How tools are essential to differentiate NFT projects

Digital assets have exploded in recent years, with a 187 percent increase in total market value last year alone. This growth can be attributed to the growing popularity of NFTs and the need for secure and transparent digital transactions.

Paul-Adrien Lamoureux, co-founder of token-gating platform Sentr3, has spoken to hundreds of brands launching NFT collections. He had the opportunity to interview leading projects to highlight the most exciting tools coming to the scene.

“We’re still exploring and experimenting with tools for holders. It’s super exciting to get a chance to talk to the teams of leading NFT projects and understand how they’re approaching tooling for holders,” said Paul-Adrien.

I see you, do you see me?

One of the most exciting types of tools for holders is access to personal events. Many people tend to assume that NFT tools are limited to digital space. But as we will see throughout this article, physical utility is just as important as virtual.

Justin Mezzell (co-founder of Proof and Moonbirds) recently went on a tour of European cities where he and his team held IRL meetups for Moonbirds and Proof NFT holders.

“For Proof and for Moonbirds, we knew that one of the things we needed to do when it came to community was to make sure there was local activation. We wanted there to be actual moments where you can see the people you meet online and within those different digital communities face to face.”

Meetups were held in Berlin, Paris, Lisbon and London. Each site was chosen for its uniqueness and cultural significance.

World of Women (WoW) has also been successful in offering in-person meetings to its NFT holders.

“We have a project called WoW Meetups, under which [NFT holders] can apply for funds to organize gatherings with other local holders. We have had two events in LA, and two events in New York. We have had one in South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Toronto and one in Vancouver, says Kashvi Parekh.

With such a diverse portfolio of locations, these NFT memberships offer a truly unique and one-of-a-kind experience. But what else can these tokens be used for?

Will NFTs be the new access to streaming?

One of the most exciting and innovative use cases we have seen via this interview process comes from Krapopolis. There’s a new TV show coming up on Fox next year from Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon.

Stephen Byrne, VP of Blockchain Creative Labs, owned by Fox, talked about the value NFT holders will get.

“We have a token gated display room, so if you’re a Krap Chicken holder, you can actually access this token gated display room. You can see animation at the moment and I’m just really excited to get more items in in that viewing room.”

While the sky’s the limit when it comes to the benefits Krapopolis can offer holders, exclusive content and early access to new episodes are probably the most enticing.

One-two, one-two, do you copy?

A consistent theme among some of the projects was the challenges of handling communication between token holders. Some solutions are shaped by the composition of the community, as is the case with World of Women.

Kashvi Parekh offered some insight into how they engage with the community and beyond: “Currently, Discord is the number one place where the WoW community interacts. But an interesting statistic that we’ve seen is that many women in our community don’t like using Discord. “

In that case, group interactions have naturally moved to other media such as Instagram.

Lootverse, on the other hand, had various problems that they had to find a solution for. The communication channels they provided their NFT holders were overrun with trolls and people promoting their own products.

Lootverse’s solution may seem counterintuitive, but has been incredibly effective. Sumaroo shared the project’s interesting take and how it has impacted the community: “Each message you post, you actually pay a very small fee to post messages. This effectively eliminates all the spam and trolls and things like that.”

My NFT, my rights

The true strength of NFT-based projects is that the holder of the NFT is the sole owner of it and everything that comes with it.

World of Women has exploited this fact to the benefit of the artists holding the NFTs. Kashvi Parekh points out that the intellectual property of the art they create belongs to the NFT holder: “This means that WoW and WoW-G owners can take the artwork and start their own businesses with it. They can use it as the logo, or an integral part of the brand for any product or service they launch.”

This dramatically lowers the barrier to entry that artists and entrepreneurs typically face when monetizing their work.

In the redemption of reality

We’ve seen projects invest in real meetings, but some have gone even further than that.

Exclusible mixes luxury brands with the digital world. To that end, exclusive NFTs often come with real products as well.

An example was their Bugatti release. In addition to the NFT, holders received a sculpture of the modern Bugatti La Voiture Noire. However, there have been many others, such as the Hogan drop.

“All NFT holders of the Hogan drop, if they went to a physical store, they would get special treatment like goodie bags like, welcome to the community,” said Sara Teixeira of Exclusive.

While Exclusive is ahead of the curve, adding real value to NFTs is something other projects need to do more of to stay competitive in the future.

Big names enter the room

Adam De Cata brings the real world into the metaverse. He has been heavily involved in the blockchain space as Head of Partnerships for Decentraland, CEO of NFT Tech, and worked at Warner Bros.

The metaverse represents new real estate that consumers spend time and attention on. Adam is responsible for bringing big names like Coca-Cola and Wimbledon to the metaverse. He is also working on an Elvis NFT collection which obviously comes with a large existing fan base.

Regarding his work with Decentraland, Adam said: “I think for us it was about building a purpose, building something really interesting and engaging, having a high-quality project that then inspires others around us to think differently.”

The benefit of the future in NFT projects

As the NFT world continues to evolve, the utility of projects will evolve with it. Taking into account the various tools associated with projects will help you identify which projects can be sustainable and contribute to the growth of the space as a whole.

Note: Investing in cryptocurrency and cryptoassets is subject to financial risk and readers should do their own due diligence. Entrepreneur Media does not support such investments.