A crypto team generated $4M in 48 hours with ponzi games after 4 years of failed products, predicting 2026 as the Year of Ponzi.

A crypto development team has publicly embraced ponzi mechanics after years of building unsuccessful products.

The team behind @pndmdotorg generated $4 million in revenue within 48 hours.

According to a post by @weretuna, the team spent four years developing products that failed to gain traction. They built DAOs, AI agents, games, and zk-TLS applications. None attracted users or revenue.

The turning point came when they started listening to their actual audience. Degens and traders consistently preferred apps with ponzi mechanics, the post revealed.

Infected and Addicted Games Drive Massive Engagement

Their first ponzi game, Infected, launched without marketing budget. It attracted 130,000 signups in 48 hours. Within a week, 1.4 million wallets had played the game.

The second release, Addicted, simulated drug dealing on Solana. Its launch trailer reached 2 million views in 24 hours. Market cap hit $80 million within a day. Trading volume exceeded $50 million in the following days.

The team met over 50 players in person. Each one reported genuinely enjoying the experience, according to the source.

We Built a $50,000,000 Ponzi Scheme

Every crypto app that found real PMF was a ponzi.

Not “kind of.”
Literally a ponzi.

ICO. DeFi food coins. NFTs. Memecoins.

The biggest crypto apps ever were ponzi games: Axie infinity, STEPN, friend tech

But builders love to pretend this…

— tuna (@weretuna) January 6, 2026

Transparency Key to Ponzi Game Success

The post emphasized honesty as the critical factor.

Previous projects like Axie Infinity and STEPN failed because they marketed themselves as long-term products. Instead, they operated as ponzi schemes without disclosure.

“Ponzi games are not sustainable. They are guaranteed to die,” the post stated.

The key difference lies in upfront communication about the game’s nature.

The team argues crypto enables access to gambling mechanics that traditional markets restrict. Prediction markets are already growing rapidly. Ponzi games represent the next wave, they claim.

2026 Predicted as Year of Ponzi Games

Their next project, Jailed, promises to be ten times bigger than Addicted. The prison life simulator incorporates what they call “giga ponzified” mechanics.

The goal is straightforward, according to the post.

They want to build the biggest ponzi game on the internet. Their target exceeds Axie Infinity’s $1.5 billion revenue from 2021.

The source attributes this trend to shortened attention spans. Short-form content has changed how people consume entertainment. Traditional options no longer provide sufficient dopamine, the post suggests.

Whether the crypto community accepts this direction remains unclear. However, the team believes the trend will continue regardless of opposition.