Sipher Odyssey: Kyber Network's founders as advisors, a confirmed hack, and a token down 99.7%.
We're continuing our P2E Crypto Games series with Sipher Odyssey, a multiplayer looter-shooter ARPG from AtherLabs, founded by Tin Nguyen in 2021 as "Sipher" before evolving into its current form. Real, disclosed genuine strengths: founding advisors Loi Luu and Victor Tran, both real, named co-founders of Kyber Network, a credible, established DeFi protocol, $6.8 million in institutional funding from Hashed and Konvoy Ventures, and real, current active development, a 46-country Open Beta and a team that has grown to over 120 people. What we don't think should be set aside: CoinGecko states directly SIPHER reached an all-time high of $1.45 and is now trading 99.70% below that peak, with real, disclosed extremely thin current trading volume. A detailed source also directly references the team addressing "abuse and outright hacking" of the game's points system. We weighted all of it below.
Our take, up front: Sipher Odyssey is a multiplayer looter-shooter ARPG set in a dream-like universe of alien worlds, developed by AtherLabs, founded by Tin Nguyen in 2021 under the original name Sipher, later evolving through a significant genre and branding pivot into its current form. Real, disclosed named founder with real, disclosed prior business credentials: Nguyen previously served as CEO of Trung Thuy Group, a named, award-winning Vietnamese real estate firm, and founded multiple startups including DreamPlex and FreshHouse, earning a Forbes Vietnam 30 Under 30 nomination. Real, disclosed genuinely credible founding advisors: Loi Luu and Victor Tran, both real, named co-founders of Kyber Network, an established, legitimate on-chain liquidity protocol, a real, disclosed security and blockchain-infrastructure pedigree distinct from many other founding teams in this series. Real, disclosed credible institutional backing: $6.8 million raised across two funding rounds from Hashed, Arrington Capital, Konvoy Ventures, and roughly 20 total institutional investors. Real, disclosed genuine, current active development: Sipher Odyssey has launched an Open Beta across 46 countries, with a team that has grown to over 120 people, and continued content updates including holiday events and roadmap milestones. Real, disclosed genuinely distinctive, forward-looking technical ambition: a dedicated litepaper on "Utility AI," discussing the application of AI-driven NPCs within Sipher Odyssey specifically. Real, disclosed genuinely ambitious ecosystem expansion beyond a single game: AtherLabs operates its own Layer 2 blockchain, Funki, with disclosed sequencer-fee buybacks designed to accrue value back to the ATHER token. What we don't think should be set aside: CoinGecko states directly that SIPHER "reached an all-time high of $1.45" and "is now trading -99.70% below that peak," with real, disclosed extremely thin current trading volume, a 24-hour figure as low as $29.45 in one snapshot, alongside a modest circulating market capitalization. Real, disclosed confirmed security incident we want to present precisely: a detailed community update states directly that AtherLabs "handled the points clean-up to address abuse and outright hacking," a real, disclosed, confirmed reference to hacking of the game's points system, addressed via a cleanup process, though we found limited additional detail on the incident's scope. Real, disclosed significant mid-development pivot: the project shifted from its original "World of Sipheria" battle-game concept to the current Sipher Odyssey looter-shooter under a new studio brand, a genuine, disclosed change in direction partway through development. We weighted all of it below.
Real, disclosed named founder (Tin Nguyen) with real, disclosed credible prior business credentials. Real, disclosed genuinely credible founding advisors: Loi Luu and Victor Tran, both real, named co-founders of Kyber Network, an established, legitimate DeFi protocol, a real, disclosed, credible security and blockchain-infrastructure pedigree. What tempers this: a real, disclosed, confirmed reference to "outright hacking" of the game's points system, which the team addressed via a cleanup process, though we found limited additional detail on the incident's scope or resolution.
Pros
- Founding advisors Loi Luu and Victor Tran are real, named co-founders of Kyber Network
- A named founder with real, disclosed prior business credentials
Cons
- A confirmed reference to "outright hacking" of the points system was disclosed directly
- Limited additional detail on the incident's scope was available in our research
Real, disclosed evolving dual-token design: SIPHER for governance/staking/cloning, ATHER as in-game currency increasingly tied to a broader Layer 2 ecosystem (Funki) with disclosed buyback mechanisms. What tempers this severely: CoinGecko states directly SIPHER reached an all-time high of $1.45 and is now trading 99.70% below that peak, with real, disclosed extremely thin current trading volume.
Pros
- A disclosed sequencer-fee buyback mechanism ties ATHER value to real Layer 2 usage
Cons
- SIPHER is down 99.70% from its all-time high, per CoinGecko's own direct figure
- Current trading volume is extremely thin, a real, disclosed liquidity concern
Real, disclosed named founder and credible founding advisors with real, disclosed prior blockchain infrastructure experience. Real, disclosed SIPHER governance utility tied to staking and character-cloning mechanics.
Pros
- Named leadership with real, disclosed prior blockchain infrastructure credentials
Cons
- Real-world governance participation levels were not independently confirmed in our research
Real, disclosed genuine, current active development: Sipher Odyssey has launched an Open Beta across 46 countries, with a team that has grown to 120+ people, and real, disclosed continued content updates. Real, disclosed distinctive, forward-looking design: a dedicated litepaper on "Utility AI" for in-game NPCs. What tempers this: the project underwent a significant genre and branding pivot partway through development.
Pros
- A real, current Open Beta rollout spans 46 countries with an active, growing team
- A distinctive, real Utility AI research ambition for in-game NPCs
Cons
- A significant genre and branding pivot occurred partway through development
Real, disclosed genuine mobile and PC accessibility, with Sipher Odyssey available on Android and iOS. Real, disclosed genuinely broad current rollout across 46 countries in Open Beta.
Pros
- Available across PC, iOS, and Android, with a real, disclosed 46-country beta rollout
Cons
- Genuine cross-platform feature parity was not independently confirmed in our research
Real, disclosed dual-token economy separating governance/staking (SIPHER) from everyday in-game spending (ATHER), a real, disclosed structural design intended to keep routine play distinct from token speculation.
Pros
- Free-to-play core with a disclosed, structural separation of governance and spending tokens
Cons
- The broader Funki ecosystem adds real, disclosed complexity to the overall token structure
Real, disclosed genuinely ambitious expansion beyond a single game into broader infrastructure: AtherLabs operates its own Layer 2 blockchain, Funki, with disclosed sequencer-fee buybacks designed to accrue value back to the ATHER token, plus a dedicated Utility AI research litepaper.
Pros
- Genuinely distinctive, real ecosystem ambition extending into infrastructure and AI research
Cons
- Expanding into a separate Layer 2 blockchain adds real, disclosed execution risk
Access only through the official site, and verify the points-cleanup incident's resolution before assuming it's fully closed.
Given the real, disclosed reference to "outright hacking" of the points system, look for AtherLabs' own detailed incident disclosure and resolution before treating the cleanup process as having fully addressed the underlying vulnerability.
A genuine reinvention that's still building, backed by real DeFi pedigree, sitting on a nearly wiped-out token.
We want to give Sipher Odyssey real credit for something we don't see often in this series: a project that pivoted, kept its team together, and is still visibly shipping years after its original concept didn't pan out. Having two actual Kyber Network co-founders as advisors is a genuinely credible, real signal in a space where "advisor" often means little more than a logo on a website, and a 46-country beta with a team that's grown past 120 people tells us this isn't a project running on fumes. We also don't want to gloss over what we found while digging into its history. A confirmed reference to "outright hacking" of the points system is a real, disclosed security event, even if we couldn't pin down its full scope, and a 99.70% collapse from SIPHER's all-time high, paired with genuinely thin current trading volume, means anyone holding the token has absorbed real, severe losses regardless of how the game itself is doing. Sipher Odyssey looks like a team that adapted rather than folded. That adaptability doesn't erase what happened to the people who bought in early.
The scorecard above is deliberately general. Whether Sipher Odyssey is right for you depends heavily on which of these you already are.
The looter-shooter fan curious about a genuinely active, currently-developed Web3 game, played primarily for free
This is exactly where Sipher Odyssey's real, current 46-country beta and growing team deliver value without financial exposure.
The reader who verifies the points-cleanup incident's full resolution directly before assuming it's a fully closed matter
Given the real, disclosed reference to "outright hacking," this follow-up genuinely matters here.
The observer interested in AtherLabs' broader Funki Layer 2 ambitions as a distinct, real technical undertaking
This is a genuinely ambitious, real, disclosed expansion worth evaluating on its own terms, separate from the game itself.
Anyone holding or buying SIPHER expecting a recovery anywhere close to its original all-time high
A real, disclosed 99.70% decline, per CoinGecko's own figure, has occurred alongside genuinely thin current trading volume.
The scorecard covers the headline judgment calls. These four tables cover the specifics we didn't want to bury in prose; the project's rebrand and pivot timelined, the points-hacking incident presented precisely, the token and ecosystem structure explained, and the founding advisor credentials.
The project's rebrand and pivot, timelined
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2021 | Tin Nguyen founds Sipher, initially conceived around a "World of Sipheria" battle-game concept |
| Oct 2021 | A $6.8M seed round closes, led by Arrington Capital, Hashed, and Konvoy Ventures |
| 2023 | A separate $6.8M raise is reported for "World of Sipheria" under the Sipher name |
| 2024-2025 | The project evolves into Sipher Odyssey, a looter-shooter ARPG, under new studio brand AtherLabs |
| 2026 | Open Beta launches across 46 countries; team grows past 120-177 people across sources |
This is a genuine, disclosed multi-year evolution in both genre and branding, distinct from a single, consistent product vision maintained since 2021.
The points-hacking incident, presented precisely
| What we found | |
|---|---|
| Direct quote | AtherLabs "handled the points clean-up to address abuse and outright hacking" |
| Source | A detailed community-update recap from a town hall session |
| What we could confirm | A real, disclosed incident involving hacking and abuse of a points system occurred and was addressed via a cleanup process |
| What we could not confirm | The specific scope, method, or dollar/points value affected by the incident |
We're presenting exactly what we found rather than speculating about scope; a confirmed reference to hacking deserves direct disclosure even without a fuller incident report to cite.
The token and ecosystem structure, explained
| SIPHER | ATHER | |
|---|---|---|
| Role | Governance, staking, character cloning | In-game currency; increasingly tied to the Funki L2 ecosystem |
| All-time high | $1.45 | Not independently corroborated in our research |
| Value-accrual mechanism | Staking rewards | Disclosed sequencer-fee buybacks from Funki, AtherLabs' own Layer 2 |
The expansion into a separate Layer 2 blockchain (Funki) is a genuinely more ambitious, real, disclosed structure than a single-game token design, though it also adds real complexity to track.
The founding advisor credentials
| Name | Credential |
|---|---|
| Tin Nguyen (Founder) | CEO of Trung Thuy Group; founder of DreamPlex, FreshHouse; Forbes Vietnam 30U30 nominee |
| Loi Luu (Founding Advisor) | CEO and co-founder of Kyber Network, an established on-chain liquidity protocol |
| Victor Tran (Founding Advisor) | Co-founder of Kyber Network |
Real, named co-founders of an established, legitimate DeFi protocol serving as founding advisors is a genuinely credible, disclosed signal relative to vaguer "advisor" claims we've found elsewhere in this series.
We don't just want to hand you our number; we want to show you how it sits next to what other review desks and comparison sites have published. We're flagging directly that most general coverage credits the project's current active development and credible advisors favorably without weighting the confirmed hacking reference or the severity of SIPHER's decline as heavily as our methodology does.
Our score lands moderately below the aggregated industry average; most sources we found credit the same real founding-advisor credentials and current active development we weighted favorably, while giving less direct weight to the confirmed points-hacking reference and the severity of SIPHER's 99.70% decline.
| Source | Score | Type |
|---|
Scores compiled by our editorial team from publicly available reviews as of August 2026. "Editorial estimate" means the outlet didn't publish a single numeric score, so we converted their published verdict and sentiment into a comparable 100-point figure. Verify current figures directly with each source before citing them elsewhere.
Sipher Odyssey is the evolved, current form of the original Sipher project, founded by Tin Nguyen in 2021. It underwent a significant genre and branding pivot, moving from an original "World of Sipheria" battle-game concept to its current looter-shooter ARPG form under studio AtherLabs.
A detailed community update states directly that AtherLabs "handled the points clean-up to address abuse and outright hacking," a confirmed reference to hacking of the game's points system that was addressed via a cleanup process. We found limited additional detail on the incident's scope.
CoinGecko states directly SIPHER reached an all-time high of $1.45 and is now trading 99.70% below that peak, with real, disclosed extremely thin current trading volume.
Tin Nguyen founded Sipher in 2021. Loi Luu and Victor Tran, both co-founders of Kyber Network, an established DeFi protocol, later joined as founding advisors.
Yes. Sipher Odyssey is free-to-play, available on PC, iOS, and Android, with an Open Beta currently rolled out across 46 countries.
Funki is a Layer 2 blockchain built and operated by AtherLabs, the studio behind Sipher Odyssey. Sequencer fees from Funki are designed to flow back to the ATHER token through buybacks, expanding AtherLabs' ambitions beyond a single game.
SIPHER is the governance token, used for staking and cloning new characters. ATHER is the in-game currency, increasingly tied to the broader Funki Layer 2 ecosystem through disclosed buyback mechanisms.
Sources give differing figures across 2026: one post cites a team that "grew to a 120-person team," while a separate, later source cites "177 native and international talents." Either figure represents genuine, real growth from the project's original size.
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