The Changing Landscape of Virtual Assets: From Meme Coins to CS Game Skins

Although you may have never played CS:GO, there must be friends around you who have made some money from it, and of course, they may also be experiencing losses recently.

As the meme coin frenzy gradually fades, those speculators who once struggled through its wild fluctuations are starting to shift their focus to the CS:GO skin market, passionately discussing the price trends of CS:GO items in various investment groups. The former “meme coin hunters” have transformed into “item flippers,” viewing CS:GO skins as another key to wealth in their eyes.

CS:GO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) was officially released on August 21, 2012, introduced the weapon case and skin system in 2013, and allowed trading on the Steam market, laying the foundation for the CS:GO skin economy. After attempts to make it free and multiple updates, this skin market has been thriving for twelve years.

In May 2025, the CS item market suddenly collapsed, with the item index plummeting by 20% within three days, and the prices of many popular trading varieties nearly halved, sparking heated discussions among users. This scenario of market collapse is all too familiar for those who have experienced the crypto market; only this time, what they held in their hands was “virtual gun skins” rather than tokens.

Players who have long relied on skin value appreciation to profit have had their “sense of happiness disappear overnight.”

The market that gets hyped always seems fragile. These game skins, which resemble NFTs but plummet just as fiercely as Meme coins, how do they attract loyal followers and what kind of insights will they bring?

Making Money, A Convenient Thing

In April 2025, while the Meme coin market was performing mediocrely, the CS:GO skin market remained hot, attracting the attention of many crypto investors.

It all started with the 2013 Arms Deal update, where the skin (, also known as “skins”, was essentially a graphical layer that could modify the appearance of CS weapons. ) was introduced for the first time and could only be obtained through random drops in the game.

This has opened the era of wealth games known as “loot boxes as gambling.” In order to obtain rare skins that are hard to come by, players have begun to trade spontaneously. The rise of skin trading websites has further fueled market prosperity, forming a diverse ecosystem that includes players, trading platforms, streamers, flippers, black markets, and data tools.

This market has even developed specialized historical price candlestick chart analysis tools.

But among the crowd that has experienced ups and downs in the CS:GO skin market, most initially did it just for the gaming experience.

In 2019, Mantou was still a college student. At first, he only regarded games as games. In his words: “After playing for a while, I wanted to buy skins,” which is perfectly normal for players.

For CS:GO players, skins are not just decorations, but rather a form of social currency. High-quality or rare skins showcase a player’s status within the community, satisfying their vanity. This naturally creates a demand for the circulation of accessories and spawns a corresponding market.

As he deepened his understanding of the market, Mantou noticed that the prices of skins were rising rapidly. Coupled with his identity as a cash-strapped college student at the time, he came up with the idea of “speculating on skins.”

His first bucket of gold wasn’t much—“At first, I made a few hundred bucks and felt happy for a few days.”

Compared to profiting specifically through skins, for Mantou, purchasing skins and the gaming experience complement each other. He doesn’t have a complex trading strategy, “it’s just that I wanted to play, so I went and bought it to play,” but market fluctuations do affect his decision to return to the game. For example, this April, he returned because he heard that “the items are very popular.”

In fact, CS:GO and the economy of its generated skins do promote and complement each other.

An industry researcher once took the initiative to study the market economy created by this game out of curiosity. In his view, the persistent wealth effect of the CS:GO skin market is closely related to the characteristics of the game itself.

“As a shooting game, the game mode of CS:GO is very simple, and there hasn’t been much change compared to when it was first developed.” Additionally, the frequent events organized by the developers stimulate the market, which can attract old players to return quickly due to nostalgia or other factors.

While retaining old players, the promotion by esports streamers has lowered the entry barrier, attracting a continuous stream of “new forces” ( mainly composed of college students ), contributing to market growth.

Vanity drives players to trade skins, and the profit prospects attract both new and old players to participate, making “play-to-earn” the best depiction of the CS:GO game and its cosmetic economy.

Let the jewelry prices soar

The price range of CS:GO’s skin market is astonishing, ranging from ordinary skins worth a few yuan to rare treasures valued at tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, collectively forming this unique ecosystem. This layering is similar to the cryptocurrency market — ordinary skins are like “air coins,” while top-tier items like the Dragon Lore and Butterfly Knife are comparable to high-end NFT collectibles, with their prices continuously reaching new heights due to scarcity and consensus premium.

A large number of common weapon cases and ordinary quality skins are located at the lower end of the price range, for example, the “Snakebite” weapon case may only sell for about $0.36 (, which is approximately 2.5 yuan ). These types of items are relatively easy to obtain, have a large supply, are affordable, and meet the basic personalization needs of most players.

Jewelry in the medium price range typically costs from tens to hundreds of yuan, and this type of jewelry often features more exquisite designs, a certain level of rarity, or is suitable for more popular weapons.

The prices in the high-end market are growing exponentially, with jewelry priced in the thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan being ubiquitous. These are usually extremely rare knives, gloves, and those legendary or extremely rare top-tier gun skins. A brand new “M4A4 | Howl” that can record kill counts and comes with rare stickers is recommended at a price of up to $18,324 on second-hand platforms, which is roughly 130,000 yuan.

These high-priced accessories have transcended the game items themselves and are regarded as collectibles and investment goods.

Overall, factors such as the appearance, wear level, rarity, style, trader operations, student holidays, new drops, and even streamer effects of accessories can all impact their market prices. The official game market and third-party trading websites also play an important role in shaping the CS:GO skin market.

Even if influencing factors can be rationally analyzed, the significant fluctuations in the prices of items often come as a surprise. This unpredictability is often seen in both the CS:GO item market and the cryptocurrency sector.

When CS:GO announced its upcoming upgrade to CS2 in 2023, many high-priced skins and rare stickers saw a price increase. However, months later, when CS2 officially launched, many skins experienced a significant price drop due to changes in visual effects or adjustments in drop mechanisms, leaving many high-position buyers “trapped.” Similarly, certain politically related tokens also experienced a moment of glory before specific events, but the token prices collapsed rapidly after the events, leaving a trail of losses.

However, the price fluctuations and transactions of accessories seem to be as random and free as Meme coins, but in reality, they are completely controlled by the game developers. The entire economic ecosystem surrounding the accessories must adhere to the rules set by the development studio, where the developers hold absolute dominance.

Some market analysts pointed out: “Developers can control all the probabilities and the rarity of each skin that drops, as well as determine the trading channels.” Even the display effects of skins in the game can change with game updates, “Why does CS2 have such a big impact on prices? Because developers changed the display of some skins in the game; some look better, and some look worse,” Mantou explained.

In CS:GO, skins are potential investment products that can skyrocket, but in reality, the lifeblood of this market is always in the hands of the developers.

From an extreme perspective, the jewelry market carries the risk that “developers may restrict free trading at any time.” As Mantou said: “You cannot control changes in developer policies, while NFTs actually offer more operational space in this regard.”

Coin Circle Story, Jewelry Market Reenactment

The investment properties and price fluctuations of accessories have made many cryptocurrency investors exclaim, “Isn’t this just a replica of NFTs!”

This comparison is not far-fetched; in fact, the “play and earn” effect it unintentionally achieves aligns perfectly with the “play to earn” concept pursued in blockchain game design.

Although CS:GO skins can be used in the game, this constitutes a difference in functionality compared to NFTs. Mantou believes that “some expensive ones are indeed beautiful,” but in reality, this is just a small part of their value.

“Skins have no functionality, nor do they enhance game abilities,” for the vast young player demographic, accessories carry more complex psychological needs and social significance. They are a concentrated embodiment of the pursuit of aesthetics, face culture, and identity symbolism, which is very similar to the role that NFTs play in specific communities.

The professional jewelry trading website noted in its description of the 2022 Antwerp Championship’s gold stamp that it “is not just a simple sticker, but a symbol of identity.” “While it may not enhance your skills, it definitely can elevate your gaming experience and social status.”

In addition to the symbolic attributes of social identity, the two also share similarities in price-driving factors.

Market observers point out that the prices of specific CS:GO cosmetics can rise due to the celebrity effect of streamers and esports players, while NFTs, primarily serving as status symbols, similarly rely on celebrity influence to drive prices.

The endorsement brought by well-known individuals can drive up the floor price of NFTs, and in the short term, prices may soar by hundreds or even thousands of times. However, once market sentiment shifts, liquidity tightens, or negative news about the project emerges, NFT prices may plummet sharply in a short period, causing significant losses for those who bought at high prices.

Coincidentally, after the collapse of CS:GO skins, the market for cryptocurrencies and Meme tokens has quietly warmed up again. Ethereum has risen nearly 40% in 7 days, breaking through $2500, and the prices of several well-known Meme tokens have also rebounded one after another. Some analyses suggest that funds may be circulating between different virtual assets, creating a “rotation effect.” Although it’s difficult to prove directly, the timing of this fund flow has become a hot topic of discussion in the investment community.

Opportunities and risks always accompany each other. Before May, CS:GO players experienced a period of stable appreciation, followed by an unprecedented price cliff.

Mantou previously made 50,000 RMB from the appreciation of accessories, but overnight it not only vanished but also incurred an additional loss of 70,000. When discussing his views on this decline, he seemed calm after experiencing the ups and downs of the crypto market. He believes that compared to the previous declines, which were like “slow knife cuts” with a lack of trading volume, this drop, although significant, has seen active transactions. If it can attract more attention and promote market recovery, it may be a good thing in the long run.

After all, the speculative stories in the digital world never end, from Meme coins to CS:GO skins. The market, emotions, greed, and fear continue to cycle through different realms.

What remains unchanged is that financial freedom is always out of reach, while there will always be buyers at the peaks.