In Brief:
- Anichess (official site) loaded 300,000 M8 into its public staking pool, to be paid out over 30 days.
- The studio said winning events, playing events, staking $CHECK and clearing daily tasks all pay M8 again.
- M8 is the game’s non-transferable points layer and gets players into Checkmate Arena, the weekly $CHECK prize draw.
Anichess has put 300,000 M8 into its public staking pool, with the points paid out over 30 days.
The studio announced the pool in a post on X that also listed the other ways players can earn the points. “Win events, play events, stake $CHECK, clear your dailies,” Anichess said. “All of it pays M8 again.”
300,000 M8 in the public staking pool, paid out over 30 days
Win events, play events, stake $CHECK, clear your dailies.
All of it pays M8 again.
The post didn’t say when the 30-day window starts or how the 300,000 M8 will be split among stakers.
How players earn M8
Under the studio’s documentation, players earn M8 by completing 15 Standard matches per week, with the amount depending on rating class, or by staking $CHECK. The docs said earning mechanics may update each season.
The new post adds event wins, event play and dailies to that list.
M8 isn’t a token. It can’t be bought or transferred. Claims open each day at 08:00 UTC. Unclaimed M8 accumulates, and weekend claims may be delayed but stay valid for 24 hours, according to the docs.
What M8 buys
Holding M8 gets players into Checkmate Arena, the weekly random draw for $CHECK prizes. Fifty players are picked every week, and each takes home at least 500 $CHECK.
Arena runs daily from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. UTC. Playing more matches increases a player’s odds of selection, the docs said.
Staking and $CHECK
$CHECK staking runs through two pools, public and OG. When the token launched, players could claim to stake in either one, and each pool carried 10 million $CHECK in rewards to mark the launch. Stakers earned M8 while their tokens stayed locked.
$CHECK has a supply cap of 1 billion, with 59.38% set aside for ecosystem growth and player rewards. It covers tournament entry, staking that produces M8, in-game purchases and governance through Checkmate Improvement Proposals.
Coinbase listed the token April 2, 2026. That month, Season 8, “Overpowered,” put up 700,000 $CHECK, including a 600,000 $CHECK Gambit prize pool.
The move back to Base
The pool opens a few weeks after Anichess moved M8 back to Base. M8 first launched there in April 2025.
When $CHECK rolled out Nov. 12-13, 2025, staking, claims and M8 accrual shifted to Abstract. Base kept liquidity and trading through Aerodrome Finance, so players had to bridge from Abstract to trade or supply liquidity. The Ethernals NFT collection stayed on Ethereum.
M8 holders had until 23:59 UTC on Sept. 7 to opt in to the move through an in-game banner or the homepage. The studio said the process takes less than a minute.
“Open the migration banner in-game, tick the box, hit Save changes. That’s the whole job,” Anichess said.
