Four days after its launch, $GUN, the native token of the GUNZ blockchain—a gaming network built on Avalanche and tied to the web3 game “Off The Grid”—experienced a 60% downfall.
The $GUN Token
$GUN was launched on March 31, 2025, at ₱5.77. About 17 minutes later, the token reached its all-time high price of ₱6.59.
However, it did not witness another bullish rally and instead experienced more bearish ones. It continues to record new all-time lows as time passes. In fact, just two hours ago as of this writing, $GUN reported a new all-time low of ₱2.36.
As of April 4, 2025, only 6.045% of $GUN’s total supply of 10 million tokens is in circulation.
“It’s common for newly launched tokens to quickly peak and then lose value as more users get their hands on the coins and start trading them in the market. But the GUNZ launch has left some as-yet-unanswered questions that may also be driving concerns around the full extent of the rollout.”
Andrew Hayward, Managing Editor, Decrypt
$GUN’s Connection with Web3 Game Off The Grid
Currently, Off The Grid is available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox, but its blockchain features are not yet integrated.
According to its development team, Gunzilla Games, once Off The Grid has been integrated with the GUNZ blockchain, players will be able to trade in-game items as NFTs, and $GUN will serve as the main token for earning and trading in-game.
Thus, $GUN is important to the Off The Grid gameplay, as it will bring the benefits of blockchain technology to a game expected to have AAA quality.
The integration of the GUNZ blockchain into Off The Grid is a work in progress, according to Gunzilla Games Director of Web3 Theodore Agranat.
The $GUN Issue
In a Facebook post, Steve “Icesteam” Jimenez, the co-founder of the Philippine Association of Crypto Traders, shared that he was among the earliest investors in Off The Grid, having entered during the 2021 private rounds.
“One of the VCs I was connected to had a unique experience: instead of receiving their token allocation, they were later refunded and advised to buy nodes instead. In my case, I was also offered a KOL round at an attractive $0.009 allocation, only for that too to be refunded later. For many of us, this project had already shown early signs of unpredictability, yet we stayed for the vision.”
Steve “Icesteam” Jimenez, Co-Founder, Philippine Association of Crypto Traders
Jimenez wrote that he supported Off The Grid because it was ahead of its time—as a blockchain-based AAA game. Another reason he trusted the game was that renowned game developer Neill Blomkamp led the creative development of Gunzilla Games.
“While many were jumping onto the P2E (Play-to-Earn) or P2A (Play-to-Airdrop) bandwagon, Gunzilla stood apart. It introduced a Battle Royale experience with player-driven economies, and NFT farming through a mechanism called HEX. Unlike other projects such as Metalcore, which sold NFTs for profit, Gunzilla emphasized extracting NFTs through gameplay a refreshing deviation from the cash-grab culture common in Web3 gaming.”
Steve “Icesteam” Jimenez, Co-Founder, Philippine Association of Crypto Traders
However, when $GUN was launched, investors in Off The Grid were surprised, according to the IMPACT co-founder, as the promised 2.0% unlock at TGE for early investors did not happen; instead, there was a 0% unlock.
“It was, without exaggeration, the biggest April Fools joke ever pulled on investors.”
Steve “Icesteam” Jimenez, Co-Founder, Philippine Association of Crypto Traders
Another issue Jimenez raised was that Gunzilla Games’ Simple Agreement for Future Tokens allowed the game developer to change the deal mid-course, including the TGE schedule and tokenomics.
“According to internal sources, Gunzilla is now giving private investors two options: refund or wait. For most of us, that’s an easy but painful decision. After 4-5 years of waiting, we now face an additional 1-year lock before any tokens are released.”
Steve “Icesteam” Jimenez, Co-Founder, Philippine Association of Crypto Traders
Lessons Learned
For Jimenez, what happened with $GUN marked a critical lesson: investing in top-tier projects, even with top talent and VC backing, does not guarantee transparency or fairness. He called the web3 industry the Wild West.
“So, to the players farming for airdrops and complaining about token distribution, take a step back. Investors have been locked in for years, long before the first airdrop teaser even appeared. Many of us believed in the vision, supported the team, and waited through market cycles.”
Steve “Icesteam” Jimenez, Co-Founder, Philippine Association of Crypto Traders
This article is published on BitPinas: ‘The April Fools No One Asked For’: $GUN Token Drops 60% Post-Launch Amid Investor Backlash
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