Ethos, Branding, and Aesthetics — Finding New Pathways to Connect
At its deepest level, Bitcoin is a lifestyle brand to its users. It represents strong principles such as decentralization through means of payment without a trusted third party. This has made way for the narrative of Bitcoin as an asset and currency which is not beholden to any government or individual. It’s lauded by libertarians, tech evangelists, and capitalists alike because it communicates the message of economic sovereignty from government and centralized control. Owning Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency is a subscription to an alternate way of thinking about our economic system.
THORChain is an extension of the ideals and values that lie at the heart of Bitcoin with decentralization being the most important design pillar. Users and believers know that THORChain is essential crypto infrastructure due to the imbalance of power centralized exchanges hold over its users and the free markets. A decentralized service that allows free trade of native, unwrapped Bitcoin with other Layer 1 currencies does not exist outside of this network. Believers will fight to democratize control and power because they believe in the core values that drive the product to its goal: unstoppable decentralized liquidity.
How do brands communicate their core values?
When you see an advertisement for a fragrance, they don’t describe the scent. What do they show? The lifestyle behind the brand. Classic cars. Guitars. Vibes. Aesthetics that show something beyond just the product itself. Owning Bitcoin isn’t particularly useful in itself. It’s the lifestyle behind owning Bitcoin and communication of its core values that drives its staunchest supporters and holders.
This school of thought becomes extremely powerful when it comes to effectively communicating the ideas behind a brand. Any brand, even a decentralized brand like THORChain, like Luna, like Polkadot can use these tools to communicate the ethos and lifestyle under the surface of these brands. Ultimately, this will serve a few key purposes:
- Drive further value into current supporters of these brands
- Create new ways to talk about the products we love and support
- Communicate our core values through the universal language of aesthetics
The THOR Force 1 is the first product released by Vanir Threads with the intent to communicate the values behind THORChain. In the end, cryptocurrency must serve to make our lives better for it to succeed — and it can’t accomplish this by only creating a new market. It has to do it by changing the way people interact and perceive the value behind DeFi, the core values of Bitcoin, and the merits of decentralization. The THOR Force 1 is a test to this thesis and a challenge to others to reshape the way that digital branding is done. There are so many many new pathways to innovation in this beautiful space we have — and we’ll be here showing others what it is we believe in.
The THOR Force 1 is now available to mint only on THORChads DAO.
View the collection on OpenSea.
Read our FAQs on Vanir Threads website
Read about the origins of the THOR Force 1 and Vanir Threads on Medium.