A lot of people I know in crypto are bullish on pfp projects. These collections of “networked art” can be the basis for new internet-native communities, and they have the potential to act as a substrate for cool “applications” related to fashion, gaming, media, etc. It’s also just fun to trade jpegs with your friends on the internet.
BUT, a lot of those same people I know are bearish on the current stable of pfp projects we see in the OpenSea top 500. You’ll often hear folks say that 99% of them will die, it’s all vaporware, most of the projects that find true product market fit will come later, and so on.
While there’s definitely some scammy and junior varsity stuff out there, I see about 30-40 projects that have thoughtful founders, art that appeals to a particular niche/subculture, and a lane to move forward. Recently, I’ve been obsessed with the idea that they should explore moving forward together. Enter the idea of a federation.
If the higher quality, medium & small cap pfp projects joined forces in a way that was collaborative but still respected each project's autonomy, wouldn’t that be a better “decentralized Disney” than Yuga or Moonbirds just building a crypto-flavored multiverse?
The federation could start small like creating a unified airdrop list for all wallets that hold an NFT from a federation project, or spinning up a federation GitHub that aggregates NFT tech and design best practices. There is also the potential a federation could pool resources to tackle more ambitious projects than a single team would have bandwidth for.
Misc. ideas include:
- Create a federation marketplace built on top of Reservoir that either has zero fees, sets aside fees for federation projects, or distributes fees to projects based on their respective trading volume
- Facilitate a Ready Player 1 type contest across the NFT universe with each team offering some riddles/puzzles, POAPs, and prizes
- Create a basket of NFTs from each constituent project that can then be fractionalized as a way to standardize exposure to mid-cap NFTs
- Host a federation event at a major conference like NFT NYC
There are a lot more possibilities, from shared merch to educational content, but let’s stop there for now. TLDR: there is value in projects banding together. You aggregate attention, and in so doing each project expands its share of the attention pie, sort of how the Marvel Cinematic Universe works… no one would have heard of Antman if it weren’t for The Avengers. Put another way, a federation would create a ‘rising tide that lifts all boats’ scenario for brand awareness where all projects get more exposure than they otherwise would on their own.
I could imagine there being some prerequisites to belong in the federation, maybe including NFT holder count, historical volume, community activity, team credibility, etc. But however “belonging” is defined, if a bunch of quality projects came together they could create something that is more than the sum of its parts.
On to the main counterpoint: Why would people want to collaborate, aren’t these things competitive?
I think you just start small and work on things that are net positive for all involved. Then relationships form, creativity simmers, and things can happen. Politics nerd me says this could be similar to how the European Union started with something small as well: a set of rules several countries agreed to around coal and steel called the European Coal and Steel Community. After that organization formed, time went on, more and more collaboration happened, and voila, the European Union… its problems notwithstanding.
So, a pfp federation. Crypto-native communities working to push the space forward together. In some way doesn’t this just feel obvious? I would love to hear what people think, especially if you’re connected to a pfp project as a team member, advisor, or active community member. After launching Good Minds, our team has been playing with the idea of spending money and dev time to collaborate on some different projects, so we’re open to being instigators here. If this sounds interesting, please free free to reach out to me or the team account on Twitter.
Thanks to 0xtygra for feedback and review.