Polkadot ecosystem has some of the world’s most advanced NFT tech, yet it lacks significantly in the adoption of it. We believe that besides the market forces, the system of how NFTs are represented in the ecosystem and how they are promoted is a significant factor, that is the source of low adoption.
From the start our ecosystem was created with competing parachains (middleware) that are to individually bring the new projects to the ecosystem. While competition is healthy for creating a diversified offering, we now have a dozen parachains that have very little power to attract traction individually. We propose to address this by uniting, creating the common front to represent Polkadot NFT interests and improve the traction for everyone.
Our team (mostly from Unique Network) has been working on the plan to create the Collective for the last month, based on work that was being prepared for Parity Business Development team in the prior months. We have spoken with a number of active NFT parachains, which I am inviting voice their views on this initiative here for the public view. We have also consulted a number of people and organizations in the ecosystem to get feedback, input and new ideas on what needs to be done and how, and we thank them all for providing it.
Here is the draft high-level plan for what the NFT Collective is and what it plans to do.
The plan has many links for anyone who is interested in details, which I encourage all to read as some of them have very deep insights that are important for the ecosystem.
We would like to solicit community feedback on the plan, it’s components and ideas that can be substantial. We have many more ideas, but we tried to focus on what’s possible to do in the timeframes we are working on, with resources we can get and what can have the biggest impact in the short term.
supportive of this initiative. A group to help discuss standards, use cases, and to help advocate the power of NFTs (both at SC level and Pallet Level) is needed. We have so many good things to say that are not widely known (even amongst ourselves).
Nick D
I think the best way to consider this is that the investment has been made into the infrastructure. But infrastructure of any kind has zero value if there is no use. Collaboration with parachains to work out the best use cases that DON"T involve speculative - zero utilisation models will ultimately be a good thing for all.
I like the marketing aspects, to have projects with genuine utility for promoting what NFTs can become, helps everyone’s brand, and with more users, makes Polkadot more valuable and therefore every parachain benefits - it’s up to them to build their business.
This is amazing initiative.
I as Polkadot Head Ambassador, personally and PromoTeam can participate to make informational and marketing support for the Polkadot NFT Collective. There are several NFT projects and most advanced tech but almost 0 engagement.
I think engagement will come generally with the growing of Polkadot , but here are some directions that Polkadot NFT Collective can cover:
- Standardization of NFT technologies and frameworks, PolkadotSDK pallets that can be used interchain, tech-documentation and lowering barriers for developers, including those who are not familiar with PolkadotSDK aka Substrate.
- Attraction of developers, web2 community who want to implement NFT features to the products, participation in conferences, events to promote new NFT standards.
- Work as Business Development Branch: presentations, NFT Collective as hot-point for all connected to NFT.
- Attraction of Liquidity into Polkadot NFT Ecosystem - it can be one of the priority to reach in next cycle.
- Collaborative projects inside the ecosystem - like one BIG Trading Platform for all NFT collections.
- Interchain connections - collaborations with other ecosystems.
Funding:
This initiative can be funded from the Polkadot Treasury, some small part can be transferred to stablecoins via HydraDX pool model, to finance daily activities, another. bigger part, to Staking. And the staking rewards can finance all the developments and functioning of NFT Collective longterm.
Government:
Polkadot NFT Collective can be the structure similar to Fellowship that can include top NFT players of the ecosystem. They decide about funding and directions to develop more. And its like 3-5 Council members, who in charge of signing. Once per quarter Council publicly report to the community , answer the questions and so on. Council members can be elected position, form Polkadot NFT Collective members.
I think this initiative to should be focussed on useful NFTs.
The most useful NFT in the ecosystem is CoreTime. Maybe there will be others that deserve similar attention, but its the only NFT that I care about. If you care about others, fine, but the CoreTime one needs additional help and those others will do just fine so long as people care about them.
In particular, this NFT supports the possibility of building secondary markets to make resource allocation more efficient.
The value of DOT will increase with the construction of this secondary market.
Do you think you could focus on this one NFT central to Polkadot 2.0’s future? See Lastik for one company doing this, thus far.
Also, I don’t think anyone has a monopoly on the word “Collective”, but I’m hoping the word “Collective” in the ecosystem is tied to the Collectives system chain or a parachain using the same pallets. Maybe use “Coalition” instead?
Thanks, Alex!
I’m waiting for a few parachains better suited to put together plans for liquidity and trading of Collectables, some are working on it. Other then that, all you mention is in the plan, including Governance, which we envision exactly that way. Funding is planned to come initially from the Futures Decentralized fund, and then switch to Treasury by the end of 2024.
Understood! Will discuss with the godfather of our organization (it wasn’t us), and respond. The idea that we have is to actually become a Collective as you defined it (you can see the reference to you in the text :)), so maybe an aspirational Collective?
Of course we can, and we will if the decision makers are interested in participation from the experts. I’m trying to get through to Parity tech management to discuss the whole initiative and how we can be helpful, The NFT you mention is certainly the kind of expertise that is now within this group. We talked to the Builders Program, they were very happy to hear about this and we found 10 ways we can help them. We already built the NFT XCM (POC going live in December) with support from the Parity XCM team, don’t see why not the Coretime trading platform - that will be easy :).
It’s breaking the sugar hit habit of NFT speculation. I feel/think that Polkadot has the culture to do this? Just note that the value of DOT will also increase with an influx of users (I have biased to gamers). Not saying you are wrong - re. Coretime, but let’s look at an overall strategy to make Polkadot THE winner in Web3.
I couldn’t agree more. I also think that the most useful NFT for the current Polkadot ecosystem at the moment would be Coretime, and if this initiative can be combined with Coretime applications, that should be ideal.
I also had another discussion with @joepetrowski in the Magport thread about system parachains and non-system parachains which focus on usage of official terms. I think there still needs to be a clear definition and knowledge dissemination; otherwise, the use of Collective is actually the same as the use of system parachain and common good parachain; the focus is not on monopoly but on the fact that inappropriate terminology will make the project futilely endorsed and the public unnecessarily misunderstand.
That’s why I’m in favor of using Alliance or Coalition instead of Collective, because we should win the public through application development, not ephemeral vanity.
Hi Alexandar, that’s such a good and needed intiative
here!
Many many dotsama community members are still here from the start, very supportive within the ecosystem
We indeed have some weekness/lack of collaborative actions between nfts actors within the eco. We need to gather to impulse a new dynamic for the good of all NFTs enthousiasts.
Will be glad to participate.
Thank you for your hard work in our eco.
Hi Alex, thanks for putting this together. Organizing the resources and presenting a united front will be highly beneficial in growing the NFT segment. Your proposal can be summarized into 3 key objectives: document, BD, marketing.
I have a few questions:
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Unique and other NFT parachains are fairly well documented, how will this initiative improve whats available?
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How will coalition distribute leads from BD fairly?
Thanks!
- Documentation - main task would be to assess what’s missing, mainly for those who want to use NFTs pallet and perhaps for Ink!, and to create again a united developer experience.
- Leads - you look at the positioning document it gives a good base for BD efforts - a high level overview of Polkadot differentiators and options. The leads should then know a bit about options (info and positioning to be provided by each parachain) and will be passed on to the parachains they choose. This is one of the biggest reasons we need a Council to create and enforce policies like that one, to insure objectivity and fair access for all.
Aventus is in support of this proposal - we are completely slammed until Christmas delivering on existing deals but would be keen to actively participate from next year.
Great work Alex and thanks for driving this forward. I can attest to the appetite for building and launching NFT projects on Polkadot, across a broad range of use cases, and this is a crucial initiative to spur long-term adoption. Agree that we should be focusing on “useful” NFTs rather than speculative, but also recognise that it is hard to pick winners or predict which projects and purposes will eventually gain traction. A unified front which clearly aligns our offering and standardises where possible will enable more teams to launch with less friction, catalysing sustainable growth.
Hi Alex, thank you and the team for your work. I support this proposal. Uniting to form a collective front for Polkadot’s NFT interests is a strategic move that will enhance traction and adoption across the ecosystem. The collaborative approach is essential for amplifying our individual strengths and driving forward innovation in the NFT space.
Thanks, Sofia! I hope we can have some real breakthroughs by working together!
Given all the confusion in the ecosystem , these initiatives are timely and important. Some thoughts below
1. Urgency: Given the negative sentiment around the Polakdot ecosystem at the moment - it is reassuring to see that there is still a group of talented people who are willing to invest their time, energy and careers into the ecosystem. While things dont look very exciting for Polkadot esp in the last few months - the overall crypto market seems to be on the tip of the iceberg. So i would hope to see an urgency around this. Urgency in approvals and in execution. I suspect if these initiatives are not implemented asap - the existing talent in the ecosystem will soon find other ecosystems to invest their energy in.
2. Investment and execution Agree with the fact that Polkadot is not a preferred chain for NFTs. Within the ecosystem there is an understanding that the most advanced NFT applications can be built here but no one knows/cares - Unfortunately this cant be fixed without a significant investment given that we are way behind chains that have already established themselves. I hope the ecosystem makes a proper investment plan and a roadmap to implementation - Thanks to Alexander Mitrovich for the leadership here.
Look forward to some real progress here.
We have lots of moving pieces in terms of NFT tech in Polkadot, this initiative to unite parachains for a common goal is a brilliant move. It’s great to see the Polkadot community coming together to address the challenges in NFT adoption. Your collaborative approach is exactly what’s needed to make a significant impact in the ecosystem.