Exploring the Polkadot NFT Ecosystem — Space Recap
GM,
As part of the NFT month, Astar Network has hosted its second space to explore the Polkadot NFT ecosystem. A big thanks to all our speakers and everyone joining us in the audience!
If you couldn’t tune in or simply want to catch up with the most important things discussed, read on.
You can find a recording of the space here:
Speakers
On-stage this time were Riqi, CEO of Paras, Kusama Kingdom, and Csaint from the Kusamarian. Ramz and I from the Astar Team hosted and moderated the space.
Discussion
How did you get into the Polkadot Ecosystem?
Csaint: It was NFTs during the middle of the bull market. It took some time for me to understand it all, but Kusama really stood out to me with RMKR NFTs. I felt that this type of NFT could be used for much more than just flexing.
Ramz: For me, Polkadot started with Edgeware, which offered governance tools. I was researching the areas of voting, and eventually got into Kusama NFTs, and now I’m here at Astar.
Kusama Kingdom: Polkadot made the most sense for us as a project starting with me personally being already involved in the community. And then, we also evaluated that this is the place we can have the biggest impact on Kusama. It would have been very hard to fight the noise on chains like Solana or Kusama. We’re fortunate to have a super supportive community now here.
Riqi: For us, expanding from NEAR to Polkadot is more technical. We believe that Polkadot is one of the best places to tap into multiple chains at once. In terms of community, there are a lot of devs here, and therefore innovation. As geeks, this is the right place for us.
NFTs and their bad reputation
Csaint: When people hear about NFTs, they see BAYC, Punks, and other very expensive collections. That probably already creates a barrier and a lack of comprehension. The perception that it’s all about making money doesn’t necessarily help, either.
Kusama Kingdom: We’re still so early, so we need to experiment. But because of the headlines and the hype, people might not look deeper into these things.
Riqi: Mainstream media coverage also plays its part by positioning NFTs as “get rich quick”. At some point, the most-selling NFT here in Indonesia were selfies of a guy, which created negative sentiment in the mainstream.
Naomi: There is also the narrative that NFTs burn the ocean, therefore, are bad.
What aspects of NFTs do you find most exciting?
CSaint: I think one of the greatest aspects is the community side of NFT. I’d highlight Kusama Kingdom and also Astar Degens. Gaming is another great use case. Evolut is a good example of that.
RMRK NFTs can look different depending on where deployed, meaning you could hold one asset, which is a pistol in one game, and a light saber in another. That’s definitely a great use case for NFTs x gaming.
Another example is NFL Rivals by Play Mythical, an American Football game where a lot of the tech is abstracted away.
Kusama Kingdom: Gaming seems a very obvious use case. Also, in the mobile gaming space, there is a big opportunity for casual games.
Another area that excites me are loyalty schemes similar to Starbucks to leverage blockchain for marketing.
Riqi: I’m a big sneaker fan, so anything Phygital is for me. A lot of big shoe brands, such as Nike, have entered the space.
I’ve also been observing that some platforms steer away from the label NFT but do very similar things, such as DeviantArt, where you can technically “adopt” a digital artwork.
Ramz: There’s a project called Teddy DAO where 100% of their proceeds go to the blockchain and just benefit holders. I look for NFTs that provide different kind of values beyond financial aspects.
How’s the Royalties discussion on Polkadot?
Csaint: Royalties are huge for art and music and do a good job at paying creators. RMKR NFTs can do NFTs even for the embedded NFTs. invArch is also working on tracking IP and royalties of collections across chains to empower artists and creators.
Kusama Kingdom: Move to zero royalties might stifle innovation. Royalties allow teams to extend runways and keep innovating. It should be laid out clearly, and also why you might need royalties to continue delivering.
Riqi: Cutting royalties is also about competition, of course. Some projects just reward collectors when you paid full royalties. Paras we’ll always continue enforcing royalties, and on our launchpad we have full control over NFT standards which makes it easier. We believe it’s simply the right thing to do.
Why have Polkadot NFTs not yet taken off?
Riqi: For WASM specifically, it’s because we’re still early. These NFTs just launched very recently, but in the future, I foresee that, because you can build them with WASM and deploy them to many chains, adoption will come.
CSaint: XCM V3 is life on Kusama and will eventually also enable NFTs to move across chains on Polkadot mainnets. That’ll be very interesting for marketplaces to unlock and unify the experience for users.
Why come to Polkadot?
Polkadot is a great space to experiment with working technologies, with curious users that are happy to test new things and engage in innovative concepts.
— Ramz
A new space will be announced soon. Stay tuned 👀
