Non-fungible tokens This year, NFTs have certainly emerged as front-runners within the Ethereum ecosystem.
Despite being distinct from fungible ERC-20 tokens like Dai and LINK, the crypto landscape now features several ERC-20 tokens linked to burgeoning NFT projects. In this discussion, we'll focus on some key tokens and how they integrate with their NFT endeavors.
Note: This isn't financial guidance but rather an exploration of an intriguing and evolving token landscape. These tokens, much like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), can be highly volatile. They're more akin to instruments for crypto participation and digital collectible IOUs than traditional investment assets.
MANA
MANA serves as the central currency for the Ethereum-based virtual world initiative Decentraland and the Decentraland Marketplace, a hub where users can freely trade digital real estate, wearables, and more. Additionally, MANA holders have the authority to vote within the Decentraland DAO, the communal body through which the Decentraland community oversees the virtual world project.
Of note, leading U.S. crypto exchange, Coinbase, listed MANA has introduced trading for this token on its mainstream platform, Coinbase.com, this week.
AXS
Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) is the newly introduced governance token for the Ethereum digital pet game Axie Infinity , recognized as one of the most popular Ethereum dApps today. Publicly available via Binance Launchpad, the token is distributed to users involved in the play-to-earn game's ecosystem. This empowers Axie Infinity players to influence the game's future direction through AXS. It's one of the initial high-profile governance token experiments within the NFT space, drawing considerable attention from around the cryptoeconomy.
, a virtual world and gaming platform built on Ethereum. Thus, SAND acts as The Sandbox's currency, facilitating players to purchase and sell services and assets, and effectively monetize their content. The token's total supply is 3 billion, with 23.5%, or 705 million, currently circulating. Like Axie Infinity’s AXS, SAND was publicly sold through Binance Launchpad earlier this year.
SAND
SAND is the utility token of The Sandbox CryptoKitties, the pioneering NFT project from 2017, likely rings a bell for you. Trading these NFTs can be illiquid, which led to the creation of WG0, a token that wraps desirable Gen 0 CryptoKitties as ERC-20 tokens for easier trading. These WG0 tokens can be 'unwrapped', essentially redeemed, for CryptoKitties from the project's pool of Gen 0s anytime.
WG0
WG0 stands for “ Wrapped Gen 0 CryptoKitties Note: This shouldn't be confused with WCK, an earlier token wrapping project for CryptoKitties.
, parallels the Wrapped CryptoKitties concept. It lets users wrap highly-coveted Origin Axie pets from the Axie Infinity game for trading ease on platforms like Uniswap. Therefore, WOA tokens can be 'unwrapped' to reclaim an underlying Axie or Axies upon request. Having just launched a few weeks ago, these tokens currently trade at $418 each, boasting a market cap of approximately $100,000 USD. Though the Axie Infinity team didn't create this project, it showcases the engaging contributions from within the game's community.
WOA
WOA stands for “ Wrapped Origin Axies functions as the utility token for Aave’s DeFi-NFT game blend,
GEM
GEM is the utility token of the new NFT minting platform, Cargo . These tokens are at the heart of one of the cryptoeconomy’s first NFT-based staking systems. Not only can GEMs be used to vote on the future direction of Cargo, they can also be staked inside NFTs to earn more GEM rewards. This campaign, which is meant to bootstrap activity around the new platform and reward its earliest stakeholders, is currently fetching a 200% APY in GEMs. The best part? Users don’t have to lock up their NFTs for this staking process and can freely move their NFTs around while GEMs are staked inside of them.
GHST
GHST . Utilizing GHST, players purchase essential game assets such as Portals and wearables. Portals allow the minting of Aavegotchis, with each Portal providing an opportunity to mint one Aavegotchi from ten potential selections. Furthermore, part of all GHST transactions is channeled into the AavegotchiDAO treasury, which the community will cooperatively oversee to guide the project's development trajectory. As Aavegotchi's popularity rises, its potential for innovation expands, fueled by an ever-growing treasury. Aavegotchi tokens represent fractionalized ERC-20 token fragments of Marguerite de Courcelle, renown as coin_artist and Blockchade Games' CEO, who tokenized herself into an NFT earlier this year. Consequently, COIN has become the core currency of
COIN
COIN the project's initial syndicate in Blockade Games's NFT-focused Neon District series. The token can yield influence and social standings within the experimental syndicate. Stakeholders may even acquire fractionalized NFT rewards from Coin’s E-Den . As such, the syndicate periodically procures new NFTs to fraction into rewards for COIN stakeholders. Coin’s E-Den NFT Farms is a breakout social token this year within the NFT scene, launched by WhaleShark, a prominent and impactful NFT collector, alongside the rising social token platform Roll. In recent years WhaleShark has compiled an impressive 'Vault' of high-status NFTs, prompting the launch of WHALE as a token representing his NFT holdings, brand, and community. With a totality of $10 million tokens boasting a market cap of $20.5 million, WHALE trades at under $5 USD each, following a peak of $14.41 last September.
WHALE
WHALE is the personal token project from acclaimed Nigerian cryptoartist
OSINA
Also launched through Roll, OSINA , whose distinctive artworks have become standout successes this year in the NFT realm. Now, Osinachi seeks to interact with his fans in a new win-win manner through his new OSINA token. This month, the artist introduced an Osinachi , where liquidity for the token will be fortified by 'offering up to 50,000 $OSINA to those furnishing $OSINA/ETH liquidity [on Uniswap] for over 30 days.' Like WHALE, OSINA will remain fixed at a supply of 10 million tokens (according to Roll's internal policy). OSINA liquidity mining campaign Ethereum's burgeoning NFT ecosystem is sparking intense interest, pushing enthusiasts to uncover ways to get involved with the sector's most exciting prospects. That's precisely why the aforementioned projects are captivating: they're not NFTs themselves but they enable you to become a part of the NFT world's most promising ventures. Anticipate a continued rise in governance tokens such as MANA and AXS and more staking platforms like those used by Cargo with GEMs. Additionally, expect wrapped NFTs like WG0 and WOA to gain popularity as more collectors explore the realm of digital collectibles.
Conclusion
William M. Peaster is an experienced writer and editor specializing in Ethereum, Dai, and Bitcoin within the cryptoeconomy. He's featured in Blockonomi, Binance Academy, Bitsonline, among others. He enjoys analyzing smart contracts, DAOs, dApps, and the Lightning Network. Currently, he's learning Solidity. Connect with him on Telegram at @wmpeaster
