Obyte, a decentralized ledger platform, is introducing a new virtual environment known as “City” in an effort to revive its declining community engagement. The initiative arrives at a time when community interaction on Obyte’s channels has dwindled to one of its lowest levels in eight years, despite the robustness of its core technology. With the goal of fostering stronger peer-to-peer connections, Obyte’s team has rolled out City as part of a broader suite of engagement tools still under development.
A Gamified Virtual Landscape Built on Blockchain
City is envisioned as a vast digital space, segmented into one trillion coordinate-based plots. Each plot can be purchased using CITY tokens, with initial coordinates assigned randomly. The virtual territory is structured as a massive square, with coordinates spanning from 0 to 1,000,000 on both axes.
Upon purchasing a plot, users receive digital tokens, which are deposited onto their virtual land and can be withdrawn by choosing to vacate the plot. When two newly acquired plots are close enough to be considered neighbors, both plot owners are granted additional rewards, which include house structures on their plots and two extra unbuilt plots at new locations, effectively giving each owner a net gain.
What makes this reward mechanism particularly interactive is the requirement for users to collaborate. To claim rewards, neighbors must connect on platforms like Discord or Telegram and synchronize their claim submissions within a 10-minute window. This coordination is expected to create stronger interpersonal connections within the community and reinforce mutual problem-solving habits.
Follow-up rewards are issued 60 days after the initial neighbor connection and follow the same collaborative claim process. In order to qualify, users must undergo attestation, which links their Obyte addresses to their Telegram or Discord identities, allowing bots to facilitate user introductions and notifications.
Customization, Shortcodes, and Social Identity
City not only serves as a reward system but also offers users the ability to personalize their plots and houses. Owners can assign unique shortcodes—first come, first served—which may later be used for simplified token transfers within the Obyte ecosystem. Additionally, users can link their properties to social media profiles such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and more, turning each plot into a digital representation of the user’s identity.
There is no limit to the number of plots or houses a user may own. Users are incentivized to promote their referral links via social platforms. When someone buys a plot using a referral page, the referring user gains a higher likelihood of having the new plot located nearby, increasing the chances of mutual rewards.
Token Dynamics and Governance
Plots can only be acquired using CITY tokens. During the initial sale period, from June 3 to June 30, 2025, users can purchase plots at a fixed rate of 1 GBYTE equaling 1,000 CITY tokens. Buyers also receive an additional 100 CITY tokens per plot purchased, providing liquidity for future use.
After this initial phase, CITY tokens will only be obtainable through secondary markets such as Oswap DEX. The GBYTE collected through this sale will be used to develop user interfaces, analytics, and further engagement tools. Importantly, token minting for rewards and token burning during plot purchases are carefully balanced to counteract inflation, with the potential for CITY to become deflationary if plots are frequently abandoned.
City operates through autonomous agents (AAs) on the Obyte DAG network, ensuring that its mechanics are immutable, rule-bound, and censorship-resistant. These agents cannot be altered even by the Obyte team, safeguarding the transparency and predictability of all interactions. Governance over limited parameters—such as plot pricing and neighbor match probabilities—is vested in plot owners, with voting power weighted by CITY holdings.
Revitalization Through Decentralized Engagement
Through the introduction of City, Obyte is aiming to address the vulnerabilities in its community structure. The initiative underscores the belief that a strong web of user-to-user connections, rather than reliance on a central team, will cultivate resilience and sustainable engagement. With its decentralized foundation and collaborative dynamics, City is positioned not just as a game, but as a social experiment in trustless cooperation and long-term community strengthening.