How Fake World Assets and onchain gacha became crypto’s latest craze

Written by Christina Combenstaff writerReviewed by Andrew Fentonstaff editorWritten by Christina Combenstaff writerReviewed by Andrew Fentonstaff editorHow Fake World Assets and onchain gacha became crypto’s latest crazeMagazinePublishedAug 3, 2026Fake World Assets turns forgotten NFTs into an onchain lottery — but is crypto’s latest obsession built to last?Just when you thought crypto was getting boring, a new phenomenon is lighting up Crypto Twitter — Fake World Assets (FWAs). Yes, really.It’s the latest iteration of the onchain gacha craze, where users receive a random collectible, or collectibles, that are usually worth very little, but are sometimes worth quite a lot.Within four days of launch, FWAs guzzled so much Ethereum gas that they briefly became the chain’s largest gas consumer by fees over a 24-hour period. At its peak on July 25, FWAs generated approximately $1.53 million in daily fees, and even leapfrogged Tether and Circle to briefly rank among Ethereum’s biggest consumers of blockspace. Its creators, TokenWorks, proclaimed:“4 days since launch. Fake World Assets are the next big thing.”TokenWorks is far from an impartial observer, but TVL continues to climb, reaching over $6.15 million on July 31. Fee revenue has now eased to around $350,000 per day, which equates to an annualized run rate of roughly $268 million. By August 1, FWA had seen 10,000 ETH in volume, and 100,000 purchases. Some of the activity is driven by users trying to access early FWA token incentives, but there also appears to be genuine interest in the gamified mechanic.Fake World Assets TVL and fees. Source: DeFiLlama Not everyone is convinced the excitement around FWA will last. Simon Dedic, founder of venture capital firm Moonrock Capital, and an early backer of onchain collectible platforms, tells Magazine:“I’m very bullish on gamified commerce... my skepticism on FWA is specific.”Dedic argues that much of the current activity is driven by generous token incentives rather tha…

How Fake World Assets and onchain gacha became crypto’s latest craze

Coins in this story

Discussion

Related stories

Marmot Researchers Turn to OnlyFans for Funding—And There Are Meme Coins Too

U.S. FBI intelligence agent arrested in connection with theft of $1 million in crypto

Former FBI Agent Charged With Stealing Nearly $1 Million in Crypto and Using ChatGPT for Investment Advice