WTF are POAPs? The protocol on the exciting power of the attendance certificate
Over the past few years, the Proof of Attendance Protocol, often referred to by the acronym POAP (pronounced “poh-ap” or “poe-app”), has grown by leaps and bounds alongside the NFT space. Once conceived as a simple platform used to issue commemorative NFTs to the Web3 community, the protocol only leveled up in 2022, completing a $10 million funding round and incorporated.
Yet, while POAP has spread to the farthest reaches of the non-fungible ecosystem, the general NFT enthusiast remains unaware of the true power of the unique platform. While many are happy enough to click a link, collect a commemorative badge and move on, few have delved deeply into understanding the possible significance of POAP in terms of blockchain technology and Web3 culture.
As POAP has grown in popularity, the company’s Chief Communications Officer David Chung and Chief Growth Officer Anthony Bertolino continue to vouch for the viability of their platform in the changing NFT market. We sat down with the pair to get some insight into the technology and team behind the developing protocol and to find out why Chung and co believe POAP is “the perfect amalgamation of the human condition and Web3.”
What is POAP?
Simply put, POAP is a protocol that enables users to create digital badges or collectibles using blockchain technology. The origins of the company date back to 2019, when it was introduced at ETHDenver. Like other marketplaces/platforms in the NFT ecosystem, POAP allows users to, well, create NFTs. But a very specific and unique type of commemorative style NFTs. And these NFTs are often called POAPs.
Yes, that’s right, the platform itself is called POAP and The token-style NFTs created on the platform are also called POAPs. It is important to note that while other commemorative NFT platforms similar to POAP exist, the Proof of Attendance Protocol was the first of its kind, leading almost every NFT of a similar nature to be called a POAP. Think of it as a kind of generization, like how facial tissue is often referred to as Kleenex®.
The main function of the POAP platform is to enable event coordinators, project developers and even the average joe to create commemorative tokens to immortalize events, activations and memories on the blockchain. (More on the process of creating POAPs later.)
“Throughout human history, people have always collected things. Whether it is, lately, baseball cards, movie tickets or concert tickets. Or if we go way back, it would be something like sending shells between tribesmen,” Bertolino said. “POAP is one of the first protocols for digital collectibles. It’s built on blockchain technology, so collectibles can be stored permanently without you having to maintain them.”
What are POAPs mainly used for?
As the NFT space grew through 2021, POAPs quickly became an avenue for organizers to reward event attendees, Twitter Space attendees, NFT drop attendees, Discord members, and more. Over time, POAPs began to gain utility as status symbols, encouraging holders to collect them on OpenSea to potentially receive benefits afterwards.
To date, several artists and developers have used POAPs to whitelist holders for subsequent drops, with Gmoney’s Admit One collection becoming one of the most prominent to do so. As POAPs gain more utility, they even become a backwards compatible prerequisite for past event attendees to obtain NFT tickets for future ones.
But Bertolino notes that while portability, transferable provenance, and immutable digital ownership are of course salient features of POAP—as they are with NFTs in general—the protocol exists in a way that allows not only those familiar with blockchain technology, but also Normal people. the opportunity to become issuers. This is where POAP really shines through as a steward of mainstream NFT adoption.
Talking about the use cases of the POAP platform, Bertolino highlights that POAPs can be created for any type of physical or digital event. “Anything from as a large company where you want to give out a digital collectible at your booth, to a personal event, like commemorating a wedding or a birthday, or a community event, like a Twitter Space,” Bertolino said.
“You can use [POAP] in any way you want. You can use it for token gating, you can use it as a loyalty badge for the same 10 attendees who come to your event every year, or it can be used to build a small personal community. It is very accessible. That’s probably the word we should use. It’s accessible to everyone,” Chung added.
NFTs are cool, but are they useful?
Undoubtedly, POAP is defined by its memorable and accessible nature. And while these two features may seem trivial, they speak to the core values that help drive innovation in the NFT ecosystem.
In particular, an underappreciated utility of POAPs emerged recently, in 2022, with the introduction of Soulbound tokens (SBTs). While SBTs, proposed via an article written in part by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, have become a shining example of the latent powers of NFT and blockchain technology, Bertolino believes that POAP is the original proof of concept of identity and reputation- tokens.
“The truth of the matter is, in a spiritual sense, POAP is actually the original Soulbound token. Just because we haven’t set up the contracts to lock tokens to your address doesn’t mean that POAPs aren’t Soulbound tokens,” said Bertolino.”[POAPs] are your memories and they are very much connected to your soul. Whether they are linked to your wallet address or not is a completely different matter.”
Bertolino notes that while POAPs do not embody the specific functionality of Soulbound tokens as it pertains to how SBTs can operate in a decentralized society, they adhere to the narrative of being real achievements and accolades that tie to organizations and events . Apparently, the biggest difference between POAPs and SBTs is the immutability aspect, as POAPs can be made by and traded to anyone, while SBTs are said to be non-transferable and secured to a person’s “Soul Wallet” .
Another difference between how we perceive SBTs and POAPs is the availability factor. SBTs will be inherently unaffordable because they require a robust sense of security to be viable. With POAP, safety is of course an important factor, but only as important as it is for any NFT collection or general enthusiast.
According to Bertolino, POAPs exist separately from speculation in the NFT space. “Say you’re making a POAP for your birthday. There will be no secondary volume in the market for it. No one will buy it, he said. “So POAP is one of the few use cases we could see scaling to mainstream adoption that has nothing to do with speculation and also proves that blockchain technology is valuable.”
Without the aspect of collecting ETH, submitting transactions, paying gas fees and all the other things that come with being an NFT collector, the bar for entry into the POAP ecosystem is low. And because of how easy POAP is to use, really anyone can get involved, without needing any knowledge or context for NFTs. “We’re constantly iterating the protocol and the experience to make it easier, more fun and more friendly,” Bertolino said.
How to get started with POAP
The POAP platform is constantly expanding, meaning that new opportunities for builders are more likely than not on the way. Indeed, both Chung and Bertolino were significantly confident about the future of the POAP platform, although they were not at liberty to divulge exactly why.
For now, though, if you hope to get involved in the POAP ecosystem, you’ll want to do so either as an issuer or aggregator.
How to make a POAP
Creating a POAP release is done on the POAP Events page. Just click on the “Create New POAP” icon. Fill in the information on the “Create new POAP” page. This includes uploading the image you want to turn into a badge. It can be a PNG or APNG, but it cannot exceed 200KB. For best results, use a round image with dimensions of 500 x 500 pixels.
After filling all required details and navigating through prompts, check your email for POAP edit and claim codes. Your edit code is required if you need to make changes to your event information or tags.
Even if you already have codes, you will need to wait for pre-approval to go live on the POAP platform. This process usually takes about 24 hours. Once approved, you send out your claim codes to all your intended recipients of POAPs. If you need more codes, you can get them through the event editor page.
How to collect a POAP
To claim a POAP, you must first download the POAP app, available through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Once you’ve downloaded the app, navigate to the bottom right of the page and tap the “Mint” button to see the available mint options. POAPs can be claimed in one of three ways: by entering a secret word, by scanning a QR code, or by entering the last six characters of a mint link. When you choose one of these three methods and click mint, POAP is now yours to share throughout the metaverse. But remember that POAPs do not appear on the Ethereum Mainnet, so to move it to your regular NFT wallet, you need to migrate it over to the Mainnet by following a simple process and submitting a transaction.
As the POAP platform evolves, these processes may or may not change. Still, it seems one thing will remain the same: Proof of Attendance Protocol and its growing community will continue to remain, as Bertolino puts it, “fun, smart and connected.”
