Collecting POAPs
My POAP journey began on Nov 26, 2021 upon minting a token to represent the first anniversary of Art Blocks launching. Initially, I didn’t give it much thought; minted and went about my business.
While at VeeCon (highly recommend) I had lunch with the fashionable NFT creator/collector/visionary, Gmoney, who was wielding a foreign object on his hip wrapped in a black Prada case. Once I made my way through the group of phones and finally touched my iPhone to the Prada device, I was immediately brought to a webpage to claim my own edition of The “gmoney: 2022” POAP. Witnessing POAPs being claimed and minted from a physical device at an event opened my eyes to how creators will use this tech to engage within and outside their communities. It was a POAP vending machine.
At the time he hinted at “something big”, but wouldn’t disclose any other details. Weeks later Admit One was born - a free NFT claim to all the POAP holders. Boom! He now had a gated community that he trusted (enough to let them claim the POAP) that he could distribute digital assets to. Initially there were some white list opportunities like WAGMI United offered to collectors. He later experimented with whitelisting for the 9dcc brand where he created the IT-01, a t-shirt that emitted POAPs similar the small Prada device I had seen in Minneapolis - an NFC enabled device.
NFC Enabled Devices
Near-field communication (NFC) is a technology that allows devices to communicate with each other when they are close together, typically within a few centimeters. This type of communication is used for a variety of purposes, including contactless payment systems, access control, and data transfer.
NFC works by using magnetic field induction to enable communication between two devices. One device, called the NFC reader, generates a magnetic field, which the other device, called the NFC tag, responds to by sending back its stored data. This data transfer can happen quickly and securely, making NFC a convenient and reliable technology for a variety of applications.
Some common uses of NFC include tap-and-pay systems at retail stores, access control for buildings and other secure areas, and data transfer between devices such as smartphones and tablets. Many modern smartphones are equipped with NFC technology, which allows users to easily make payments and exchange data with other NFC-enabled devices.
Overall, NFC is a versatile and convenient technology that allows devices to communicate and exchange data when they are in close proximity to each other.
ChatGPT wrote this whole section. Thats a whole other can of worms that could help create more dynamic NFTs, among many other things.
IYK
I’ve started seeing these round puck like devices out in the wild recently at some web3 events. During the Art Blocks event in Marfa the Glitch Gallery (owned by Colllab & Currency) had one for its opening weekend, and in Miami during Art Basel Porsche had one attached to the wall to distribute POAPs that help you get priority positioning for their upcoming NFT release.
Similar to G Money’s Prada device you put your phone near it and a notification would pop up to claim a POAP. A POAP vending machine. Simple and quick, this device made the claiming process seamless. 120 people received the Glitch Opening Weekend POAP, and the gallery can now choose a strategy to reward those holders who showed up to support them in West Texas.
Under the hood IYK is using NFC-enabled physical devices that generate dynamic, one-time links - like a POAP which requires this . These links can only be accessed by phones within a close proximity and expire after a single use or 30 minutes, ensuring the confidentiality of shared information.
The company offers a range of NFC chips that can be applied to various surfaces, including apparel, wood, glass, rubber, and plastic. I’ve only seen the rubber/plastic ones but I’m pretty excited to see custom ones in the future. The only material that can’t work is metal because it interferes with the chip. This feels like an area artists can experiment with for physical/digital pieces to provide POAPs to anyone that interacts with the physical piece.
In terms of compatibility, IYK's products are agnostic to both chain and protocol, with the exception of requiring an EVM chain as the ERC-721 token is created. The company's website notes that they are able to work with any EVM, including Ethereum Mainnet, Optimism, and Polygon, and that NFTs linked to IYK-tagged items conform to the ERC721 standard and are instantly compatible with token-gated apps such as Shopify, Tokenproof, and Collab.Land.
Some use cases they have listed are:
Tokenized Apparel
Authenticated Guestbooks
IRL Minting
Targeted Rewards
Potential Future Use Cases
New distribution channel for influencers
This is what we’ve seen with G Money and 9dcc, his company pushing the physical and digital limits (please no speak of phygital…). Having to give someone the POAP IRL creates a layer of trust - you trust the individual you are giving the POAP to, and in return they could get something air dropped (or nothing at all). If you’re an influencer thats working in the web2 or web3 space this gives you a direct channel to start distributing digital assets. They can also measure direct engagement (token gated experiences or content) and drive value to these assets with the right infrastructure in place.
I’ll be watching 9dcc closely. One piece of feedback I’ve heard is the NFC chip should be located somewhere else like on the sleeve. Its a little too close to the belt.
Attending IRL sports/entertainment events
This use case I’m most interested in and think it can give folks their first experience claiming and owning an NFT, seamlessly in a non-speculative way. NFC is limited in distance, but picture a world where you are at a sporting event or concert and get prompted to claim your attendance digital collectable. These collectables can be a Top Shot like moment from the game to help remember a special play from your favorite player, or maybe you get to select a specific player/moment from a catalog of that game. Over the season you can collect a hand full of these and the team now has the ability to:
Recognize that you are a loyal fan and airdrop you digital assets
Build you a custom team themed gallery to show off all your collectables in your social profiles
Enter you in raffles or airdrop you tickets to future events or collectables
The use cases can go on and on…
- gbz