How to make unlockable NFT content in 2023

The uses of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are many. The innovative ways to use these digital resources are only limited by the imagination of creators. Although the non-fungible market has taken a hit since 2021, the sector is still making progress in the art, music and gaming industries.

NFTs are incredibly imaginative, and designers can take advantage of this to expand their utility. One such component that can increase NFT’s value beyond the digital token is unlockable content. Unlockable content is essentially a key to unique goods and services that are exclusively available to the holders. Furthermore, unlockable content is a new approach to draw attention to the secondary market and a useful tool to increase the value of a collection.

There are only a handful of markets that enable unlockable content. This is mainly because there are two major difficulties that markets must overcome.

First, there is a storage issue. Platforms do not offer on-chain storage as this can result in higher prices. As a result, NFTs are usually held in distributed file systems such as IPFS, Arweave, or even centralized.

Second, unlockables become quite platform specific if not truly kept in the chain. The concepts for developing unique unlocked material and the potential to include it in NFT collections are so limited. OpenSea, Solsea, Rarible and Mintable are a few NFT platforms that have already included unlockable content for NFTs to their platform.

How to create unlockable content for your NFT collection?

Marketplaces usually give artists the choice to include unlocked material when setting up non-fungibles. Adding unlocked material to OpenSea, Solsea or other markets that enable this has little or no effect. Only plain text content can be unlocked. NFT markets offer a large text area for artists to add material they like. This may include a description of the work, a letter of thanks or a certificate.

NFT producers cannot submit files they want in the form of an image or video. This is due to unlockable content extension settings that are only compatible with the text format. Instead, they can only provide links to the required files located in alternative storage solutions. However, they will still need to manage these files. Therefore, the creators must ensure that the material is available for a very long period of time.

To create unlockable content, users and creators simply need to upload their NFT and fill in the unlockable content section with a description or link to other material.

Lockable material for NFTs is an endless realm of artists’ creativity, which only enhances the functionality of NFTs, and its importance cannot be overstated. Unlockables also increase the utility of NFTs. Therefore, the feature of having exclusive content for buyers has a lot of potential for the future.