Creating value for NFT communities with DeFi: Glide and Phantz Club
We consider Glide to be a community project, and thus a big part of our mission is finding ways we can engage with and strengthen our ecosystem.
NFTs can be a powerful force under the right circumstances. We’ve seen communities on Ethereum rally around particular collections. This gives them a common identity and makes it much easier to be noticed by external parties who may decide they want to be part of this ‘club’. We saw this with Cryptopunks, Bored Apes, etc.
That being said, NFT collections are not overly difficult to create. Most collections will fail to capture an audience due to the simple fact that there will always be more supply than demand. It’s clear there will be some ‘blue chip’ type collections, but 95% of them will not find much value. Ethereum is the main hub for collectors primarily due to the security and trustworthiness of the Ethereum blockchain, but we’ve yet to really see high value collections materialize on other chains.
Let’s face it, at this stage the Elastos community is not large enough to create a lot of value or interest for a multitude of collections. If every project creates their own collection, we’re probably going to end up with 37 collections that are all worth about as much as their original mint price or less. So what if instead of creating our own collections, we focused on one or two and tried to create as much value and utility around them as possible? What if every project building on Elastos followed suit? Maybe this is wishful thinking, but there is a branding opportunity here that could bring something unique to our ecosystem that we haven’t observed anywhere else.
Communities win by working together, not by each member trying to line their own pockets (as the recent issues with forgeries on Feeds have demonstrated). They create excitement with their energy and their passion. That energy attracts eyeballs and makes one wonder if perhaps it’s a community that shouldn’t be overlooked. This is what we need.
The question becomes, what should our collective identity be? That’s not something anyone can dictate, but we can at least throw our support behind something and try to create a spark. Our identity should be original and embody the spirit of web3. Copycats are rarely successful. The elephant has been a staple of the Elastos community throughout the years, so it seems only fitting we might adopt it as our mascot.
Why Phantz?
The Phantz Club collection that launched on Feeds earlier this year seems to possess the qualities necessary for building a successful NFT community.
- Elephants!
- Solid branding & original artwork
- Each is unique and has traits with varying rarity
- Well suited for profile pictures/avatars
- Designed specifically with Elastos in mind
- Scarce with 2822 total (based on ELA’s max supply of 28.22M) but not so scarce that it’s overly exclusive and inaccessible to most individuals
Glide Finance and Phantz Club
Accordingly, we’ve decided to partner up with Phantz Club to provide some utility to the Phantz collection in a manner that is mutually beneficial to Glide and its users. This is not to say this we won’t support other NFT collections in the future or release our own, but at this stage in Elastos’ development, we should absolutely combine our resources and efforts.
The plan below is not exhaustive by any means. There will likely be more features added in the future, and some elements could change.
Core Goals
1. Foster NFT culture on Elastos and help drive value to the Phantz collection
2. Strengthen incentives to keep GLIDE staked and introduce additional burn mechanisms for GLIDE
Utility
- Own 1x Phantz, receive a 7% boost to GLIDE staking
- Own 2x Phantz, receive a 14% boost to GLIDE staking
- Own 3x Phantz, receive a 28.22% boost to GLIDE staking
The staking boost would only apply to manual GLIDE or Auto-GLIDE staking pools.
For example, if a user has 365 GLIDE staked and the APR is 100%, they would earn 1 GLIDE per day from normal staking. If they also hold 1 Phantz, they’ll receive an additional 0.07 GLIDE. 2 Phantz, an extra 0.14 GLIDE. 3 Phantz, an extra 0.2822 GLIDE.
In return for creating utility for Phantz NFTs, the Phantz Club will share the 10% royalty earned from each trade with the Glide team to buy back and burn GLIDE. If we can help raise the value and trading activity for Phantz NFTs, this could create a positive feedback loop for both parties. Glide users are incentivized to acquire Phantz to boost their yield. Phantz holders are incentivized to stake GLIDE in order to make their asset work for them effectively.
By providing tiered incentives for owning multiple Phantz NFTs, we introduce additional scarcity. In theory, higher prices will encourage more trading activity, and more trading activity will generate more royalties that can be used to repurchase and burn GLIDE.
However, we don’t want to encourage excessive hoarding of NFTs, which is why the staking benefit is capped at 3 Phantz. Accessibility is important so that a sizable community can exist around the collection and explore additional utility for themselves. The staking boost parameters could be adjusted through the Phantz DAO and/or Glide DAO in the future.
How do I get a Phantz?
At the time of writing, 175 of the 2822 Phantz Club NFTs have been minted and sold (or listed) on Feeds. Drops are being done in batches, meaning there will be plenty of time and opportunity to pick one up at the original price. The ‘mint’ price is always 28.22 ELA. If you see Phantz NFTs listed for higher prices, those are likely second hand sales. We would caution against paying excessively high second hand prices for Phantz NFTs while so few of them are in circulation.
To get one, you’ll need:
- Elastos Essentials(download on iOS or Android)
- An Essentials wallet funded with some ELA on the Elastos Smart Contract chain (ESC) (see here for instructions)
- The Feeds application (download on iOS or Android)
- Before buying, ensure that the creator address is 0x44016ed8638f5B517a5beC7a722A56d1DEBefef7 and look for the verified check mark (see the image below). Scammers are out there.
Follow Phantz Club on Twitter for drop details. The creator address can also be used to search the Feeds Pasar marketplace for the Phantz collection:
0x44016ed8638f5B517a5beC7a722A56d1DEBefef7
When will this program begin?
Our intention is to enable Phantz NFT utility before Christmas. We’ll begin with a 6 month program duration with the expectation that we’d extend it if it ends up being successful and creating value for both parties.
Follow us on socials for updates!
