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By Lin Dai, CEO, OneOf
I’m a nerd, an entrepreneur, and a dad to a toddler. Exactly 1 year ago today, backed by the legendary Quincy Jones, OneOf came out of more than 2 years of stealth mode and planted our flag in the emerging NFT landscape. The past year has been nothing but jaw-dropping for this nascent industry, like nothing I have ever experienced before.
For All Fans
When the prolific “Kite VC” Bill Tai (20+ take public exits, 7 unicorns in 2021 alone including Zoom, Dapper Labs, and more) showed me Crypto Kitties in 2017 at the Ocean Gala with Sir Richard Branson, a light bulb turned on. NFT is a brand new use case for blockchain that could be fun and understandable by the masses.
Cryptocurrency is scary for my mom. The overnight millionaires, the lambos culture, the hacks, the volatilities, and the vilification by central banks make for sensational headlines that mainstream media can’t get enough of, which both emboldened a new-era of 49er’s panning for gold, but also made my mom shake her head and say “It’s not for me.” But I told myself that NFTs would be different as we embarked on a mission to build a blockchain use case for the masses, something that’s not “scary” for the average consumer.
The $69 million Beeple NFT sale was a watershed moment in NFT history, it legitimized the technology but also drew speculators to the space like never before. NFTs quickly replaced ICOs for “Currency Entrepreneurs”, and “Lazy-mint” shifted astronomical transaction fees to the buyers who compete in “gas wars” for the chance to flip and profit. Newcomers drawn by the promise are often shilled on and left holding the bag. Even expert users are not immune. I’ve had dozens of conversations at VeeCon recently with friends and leaders in the NFT space, shockingly every one of them has experienced some kind of hack or rug-pull (where project founders took the money and abandoned the community). The losses are often hundreds of thousands of dollars, and everyone shrugged it off as “a learning experience.”
It’s not OK. We are not doing enough to protect the buyers. We are not ready for mass adoption if we can’t bring down the astronomical gas prices, provide professional-grade services to protect consumers’ digital assets, and make the onboarding as easy as buying anything on Amazon.
Creators First
Music, sports, and lifestyle are passion points that unite tens of millions of people. It’s easier now than ever for creators to aggregate hundreds of thousands, even millions of fans. Yet few artists and creators are “making it.” Monetizing on web2 platforms earns pennies per stream if anything at all, compared to recent stats that point to Web3 artists monetizing on average $174k in 2021. The stats are skewed greatly at the higher end of the spectrum by artists like Beeple, and companies like Yuga Labs; nevertheless, it’s a game-changer potentially for millions of creators.
A music artist, for example, at the beginning of his or her career, no longer has to decide whether they should collateralize their future recording, song-writing, or touring revenue with a traditional label, publisher or promoter, instead they can allow an NFT community of hundreds to thousands of passionate fans to be part owners in their next project and participate like never before.
But we are not doing enough to lower the barriers to entry for new artists and creators. Minting costs and the technical knowledge required to succeed in Web3 are not favorable for the independent artist or rising social media stars. Although talent is universally distributed, wealth in Web3 is not. Over 90% of the NFT sales proceeds went to male creators. Minority and women creators are way under-represented in what was supposed to be the new democratizing space. OneOf is the only NFT platform where more than 80% of our NFTs were made by minority or female artists, and our “CO//SIGN” program highlights emerging artists and empower them with the tools and financial backing to succeed in Web3. But that’s just the beginning. Today, I’m proud to announce our first advisory board. These female and minority trailblazers in Web3, entertainment, government and beyond will hold me and our leadership team accountable in continuing our mission of building the most inclusive platform and company in Web3.
A Sustainable Future
I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the mentorship and guidance of two incredible VCs who partnered with me from day one, Bill Tai of Actai Ventures and Suna Said of Nima Capital. They cared less about short term profits but rather how to build a sustainable industry in the long run. Bill famously was the first backer of Zoom, as well as a passionate climate activist who co-founded the Necker-Island blockchain summit with Sir Richard Branson, the only blockchain conference where you do not talk about financial applications of blockchain. Minting an NFT on a platform built on Proof-of-Work networks takes the energy that can power the average U.S. household for 5+ days. Artists were often immediately attacked on Twitter for how their NFT initiatives harm the environment. OneOf uses up to 2M times less energy to mint on Proof-of-Stake networks such as Tezos and Polygon, less than the energy to send out a tweet. The future of Web3 is sustainability.
We’re not all gonna make it, and that in the long run, that’s a good thing. The first wave of NFTs brought out the promise of a new future as well as a dark side of greed and profit at all costs. Wash trading, rug-pulls, hacks and scams were synonymous with the first “Golden Age” of NFTs, however unsustainable. As the market cools and crypto enters a contraction portion of the cycle, the easy money is going to evaporate. Transaction volumes on platforms built to cater to crypto-whales and wash trading are drying up. Other than the top few platforms, most will fail or be consolidated in the next 12 to 24 months. Many Web3 “founders” will pack their bags and move on, much like many of the ICO founders in 2017 became cannabis “entrepreneurs” after the last crash.
The next era of NFTs will be defined by the everyday fans and creators of all stripes and backgrounds. Our belief is stronger and the roadmap more robust than ever. It’s an exciting time to build.
About OneOf: Deeply committed to a sustainable blockchain future, OneOf is an NFT platform that supports NFTs on multiple energy-efficient blockchains, to create sustainable, creator-and-fan-friendly experiences. Minting an NFT on OneOf’s platform uses up to over 2 million times less energy than proof-of-work networks, and for its users, purchasing NFTs costs $0 in blockchain gas fees. OneOf aims to bring the next 100 million non-crypto-native fans into Web3 by removing the technical frictions and allowing fans to pay for their NFTs with credit/debit cards as well as major cryptocurrencies. Committed to diversity, over 80% of the collections featured on OneOf come from minority or female creators. In addition, OneOf donates portions of proceeds from every NFT collection to its artist or athlete partner’s preferred charity.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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