NFTs are becoming the cornerstone of web3 communities.
NFTs have taken the world by storm over the last few years, with billions having been traded on platforms like Opensea. At the height of NFT mania, everyone from athletes like Tom Brady to celebrities like Justin Beiber seemed to be talking about and buying collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club. With the onset of the bear market and the slowdown, there is the lingering question — “Do Non-fungible tokens have any value beyond being used as profile pics?”
While the speculative nature of NFTs has been in the news, NFTs are becoming the go-to tool for creating digital communities. Great communities like Proof Collective, the Noun Dao, World of Women etc. are brilliant examples of what NFT communities can achieve, both online and IRL. NFTs are great for creating communities because of the following aspects:
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NFTs are a means to bring exclusivity ( via token gating ).
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NFTs help people create new pseudonymous digital identities and break societal inhibitions.
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NFTs allow people of similar interests to come together, and give them a mission and a shared sense of belonging.
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With NFTs, people are not bound by geographies and they can unite behind a vision that they like.
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NFTs and crypto make it easier for the creators to monetize a community and its activities.
Below are some great examples of how NFTs are playing a huge role in shaping up strong communities and creating a massive impact in the web3 world.
Proof Collective
The Proof Collective is an exclusive members-only NFT community founded by Kevin Rose, co-founder of Digg. Proof Collective is responsible for hugely successful projects like Moonbirds, Oddities, Grails, and Emotes. The collective comprises some of the most renowned artists and collectors in the space, though most of them are anonymous.
To join, one must hold the PROOF Collective NFT. Membership includes access to their private Discord, early access to the PROOF podcast, in-person events, and other collaborations created exclusively for PROOF Collective members. Proof Collective rose from 1 ETH in December 2021 to the recent floor price of 74.98 ETH — a crazy 75x gain in less than a year!
The Proof Collective is a great example of how small NFT-based exclusive communities can collaborate and help each other achieve great outcomes.
Nouns Dao
Nouns are an experimental attempt to improve the formation of on-chain avatar communities. While projects such as CryptoPunks have attempted to bootstrap digital community and identity, Nouns attempts to bootstrap identity, community, governance, and a treasury that can be used by the community.
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One Noun NFT is sold every day, forever
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Nouns have been selling for 70 ETH ($100K) (in a bear market!)
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These sales have generated 28K ETH ($37M) for their treasury
The Noun community pushed the concept of CC0 ( “no rights reserved” ). That means that anyone can use their Noun NFT to make stuff and spread the word about the project.
The core utility of Nouns DAO is that every Noun holder can sponsor and vote on proposals for the Nouns treasury to fund. The Noun Dao has sponsored a whole set of whacky projects — A Budweiser Super Bowl ad, a Nouns documentary film, Nouns coffee, helped with Ukraine aid. The Nouns treasury also sponsored an eSports team.
The projects that get sponsored help to build the Nouns brand. The more brand awareness Nouns has, the more people want to be part of Nouns.
World of Women
World of Women NFT focuses on celebrating diverse women and inclusivity, and it’s carried out that mission to become one of the top-selling Ethereum NFT collections. WOW’s vision is to make Web3 inclusive through its collection and community. It aims to increase the number of female artists and builders in the space.
Since it launched in the summer of 2021, the collection has grown massively, even capturing the attention (and investments) of many celebrities, like Eva Longoria, Von Miller, and Reese Witherspoon.
World of Women was instrumental in kicking off the boom of women-focused NFT profile picture projects, including Boss Beauties, Fame Ladies Squad, Long Necktie Ladies, Crypto Chicks, and more.
If you own a WOW NFT, this is what you get:
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Holders of a WOW own the IP and all rights to the art. They can use it anywhere, for anything.
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Art drops each month from select artists
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Pre-sales and mint passes for collections with potential
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Raffles and discounts
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Invitations to gala events
WOW encourages giving back to women-led organizations and sustainability-driven initiatives that make holders feel good about supporting the project. WOW supports She’s The First, @codegreen_nft , @2young2wed, Code to Inspire (support girls in Afghanistan), and Mother Earth Muses (fights domestic violence), to name a few.
Memeland by 9Gag
9GAG was founded in 2008 with a mission to make the world happier. Its recently launched Potatoz NFT collection is climbing the charts despite being in the midst of a down market.
The Potatoz NFT is 9GAG’s collection of 9,999 utility-enabled PFPs. Each Potatoz is your entry ticket into the Memeland ecosystem — a metaverse project created by 9GAG. Potatoz grants access to an exclusive community and a metaverse project themed on pirate history. Memeland has managed to gather 300k members on their discord around the culture of memes and jokes.
With multiple PFP collections, exclusive private groups, and IRL events, The Potatoz is mooning amidst a bear market.
Conclusion
NFTs are here to stay without a doubt, and they play a huge role in how communities are built.
The examples listed above are not exhaustive. There are multiple creative ways in which NFTs are being used to bring people together. NFT communities are being formed around art, entertainment, games, and also to build and collaborate in various ways.
At roverX, we’re excited about the potential of NFTs and the impact they are creating in the space of art and communities. Follow us to stay updated on the latest in NFTs, Ethereum and more.