At a time when education seems to be running out of steam, the Mainbot company is trying to innovate in the educational field by offering a metaverse, the Winkyverse, as well as its own crypto to allow children to develop their knowledge in technology.
Introducing the Winkyverse
Presentation of Mainbot and the project
Mainbot is a French startup incubated at Polytechnique. It has announced the creation of its metaverse (another one!): the Winkyverse.
The objective of this one is to allow young people (5-12 years old) to educate themselves around computer science, programming and technology in general. This metaverse is meant to be playful and immersive. Several types of technologies are used by the Winkyverse ecosystem: NFT, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, crypto …
The Winkyverse runs on the Ethereum blockchain and its cryptocurrency is called WNK (Winkies).
The narrative of the story, Winkyverse from white paper to reality
The Winkyverse is based on a story that takes place in the future. 3000 years in the future to be precise.
EcoBots are born after the planet has been almost entirely destroyed by pollution and overexploitation of natural resources. Human civilization has indeed had to adapt and has created these EcoBots, charming creatures who are there to heal the planet Earth.
This narrative allows awakening children to current issues and to initiate them to eco-responsible practices such as waste sorting, permaculture or recycling.
A project that did not come out of nowhere
This metaverse project is in truth the result of a long journey.
As early as 2016, the company Mainbot was created by a group of Frenchmen.
A year later, in 2017, Mainbot joined the Ecole Polytechnique (which is none other than one of the best engineering schools in France, if not THE best).
In 2018, the first prototypes of the Winky robot leave the factory. More than 1,000 families participated in the creation of these robots.
In 2019, Winky becomes the best-selling educational game in France, so much so that one year later, in 2020, several major French brands (Galeries Lafayette, Nature et Découverte, Boulanger, Fnac, …) sell Winky robots.
Then we come to The Winkyverse project with a strong team.
First, we find Sebastien Borget, who is the creator of The Sandbox (so he knows very well the universe of metaverses).
We also find Nicolas Gilot, who is the co-founder of the Ultra platform (which intends to revolutionize the world of gaming and overshadow Steam).
Finally, we also meet Mickael Canu, the founder of the Ternoa blockchain.
Two modules: Winkyplay and Winkymaker
Two modules will allow to create this famous metaverse: Winkyplay and Winkymaker.
Winkplay will allow to gather all the games created by the community. These games deal with different themes, not only computer science (there are also English and mathematics for example).
These games will allow children to develop their skills, such as memory or logic. The creators of the games can be paid by the platform. What a way to learn while having fun! Of course, these games will be played with the robot Winky.
Winkymaker gives kids the opportunity to customize their robot avatar. The creations can be transformed into NFT and then sold on marketplaces like OpenSea. A 3D tool is even proposed and it is enough to drag and drop elements to have a unique model.
Educating through play
As you can see, the objective of the Winkyverse is to educate through play. This ambition is based on multiple games stimulating cognitive abilities, skills, knowledge and social interaction. All this will be done with the accompanying robot, the Winky, with which children will be able to play. They will be able to communicate with it through voice, movement and touch.
The Winkyverse cryptocurrency (WNK)
Winkyverse, France’s biggest ICO of 2021
The Winkyverse was the largest French ICO of 2021, which is a testament to the strong fundamentals of the project. More than 20 million euros were raised during the year.
The first phase of the ICO had raised more than €10 million. The second phase, which was supposed to last 14 days, was completed in only 24 hours! (Remember that we were at that time in a bull market period, which facilitates fundraising).
The WNK crypto
WNK (Winkies) is the cryptocurrency of the Winkyverse. People who hold this crypto can access several benefits:
- Pay for access to WinkyVerse (one-time payment for lifetime access);
- Buy games;
- Subscribe to WinkyPlay Premium to get early access to games;
- Purchase a Winky robot at a 50% discount;
- Reward artists and game developers on WinkyMaker;
- Stake their Winkies for passive income.
The tokenomics of the Winkyverse crypto
The first WNK tokens were distributed from November 2021.
The distribution was done in three “Rounds”:
- During Round 1, the token was sold €0.006 per token for a minimum investment of €2,500;
- During Round 2, €0.008 per token for a minimum purchase of €1,000;
- During Round 3, in December 2021, €0.01 per token for a minimum investment of €250.
According to the project’s tokenomics, the main distributions are as follows: 20% of the tokens dedicated to brand marketing, 15% to development, 25% to game publishers.
The cliff and vesting period
The sale is also accompanied by a “Cliff and Vesting” system:
- Cliff: This is a fixed period during which the purchased tokens remain locked. Thus, the buyer does not have immediate access to his tokens and cannot sell them.
- Vesting: Once the cliff period is over, the tokens are unlocked progressively during the Vesting period. At the end of the Vesting period, the buyer is in full possession of his tokens.
This system prevents speculation and price manipulation. Indeed, the buyers of Winkies will not be able to resell their tokens in the very short term, for example, as soon as the Winkies are listed on exchanges.
How to earn WNK?
To earn WNK, you can:
- Invite people to join the Winkyverse, and you will be rewarded with WNK tokens (a leaderboard has even been set up);
- Stack some or all of your WNK chips to earn a 1% return each month in airdrops.
An attractive game
A campaign that exploded on Ulule
It must be said that the 2019 Ulule campaign of the Winkyverse had already been a real success. Thus, out of the 10,000€ goal that the team had set, they reached, hang on tight… 236 820€ ! That’s about 23 times the expected amount (1352 contributions). This campaign was a real success, showing once again the seriousness of the team and the strength of the project.
The marketing campaign around the Winkyverse and the Winky robot was effective.
The Winkyverse made more than 250 media appearances on major television channels, such as TF1. These media appearances were largely facilitated by the fact that the Winky robot was already commercialized and present in more than 5,000 homes.
Pomokata virtual lands (September 2022)
Winkyverse has released its virtual lands for sale starting in September 2022. The collection is called Pomokata. Those who had the Wikybot NFT had access to a private sale. 2,100 plots of land were put on sale during this private sale. The floor price is currently 0.2 ETH.
There are different types of land (mountainous land, coastal land and forest land).
Create and monetize your educational games
In the same way as The Sandbox, creators can be rewarded in the game’s cryptocurrency (WNK), this crypto can then be converted into Fiat. Therefore, it is possible to earn money and make profits from the game.
How to buy WNK?
You are probably wondering how to buy WNK. It is quite possible to do so by going to exchanges like MEXC Global or Bitmart.
You can also buy WNK on DEX (decentralized exchanges) like Pancakeswap. You will need a crypto wallet like Metamask for this. By buying this way, you are sure that you are the only owner of the crypto, but this is not without risk and you must adopt security measures such as using a Ledger key for example.
The Winkyverse is therefore a metaverse at the border between the real and the virtual, between education and computing. It is an interesting tool that will probably be used by many children in the years to come, as a complement to traditional education.
Coming from a teaching background, I’ve become passionate about the world of Blockchain. I’m eager to learn more and share the fruit of my research through my articles.
