It should be noted, before we get started on this article, Vestly isn’t actually a game in the traditional sense, however everything which occurs within the app is simulated. No money needs to be invested; Vestly is purely for educational and entertainment purposes.
In the Web3 world it can be difficult to learn and stay informed on the various concepts, technologies and constant changes. There is so much jargon and terminology which can make everything feel impenetrable. Vestly is attempting to rectify this issue by educating users through their app.
Vestly does two things; simulates investing in stocks, crypto and NFTs based on real world markets; plus serves users with short lessons on investing and Web3 terms. The best bit? All of these lessons and tools are accompanied by Satoshi rewards. What’s a Satoshi? As in our coverage of Bitcoin Miner, it can be explained as “a fraction of a Bitcoin – a Satoshi is 0.000001 BTC.”
Let’s take a look at the simulated investing. You might ask, ‘what’s the point?’ For many, the idea of investing is a tempting prospect, but it is wrought with risks. A bad investment can mean a loss of money. Here, that risk is removed, you don’t even buy a set amount of shares. Your Vestly portfolio needs only three companies chosen, then it will reflect the stock market showing the the usual wins and losses.
This portfolio also holds three crypto and NFT project choices, still showing the fluctuations. Each week your portfolio is wiped, but during each week you’re able to trade your stock if you see a slump coming. All of this gives you a great idea of what it’s like to buy and hold crypto or stock without the risk. Of course, on the flip side, if there’s a sudden boom in your chosen portfolio holdings, you make no money at all.
Perhaps more interesting are the lessons which Vestly offers. They start off covering very basic topics, such as ‘what is the stock market?’ or ‘what is an NFT?’ before steadily growing more complex, breaking down everything you would need to know about different layers of blockchains, how smart contracts work or regulations of the stock exchange. With each lesson, there’s a question to check you’ve absorbed the information and a small Satoshi reward.
The depth the app reaches will make you a knowledgeable Web3 consumer pretty swiftly. After a week of using the app I’d learned some of the more obscure facts; I now know what a fractional NFT is, also why some crypto tokens come in different colours. The lessons take barely any time at all and each is laid out in plain language with clean graphics to visualise the information. At a point where everything seems to be growing and changing within the Web3 space, there’s a need to stay educated.
Where Vestly drifts into a more ‘gaming’ experience is in the community aspects. There’s an opportunity to follow other users, monitor how they invest and when they sell their portfolios. Each week the users are actually pitting their portfolios against one another, the better you perform, the higher your ranking. At the end of the ‘playing week’ your rank will reward you with a set amount of Satoshi.
After my first week, I’d earned a little over 2,000 Satoshi in my Zebedee wallet, which isn’t a lot of money, but for learning, it’s a nice little reward. While I’ve traded stocks and crypto previously, I still found the app to be helpful because I could take those risks with a safety net. Through the lessons and following of real world traders, Vestly can really help those who want to dive into the world of Web3 and stock trading.