Coin Artist Turns Crypto Puzzles Into a Blockchain Game Studio

Marguerite deCourcelle, better known online as Coin Artist, is the founder and CEO of Blockade Games, the studio behind the blockchain RPG Neon District. Its other titles include Plasma Bears and Pineapple Arcade. In a recent episode of the Ledger Cast podcast, hosts Brian Krogsgard and Josh Olszewicz sat down with her to trace the path from her crypto art to running a game company.

The interview opens with her art. Coin Artist became well known for puzzle paintings that hide a crypto challenge inside the image. Her most popular piece, TORCHED H34R7S, was solved in 2018 for 5 bitcoin. The winning solver's story was later covered in depth by Vice, which noted that the puzzle took about three years to crack. The original painting is now up for auction, offered both as an NFT and as a physical canvas.

Before launching Blockade, deCourcelle spent time working on marketing and community projects across the blockchain ecosystem. The episode covers that stretch of her career alongside the studio's current direction, including its phased rollout of Neon District. The show notes also point listeners to Blockade's Techstars demo pitch and to related virtual-world projects such as Block Cities and CryptoVoxels.

The hosts describe the studio's games as having a lot of room to grow, and the full conversation goes further than this summary. The podcast itself is a crypto trading and blockchain ecosystem show, produced in partnership with Brave New Coin. Its hosts note that the material is educational and not investment advice, and that listeners should do their own research before buying any asset.