> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://realmatwar.gitbook.io/realmatwar-docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://realmatwar.gitbook.io/realmatwar-docs/realm-at-war-handbook/economy-and-rewards/the-economy.md).

# The Economy

Realm at War has **two** currencies. Keeping them straight is the key to understanding the whole economy.

|                | **Crowns**                          | **$REALM**                        |
| -------------- | ----------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| What it is     | Premium in-game currency            | A token on the Solana blockchain  |
| How you get it | Buy with SOL                        | **Earn** from quests and prizes   |
| What it's for  | Speeding up and boosting your realm | Real rewards, paid to your wallet |
| Where it lives | Inside the game                     | In your own wallet                |

The short version: **Crowns are what you spend, $REALM is what you earn.** You never need to buy $REALM to play, and you never spend $REALM inside the game.

## Crowns

Crowns are the optional premium currency. You buy them with **SOL**, in packs — bigger packs give better value:

| Pack    | Crowns | Price (SOL) |
| ------- | ------ | ----------- |
| Starter | 100    | 0.12        |
| Stack   | 275    | 0.30        |
| Chest   | 600    | 0.60        |
| Hoard   | 1,300  | 1.20        |

### What Crowns Buy

Crowns are spent on time-savers and boosts — never on raw power you couldn't earn by playing:

| Boost                 | Cost | Effect                                                       |
| --------------------- | ---- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Raid Shield**       | 20   | Blocks all incoming raids for 8 hours                        |
| **Fill Storehouses**  | 15   | Tops up wood, clay, iron, grain & gold to their caps         |
| **Rush Construction** | 10   | Instantly finishes everything under construction             |
| **Resource Caravan**  | 12   | Delivers +1,500 wood, +1,500 clay, +1,200 iron, +1,000 grain |
| **Item Crate**        | 30   | A crate of equipment for your Heroes                         |
| **Hero Lootbox**      | 60   | A new Hero                                                   |
| **4th Hero slot**     | 50   | Field a 4th Hero                                             |
| **5th Hero slot**     | 120  | Field a 5th Hero (the maximum)                               |

### Where Your Money Goes: The 70 / 30 Split

This is the most important thing to understand about the economy. When you buy a Crown pack, your payment is split **at the moment of purchase** into two parts that go to two separate wallets:

* **70% → the Prize Pot.** This is the money that comes back to players as prizes. It funds buybacks of $REALM and feeds the pot that pays out every day and week.
* **30% → Revenue.** Marketing and development — the work that keeps the game live and growing.

The split is built into the purchase transaction itself, on-chain. The two payments land directly in their two wallets; **the game server never holds your money.** It only reads the blockchain to confirm the payment went through, then credits your Crowns. (The how-and-why of that is in [Trust & Safety](/realmatwar-docs/realm-at-war-handbook/help-and-safety/trust-and-safety.md).)

## $REALM

**$REALM** is the reward token — a real token on Solana with a fixed total supply of **1,000,000,000 (one billion)**. At launch, **50,000,000 $REALM (5% of the supply)** is placed into the Prize Pot to seed the very first prizes.

You **earn** $REALM two ways:

* **Quests** — your steady daily and weekly income.
* **Prizes** — daily and weekly payouts to the strongest realms, the weekly champion, and the top clan.

A few things that make $REALM simple to reason about:

* **You can't buy it to win.** $REALM isn't sold in the shop; it's earned by playing. Crowns and $REALM are deliberately separate.
* **You don't spend it in the game.** Everything in-game is paid for with resources or Crowns. $REALM is purely a reward.
* **It's paid to your wallet.** Earned $REALM is sent directly to your connected wallet — once it's yours, it's yours to hold, move, or trade like any other token.

Exactly when and how it's paid is the subject of the next chapter.


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