NFTs Are Dead. Or Are They? Here’s How One Web3 Platform Is Bringing Them Back To Life.
NFTs or non-fungible tokens for those new to the space became a cultural meme between 2020–2022. The world first balked and then it bought, as 10,000-piece collections of obscenely-priced JPEGs flooded the online marketplace and people’s digital wallets.
Cartoon apes with bored faces (BAYC), pixelated heads sporting Mohicans (Crypto Punks), and collectible bear parts you could assemble to form a motley-colored bear (Plasma Bears), became all the rage. Many who’s-who influencers and public personalities purchased these digital art pieces when they dropped onto the market, and some even after the enormous price-hike that NFTs became infamous for.
Celebs displayed them on their social media profiles as status symbols, because nothing says “I’m flush” like a $200,000 ape picture for your Instagram profile image. Well-off collectors and traders looking for a quick flip, swarmed into Discord servers to be whitelisted for the next new project.
What Are NFTs Anyway?
Ok, some quick background. What distinguishes NFTs from regular images, is they are each unique and one-of-a-kind, making them non-fungible items that have a collectible value, like traditional artwork. Every piece in a 10,000 piece collection has unique traits, colors, and backgrounds, with some being much rarer (and pricier) than others. Each image contains a contract address on the blockchain where the authenticity can be verified.
It’s the difference between owning the real Mona Lisa, or taking a photo of the Mona Lisa on your smartphone. One is the genuine article, the other an imitation or replica. Now apply this thinking to the digital world and you can get original digital art with certified ownership, rarity and scarcity.
Quick to cash in on this latest trend, countless projects sprouted all over the decentralized web with 10,000 piece collections of derivative 2D animal sprites promising tantalizing roadmaps of future value and project growth. Sadly, the overwhelming majority of those roadmaps led nowhere, like a fancy-looking treasure map with no buried treasure, only buried expectations at the other end. Ouch.
While the world was busy fighting over the exorbitant price of these new profile pictures, some moguls understood the true, untapped, and unseen potential that NFTs create. To sum it up here’s a quote from serial entrepreneur and tech-trendsetter Gary Vee:
“People are focusing on the art, and they’re missing the point. The art is just a vessel for the smart contract, and the smart contract is the game-changer.”
The True Power Of NFT Technology Is Utility Infrastructure
To put it another way, imagine you have a VIP gym card for a celebrity gym with limited-edition artwork printed across it. Sure, the artwork looks great, but the really cool part is the gym card gives you exclusive access to the gym, its premium group classes, personal trainers, the steam rooms and saunas, and to be able to rub shoulders with celebrities who hang out there. It’s not how it looks, it’s about what it gives you access to.
What the internet did for information, NFTs will do for the world of contracts. That’s the true power of this technology many have missed. Your marriage certificate, driving license, university degree, “Certified NLP Coach” diploma, and even VIP gym membership, will likely all be NFTs in the future as the blockchain provides an immutable record of authenticity.
To see NFTs as beauty that only goes screen-deep is to miss the point of the power of this technology entirely. We recognised the potential for the technology as a loyalty-building, access-granting, utility infrastructure; a scaffold for more meaningful connection and reciprocal creator-community relationships.
Creator and Fan Relationships Were Limited
Creator and community relationships have been limited, both in terms of the contribution that fans are able to make to support creators, and also in terms of the potential for revenue creators can generate.
“Imagine earning more from doing what you love by rewarding those who love what you do?” says Chris Hawk, visionary behind the new Web3 StarStake platform. “We want to empower followers to become rewarded superfans and creators to become rewarded superbrands.”
NFT technology and the embedded smart contracts can distribute financial rewards automatically at scale, as well as back-stage passes, tickets to in-person events, and so much more thanks to the blockchain, dropping value directly into people’s wallets. Now creators can deliver exclusive access, experiences and incentives for their top-performing supporters. This can be launched in minutes thanks to an intuitive interface that makes adding advanced functionality both easy and accessible.
“In the current creator economy, fans already collect, make purchases, refer and share the work of their favorite creators, but get nothing for their efforts. We’re changing that.”, says Hawk. “Also creators are staggeringly underpaid, often being forced to resort to third-party monetization to make a living because of algorithm bias that hides their content from being seen by their own communities.”
Reaching For The Stars
Imagine a world where stars and fans can connect directly, unencumbered by algorithms and platforms swallowing the profits that could otherwise go to creators and their communities. What if creators who make content could not only thrive doing what they love, but also meaningfully reward those who love what they do? What if they could build loyalty and turn followers into fans for life? Now they can. Whether you are an active creator or an avid fan, you’re welcome to explore StarStake. Go from trying to create an income stream to having your own, self-controlled economy. No up front costs or monthly fees. No need for crypto or code. Create and connect and collaborate in a limitless universe of opportunity, and find your new home amongst the stars.
Written by a human for humans.
