The NEARverse is expanding at a head-spinning rate making it difficult to identify truly innovative and cutting-edge projects. The mission of NEARWEEK Perspective is to give informed and thorough coverage on the projects we believe will make a long-lasting mark on the NEAR ecosystem and its community. Every week will pick a different project after reviewing its value proposition, execution, and roadmap, and help spread the good news through the NEAR ecosystem and beyond.
NFT projects are sweeping across the crypto ecosystem at an exponential rate. For example, on the NEAR Protocol, NFT-related projects make up the highest number of projects on the blockchain.
However, rarely do we see an NFT project committed to launching, onboarding, and promoting other projects into the ecosystem, a unique niche the AntiSocial Ape Club (ASAC) has chosen to occupy.
Earlier this year, ASAC became the first NEAR project to reach $1m in volume on PARAS. One of the most active and pioneer NFT projects/launchpads in the ecosystem did not go unnoticed by NEARWEEK, so, we sat down with DrCryptOG, the COO and one of three partners of ASAC, to get a 360 idea of ASAC, its origins, what it is, its mission, and how they are injecting value into the NEAR community with 3,333 unique pixel art NFTs.
Antisocial Ape Club: An NFT profile picture project &much more
At first glance, ASAC presents itself as a collection of 3,333 unique and randomly generated pixel art ape NFTs stored on the NEAR blockchain. However, there is much more to ASAC than meets the eye:
“The Antisocial Ape Club, at front face value, is an NFT profile picture project, although it is something much more than that… It is a startup company, a base where we can build something of value on the NEAR protocol that can contribute to the blockchain itself whilst bringing together a strong group of like-minded people that can work together towards common goals.”
Originally planned to launch on Solana, the project partners decided to pivot to the NEAR Protocol for its potential and a chance to stand out on an emerging blockchain. Although the project was initially going to be an NFT profile picture project, it soon evolved into a full-fledged vibrant community.
ASAC Mission And Vision
Through a growing culture of collaboration and partnerships, the ASAC project discovered that there is more value in helping other projects build and find their niche on NEAR.
“Our vision is very much oriented around the community. We want to make sure we establish a foundation for the community of ASAC holders to build something that is everlasting.”
ASAC’s ‘win and help win’ philosophy, allowed them to establish their project as a value generator that goes well beyond monetary incentives. ASAC provides its NFT holders with an opportunity to truly become part of the ASAC family. Engaging the community through stimulating initiatives stands at the core of its value proposition and guaranteed its project an organic and sustainable growth.
Value Proposition of ASAC
Launchpad
One of the first partnerships of ASAC on NEAR was joining forces with NEAR Tiger to build a launchpad for upcoming NFT projects on NEAR. The Jungle launchpad is focused on attracting NFT projects to NEAR by handling the technical and marketing aspects of these projects like marketplace integrations, creation and deployment of smart contracts, ease of access to verification and rarity tools, and building websites.
Metaverse experience
ASAC has a three-room metaverse experience, starting with the jungle experience, which is open to everyone on NEAR.
“We want to provide a place where people can go and hang out with the friends they are creating online in a relaxing atmosphere.”
The Jungle experience will have guided yoga sessions, relaxing sounds, and areas (gem caves, runes) that you can explore with your avatar for some meditation and alone time.
The second space is a convention center where users can attend and host conferences online. As a perk to ASAC NFT holders, they will be able to host events for free in the convention center, but NEAR community members who wish to host conferences in the space will be required to pay a small fee that will go to the ASAC DAO.
Reserved for ASAC NFT holders only, the third metaverse space will be a private beach resort for ASAC community members to socialize and drop announcements about their upcoming activities or projects.
Merchandise is also another offering in the ASAC portfolio, though it is still a work in progress as well as the project’s tokenomics. The plan is to have fungible tokens that can be used for governance and staking.
“We want people to feel less anxious; we want them to understand that ASAC will be here for the NEAR ecosystem for a very long time. We are here to build infrastructure that will be able to capture future audiences.”
The ASAC team is committed to fostering and promoting value on the NEAR blockchain, whether by using their platform to launch other NFT projects or building utility around their dynamic vision.
About the Antisocial Ape Club
ASAC is a collection of 3,333 unique pixel art NFTs living on the NEAR blockchain, but you would be wrong to think that’s all there is to it. Keep up with the latest products and collaborations of ASAC on Twitter and Discord.
About NEAR
The NEAR Protocol is a sharded, proof-of-stake, layer-1 blockchain built for speed, usability, and infinite scalability.
