Inside PROOF Protocol & on the Coinbase NFT Launch
TLDR
An inside view into one of the hottest NFT communities from the perspective of a holder.
Coinbase NFT launches its beta and sees modest usage.
Onjuno is a product that converts your paycheck into crypto for you.
A Chat With A PROOF Protocol NFT Holder
It’s fair to say that the hottest NFTs on the market right now are Moonbirds. Moonbirds racked up $282 million of primary and secondary sales in the first two days (more than BAYC in the previous 30 days combined).
With the launch of Moonbirds, the PROOF Protocol brand is leading the charge on utility driven NFTs. Moonbirds racked up $282 million of primary and secondary sales in the first two days (more than BAYC in the previous 30 days combined). But according to Kevin Rose, a PROOF Protocol founder, he doesn’t focus on the sales. Speaking on the Bankless Podcast Rose stated that instead he focuses on the amount of unique holders of the projects (PROOF has 933 unique holders), the quality of discussion in the Discord, and building a community through virtual and live events.
Kevin also added that the process of PROOF and related NFT projects is a great way to monetize a brand. Kevin started out hosting a podcast on NFTs and found that the content was being hindered by the amount and types of ads he had to have on his podcast. Even with the ads, he found himself barely profitable. With PROOF and Moonbirds royalties, he can focus on creating top level content and hosting live events with less stress on constantly finding advertisers.
Chainletter had previously written on the PROOF protocol and the idea of utility driven NFTs. This week, we will get an idea of what Moonbirds and PROOF protocol is like from the perspective of an owner, Abraham (@abraham_l_l).
How did you hear about PROOF Protocol?
A friend of mine who is a big fan of Kevin Rose picked up two passes and told me about the project shortly after. Truthfully, at first I was pretty skeptical; given that ~$10,000 is quite a-lot for what seemed to center around discord access. But, I liked the high unique holder count, the team, and what the membership group generally stood for; so I bought one.
What has been the most surprising or interesting thing about being a part of PROOF?
The diversity of the group. We have artists, tradfi employees, full-time web3 folks, and many more.
Do you feel like membership to the Discord has given value to you (whether in terms of educational conversations, alpha, private access to PROOF projects)?
Yes, without a doubt. I’ve personally received the most value from the connections I’ve made through the group and private access to PROOF projects. Proof isn’t really an alpha group, it’s grounded in helping each other out and growing long-term.
What excites you most about the future of PROOF?
The team. I think the Proof team is the creme de la creme of teams in NFTs. I’m looking forward to the innovations and high-quality work they will bring to the space.
Have you/do you plan on attending any of the live events?
Yes, I’ve been to both official NYC events and plan to attend future live events. The first was held at a rooftop type bar venue in NYC and had probably ~50 attendees. I think this one was technically not an official event, but Ryan Carson was there etc. General vibe was kind of networking and just talking to people about how they got into the space etc. This event was for only Proof holders i believe. The second event was held at Betaworks studio in NYC and was a similar vibe but with more formatting; Q and A with Kevin and Ryan etc. Probably 100-150 people there. All proof holders; although there were some pre-events which +1s could come too.
CoinBase NFT Launches Beta
Coinbase launched a beta version of its official NFT platform on April 20th to a few people on its 3 million person waiting list. For a limited time the platform is waiving all fees as it begins to roll out the platform to more users.
Coinbase NFT is differentiating itself from other NFT marketplaces by adding a social media aspect to its platform. According to their blog post users will create a profile, be able to follow other profiles, comment on NFTs, and upvote and downvote comments as they see fit. In addition, Coinbase NFT will make personalized NFT recommendations based on your purchase and search history. This is likely to make the service more interactive and allow creators to engage more with their communities. It could also bring cyberbullying and other inflammatory comments, which would likely bring some form of content moderation. Coinbase has yet to comment on what that would look like.
The project is powered by 0x, as announced in a tweet by 0x. 0x brands themselves as a “decentralized exchange and the trusted open-source standard for swapping NFTs across many blockchains”. Currently 0x supports Ethereum, Polygon, Fantom, Avalanche, Optimism, BNB Chain, and Celo. They also offer up to 54% gas savings compared to other NFT marketplaces. Partnering with Coinbase NFT is a huge partnership, which was reflected in a 60% price increase of its ZRX token. The good news kept coming in for 0x as they also announced that they raised $70M in a series B round.
The Coinbase NFT platform has seen modest usage in its first week according to Dune Analytics. In its first week, the platform saw about 900 total transactions with 681 total users. This low interaction with the platform is likely due to the fact that a small number of users were allowed into the beta testing, but it will be interesting to keep an eye on the usage after Coinbase NFT announced availability to everyone.
As the most popular centralized cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, the Coinbase NFT platform will likely onboard a lot of new users into the world of NFTs, especially when they roll out the feature to purchase NFTs directly with a credit card.
An Easy Way To Get Paid In Crypto
For those who believe in the future of cryptocurrency, many have wished or considered getting paid in cryptocurrency. OnJuno is a fintech company that is allowing users of the service to easily convert their paycheck into cryptocurrency. Partnering with Ledger, all a user has to do is connect to their bank and select what percentage of their paycheck they would like to receive in crypto (BTC, ETH, and USDC are offered). This is an effective way to essentially get paid in cryptocurrency when it may not be an option given to you by your employer.
Around the Fire: Community Updates
April 23rd marked the one year anniversary of ChainForest! In a little over a year the ChainForest community has grown to almost 400 members, hosted several live meetups, cultivated interesting and thought provoking discussion in its Discord, and is in the process of raising its first fund.
Upcoming Chainforest Events
Set your reminders for Chainforest’s next Twitter Space coming May 5th at 9:00 P.M. EST (10:00 PM UTC). The conversation will be hosted by Moonshot Research (@nvandervink & @KidQuartz1) and feature guest speakers from @BeanstalkFarms (@isthispublius, @LawDumpling, and @itsmod323).
A link to the event is here: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1nAJEYQwpMaJL