Games development firm Everdreamsoft has announced that for the first time players of its popular Moonga trading card game will be able to trade a  card over the Bitcoin blockchain, or even earn one through a novel take on cryptocurrency mining.

Moonga has had over a quarter of a million downloads and ranked #1 in the Japanese AppStore in 2010. It features over 500 illustrated cards and follows the ‘freemium’ model in which users can start playing for free and then either build up a pack through points won or buy booster packs with additional cards. Now users will be able to connect their game profile to the Bitcoin blockchain via the Counterparty protocol, allowing them to store the new ‘Healing Formula” card in any Bitcoin wallet or exchange it with friends independently.

A partnership with Foldingcoin means that users can also earn the card by donating their computer’s idle processing time to science. Foldingcoin is a cryptocurrency which replaces PoW mining with Protein folding simulations through Stanford University’s Folding@Home project, which is helping to find new treatments for a range of serious diseases including Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, and many cancers. Foldingcoin tokens are then distributed via  Counterparty based on users’ contribution to Folding@Home.  A recent ‘merged folding’ initiative means that folders can also earn tokens and digital assets from other projects at the same time as Foldingcoins – such as the Moonga ‘Healing Formula’ card.