Introducing Interoperability at Mintbase
Mintbase is now indexing over 1,755 contracts for all +1.9M NFTs on NEAR. Over the past few months, we’ve worked on improving our indexer stability, simplified our data schema, and indexed all NEAR NFT contracts that followed the non-fungible token standards.
This results in an OpenSea-like environment on NEAR where you can deploy your NFT contract and automatically see all the NFTs in the system.
By indexing non-fungible token contracts outside of the contracts deployed through the Mintbase factory, we are making it extremely easy for builders to connect with the entire ecosystem while exposing everything that happens in the NEAR NFT space in real-time to everyone.
The path to interoperability required improving, and sometimes re-writing parts of our technology stack such as the indexer, the data schema, and the new marketplace contract. The marketplace contract is now fully interoperable.
Improved indexing and data schema
The indexer is a vital part of interoperability. In its simplest form, it captures and organizes data produced by the execution of smart contract methods. We started using the NEAR Lake Framework to make indexing more efficient and flexible. This means that we can parse blocks between 50 and 150 times faster than before, and with little to no downtime on our indexing endeavors.
For a long time, our users requested us to make other contracts, external to Mintbase, available through our APIs. Our initial data schema was developed in a much different NEAR NFT landscape, and it proved not to be flexible enough as the ecosystem grew. We used this as an opportunity to re-think our data schema and create a solution that fits all.
This is a simplified look over the new schema, but it is clear that a larger part of the column names is closely related to the NEAR non-fungible token standards. The relations between contract, tokens, and metadata are also easier to understand than in our previous schema which will greatly improve developer satisfaction. Check for yourself here.
Marketplace Contract 2.0
A big update we did to our marketplace contract was introducing the AffiliateDirect Program.
Simply put with the AffiliateDirect Program, affiliates will collect the market fees for selling tokens listed in the marketplace contract. This enables apps to earn revenue by creating marketplaces for selling things they don’t necessarily own.
The perfect example of this is this year’s NEARCON — the annual NEAR Protocol conference. NEAR Foundation listed about 300 NFT tickets in the Mintbase marketplace. Users could buy directly at Mintbase or via third-party developers.
Third-party developers had little to no incentive to create their own marketplaces. With Marketplace Contract 2.0, third-party developers can earn market fees by enabling users to buy all sorts of assets through their applications. The system is quite flexible and allows setting different fees per affiliate.
For next year's NEARCON, imagine multiple companies listing tickets in their marketplaces and setting their own fees. This greatly increases market efficiency as companies benefit from earning fees by selling tickets and keeping consumers in their marketplaces. Individuals benefit from more optionality on where they purchase tickets and can even earn fees from selling tickets themselves.
This is a feature at the market contract level, meaning that any software that interfaces with the contract may benefit from this. If you are interested in building a marketplace, we offer a boilerplate example. You can find technical documentation on the marketplace in our docs.
Why did we make this happen?
Token interoperability plays an integral part in the open web. It means that anyone can index, consume, and use token contracts. By adhering to standards, non-fungible token contracts are automatically indexed and widely available.
At Mintbase, we are fostering a community of developers excited about building non-fungible token use cases beyond the hype. We believe our mission is to let builders leverage our technology stack, to create any idea they want, without boundaries or limits.
If non-fungible tokens are an exciting technology for you and you have a project that would like to build take a look at our Grants Program.
