Free POAP? Not for commercial users of Ethereum Attendance NFTs

Leading NFT attendance mark service POAP announced on Tuesday that it will soon begin charging commercial customers for access to its services, ending the company’s years-long policy of offering all users unlimited POAP coining for free.

“Our long-term goal is to bring POAPs to humanity more broadly, and getting there will require long-term sustainability to be more of a priority,” the company said in an email sent to POAP users today.

POAP, or Proof of Attendance Protocol, is an Ethereum-based app that helps event organizers issue attendance tokens in the form of NFTs, minted using ERC-721 token standard. These tokens, called POAPs, can be used to show proof of attendance at a physical or virtual event, as well as unlock a variety of post-coin benefits and experiences, including access to group chats, discounts and tickets to future events.

POAP raised $10 million in a seed funding round last year to promote development. According to the company, over 6.5 million POAPs have been minted since it launched in 2019.

POAPs will remain free for personal use, according to the company. However, businesses and individuals who distribute POAPs at commercial events may be subject to fees based on the number of POAPs they issue, effective April 17.

According to Isabel Gonzalez, POAP’s co-founder, prices for commercial customers will likely converge around $1 per POAP issued. However, current commercial users will be able to choose special pricing at one quarter that costs, for an unspecified time period.

Not all commercial customers will be charged for their use of POAPs. Certain ventures that advance POAP’s artistic and creative mandate may continue to be subsidized by the company on a case-by-case basis, according to Gonzalez.

“We like people making real valuable digital collectibles more than we care about them paying,” Gonzalez said Decrypt. “The effort that goes into good storytelling is worth its weight in gold.”

Especially in Web3, where the line between community and business is often razor sharp, deciding whether an event or project is personal or commercial can be a daunting task. POAP has released detailed guidelines which outlines the distinct differences between a personal event (a wedding with under 200 attendees where collectors know the issuer directly) versus a commercial one (a concert with thousands of attendees where a POAP unlocks financial benefits).

Some factors considered in determining whether a project is personal and commercial—for example, whether an “emotional connection” exists between a POAP issuer and collector (revealing signs of personal use)—may prove more difficult to analyze . As a general rule, under the POAP Guidelines, events that require large amounts of POAPs (especially in an automated manner) are most likely to be considered commercial undertakings.

Gonzalez, who said ideas for a commercial use tier have been floating around POAP since early last year, hopes the move will encourage users to consider the best applications for the services, as well as cement the company’s staying power.

“We believe this development will expand the range of possibilities for how POAP can be used sustainably, in part by giving issuers the tools to align their plans with POAP’s mission to create treasured digital collectibles,” she said.