Upland announced on October 23 that it had burned about 2.9 million SPARKLET following a community vote. Players had previously spent the tokens generating seeds and merging Uppies, the game’s digital residents.
City-building game Upland says it has completed the community-approved burn of about 2.9 million SPARKLET. In its official October 23 X post, the team said it had burned tokens for the second time and would continue asking players whether they wanted future burns.
The tokens came from SPARKLET that players had already spent generating seeds and merging Uppies, the game’s digital residents. Upland’s October 13 proposal says players spent the roughly 2.9 million tokens between April and October 2026. Burning tokens permanently removes them from circulation so they cannot be used again.
The vote showed 76.04% support for burning the pool
Voting opened in the game at 16:00 UTC on October 13 and closed at the same time on October 16. The result image Upland published on October 16 shows 76.04% voting yes and 23.96% voting no. Upland did not disclose the total number of votes, turnout or how votes were weighted. The percentages describe the reported ballot result, not all registered players.
A yes vote approved permanently burning approximately 2.9 million SPARKLET. Had players rejected the burn, Upland would have proposed other uses for the spent tokens. In the result image, Upland refers to spending during the preceding two quarters in 2026. The team gave April–October in its October 13 announcement but did not specify the exact dates it used to calculate the pool.
“we have now burned the 2.9M Sparklet.”
Upland’s October 23 burn completion announcement
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Upland announced the vote result on October 16 and said it had completed the burn a week later. The team did not publish a blockchain transaction hash, name the network it used or give the exact execution time in its October 23 post.
Spending SPARKLET differs from allocating it to a task
Upland lets players develop properties and build cities on a map based on real-world addresses. According to its resource guide, players use SPARKLET for construction, manufacturing, seed generation and Uppie merges. Some activities require players to allocate tokens temporarily; others consume them. On October 20, Upland also announced plans to introduce 189 Troves items on October 22, in a separate update explaining how to collect the items and add them permanently to a collection.
| Use | What happens to the tokens? |
|---|---|
| Allocating to a task (staking) | Players set the tokens aside for the task and receive them back in their wallets when it is complete. |
| Spending | Tokens are consumed and do not return to the player. The October burn covers a pool previously spent on seed generation and Uppie merges. |
In its 2023 draft whitepaper, Upland planned to collect spent SPARKLET in a separate account. The team would then ask players to choose between burning the tokens, distributing them as incentives or combining both uses. Players spend tokens when they generate seeds. The team then asks the community whether to burn the accumulated tokens and carries out the burn if players approve.
The burn does not cover a player’s remaining balance. The proposal concerns only the pool already spent on seeds and Uppie merges. Tokens that players still hold in their wallets or have set aside for ongoing tasks are outside the proposal. Players do not receive refunds for their earlier spending.
SPARKLET uses the ERC-20 standard on Ethereum and Base. ERC-20 defines shared rules for functions such as checking token balances and making transfers. Players in eligible regions can use a bridge to move their tokens into and out of Upland. UPX is the game’s transaction currency and is not traded outside the game. STEM is a separate, account-bound resource that cannot be traded. The 2.9 million figure is a number of SPARKLET tokens, not a dollar or UPX amount.
Upland’s “What is Sparklet” video, published on July 22, 2024, introduces the token’s use in construction and gameplay in one minute and eleven seconds. The recording predates the October 2026 burn.
A player proposed incentives for newcomers instead
In recommending the burn, Upland said it had already set aside enough tokens for player rewards and incentives. On the official feedback board, a user named Zactowner wrote that they had changed their vote from yes to no. They proposed gradually distributing the tokens to new players as they met development milestones, alongside an advertising campaign to attract them. Zactowner described their own choice. The 76.04% figure is the share of votes supporting the burn in the in-game ballot.
Upland had announced a similar proposal on April 30, covering about 1.9 million SPARKLET spent during the first quarter of 2026, with voting scheduled for May 1–4. The company did not give a completion date for the first burn in the April announcement. Upland plans to ask players how to use future pools but has not announced dates for the next vote or burn.
