WAXHISPANO

read and, as always, Let’s Taco!

You probably know that 2023 was a bit disappointing for crypto, but fortunately, Taco had a different story.

The long bear market and the resulting decrease in trading for NFTs and FTs on WAX brought us our biggest challenge ever. We had to change our original plan to keep giving value to our NFTs, FTs, and our community, which is always our main focus.

As you know, providing value for our community and Taco matters the most to us.

You might have noticed. While big projects disappeared, we faced the challenge and kept on releasing. That’s how we increased our NFT market cap to $5.7M.

To do this, we had to slow down on developments like Brigade Skin Customization, Monster Rooms, Taco Universe Season Pass, and Acryptia PvP.

It was the only way to make you as comfortable as possible and interact with Taco every day for the past 365 days.

We hope you appreciated it.

2023 Achievements

Looking back on 2023, we made strategic decisions, shaping the future of Taco. Two pillars significantly enhanced our stability:

Block Producing

This is something that we sponsor a little, due the complicated topic, but is something that is not getting nearly close the love that deserves.

While we were working on Automators, at the same time we worked and applied to become Block Producer, an accomplishment we reached within a couple of months. Beyond supporting our ecosystem, providing top-performing nodes on WAX, and fortifying our stability on the chain, it also contributes to covering our expenses.

Being block producers means not only that we’re in this space, but we’re committed to make it grow providing our value. This, for example, is one of the reasons that helped us securing a WAX Labs grant of 130,000 WAX that we’re entirely redistributing to the community through the WAX/USDT pool.

Web3 Consultancy

Our Web3 gaming consultancy took off in 2023, due to our recognized track record and placement among the top 25 position on Dapp Radar.

Gaming consultancy helps us in several ways. It significantly boosts our gaming team’s experience and skills, allowing us to create other games like VR and Endless Run. It also enhances our team’s reputation through timely delivery and helps in meeting financial obligations.

In a time when many teams are cutting back, Web3 consultancy makes our team bigger, stronger, and more skilled.

To clarify, consultancy may involve also joint marketing efforts. Even in those cases, our focus is solely related to complete specific tasks related to those marketing campaigns. It’s crucial to understand that consultancy doesn’t give Taco decision-making power for companies which are not owned by us. The success or failure of projects we consult for or collaborate with, depends entirely on the decisions made by their owners, as well as their responsibilities towards their communities.

Combz!

In 2023, we took pride in launching Combz, a game that exceeded our expectations. The success, with 1M WAX distributed as prizes across three seasons, added a crucial piece to the Taco ecosystem, connecting Crafting Items, ONI, Venue Labs, and more.

While Combz wasn’t initially slated for a 2023 release, we made an extra push during the summer, recognizing its potential to provide significant value to both the community and Taco.

We are grateful for this results, as this is great fuel for us to continue building Combz and empowering the community with new game phases such as Missions and Guilds!

Taco Ecosystem and Prizes Distribution in 2023

Sometimes we take for granted what we achieved together as a community. Before diving into the 2024 vision, let’s take a moment to acknowledge all the amazing stuff we delivered in 2023:

• Acryptia Season 2
• Acryptia Season 3
• Acryptia Season 4
• Started Acryptia Season 5
• This means new Gear, Skins, Events (!) and three full grants provided by Alien World’s Galactic Hubs which allowed us to distribute 120,000 TLM to the community.
• SHING Chat Bot, completing the original roadmap
• More than 10 new Venue Services (Sponsorships, EXP Tokenization, Banner Discount)
• Automators!
• Whole new Whitepaper
• New Twitch Channel
• Wax Labs Grant for Taco Swap (WAX/USDT pool)
• Release NFT distribution through Liquidity Pools
• Got a grant for Combz from Alien Worlds
• Acryptia was nominated as one of the 7 games of the Acryptia AH Games Fest
• Brought value to WAX bridging Intraverse and the NFT World Cup which a few weeks ago partnered with Wombat and AH for games
• More use cases to TACO token (CPU Rent, EXP tokenization)
• Released Venue Labs!
• Integrated Taco Swap on our Utility App
• Released Acryptia on Mobile
• Fully-playable Custom Decks on Acryptia
• EXP Tokenization
• Released Combz and all its developments through the first three Seasons

Tokens Distribution

• 365k TACO distributed through the TACO/WAX pool
• 1.8B SHING through the other MEALs
• Around 200k TACO through Taco Tuesday
• 120,000 TLM through only Acryptia Events
• Countless NFTs through the Acryptia Season Pass
• 1M WAX through Combz first three seasons
• 50k+ TACO through SALSA rewards
• More TACO through Governance Polls
• All the SHING from Extractors, Automators and Brigade

… and never skipped a day!

Not to mention all the rewards distributed by projects who joined the Taco Swap both FT and NFT wise: thanks for joining the Swap!

Sorry if we missed something 🙏

Considering that 2023 has been a terrible year for crypto, we’re quite satisfied, but of course, we want to do more!

2024 Plans

In 2024 and beyond, we’re focusing on enhancing the core elements of Taco that have been evolving since our company’s inception:

• Utility: Concentrating on improving user onboarding.
• DeFi: Specifically enhancing Taco Swap.
• Gaming: Releasing new Taco-owned games and producing games for other companies.

Taco Studios

Embracing Web3 gaming and the metaverse, Taco Studios is not just a rebrand; it defines us as a Web3 Gaming publisher. We’re dedicated to excellence through our products, including those developed through consultancy. This transformation will be fully revealed in 2024, bringing exciting new games and opportunities to the community.

Goal: Becoming a renowned Web3 gaming publisher.

Utility

Continuing to evolve existing games, such as more Acryptia Seasons and enhanced Combz game mechanics, we’re introducing Missions in early 2024. Our aim is to improve and connect all our products, extending features like Rent to other NFTs and simplifying Venue Labs, in order to embed both features within games to make them standalone. We will be also focusing on UX/UI enhancements, creating more Venue services and new interactive achievements within games. All this utility has the main focus of simplifying the onboarding for new players, a main focus for Taco in 2024 and beyond.

Goal: Developing and improving every existing product in the Taco ecosystem to facilitate onboarding.

DeFi

Taco Swap is a trendsetter in the WAX space with its MEAL and SALSA systems and user-friendly interface. We’re aiming to launch Taco Swap V2, featuring more on-chain integration, improved analytics, and additional tools for creators and projects, including custom SALSA and staking systems. This allows other projects to create pools with their tokens by burning TACO, seamlessly blending DeFi and Utility. We’re also starting the process of bridging to other chains, a long but essential journey that requires careful integration.

Goal: Continuously enhance Taco Swap to maintain its appeal & familiarity for our user base, and start bridging to new chains.

Gaming

What’s on the gaming horizon for Taco? A lot is in the works:

• 2 VR Games
• Monster Rooms
• Endless Shooting Game (consultancy)
• Endless Run Game (consultancy)
• Top Down Shooting Game (consultancy)
• Acryptia PVP
• Brigade PVP

Recognizing the need for an exciting PVP game in Taco’s ecosystem, we are exploring the best way to bring it to the community without hindering other crucial developments. Whether it’s Acryptia or Brigade PVP, or a completely new game under the Taco umbrella, we can’t reveal it now as we’re also working to complete the release of an old friend, Monster rooms.

Goal: Deliver games, add value to the ecosystem, connect them with existing NFTs and FTs, and grow the user base.

Bonus Track: Jumping on a new Chain

Breaking big news — we’re working to launch a game on a new blockchain! This significant step into a new world will showcase our skills and utility. While the details are under wraps due to NDAs, expect for this new game the same Taco quality, branding, utility, prompt delivery, and marketing activities that set us apart. No, we’re not leaving WAX, and yes, our community will have easy access to this new chain project.

Goal: Making an impact on another chain and massively expanding the Taco user base.

Decision-Making at Taco

From day one at Taco, we’ve upheld a golden rule: there are no shortcuts. Our commitment is to hard work and tell things straight, even if it’s less thrilling than the wild promises that lead to market pumps and immediately after lead nowhere.

We’ll persist in working hard, meeting deadlines, and closely observing the market’s evolution. The NFT and crypto landscape is dynamic, requiring us to stay highly adaptable and make impactful decisions, as seen in 2023.

Our approach to reaching goals revolves around hard work and reliability. That’s why we’re ready to make tough decisions for the better of the whole community: whether it’s postponing Brigade Skins & Rooms, becoming Block Producers, focusing intensely on Taco Swap, or launching a new game like Combz.

Goal: Making this a long-term success company, able to make a great impact in the transition from Web2 to Web3 gaming.

Thanks for reading

And thanks for another year spent together!

You are what makes Taco special, and we can’t wait to step up in the Web3 World with you.

We’re going to skyrocket for sure, thanks to competence, reliability, skills, passion, and the most important ingredient: community!