A couple of years ago we wrote about Spells of Genesis (Free), a trading card game that uses Bitcoin’s blockchain technology to power its in-game economy, and now the game is finally out on the App Store. Let’s talk about the game first. In Spells of Genesis players have to build decks by trading and combining orbs before clashing with their opponents. The game plays more like an arcade one than something like Hearthstone, but at its core it’s still all about collecting cards, trading cards, and building the strongest decks you can. There are over 200 levels and missions and hundreds of cards to get your hands on.

Of course, the most interesting part of Spells of Genesis is its in-game economy. By using Bitcoin blockchain, the developers claim that you have ownership of your cards and game items in a way that you don’t in other digital games. Because of how it’s connected to the blockchain, your collection has value outside the game world. That is why you can easily trade your cards if you want to.

There’s much more to the economy, and you can read all about it on the game’s website. The question is, of course, whether the game will have enough players to make an in-game economy tick. That remains to be seen, I suppose. And as much as the odds are stacked against any game that tries to upend the existing monetization tactics, I’m glad to see people trying to bring new ideas to the App Store.