How it’s a NFT collection launch? My experience and thoughts
Even though I don’t see myself collecting NFTs, the best way to understand new trends, technologies and use cases is by using them. Last week I decided to go to the launch of the new DystopianPunks. They had a low entry price, Punks aesthetics and I really like the art and its details even though it’s pixel art. I will tell you how it went and what are my thoughts of it.
What is a NFT collection launch? The DystopianPunks V2 launch
The launch is an event were an artist first publish the tokens of a new collection on the blockchain and allows through a web app to mint the tokens. Basically the creators set a date and publish it through Twitter and in its Discord server and people go to the website to mint tokens.
Every launch is different and they could have different methods. This one had these conditions:
- After a countdown you would see a mint button to mint the tokens and other buttons for the V1 collection owner’s airdrop to claim some free as rewards.
- You could mint up to 20 in every transaction to save transaction fees.
- Rarity of tokens is random.
- Price tiers following a bonding curve. From 0.02 Eth to 0.1 Eth spread among 2077 tokens.
- If you try to mint a token in a price tier and it gets sold out before your transaction arrives, the transaction fails.
- Metadata including rarity of the token and the art associated to the token number would not be revealed till some days after. So there would be also a reveal day. Although you could see some samples in the website to know the art style.
My experience at the DystopianPunks launch event
Hours before the launch, people were chatting over the Discord hyping and planning for the buy. People were telling that no one would be left out without a cheap token as there were more than 300. There were no sold out expectations as it was a niche collection. The plan that big collectors had was to buy 5 by 5 to be safe and not getting the transactions rejected. People were also planning to almost double the standard gas cost to not miss out. If your transaction arrives later, you could miss the first price tier. 15 minutes before launch, Dekadente had to postpone the launch for 20 minutes to finish some work. The hype grew.
A couple of minutes before the countdown ends, Dekadente announces the updated site with the mint button is going live at any moment. Time to smash the reload button. After a few tries, I saw the button and sent a transaction with fast gas fee and, in some seconds, the transfer fails. I should have put a higher custom transaction fee. The first tier was sold out. People were confused at Discord as there were only about 100 people connected and the first tier got sold out quickly. People were seeing failed transactions. I reloaded and did another transaction for the next tier and got one. In some minutes, more than 1000 out of the 2077 were sold. Hours later, the last one was minted and the collection got sold out for a total of 90 Eth that was about 200,000 $. Great job Dekadente. Now people are trading in the secondary market even before the revealing day. NFTs are dead, they say.
Thoughts about NFT launches
The process was exciting, even though if you think about it, it’s just buying a digital piece of art (not really). The ownership feeling that the blockchain provides makes you to live it more. I think is similar to what sports betting platforms capitalize.
NFTs collections and this process has many factors that makes them very attractive:
- Lottery factor. You could gain a very rare token that is more valuable.
- Collector factor. People can collect tokens and showcase them. People collect everything, why wouldn’t this be popular? There’s even a “NFT Instagram” called Showtime.
- Investing factor. If the tokens value increases over time you’re also gaining wealth. Remember that you also need to beat the value of the cryptocurrency.
- Community factor. Most collections come with a community where you instantly get recognized as a member by owning one of the tokens. I.e. get verified Discord role. Many collections develop communities with different ideas. I think is a really cool new way of creating communities.
I see how this approach can get mainstream. The most popular similar things are skins of Fortnite that get lots of expectation even though not having an economic value. Imagine what could happen when the web3 experience improves and celebrities or brands start creating collections. I see a future where celebrities announce their NFTs drops and people rallying to buy.
PS: I launched nftscollectors.app last week. A webapp for finding information about NFTs owners of premium collections.
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