Merit Circle (MC) is the governance and utility token of Merit Circle DAO — originally founded as a play-to-earn gaming scholarship guild that onboarded thousands of players into games like Axie Infinity — which evolved into a diversified gaming investment DAO and infrastructure builder focused on the blockchain gaming ecosystem.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Ticker | MC |
| Price | $0.02 |
| Market Cap | $205,539 |
| Circulating Supply | 11.91M MC |
| Max Supply | 11.91M MC |
| All-Time High | $11.70 |
| Contract (Ethereum) | 0x949d...e5d6 |
| Contract (Binance Smart Chain) | 0x949d...e5d6 |
How It Works
- DAO governance — MC holders vote on DAO proposals including investment decisions, partnership approvals, treasury management, and ecosystem grants.
- Treasury management — The Merit Circle DAO holds a diversified treasury of gaming investments, including early-stage game tokens, game studio equity, and NFTs.
- Gaming infrastructure — Merit Circle develops gaming tooling including Beam (a gaming-focused EVM blockchain) and Soul (a gaming passport/profile system).
- Staking — MC holders can stake tokens to earn rewards and boost voting power in DAO governance.
- Scholar program (legacy) — Originally, Merit Circle managed thousands of “scholars” (players in developing countries) who borrowed NFTs from the DAO’s treasury to earn in-game tokens, splitting earnings with the DAO.
Tokenomics
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Ticker | MC |
| Max Supply | 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) |
| Launch | November 4, 2021 |
| DAO treasury | Multi-sig governed; holds game tokens, NFTs, equity |
| Chains | Ethereum (primary), Polygon |
| Utility | Governance, staking, ecosystem participation |
Use Cases
- Governance — Vote on Merit Circle DAO investments and strategic decisions.
- Staking — Stake MC to earn DAO revenue distributions and governance boosts.
- Beam network — MC has utility within the Beam gaming blockchain ecosystem for transactions and validator access.
- Gaming guild — Historically used to govern the NFT scholarship and scholar management operations.
History
- 2021-09 — Merit Circle DAO is founded with a vision to scale play-to-earn gaming scholarship operations globally. Backed by prominent crypto VCs including Mechanism Capital.
- 2021-11-04 — MC token launches via a DAO formation event. Initial supply distributed to community, team, and investors.
- 2021–2022 — Merit Circle becomes one of the largest play-to-earn guilds, managing Axie Infinity scholars and investments in dozens of early-stage blockchain games.
- 2022 — A high-profile governance controversy: Merit Circle DAO votes to remove Yield Guild Games (YGG) as an investor (YGG had participated in the seed round). The vote passed but was reversed after community deliberation. The incident became a reference point for DAO governance conflicts.
- 2022 — Play-to-earn downturn significantly impacts gaming guild models. Merit Circle pivots toward broader gaming infrastructure and investment.
- 2023 — Merit Circle announces “Beam,” a gaming-focused blockchain (EVM-compatible) built using the Avalanche subnet infrastructure. Beam becomes a new infrastructure focus.
- 2024 — Beam network grows into a multi-game ecosystem. Merit Circle DAO continues managing gaming investments. The brand continues operating under both “Merit Circle” and “Beam” identities.
Common Misconceptions
“Merit Circle is only a gaming guild.”
Merit Circle has expanded significantly beyond its origins as a play-to-earn scholarship guild. It is now primarily a gaming investment DAO and blockchain infrastructure developer (via Beam).
“MC is only on Ethereum.”
MC is an Ethereum ERC-20 token but has cross-chain bridges and is used within the Beam gaming blockchain ecosystem as well.
Social Media Sentiment
Merit Circle has strong reputation in the blockchain gaming investment space. The pivot from pure scholarship guild to gaming infrastructure builder was viewed positively. The YGG governance controversy gave MC a prominent place in DAO governance history. Beam’s growth has refreshed interest in the ecosystem beyond the play-to-earn downturn.
Last updated: 2026-04