Step into the Future with Zonic: A New Era of NFT Marketplace for L2 Has Begun
It has been a hectic two months of non-stop work with a mission to complete a new NFT marketplace for L2 before Quix shuts down on February 2023.
After 60 days of intense development, the marketplace is finally fully functional and is ready to be launched at any moment.
Before that, we would like to introduce everyone to this newborn yet robust NFT marketplace specially designed for Ethereum Layer-2, to help everyone understand its story, vision, and direction moving forward.
Why?
“Why” is always a good starting point. The question here is, why did we choose to develop a new NFT marketplace for Ethereum Layer-2, despite the existence of others?
To answer that, it’s crucial to understand that;
The NFT marketplace plays a vital role in the NFT ecosystem.
The intrinsic value of NFTs is derived from their trading in the marketplace, so growth in the NFT ecosystem cannot be expected without a high-quality, high-liquidity marketplace.
Regarding the NFT marketplace for major L2s like Optimism and Arbitrum, Quix, and Stratos played a leading role in the market. Unfortunately, they have decided to shut down their services, which are scheduled to be entirely discontinued this month (February 2023).
Later in the last year, mainstream NFT marketplaces began to adopt L2 on their platforms. Currently, there are many NFT marketplace options with L2 available. However, NFTs on L2 are often considered underdogs because much of the NFT data is not loaded or even discoverable on these platforms.
Despite the fact that Quix is about to shut down in a matter of days, more than 65% of NFT trading activity on Optimism is still taking place on Quix.
Another proof that an NFT marketplace specifically designed for L2 is necessary is the large demand from NFT creators on Optimism for a replacement for Quix, as the other options are unsuitable for them.
That’s why the Zonic project was initiated in early December 2022, with the goal of offering a new home for NFT creators on L2 and supporting the growth of the NFT ecosystem and overall network adoption.
Team
We are the team behind Apetimism, an early NFT project on Optimism. Our passion for creating an NFT marketplace stems from our experience as NFT creators last year. We discovered that the L2 NFT community is truly supportive and kind. Thanks to Quix for being a backbone in driving everything forward.
Although our vision is ambitious, we began humbly. The entire Zonic stack was created by a single individual, who also oversees all social media channels.
Despite the small team size, we have the required expertise to create a secure and high-quality NFT marketplace, which is now fully functional on https://zonic.app.
Our plan is to expand the team once we establish the profitability of the marketplace, hopefully in the near future. Once we reach that stage, we can expect to see an increase in products, activities, and rewards, which should help drive growth even faster.
Our Vision: “Build by Creator for Creators”
We understand the emotions and desires of the creator, as we too are creators. It’s no surprise that when we decided to create our own NFT marketplace, our passion was to make it a platform for creators.
Everything has been constructed with the profound intention of making it;
“A secure NFT Marketplace for Creators on Ethereum Layer-2 with the top priority being the protection of our users’ assets.”
For instance, the first feature we implemented, even before the buying and selling system, was the “creator fee” mechanism. We ensured that sufficient time was allocated for creators to complete this information to safeguard their interests.
Features and tools that have been and are about to be implemented have also been thought out with the creator in mind, and will not be limited to just being a marketplace. For example, additional tools such as a sales bot and holder snapshot will also be provided, as we are aware of creators' desires.
Security is also a top priority for us, as every line of code has been thoroughly audited internally to ensure that there are no security flaws that could harm our users’ assets.
Our goal is to create a one-stop NFT marketplace where NFT creators can find everything they need and feel secure using it without any doubt.
Our vision is clear on what we aim to achieve; even though it may be challenging, we know it will be worth it.
Our Missions
While it is good to have big dreams, we also need to be grounded in reality. One of our primary objectives is to sustainably support the NFT ecosystem on layer 2 in the short and long term. To achieve this, we must ensure our viability and guarantee that we will still be operational in the next year or even the next five years.
Launching an NFT marketplace is a complex challenge. Billions of blockchain events must be processed and tens of millions of NFT data (and counting) must be fetched and cached, which demands a substantial amount of computing power and resources for project development, as well as funding.
We acknowledge that maintaining the service requires a monthly budget. Therefore, we need to get the first step right, otherwise the project will head down the wrong path. Hence, we have set the following objectives and will closely follow them to ensure that everything will go smoothly.
- Self-Sustained — We need to ensure that the project can sustain itself as we strive to maximize revenue and minimize costs to the best of our ability.
- Public Goods — We firmly believe in the concept of “Public Goods” and will continue to adhere to this principle. As our business grows, we will do everything possible to give back to the community.
- Grow along with creators — We aim to construct what the project creators and collectors desire, not what we want. However, we are enthusiastic about building one for them. For that reason, we are highly receptive to suggestions and will continually develop new features focusing on what the creators desire.
- No Overpromise, Deliver — Our approach is never to overpromise, but instead, consistently deliver, and let the product speak for itself.
We strongly believe that the clear and focused vision and mission, as stated above, will greatly influence and direct our organization’s objectives and decision-making processes toward a common and successful outcome.
Build from scratch
There are several options for starting an NFT marketplace, such as using open-source software, utilizing a white-label solution, or building everything from scratch. We have chosen the latter approach.
Why?
There are several factors supporting our decision, and we are confident that we made the right choice based on the positive results we have seen so far.
- To provide a high-quality product, it’s crucial for us to have a thorough understanding of what we’re doing. This is why we’ve chosen to build everything from scratch, as it allows us to gain a fundamental understanding of all aspects of the project. This, in turn, helps us maintain greater control over the outcome.
- The L2 blockchains we are working with, including Optimism, Arbitrum One, and Arbitrum Nova, are relatively new and there is currently no open-source software that provides full support for all of them. Furthermore, our expansion plans extend to even newer blockchains like zkSync, Starknet, and 0xMantle. To avoid any roadblocks in our growth, we have decided to build everything from the ground up, thereby overcoming these limitations.
- We have plans to develop several additional features for the NFT marketplace, such as a sale bot, launchpad, and holder snapshot service, among others. To accomplish this, we need access to raw data. By collecting this data ourselves, we have a clear path to expanding our product line beyond just the marketplace.
- In accordance with our mission of becoming self-sufficient, it is vital for us to have control over our budget. Our current infrastructure, which utilizes only a few third-party services, enables us to manage costs efficiently and effectively achieve this goal.
We must admit that the decision to build a multi-chain NFT marketplace from scratch with tight time constraints was highly challenging. However, the outcome thus far has shown that the effort was well worth it.
This topic might be perceived as a bit technical, but the reason we delve into these details is to convey that;
“Everything is now attainable”
and we can anticipate even more diverse product offerings beyond the NFT marketplace due to these advancements.
Strong Points
You may wonder why you should utilize our service even though there are already numerous NFT marketplaces offering L2 NFTs. We’d like to present some compelling reasons for your consideration.
- Lightweight — Our website is highly optimized for speed and performs efficiently even on mid-range smartphones.
- Data Accuracy — The information on our site, including the count of NFTs in the collection and the number of owners, is all accurate. This also guarantees that you will have no difficulty in finding all the NFTs in your wallet.
- Fun! — We have integrated gamification to make the trading experience more enjoyable and to allow our users to earn rewards through Zonic Quests, our in-house developed use-to-earn platform.
Feel free to try it out for yourself now! https://zonic.app/
More L2 networks support to come
We began with Optimism, Arbitrum One, and Arbitrum Nova as they are currently at the forefront of the Ethereum Layer-2 ecosystem. However, we will not limit ourselves to just these three. If there is sufficient demand on any blockchain, we will promptly incorporate it into our platform. Our in-house built core infrastructure enables us to launch trading on a new blockchain within just five days!
It is important to note that while our focus is primarily on an NFT marketplace for L2, we are open to integrating L1 blockchains into our platform if it would benefit both our business and our users.
Official launch scheduled for Feb 13, 2023 (10:00 GMT)
Although our Zonic NFT marketplace is now fully operational, it has not yet been officially launched and is still in the soft-launch phase.
The soft launch was implemented to allow us to test and evaluate all of the services, and ensure that everything was functioning as expected. So far, everything has gone smoothly, and we are now confident that the service can be provided to everyone with high security and without any issues.
Since the soft-launch phase has been progressing exceptionally well, we are excited to announce that the official launch is set to occur on February 13, 2023 at 10:00 GMT!
Of course, there will be some exclusive benefits for those who trade on the official launch date. Further details will be outlined in a subsequent blog post, focusing on what to expect during the official launch.
Please make sure to follow us on Twitter and/or on our Discord channel so that you don’t miss out on any updates.
