Reaper Actual Foundation Alpha is Live

It’s finally here. On October 8, Reaper Actual, the open-world persistent shooter built on Etherlink, officially opened its Foundation Alpha, marking the first time players can deploy into Marova and start building the world alongside the developers.

Led by veteran game designer John Smedley, known for creating EverQuest, H1Z1, and PlanetSide, the game drops players into a vast island locked in a civil war between five NPC factions. Every mission, base, and skirmish adds to a living world that continues even when you log off which means your Reapers fight, defend, and build in your absence.

Foundation Alpha gives players a first look at that dynamic world. By purchasing a Foundation Pack, players secure their first base, unlock Reaper characters, and gain access to early playtesting. Packs start at $29.99 and scale up to the $74.99 Stygian Oath Edition, which includes four Reapers, two bases, and access to special feedback channels with the developers.

Smedley emphasized that Reaper Actual is, above all, a skills-based shooter and that its blockchain layer is fully optional featuring an Etherlink-powered marketplace, where Reapers, bases, and cosmetics can be traded like digital collectibles.

The Foundation Alpha phase will run for a limited time, and quantities of Series 1 packs are capped at 10,000. Players can mint directly through the official marketplace or purchase a standard copy via reaperactual.com using either USDC on Etherlink or a credit card.

This launch marks a major milestone not just for Distinct Possibility Studios, but for Etherlink as well showcasing how builders are starting to tap into on-chain ownership without compromising gameplay.

With Foundation Alpha now live, players can jump in and start shaping the future of the game. Every session, bug report, and balance note feeds directly into development as the team builds toward Early Access in 2026.

You can claim your pack, deploy your Reaper, and be part of that process today.

Play Now | Mint a Foundation Pack

This Week in the Tezos Ecosystem

Stacy.fi and TezFin Launch Tezos’ First Lending Market for Staked XTZ

As players were dropping into Marova for Reaper Actual’s Foundation Alpha, another kind of launch was taking shape on Tezos. This one is about making your staking work harder.

Stacy.fi and TezFin have introduced the first Layer 1 lending market for staked XTZ, giving tez holders a way to earn more without giving up their staking rewards.

Here’s how it works. You can stake your tez on Stacy.fi to mint stXTZ, a liquid staking token that keeps earning staking rewards in the background. You can then supply that stXTZ to TezFin to earn lending interest or use it as collateral to borrow against. In other words, your tez keeps working while you do.

Until now, most holders had to choose between staking for yield or supplying XTZ to lending pools. The new stXTZ lending pool on TezFin changes that. It lets users combine both, earning staking rewards and lending interest at the same time, with the option to borrow if they want extra flexibility.

Another interesting feature: a liquid staking token is now available as collateral directly on Layer 1. That opens the door to more creative strategies, from looping staked positions for steady growth to using borrowed assets for added exposure.

For most users, it’s simple. Stake on Stacy.fi, supply stXTZ on TezFin, and start earning on both sides.

Both teams see this as just the beginning. Next up, stXTZ will extend to Layer 2 environments like Etherlink, where it can move easily between faster apps such as Tezlink and Jstz. That means the same staked position could soon earn rewards on multiple layers of the Tezos ecosystem.

With this launch, staking on Tezos becomes more open and connected. You can stake, lend, borrow, and still earn — all from the same balance.

Start here: stacy.fi | tezos.finance

TZ APAC Welcomes Kyber Network to the Tezos Ecosystem

After a week that gave stakers and lenders new tools with Stacy.fi and TezFin, attention turns to liquidity itself. TZ APAC has officially welcomed Kyber Network to the Tezos ecosystem, expanding access to the best trading rates across leading decentralized exchanges in one place.

Through Kyber’s integration, users can now visit a single site and compare live prices across Curve Finance, Oku Trade, Iguana DEX, and Hanji Protocol, while also exploring the growing list of tokens available on Etherlink.

Kyber Network acts as a liquidity hub, pulling rates from multiple Tezos-based DEXs to help users get the most efficient swaps possible. It simplifies what used to take several tabs and transactions into one seamless experience, making on-chain trading on Tezos faster and more intuitive.

For builders and token projects, this integration also means deeper liquidity visibility and easier discovery across the network.

One spot, better rates, and a clearer view of everything Tezos has to offer.

Tezos Foundation Partners with Processing Foundation for a New Creative Coding Series

Lastly, let’s shift focus from DeFi to art & education, two areas that have long shaped Tezos culture.

The Tezos Foundation and Processing Foundation are partnering on a new tutorial series built around p5.js 2.0, the next generation of Processing’s open-source creative coding library. The initiative will feature in-depth lessons from generative artists and highlight how accessible tools can unlock creativity through code.

Each tutorial will also launch as a curated series on EditArt, giving collectors and learners a shared space to explore new works and learn how they were made.

This collaboration connects two deeply aligned communities: Processing’s 20-year legacy of creative coding and the Tezos Foundation’s commitment to digital art and open learning. Together, they’re making it easier for anyone to learn, experiment, and publish work in the open.

The first episodes are set to roll out later this year.

Follow @processingorg, @tezos, and @editart_xyz for updates as the series begins.

Tezos Community Events

Art on Tezos: Berlin

Happening November 6–9, Art on Tezos: Berlin is set to bring together over 200 artists, curators, galleries, and platforms for a multi-day celebration of digital creativity, collaboration, and community. It’s the first time so many contributors from the Tezos art ecosystem will gather under one roof and the result promises to be a rich, diverse portrait of the culture that’s been growing since 2021.

With participants like objkt, bitforms, Galerie Met, Office Impart, and The Second-Guess, the event features everything from interactive installations and live performances to film screenings and special curatorial projects. Highlights include:

• A performance by Berlin-based artist allapopp

• TeleNFT’s newest showcase is turning live teletext into on-chain artworks

• Immersive exhibitions and guided tours across the venue

Art on Tezos continues to evolve, and this Berlin event captures the heart of that movement. Make sure you RSVP to attend before space fills up!

🔴 Now Streaming: Kevin Mehrabi on Stablecoins, USDtz, and Tezos DeFi

We trace Tezos from a grassroots “revolution” in 2017 to a concrete plan for DeFi growth that links governance, stablecoins, and the art economy. Kevin Mehrabi shares how USDTZ prepared for U.S. clarity under the Genius Act and why Etherlink should bridge value, not hype.

• 2017 fundraiser, community-led governance shift, and decentralization as a standard 
• choosing Tezos after deeply reading the white paper and rejecting hard-fork risk 
• LA community building, the rise of Tezos art, and what “punk” really means for culture 
• lessons from launching USDTZ early: integrations, trust, reserve-backed design 
• why the Genius Act matters for compliant, treasury-backed stablecoins 
• surplus as an on-chain financial battery: grants, art, hackathons, DAO treasury 
• Etherlink strategy: export L1 value, import EVM liquidity, bridge interest-bearing assets

Watch the full episode on YouTube.