The unique and creative IP source that revolutionizes digital art and ownership
If you’ve been around the NFT space, you’ve probably seen Substantive’s playful pixel art images with distinctive bright colors and simple blocky designs. As time goes by, you will definitely see these unique characters more and more often. Unlike most NFT projects that have a set number of pre-coin offerings, nouns are an infinite work of art. One noun NFT is generated every single day “forever.”
As a community-driven brand, Nouns aims to use its open source IP to empower holders to fund their most ambitious dreams and business ideas with NFTs as the face of the projects. Nouns are already making their mark as brand ambassadors for innovative businesses – representing everything from clothing brands to chocolate bar to extreme sports clubs.
Here’s what you need to know about the Noun Project, its ecosystem and its community.
What are NFTs for nouns?
Substantive is a generative non-fungible token project on the Ethereum blockchain. Each noun is a 32×32 pixel character made up of nearly infinite combinations of bodies and accessories, including 242 heads, 140 accessories, 30 bodies, 23 glasses, and two backgrounds.
The first ever noun was auctioned on August 8, 2021, and features a fox as a head and pink and purple two-tone glasses.
Substantive operates under a CC0 license, which places the artwork in the public domain and gives users unlimited access and usage rights.
Every day, the nouns DAO generates and imprints a new noun, adding to the ever-growing collection. The noun is then put up for auction to the highest bidder. This process ensures that the Noun’s ecosystem remains dynamic and continuously evolving, while providing community members with a means to acquire and trade unique NFTs.
One hundred percent of the money from sales goes directly into the project’s common fund. Ownership of a noun NFT also gives membership to a noun DAO, so that the holder can participate in the management and decision-making process. Each noun represents one voice.
How many nouns are there?
Nouns will generate forever, resulting in an infinite supply. At the time of writing, there are 646 substantive NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Currently, 390 owners have at least one noun in their wallet.
How can I buy a noun?
Anyone can participate in noun auctions on nouns.wtf, a website built and maintained by the project founders. Fans are also welcome to create their own noun and play with the properties in the noun playground. All nouns created so far can be viewed and purchased secondary on OpenSea.
Who created nouns?
The original founders of Nouns, affectionately called ‘Nounders’, are a group of 10 builders, creators and NFT thought leaders who first initiated the concept of Nouns and NounDAO. This includes CrypToadz’s founder Gremplinco-founder of Vine Dom Hofmannfounder of Chimpers Hoursand Punk4156. Additional nounders include loadpunk9999, devcarrot, cryptoseneca, eboy arts, punk4464and _solimander.
To ensure that all income from noun auctions supports the noun DAO ecosystem, the nuns have chosen to receive compensation in the form of nouns. Specifically, every tenth noun generated during the first five years of the project will be automatically sent to a Nounders multisig wallet, where they will be earned and distributed among the project’s founding members.
In particular, the distribution of Nouns to Nounders does not disrupt the regular cadence of 24-hour auctions for Nouns. Once a Noun is generated, it is sent directly to Nounder’s multisig and the next available Noun ID is made available for auction as scheduled. This approach helps ensure that the Noun’s ecosystem remains fair and accessible to all participants, while providing a means of compensation and support for the project’s founding members.
What are the nouns DAO?
Owning a noun gives holders the ability to participate in the governance of the noun DAO. This includes the ability to propose new initiatives and vote on proposals from other members. If a proposal is approved, it will automatically be executed as a transaction on the Ethereum blockchain.
Nouns can vote on proposals or delegate their vote to a third party. A minimum of two nouns is required to submit a proposal. Noun The DAO has funded countless creative ideas, including fashion collections, Super Bowl commercials and more. The active list of proposals that the nouns DAO are voting on can be seen here.
Remarkable suggestions
NOUNS x Fitz Frames
NOUNS × Fitz Frames Prescription Subscription works with screening and testing partners to provide glasses to children if they lose them, break them, outgrow them, or just want a new pair to compliment their style. So far, Nouns DAO has funded over 3,000 prescription glasses for children and a specialized examination van delivered in December 2022.
Bud Light Superbowl commercial
In January 2022, the beer giant bought Substantiv #179 for 127 ETH. After submitting and receiving approval for a proposal, Bud Light featured the iconic Noun ecosystem glasses (known as “Noggles”) in a commercial that aired during Super Bowl LVI. This demonstrated the growing mainstream appeal of NFTs and the Substantiv ecosystem, as large corporations begin to recognize the unique value of these digital assets.
In addition, the brand has also temporarily changed its Twitter avatar to feature the noun glasses. The proposal states that Bud Light “intends to allow holders of the brand’s own NFT to collectively vote with their nouns on future governance proposals.” In the future, Bud Light may even produce a limited number of cans with custom noun packaging for noun holders.
The Birth of the “Lil Noun”
Lil Noun, a project created within noun DAO, has a collection of cute and whimsical nouns at a more affordable price. It was founded by 0xsvg and adeledusiam.
These nouns are smaller than traditional nouns, measuring just 16×16 pixels, and feature unique and playful designs meant to evoke a sense of cuteness and charm. They are generated every 15 minutes, but anyone can create a Lil Noun here.
Like traditional nouns, Lil nouns are represented on the Ethereum blockchain. However, artists create Lil Nouns by submitting their designs to the Nouns DAO. This process differs from the generation of traditional nouns, which are randomly generated through a unique algorithm. Once a design is approved, Substantive DAO stamps the new Lil Substantive and adds it to the collection.
For those interested in joining the Substantive DAO community but unable to afford a traditional Substantive, Lil Substantive provides an accessible entry point.
The future of the Substantive ecosystem
Substantive has come a long way since its launch in 2021, but the team behind the project still has more in store. At 2023’s ETH Denver, noun DAO developers David Brailovsky and Elad Mallel announced that the team plans to implement new features such as private voting, improved security measures, and a more dynamic user experience to further strengthen the Substantive ecosystem. Examples include dynamic quorum, ragequit design space, a conditional objection period, and more.
Every day, as new nouns are created, The DAO partners with brands and creators to fund new and innovative projects. The growing community of members submitting and approving proposals will continue to expand the influence of the Substantive ecosystem.
