (YGG): Web3 Gaming Guild, Token Utility and Risks — Iconomi","type":"research","url":"https://www.iconomi.com/blog/yield-guild-game-ygg"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games Tokenomics and Vesting Schedule — Tokenomist","type":"other","url":"https://tokenomist.ai/yield-guild-games"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Understanding Yield Guild Games — Messari","type":"research","url":"https://messari.io/report/understanding-yield-guild-games-a-comprehensive-overview"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games Update and Outlook — Naavik","type":"research","url":"https://naavik.co/digest/yield-guild-games-update/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Game Guilds — Analysis of Industry Health and Sustainability — DappRadar","type":"research","url":"https://dappradar.com/blog/game-guilds-an-analysis-of-the-industrys-health-and-sustainability"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games (YGG) Help Centre — Wealthsimple","type":"official","url":"https://help.wealthsimple.com/hc/en-ca/articles/34176961164187-Yield-Guild-Games-YGG"},{"credibility":2,"name":"What Is Yield Guild Games (YGG)? — Binance Academy","type":"other","url":"https://academy.binance.com/en/articles/what-is-yield-guild-games-ygg"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Yield Guild Games ygg — CollectiveShift","type":"research","url":"https://collectiveshift.io/ygg/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Guild Treasuries: From Scholarships to Venture Studios — ChainScore Labs","type":"research","url":"https://chainscorelabs.com/blog/gaming-and-metaverse-the-next-billion-users/play-to-earn-economics/the-future-of-guild-treasuries-from-scholarships-to-daos"},{"credibility":3,"name":"YGG scam warning tweet — Yield Guild Games on X","type":"social_media","url":"https://x.com/YieldGuild/status/1841692251878986043"}],"summary":"Yield Guild Games (YGG) is a Philippines-originated Web3 gaming guild and DAO that rose to prominence in 2021 by facilitating play-to-earn scholarship programs, primarily around Axie Infinity, and raised $4.6 million led by Andreessen Horowitz. The organization has undergone significant restructuring since the collapse of the play-to-earn sector in 2022, and in July 2026 shut down its publishing arm YGG Play and laid off 35 employees as it pivoted toward supplying gaming behavioral data for AI training. No fraud allegations, hacks of the protocol, or regulatory enforcement actions have been identified; the primary concerns relate to sustained token value destruction, structural business-model risk, and heavy token-unlock inflation.","timeline":[{"date":"2020-01-01","event":"Yield Guild Games founded in the Philippines by Gabby Dizon, Beryl Li, and Owl of Moistness, initially focused on lending Axie Infinity NFTs to players who could not afford them.","source":"Binance Academy","source_url":"https://academy.binance.com/en/articles/what-is-yield-guild-games-ygg"},{"date":"2021-08-19","event":"Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) leads a $4.6 million investment round in YGG, with participation from Animoca Brands, Pantera Capital, and others.","source":"CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/08/19/a16z-leads-46m-investment-in-yield-guild-games"},{"date":"2021-07-27","event":"YGG token launches on exchanges, opening at approximately $1.50 before rallying to an all-time high near $11.17 in late August 2021.","source":"CoinMarketCap","source_url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/yield-guild-games/"},{"date":"2021-12-01","event":"YGG treasury peaks at approximately $824 million; the network has supported over 10,000 Axie Infinity scholars who collectively generated $13.6 million in SLP.","source":"Messari","source_url":"https://messari.io/report/understanding-yield-guild-games-a-comprehensive-overview"},{"date":"2022-01-01","event":"Axie Infinity's play-to-earn economy collapses; SLP token value and scholar earnings decline sharply, undermining YGG's scholarship model.","source":"Naavik","source_url":"https://naavik.co/digest/yield-guild-games-update/"},{"date":"2025-01-01","event":"YGG launches YGG Play, a casual crypto game publishing arm, as part of a strategic pivot away from the scholarship model.","source":"Decrypt","source_url":"https://decrypt.co/372852/yield-guild-kills-crypto-game-publishing-arm-lays-off-35-ai-pivot"},{"date":"2025-08-01","event":"YGG establishes a $7.5 million Ecosystem Pool by transferring 50 million YGG tokens to a dedicated on-chain guild for yield-generating treasury strategies.","source":"CollectiveShift","source_url":"https://collectiveshift.io/ygg/"},{"date":"2026-07-06","event":"Yield Guild Games announces the shutdown of YGG Play and lays off 35 employees, citing commercial unsustainability and a pivot to supplying gaming behavioral data for AI training. Treasury holds $20.6 million with a projected four-year runway.","source":"Decrypt","source_url":"https://decrypt.co/372852/yield-guild-kills-crypto-game-publishing-arm-lays-off-35-ai-pivot"}]},"v":1}

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