The Artful Governance of Web3 Competition: The Integration of Sports Assets, Ecosystem Building, and Complex Decision-Making

Tristan Thompson is redefining fan engagement and asset ownership from a new perspective. His prediction market platform transforms the top 100 NBA players into tradable financial assets, combining traditional sports with Web3 financial mechanisms. The logic behind this platform is simple yet profound: competition is essentially a market, and Web3 tools now make such markets possible. “Almost anything can become a form of competition, through which people can make money and create markets,” Thompson states.

From Cards to Assets: New Ways to Play in Prediction Markets

Thompson’s platform redesigns fan interaction through a three-layer mechanism:

First, it mimics the nostalgic experience of collecting cards. Users purchase “card packs” to collect NBA players, but this time, the players themselves are financial assets. Each player’s “stock price” fluctuates in real-time — rising when a player records a triple-double, falling after an injury — creating a dynamic value discovery mechanism. Users can trade these player shares on the secondary market.

Second, the platform deepens the competitive experience through daily head-to-head contests. Users predict how specific players will perform in matchups, such as Jaylen Brown versus Kawhi Leonard, using a “winner-takes-all” settlement method. Thompson aims to enable fans to actively track investment performance while watching games, transforming passive viewers into active participants.

The third layer is reputation building. The leaderboard system allows users to “showcase” their basketball IQ, proving they know more than TV commentators and friends. This competitive mindset is key to Thompson’s platform — he believes modern culture has turned nearly everything into a form of competition or marketization. Thompson further envisions that top-performing users could leverage their on-chain records to establish independent live streams, build social influence, and even be “more popular than ESPN hosts.”

Ecosystem Expansion of NFT Native Brands: The Multi-Dimensional Development of Pudgy Penguins

Meanwhile, Pudgy Penguins is evolving from a simple “digital luxury item” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. The project has adopted a unique user acquisition approach: initially attracting users through mainstream channels (toys, retail collaborations, viral marketing), then guiding them into Web3 via games, NFTs, and the PENGU token.

This strategy has already shown initial results. Pudgy Penguins’ ecosystem now includes:

• Physical and virtual integrated products: over $13 million in retail sales, more than 1 million units sold
• Games and experiences: Pudgy Party alone has surpassed 500,000 downloads in just two weeks
• Widely distributed tokens: PENGU has been airdropped to over 6 million wallets

However, the market currently values Pudgy Penguins at a significant premium compared to traditional IP peers. To sustain this premium, the project needs to continue executing in three areas: retail expansion, game adoption, and token utility.

Governance Upgrades: From Standard DAO to Sophisticated Decision-Making Mechanisms

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently pointed out fundamental issues with existing DAOs: most are plagued by design flaws and have strayed from their original intent. He calls for the next generation of DAOs to return to core functions — focusing on data maintenance, dispute resolution, and adopting more advanced governance designs.

Buterin emphasizes the importance of “concave decision-making.” Unlike simple majority voting, concave decision-making involves complex trade-offs and multi-dimensional considerations. He suggests leveraging advanced technologies such as zero-knowledge cryptography and artificial intelligence to enhance DAO decision-making capabilities, enabling governance systems to handle subtle and complex challenges — a hallmark of the refined governance mechanisms needed for the next generation of decentralized organizations.

These three development directions point to a common trend: Web3 is systematically redefining the essence of competition, ownership, and decision-making. From the financialization of individual competition, to multi-dimensional brand and community integration, to sophisticated governance evolution, the entire ecosystem is moving toward more complex and richer forms.