For those who are at the tippy-top of progression in No Man’s Sky, you might find yourself drowning in in-game currencies without much to spend it on. Players of the game that are part of a community known as the Galactic Hub may have found an answer: a cryptocurrency that has worth only in the game itself.
This so-called Hub Coin is created on an Ethereum “testnet,” which basically is a testing ground for new cryptocurrencies – it’s built on similar systems as “real” crypto, but is removed from any global economic links, meaning Hub Coin has no cash value, rendering the fake money even more fake by crypto standards.
Hub Coin is being used by players of this community for goods and services such as base design or item trading. The currency can even be used to purchase Galactic Hub merch, if one is so inclined.
There are some problems with this currency, however, primarily in the form of environmental impact; Hub Coin is supposedly less energy-intensive to mint, but then that’s a degree of “less” in terms of general crypto minting consumption, which is still too damned high. Another problem is the looming specter of inflation as more players adopt this insular marketplace. Whether this is a thumb to the eye of crypto speculator nonsense or a bunch of NMS players screwing around without regard of their impact is certainly debatable, but it’s an interesting solution to a unique problem in the survivalbox.
