Crypto always reminds me of those young people who stay up late behind their keyboards, brushing through on-chain transactions while dreaming of exchanging virtual assets for a cup of coffee in reality.@Yield Guild Games YGG) is the starting point of such a story. A DAO that started from a small island in the Philippines is now like a giant ship, carrying thousands of players toward the unknown seas of Web3. Their collaboration with Silicon Valley HQ (SVHQ) truly injects the spirit of 'play-to-earn' in crypto into the veins of AI skills training. In a country with economic fluctuations, how many ordinary people's career dreams can these two projects ignite together? Today, I am going to talk about this, along with some side stories from the crypto circle, to see how it stirs the entire ecosystem.

#YGGPlay This guy is not a newcomer. He emerged from the 2020 craze of Axie Infinity, when Play-to-Earn (P2E) was still a fresh term. Gabby Dizon, the founder of YGG, was an old game developer who saw the high unemployment rate in the Philippines and thought: why not turn gaming into work? So, they built a DAO to collectively buy NFT assets. From Axie's digital pets to Decentraland's virtual real estate. Then rented to 'scholar' players. These scholars can start playing and earning without spending money upfront, and the earnings of SLP or AXS are shared with YGG, which then uses the tokens to reward the community. In simple terms, it's like a crypto version of a professional intermediary, helping players bypass high entry barriers and get straight to income.$YGG But it didn't stop at gaming. In 2024, they launched YGG Play, officially entering the Web3 game publishing space. The first launch was LOL Land, an on-chain dice game, which raised a $10 million reward pool, attracting even Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz to endorse it, saying it was 'a game built for degens.' YGG Play not only publishes games but also reshapes the publisher-developer relationship using smart contracts: transparent revenue sharing, community voting, avoiding the traditional gaming industry's pitfalls. Even cooler is their Guild Protocol, which now supports on-chain guilds. Players use Soulbound Tokens to record achievements and build reputation across games. This reminds me of the evolution of the entire crypto ecosystem: from DeFi lending pools to NFT art speculation, now it's time for gaming. YGG's YGG token is no longer just a speculative tool; it is a governance key, capable of burning to create new guilds or unlocking high-level tasks. As of last week, YGG's price was hovering around $0.1, with a 24-hour trading volume exceeding $30 million, proving that the market is still optimistic about this 'play-to-earn' narrative.

But#YGGPlay did not stop at gaming. In 2024, they launched YGG Play, officially entering the Web3 game publishing space. The first launch was LOL Land, an on-chain dice game, which raised a $10 million reward pool, attracting even Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz to endorse it, saying it was 'a game built for degens.' YGG Play not only publishes games but also reshapes the publisher-developer relationship using smart contracts: transparent revenue sharing, community voting, avoiding the traditional gaming industry's pitfalls. Even cooler is their Guild Protocol, which now supports on-chain guilds. Players use Soulbound Tokens to record achievements and build reputation across games. This reminds me of the evolution of the entire crypto ecosystem: from DeFi lending pools to NFT art speculation, now it's time for gaming. YGG's YGG token is no longer just a speculative tool; it is a governance key, capable of burning to create new guilds or unlocking high-level tasks. As of last week, YGG's price was hovering around $0.1, with a 24-hour trading volume exceeding $30 million, proving that the market is still optimistic about this 'play-to-earn' narrative.

Now, it's SVHQ's turn to shine. This project sounds ambitious with a Silicon Valley name, but it is more down-to-earth. SVHQ's slogan is 'Helping 1 million people upgrade their skills and seize job opportunities,' headquartered in the Philippines, focusing on AI and digital training. They are not the high-end incubators but a solid online platform: from basic Python to deploying machine learning models, all with enterprise-level certification. Think of those courses from Silicon Valley giants like Google or Microsoft; SVHQ is the local version, affordable, and tailored to the Philippine labor market. Their students are mostly young people with diverse backgrounds. There are college dropouts, returning mothers, and even retired programmers. The highlight of SVHQ is its 'practical orientation': not rote memorization but project-driven, such as using AI to optimize supply chains or building chatbots. Last year, their graduation employment rate reportedly exceeded 70%, with many securing remote positions earning over $10,000 a month. In an emerging market like the Philippines, this is almost a lifesaver.

Collaboration came suddenly but seamlessly. Just a few days ago, YGG's sub-project Future of Work (YGG FOW) announced: teaming up with SVHQ to launch a nationwide AI workforce initiative in the Philippines. The core is 'enterprise-level training + certification,' targeting millions of Filipino talents. YGG FOW is YGG's 'work arm,' expanding from gaming scholars to Web3 freelancers, now adding AI, providing players with more career paths. Imagine: an old Axie player, tired of P2E, turns to learn AI prompt engineering, and after graduation, takes on on-chain data annotation tasks for crypto projects. SVHQ provides the course framework, and YGG injects crypto elements. For example, subsidizing tuition with YGG tokens or tracking learning progress on-chain to issue NFT certificates. This is not just an educational investment but an ecological closed loop: students' skills are on-chain, YGG guilds recruit, and SVHQ takes a share, ensuring a win-win for everyone.

Why is this collaboration so eye-catching in the crypto circle? First, look at the macro background. The Philippines is a crypto hub: by 2025, on-chain users will exceed 20 million, and at its peak, Axie contributed 1% to the national GDP. However, the winter of P2E has left many unemployed, and YGG understands that relying solely on games is not sustainable. The rise of AI perfectly fills this gap. The global AI market is expected to exceed $500 billion next year, and the Philippines has English advantages and low-cost labor but lacks high-end skills. The partnership between YGG and SVHQ seems to say: 'Crypto is not gambling; it's a springboard.' This reminds me of similar strategies from other crypto projects. For instance, Merit Circle (which YGG invested $175,000 in as a brother project) is also promoting 'mass P2E,' renting NFTs to newcomers, emphasizing sustainable income. Or consider The9bit, a Web3 gaming platform that YGG recently collaborated with, aiming for a million players by using Web2 interfaces to offer Web3 rewards. Even extending further, DeFi projects like Aave or Uniswap are exploring 'skill tokenization': borrowing AI computing power or using NFTs as collateral for job training. These cases all prove that crypto is transitioning from speculation to a productivity tool.

The biggest challenge is the 'digital divide': slow internet speeds in rural Philippines, and AI courses require stable equipment. How to break through? YGG's experience comes into play. They have already implemented a 'mentorship system' in their guilds, with experienced players mentoring newcomers one-on-one. SVHQ can leverage this to develop mobile micro-courses, combined with YGG's on-chain reputation system: upon completing a module, issue a SBT, giving priority to guild recruitment. Another issue is regulation: the Central Bank of the Philippines is sensitive to crypto training, fearing money laundering. However, YGG's DAO model is transparent, and SVHQ's certification is compliant, which together can navigate smoothly.

From a broader crypto perspective, this collaboration is a microcosm of 'humanistic crypto.' Remember when a16z invested $4.6 million in YGG in 2021, they proclaimed, 'The definition of work is changing, and crypto and gaming are keys.' Now, YGG is not just playing games but building a 'bridge to the future of work': AI + Web3, transforming the Philippines from an outsourcing island to an innovation island. Imagine those graduates: tuning AI models during the day and playing LOL Land to earn YGG at night, seamlessly switching lives. This not only boosts the demand for YGG tokens (more people staking in guilds) but may also give rise to new narratives. For instance, AI-driven on-chain games where NPCs use machine learning to adapt to player styles. On the SVHQ side, the student pool expands, and the collaboration can attract orders from Silicon Valley giants, indirectly elevating the value of the Philippines in the global AI chain.