Overview
Snekkies is a Cardano NFT collection that turns each digital collectible into a share of a real cryptocurrency mining operation. Holders stake their Snekkies to earn the $SNEK token, funded by physical mining machines the project runs and pays for from its mint proceeds. It stands out because the rewards come from actual mining hardware rather than from a fixed payout schedule.
Snekkies was built by Tavern Forge and is the first community project accepted into The Snek Pit, a community-run treasury tied to the $SNEK token on Cardano. After a sold-out mint, the project put the bulk of its proceeds into mining rigs, then converts the crypto those machines earn into $SNEK for holders who stake. This model is often described as DePIN, a term for projects backed by real physical equipment rather than software alone.
Key Features
- Rewards backed by real mining machines. The project runs its own mining farm and pays holders from what those machines actually earn, converting the mined crypto into the $SNEK token1.
- In-house operation, no middlemen. The mining hardware is run directly by the team at a facility in Virginia rather than rented from an outside operator, which the project says leaves more revenue for holders2.
- Stake to earn. Owners connect a wallet and lock their Snekkies through the project dashboard to start receiving $SNEK rewards; unstaked collectibles earn nothing3.
- Revenue shared on a fixed split. After an initial reinvestment window, mining income is divided on a set formula, with the largest slice going to holders who stake4.
- Tied to a memecoin community treasury. A portion of mining income and resale royalties flows to The Snek Pit, a shared treasury run by the wider $SNEK community5.
What to Expect
A visitor to the Snekkies site finds a collection of 7,777 snake-themed characters, each acting as one "miner." The project sold out its entire mint in the whitelist round, raising more than 1.2 million ADA6. Owners head to the dashboard to stake, where they can watch mining activity and track the $SNEK rewards building up over time.
The rewards do not start at full strength. For the first stretch after a machine comes online, most of what it earns is reinvested into buying more machines, so payouts ramp up gradually rather than paying a flat rate from day one4. The mining income covers several coins, and the project pools what the machines earn before converting it into $SNEK for the people who stake.
Documentation on the project's GitBook explains the mining setup, the reward split, and how staking works, and the site includes an explorer for browsing the collection.
