IMPORTANT
This activity will only work if you filled out this form and sent me your ENS domain name. After submitting the form, you should have received an email from me with a link to claim your POAP. If you haven’t done that, please do it now - and come back when you get the email.
⚠️ Update (Apr 18): due to a large number of requests from people who are just interested in collecting the POAP (but aren’t doing the activities), I will only be emailing POAP links to people who are new to Ethereum.
Non-Fungible Tokens
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), also known as ERC-21 tokens, give us the ability to assign or claim ownership of any unique piece of digital data, trackable by using Ethereum's blockchain as a public ledger.
You’ve probably heard of NFTs in the context of digital art - including some digital art projects that have exploded in value over the past year or so, eg, Crypto Punks and Bored Apes. But digital art isn’t the only use case for ERC-21 tokens.
The ERC-21 token is perfect for all sorts of collectible items, access keys, lottery tickets, numbered seats for concerts and sports matches, title deeds, etc. The fact that these tokens can never be owned by more than one person at any one time unlocks all sorts of amazing possibilities.
You many not have known this, but you actually purchased your first NFT when you purchased your ENS domain name.
Don’t believe me?
Open your MetaMask-enabled browser and go to OpenSea, the largest marketplace for NFTs. Click the Profile icon at the top right part of the page header, then click the Profile link, and connect with MetaMask.
Once you connect, you should see your ENS name as your profile name. You should also see one item in your collection of NFTs - your ENS name!
If you click on the NFT in your collection, then you can see the history of when you received it. You can also sell it if you want to! (Don’t try to do that yet though…)
This is a reminder of the power Ethereum gives you by owning your own data. You didn’t need to make an account with OpenSea or handover any personal information to log-in. All you had to do was connect with Ethereum!
What’s a POAP
POAPs are another use case for NFTs. POAP stands for “proof of attendance protocol”. Most people pronounce the word POH-APP (not pope).
The stated purpose of POAPs is to record your life experiences, like a form of digital memorabilia. They're meant to be a fun way to look back on important events you were a part of and things you've done.
POAPs can be used to prove attendance at any type of event, including real-world and virtual events. They're effectively badges supported by an immutable record on the blockchain.
POAP is a free, open-source product. Claiming or “minting” a POAP happens off the Ethereum network (so gas fees are negligible) but you have the ability to migrate them over to your Ethereum wallet (this incurs a gas fee).
Anyone can create a POAP with a few quick steps - and I’ve created one for you to collect.
Claim your first POAP
Open the email that I sent you with the link to claim your POAP. Click on the link, type in your ENS name, and click Claim. There is a unique link generated for each recipient - so once you share your link, it won’t work for anyone else.
Give the transaction about a minute to complete. Then click the link to Browse your POAP collection. You should see something that looks like this.
POAP as a lego block
As mentioned earlier, POAP is free, open-source project built on Ethereum. In addition to being able to create POAPs and view the POAPs you’ve collected, you can also identify wallets that have the same POAPs as you.
POAP is a lego block that developers are using to build new web3 apps with. You can see a directory of third-party projects here. These include using a POAP to gate access to blogs, Zoom meetings, files hosted on Google Drive, voting or live polling services, special raffles, and more everyday.
The idea of earning digital badges is nothing new. Games and knowledge-sharing platforms like Reddit and Stack Overflow award digital badges to their users for “leveling up” and being active on the service. However, a badge of this kind is only discoverable on the platform that issued it - there’s no way to combine your Reddit and Stack Overflow badges. If you close an account on one of these sites, you can’t take your badges with you. If the site decides to stop recognizing badges altogether, then you have no recourse or verifiable proof.
With POAP, you own your “proof of attendance” badge. You can do whatever you like with it.
Wouldn’t it be cool if you had a digital keepsake from the first time you connected to the Internet? Maybe it would have come from your mobile provider or an old school ISP like AOL or Prodigy.
Now you have a digital keepsake to remember your first days in the world of web3!