Man… I wasn’t even planning to look into Vanar tonight. I was just scrolling and somehow ended up deep diving into it at like 1am. Classic.
At first I thought, great, another Layer 1. Because that’s exactly what we needed, right? One more chain promising adoption and scale and whatever. I’ve seen this movie too many times. Fast chain, big vision, token pumps, then everyone disappears when volume dries up.
But Vanar’s angle is kinda different. Or at least it feels different. It’s not screaming “we’re faster than Ethereum.” It’s more like… gaming, brands, metaverse, AI. Which honestly makes more sense than another DeFi ghost town.
Still. I don’t trust it fully.
I keep thinking about how many chains tried to ride the metaverse wave. Remember that phase? Everything was virtual land and partnerships and digital collectibles. Most of that stuff died quietly. Vanar came out of that Virtua ecosystem though, and they didn’t just vanish when hype cooled off, which I’ll give them credit for. They doubled down and built their own chain instead of depending on someone else’s. That’s either conviction or insanity.
The gaming angle is what keeps me interested. If crypto ever actually hits normal people, it won’t be through some yield farming dashboard. It’ll be through games. Kids buying skins don’t care about what chain it’s on. They just want the skin. That part feels obvious. And Vanar leaning into VGN and games kinda makes sense.
But I’ve also seen “GameFi” turn into glorified token Ponzinomics. People show up for rewards, not fun. Farm, dump, leave. Repeat. If the games aren’t actually good, it won’t matter what chain powers them. It’s like building a fancy highway to nowhere. Cool infrastructure… zero destination.
And the brand thing. This is where I’m torn.
On one hand, brands experimenting with Web3 feels like that friend who keeps trying new diets every month. They’re curious but not committed. We’ve seen so many awkward NFT drops that nobody cared about. If Vanar can actually make it seamless and invisible for users, maybe there’s something there. If it turns into “big partnership announced” and then zero on-chain activity… I’ve seen that too.
The VANRY token though… that’s the real question for me. Everything sounds nice until you ask, is there actual demand for the token beyond speculation? Because let’s be honest, most L1 tokens run on vibes before they run on usage. If games and brand stuff actually generate transactions consistently, okay, that’s different. If not, it’s just another cycle coin I stare at in my portfolio wondering why I didn’t trim.
I keep going back and forth. Part of me thinks entertainment is the only realistic path for crypto adoption. Finance scares normal people. Gaming doesn’t. Digital collectibles don’t. That thesis makes sense in my head. Then the other part of me remembers how brutal this space is. Ethereum has gravity. Solana has momentum. Base has Coinbase backing. Where exactly does Vanar wedge itself in?
Also… they’re trying to do a lot. Gaming, metaverse, AI, eco solutions, brands. That’s a buffet. Sometimes buffets are great. Sometimes it just means nothing is really that good.
Timing matters too. Metaverse hype cooled off hard. AI is hot. Gaming is steady but competitive. If they’re aligned with where attention flows next cycle, they could catch a wave. If not, they might just float around unnoticed.
I don’t think it’s a scam or vaporware. It doesn’t feel like that. It feels like a team that genuinely believes consumer-facing Web3 is the answer. And I respect that. I just don’t know if belief is enough in a market that eats narratives for breakfast.
Maybe I’m overthinking it. I’ve been burned before so everything looks suspicious now. That’s what this market does to you. You start analyzing token velocity at 2am like it’s going to solve your life.
Anyway… I’m not all-in, not out either. Just watching. Carefully. Because if they actually manage to make blockchain invisible inside games and brand experiences, that’s big. If they don’t… it’s just another L1 I’ll scroll past next year wondering what happened.
Crypto’s funny like that. It can turn “this might be interesting” into “why did I buy this” real fast.