Unique Network and TapNation team up on blockchain rewards for mobile gamers

Unique Network, a blockchain infrastructure provider in the Polkadot ecosystem, and TapNation, the mobile gaming publisher with over 1.5 billion downloads, have integrated blockchain-based rewards into TapNation’s hit game.

The rewards are built into the TapNation title Color Water Sort (iOS | Android), which has been downloaded more than 130 million times globally. And the results are already showing great promise.

This integration marks the official launch of Reward Mode — a seamless, in-game experience where players earn crypto rewards without needing prior blockchain knowledge. The system is built on Unique Network’s SDKs and Polkadot’s high- performance infrastructure, enabling rewards, identity, and ownership to be embedded directly into gameplay without disrupting user experience.

In less than six months, over 650,000 new users have entered the Polkadot ecosystem through this integration, well ahead of TapNation’s initial milestone commitment of 734,366 users.

“Everyone talks about bridging Web2 to Web3. We did it — with usable, scalable infrastructure that developers can actually rely on,” said Alexander Mitrovich, cofounder of Unique Network, in a statement. “The infrastructure that powered these features has long existed on Unique Network and is now running live on Polkadot’s main chain — the Asset Hub.”

“The Unique Network SDKs made integration fast and seamless,” said Philippe Lenormand, head of Web3 at TapNation, in a statement. “We could stay focused on gameplay while embedding blockchain tech under the hood. We’re already working on what’s next: giving players more control over their identity and in-game profiles.”

This isn’t a theoretical demo or a whitepaper vision. It’s live, at scale, and delivering tangible results.

In a 150,000-player sample, users of Reward Mode generated 89% more ad revenue than non-Web3 users — a direct boost to TapNation’s business. Retention and session counts rose by 16%, proving that blockchain rewards can drive meaningful engagement and monetization, not just hype.

“The kind of impact we were after was never about NFT trading or speculative marketplaces — it was about delivering measurable outcomes for Polkadot and our
partners,” said Charu Sethi, president of Unique Network, in a statement. “This is just the
beginning. We’re embedding NFTs as invisible infrastructure for identity, rights, and
engagement — building real value, not just headlines.”

Unique Network supported TapNation throughout the integration process with engineering and infrastructure support. The crypto rewards program is part of a long-term strategy to bring scalable Web3 use cases to the mainstream through gaming.

Next, the collaboration will introduce non-fungible tokens (NFTs) — achievement-based digital assets that unlock VIP Passes and exclusive benefits as players progress. The first implementation will go live once players hit a specific level in games like Color Water Sort and Webmaster.

These NFTs won’t be branded as NFTs. They’ll be tools for managing identity and ownership, designed to blend invisibly into the player journey.

Unique Network is leading this new era of functional NFTs through its flagship initiative,
NFTMozaic, driving forward real-world use cases in gaming, fan engagement, and digital rights — and redefining what blockchain utility looks like in 2025, the company said.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.