The concept of token-gated communities in Web3 has made massive strides over the past few months. Earlier in September, Orange Protocol displayed novel new use cases for token-gated communities and verifiable credentials (VCs) in a collaborative effort to decentralize the MetaCartel Grants program at MCON.
During MCON, Orange Protocol worked with Collab.land, Hats Protocol, and Sobol to answer MetaCartel’s grant decentralization challenge, each project bringing its unique strengths to bear. The result was a multi-faceted campaign rewarding participants with NFTs based on key reputational factors key to MetaCartel grants giving.
Here’s a recap of our special collab at MCON, what this signifies for both token and reputation gated communities, and how you can help us push the boundaries by earning an Enablers of Reputation-Gated Communities certification.
Significance of the MCON Collab for Community Gating
Understanding the MCON collaboration between Orange Protocol, Collab.land, Hats Protocol, and Sobol — aka the Cub Scouts — illuminates how the future of reputation-gated communities will take shape. It was during this collaboration that the necessary primitives were developed at the intersection of reputation-gating, VCs, NFTs, and DAO tooling.
The collab campaign calculated an individual’s reputation based on their support of MetaCartel social channels, along with a reputation model verifying ownership of a Gitcoin passport and the required stamps. The notion was that individuals who already participated in Gitcoin grants rounds should have a higher reputation in the MetaCartel data model.
Participants who met those requirements were then able to mint a non-transferrable NFT (ntNFTs), functioning as an effective on-chain signal of participation in the collab campaign to decentralize MetaCartel grants. Orange Protocol worked with Collab.land to integrate ntNFTs, allowing access to private Discord channels.
This pivot from token-gated to reputation-gated communities and experiences signaled the first of its kind. Communities can now be curated based upon contribution, enthusiasm, and participation — not merely the possession of a token or basic NFT. The work of Orange and Collab.land in the Cub Scouts showcased the first primitive for reputation-gated Web3 spaces.
The Intersection of Token and Reputation Gating
The MCON collab does not signal the end for token-gated communities. In fact, there is ample space for both frameworks to exist in Web3 and contribute to a thriving decentralized ecosystem. This is precisely why Orange Protocol views Collab.land as such a critical partner, enabling both modalities as appropriate.
There are certainly instances where token-gated communities — facilitated by Collab.land automation — serves the need of projects or communities. But for the Web3 ecosystem to evolve into a more dynamic ecosystem where individual activities, actions, and contributions are meaningful and portable, reputation-gated communities can and must exist.
That’s largely because reputation-gated communities actually increase access and opportunities, not the opposite as some may think the name suggests. Individuals can “start from zero,” contributing to projects via bounties and take their reputations to new communities that recognize their work and welcome them into spaces with those like-minded.
And towards this end, Orange Protocol is proud to announce our first-ever ongoing NFT drop issuance — Enablers of Reputation-Gated Communities.
Reputation-Gating with Orange Drops & Collab.land
The Enablers of Reputation-Gated Communities initiative is specifically designed to showcase the new functionality that Orange Protocol and Collab.land developed out of the Cub Scouts collaboration and MetaCartel Grants decentralization at MCON.
Now, if DAOs or any other type of Web3 community wants to provision access and curate their communities based on things like past voter participation, bounties completed, or initiatives proposed, they can do so using Collab.land and Orange Drops.
Here’s a quick walk-through on the Orange YouTube channel.
More in-depth tutorials and use cases on this new functionality are in the works. But as of today, reputation-gating via Orange Drops + Collab.land is now live and available for use. We highly recommend you try it out yourself and join both Orange and Collab.land Discord channels for more information and guidance.
And as part of our efforts to showcase this new functionality and further educate about how reputation-based provisioning and curation can benefit Web3 communities, we’re introducing a brand new NFT drop. By learning about how this new feature works — along with gaining knowledge about reputation-gating — you’ll be eligible to receive the Enabler of Reputation-Gated Communities NFT badge.
Below is everything you’ll need to know about attending our educational workshops, claiming your POAP, and eventually being recognized as an Enabler of Reputation-Gated Communities.
Earn Your Enabler of Reputation-Gated Communities Badge
To demonstrate the use case of reputation-gated communities and educate the Web3 world on portable reputation and VCs, Orange Protocol is proud to announce the ongoing issuance of Enablers of Reputation-Gated Communities NFTs. The requirements will be slightly different from other drops, but completely accessible for anyone interested in participating.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
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Educational Twitter Space. First, simply attend one of our educational Twitter Spaces on the basics of reputation-gated communities.
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Space Attendance POAP. At the conclusion, you’ll be given a secret code to claim a POAP verifying attendance.
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Claim Your Enabler NFT. Armed with your POAP, you’ll be able to claim your ntNFT via Polygon on the Orange Reputation Studio.
This campaign will initiate on 9/29/2022 at 10 AM UTC and will continue on an ongoing basis. Stay tuned for details on our first educational Twitter Space and the opportunity to claim your POAP and mint the Enabler NFT.
If there is one thing that the Cub Scouts collaboration at MCON demonstrated, its reputation-gated communities are an important step towards further Web3 decentralization and rewarding community members and contributors with access in novel ways. We hope you’ll join us in the effort to educate the broader ecosystem on portable reputation and VCs as a future Enabler of Reputation-Gated Communities.
About Orange Protocol
Orange Protocol’s vision is to put digital reputations back in the hands of the users, builders, and developers. Our mission is to enable developers to incorporate reputation into dApps, projects, and communities, maximizing the value of each individual’s reputation.