New and Old NFT Platforms Gain Steam

Sports!

Recently, Seton Hall University conducted a survey to discover the prevalence of NFT/crypto ownership amongst 1,514 men and women. Their survey primarily focused on sports-related topics. The results were rather intriguing, so let’s dive in!

• 57% of people that were avid sports fans said they have purchased crypto and/or NFTs

• 42% of people aged 18-34 have purchased crypto and/or NFTs

• 34% of people were interested in NFTs if they gave them significant discounts at the team store for official merchandise

• 28% of people said that they were interested in NFTs if they could convert their game day ticket into a digital collectible card that could be sold or traded

• 33% of people were interested in NFTs if they got the benefit of walking on the field or court after the game for 15 minutes to take pictures

• 43% of people were interested in NFTs if they had the ability to get a ticket upgrade to more premium seats at no additional cost

• 37% of people were interested in NFTs if they allowed them to be a member of a leadership committee for their sports teams, providing input and feedback on decisions regarding the sports organization

Some Takeaways:

• Avid sports fans are twice as likely to purchase NFTs compared to a normal person.

• Upgrading a ticket at no additional cost is the most popular “perk” for NFT holders.

• At the moment, people want their NFT to come with benefits. Especially sports fans.

Click here to view the full results of the survey.

Immutable X Goes X-Games Mode

As we have highlighted in past issues, digital games with NFT capabilities are currently gaining a lot of traction. Immutable, the firm behind the Immutable X platform, recently announced the launch of a $500 million fund to boost developer adoption of the platform.

Immutable X is one of, if not the primary platform for NFT games at the moment. Some of the games on their platform include:

• Gods Unchained, a tactical card game with 450,000 registered users

• Planet Quest, a sci-fi fantasy exploration game with play-to-earn capabilities

• Guild of Guardians, an online fantasy action role-playing game

Immutable X runs on some proprietary tech that allows easy entrance for those that want to create a digital game or release an NFT collection. I.e., the platform does not require you to pay gas fees to mint your project (release it to the masses).

Currently, more than 200 million Americans and more than 2.8 billion people worldwide play video games. More than likely, games like the ones mentioned above will be the first way that people experience NFTs.

MoonPay Makes Its Own Platform

MoonPay, a leading FinTech company that allows people to buy and sell crypto with debit/credit cards and ApplePay is launching an all-in-one NFT minting platform called HyperMint. First of all… great name. We love it! 😉 Ok, enough self-indulgence, let’s investigate what HyperMint is and why you should know about it.

For the staff at the Mint, this move isn’t a surprise. Want a Web2 example of this move? PayPal and eBay. In late 2002, PayPal, a payments platform, became a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay. eBay used PayPal's security, banking relationships, and connectivity to grow its brand and reach more customers. The MoonPay/HyperMint venture is a similar marriage between a payments platform and a publication platform. Each business transaction on HyperMint will use MoonPay's financial network.

Yeah, Great, But What Is HyperMint? →

HyperMint is an all-in-one platform that gives businesses a streamlined process for launching web3 projects. Right now, this process is a little difficult. To do so right now, businesses have to: 1) choose a blockchain, 2) deploy node infrastructure, 3) write a custom smart contract, 4) build a system to manage metadata, 5) set up and manage private keys, 6) integrate Web3 systems into your product, 7) manage your smart contracts, and 8) configure and set up royalties. HyperMint promises to do all of this for you to give you complete control over your web3 projects. This is pretty cool, and we can see this being a very successful venture for MoonPay.

Enlightenmint!

BTW… What is an NFT Marketplace?

With all this talk about “platforms” and “marketplaces”, we figured it might be a good idea to discuss what we mean when we say that. Most of the time when we refer to a NFT platform or NFT marketplace we are referring to a site where NFTs are minted, bought, and sold.

NFT marketplaces are a little different than a store or an online retailer that you may shop at. In order to purchase something on an NFT marketplace, you need to have the following:

• A crypto wallet

  • This is how you pay for NFTs. Marketplaces connect to your wallet. Not your bank account.

  • The Mint Staffers primarily use Coinbase Wallet and MetaMask 

• Wallet funds

  • Think of your crypto wallet as if it were a prepaid credit card. You have to load it with funds to be able to use it. You also need to make sure to load it with the right funds. Buying something on the Ethereum chain? You’ll need to purchase some ETH and load it into your wallet. Buying something on the Solana chain? You'll need to purchase some SOL. Think of it like traditional fiat. You can't spend Chinese Yuan at a McDonald's in Mississippi. You'll need USD for that.

• An account on the marketplace

  • You won’t be able to “checkout as a guest” like on some online retailers. You’ll need to make a personal account that is attached to your wallet.

Once you do this, you’ll have free reign in any marketplace of your choice. Happy shopping!

Minty-Fresh News

• Odd protests happening at NFT NYC Conference

• Solana marketplace Magic Eden raises $130m

• NFT that was given to Ukraine is sold for $100k to support war effort

Past Mints

• SD’s First-Ever NFT Project is a Go!

• Mastercard is Banking on NFTs

• To the Moon (birds)

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That concludes this week's version of The Mint! Thanks for reading, and make sure to share your freshly-minted knowledge with your friends and coworkers.