Decentralized Futures -> Asset Hub: NFT Development

[bruno]

Introduction

Hello! We have an amazing proposal around improving the NFT infrastructure on Asset Hub that we would like to share with you!

Motivation

Asset Hub is an asset portal for the entire network, providing functionality for deploying and transferring assets, whether Fungible or Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

Asset Hub should act as a good first stop for developers to explore the possibilities of NFTs in Polkadot. The NFTs pallet, built by one of the developers in this proposal, was a start for this. It provides robust, simplified, and standardized access to NFT 2.0 features on Asset Hub.

Since it was launched in June 2023, the NFTs pallet created traction:

• 310+ collections created to date on Polkadot/Kusama Asset Hub

This is a 3x multiple when compared to its predecessor (uniques pallet) which had 94 collections on Polkadot/Kusama in a span of over 2 years.

With this proposal, we plan on 10x-ing the number of collections created on Asset Hub by adding new NFT verticals and sought-after NFT features along with UIs that show off the power of the underlying pallets and tutorials to onboard the next wave of developers on to Polkadot.

Project Details

The components listed below are common good, usable by anyone:

NFT Lending Protocol

We will develop and submit for deployment a Lending pallet that will allow NFT holders to lend their NFTs on Asset Hub. Additionally, we will build an example UI to show-case the interaction with this pallet and make it easy for community developers to integrate NFT lending into their solutions.

What benefits will the Lending Protocol bring to Polkadot?

1. Tap into a new NFT vertical for Polkadot (that already exists in other ecosystems) and as a byproduct adding additional utility around NFTs on Asset Hub
2. Bring NFT liquidity into Polkadot
   • Take for example NFTfi who claim to be the leading liquidity protocol for NFTs on the Ethereum Network. As of writing they have:
     • $500M+ total loan volume (on Ethereum)
     • 56K total number of loans (on Ethereum)
3. Build a Polkadot-only NFT lending feature by leveraging the power of Substrate

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NFT Subscriptions

NFT subscriptions are a mechanism that grants access to particular services, benefits, rewards, etc.

We will develop and submit for deployment a Subscription pallet for Asset Hub. Additionally, we will build a dApp portal as an example of how to interact with this pallet to make it easy for community developers to integrate NFT subscriptions into their solutions.

What benefits will NFT Subscriptions bring to Polkadot?

1. Lay the foundation for a new NFT vertical that can be used to disrupt the web2 subscription space
2. Bringing more utility around NFTs on Asset Hub
3. Currently, in order to implement subscriptions we would need to rely on token allowances and streaming escrow contracts. This approach is very complex, fragile, and hard to use. By creating a standardized subscriptions pallet we can simplify the usage/creation of subscriptions and bring completely new users and businesses into Polkadot
4. Community will be able to leverage NFT Subscriptions in their dApps

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Trade NFTs in any asset

We will add this feature into the current NFT pallet’s code with the testing and the proper migration and we will create examples for showcasing developers on how to use this new feature.

What benefits will trading NFTs in any asset bring to Polkadot?

1. Trade NFTs using stablecoins
   • There is a big demand for trading NFTs or NFT subscriptions in stablecoins. We wouldn’t be able to digitalize, for example Netflix subscriptions, if we would need to charge the end users in very volatile assets
2. Bring the utility for any asset on Asset Hub. Anyone can create a token, launch their own marketplace, and allow to trade NFTs by using their tokens

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NFT Minting dApp

A dApp to mint and manage the Asset Hub NFTs (no trading / catalog to avoid competition with marketplaces, just a minter / management dashboard).

What benefits will the NFT minting dApp bring to Polkadot?

1. Truly leverage NFTs pallet 2.0 features
   • The new NFTs pallet provides a very rich feature set which is accessible from the PJS Apps Extrinsic page. For some extrinsics you would even need to know how to calculate the bitflag values. This is a no-go for the majority of users and even developers. Unfortunately, we can’t expect marketplaces to cover all these features since it doesn’t relate to their businesses. The minting portal would address this and provide the UI for all the possible NFTs pallet related methods.
2. Create a UI tool to facilitate mass minting
   • Currently there is no easy way to mint NFTs en masse. The latest mints for Polkadot Blockchain Academy and Sub0 required spending days and using CLI tools to mint and distribute all the NFTs.

Conclusion

In essence, our proposal is a comprehensive endeavor to enhance the NFT infrastructure on Asset Hub, fostering a vibrant ecosystem that attracts developers and users alike. We believe that these advancements will not only meet the current needs of the Polkadot community but also anticipate and accommodate the future demands of the evolving NFT landscape. We invite you to join us on this exciting journey toward a more dynamic and user-friendly NFT experience on Asset Hub.

[Jegor]

A big shout-out to the KodaDot team for helping get to 350+ collections (as of the time of writing)!

[decentration]

Hey there, i thought i provide some feedback that might help direct your exploration.

There are various projects working on the various concepts you mentioned, i recommend referencing a few more of them ( especially related to NFTs and Subscriptions), because it will shows you have an understanding of what projects are going on in the ecosystem; and then you can perhaps see what they are working on and show how what you are working on complements it, or is different in some way, which will bolster your case.

I’m actually very interested in the subscriptions aspect of this post. On-chain Subscriptions and automations will bring real revenue models and create sustainable businesses that have users.

1. Lay the foundation for a new NFT vertical that can be used to disrupt the web2 subscription space

Having an NFT that you are provided on the basis that you make regular payments is interesting. Though just on-chain payment automation is powerful enough in itself (to disrupt web2 subscriptions)

1. Currently, in order to implement subscriptions we would need to rely on token allowances and streaming escrow contracts. This approach is very complex, fragile, and hard to use. By creating a standardized subscriptions pallet we can simplify the usage/creation of subscriptions and bring completely new users and businesses into Polkadot

Let me point your attention to Oak who have done some very strong work. Check out 2 of their pallets that deal with price and time triggers, and you can vary the frequency of recurring payment collections. Such as monthly payment subscriptions for NFTs.

IMO, you may not need to build another subscriptions pallet if you have not started to already, you can leverage Turing parachain (OAKs parachain on Kusama) and create a cross chain DApp that harnesses NFTs from AssetHub and on-chain subscriptions with Oak.

We have the opportunity to leverage the cross-chain infrastructure abstraction layer, where you can cherry pick what pallets you need from different chains and then build user experiences around that. Which may free you from the burden of building pallets and the UIs to match.

If you want to build pallets for Asset Hub you wouuld need to start the conversations with the fellowship who decide what to deploy on system chains.

[Jegor]

Hey @decentration, it’s an interesting idea to use the Oak infrastructure indeed!
Basically, for each subscription, we can create a separate temporary sub-account and a method to update the subscription’s state based on the balance in that account.

This means a user (with the help of a dapp) will be free to choose any automation payment provider he wants. I, as a user, could set up a money stream using Oak that would send the tokens via xcm to that generated account and trigger the subscription state’s update method.

Maybe as a fallback, we could also add a very primitive subscription management logic (start/stop/pay upfront).

[chris_oak]

Thank you for mentioning the automation features on the Turing Network, OAK’s Kusama parachain @decentration and @Jegor!

Indeed, I believe that once we establish XCM connections between the Asset Hub and Turing Network, the possibilities, including streaming NFTs and tokens on the Asset Hub will become feasible, similar to those possible across Turing, Moonriver and Shiden.

We are excited to announce the imminent launch of our Automation Hub, a platform designed to showcase the potential of the above mentioned cross-chain automations across Kusama parachains. We’re targeting to go live next week, so I invite you to explore the platform once it’s available.

Our initial roll-out will introduce features like auto-pay, auto-bridge, and stake compounding. But that’s just the beginning! We are committed to expanding and enhancing the automation features based on what we hear from the community. Your feedback will be invaluable in shaping the product’s future!