Written by Pablo Gómez
Founder & CEO at Metlabs · Reviewed on October 11, 2026
GameFi organizes web3 gaming into several layers that fit together: assets as NFTs (characters, land, items), in-game fungible tokens integrated with DeFi (staking, pools, lending), DAO governance and interoperability with secondary markets. It applies financial mechanics to the game, such as staking NFTs for yield, renting playable assets through guilds, or tokenized land that generates income. To support microtransactions it usually relies on low-cost chains or sidechains, such as Ronin (Sky Mavis's sidechain dedicated to Axie) or Immutable for gaming on Ethereum.
It defines web3 gaming as a vertical for investment and building: it turns a game into an open economy with liquid, composable assets. It is the conceptual framework under which play-to-earn, metaverses and player guilds are grouped.
Also known as
- GameFi
