Asur: The Working Of Next-gen NFTs

The Opportunity

Asur introduced some problems the NFT space faces in their previous article and how they look to solve them.

NFTs serve as the holder’s entry point in the digital environment. However, we are entering a digital space like how we have entered the physical one. NFTs can and should be so much more than they currently are.

They have the potential to leverage and open doors to the existing digital ecosystem and connect them with holders like never before.

Since NFTs lack these alluring capabilities, they are failing to drive value. They do not have any intrinsic value. Many projects have failed, and more will, for the same reason. There is a need for next-generation features and services.

The space is functioning on the flipping mentality that leaves the true potential of NFTs unexplored. We haven’t explored the real treasure hidden in this space- NFTs are more than a digital asset. They are the key to connecting and leveraging the digital ecosystem.

Problem Statement

Though Asur has discussed in detail the problem in their previous article, they can summarize it further:

Existing NFTs are single-layered without any interactive capabilities and potential upgrades within them.

Therefore, we can say that they lack an anchor to maintain and drive value. There is only so long that hype/marketing can sustain this value.

Eventually, people are going to realize they just got FOMO-ed. It’ll create fear and loss of trust in the NFT ecosystem, and it’s already happening:

1. 8/10 Collection on NFT marketplaces got unsold in the last quarter.
2. Opensea’s volume is down by 99%. That’s really 99%.
3. 95% of NFT collections have less than 2% resale volume.

So there is a dire need for that anchor to drive value.

The Asur Solution: Value creates value

Consider buying NFT as getting a new job. If what you do does not offer any value to the company/project you are working for, there is only so long that they can pay you.

Paying you for not providing any value in return is not sustainable for them. It’s the same with NFTs. NFT projects can not create value for holders if they don’t get it in return.

But if you do your job graciously and provide value to the project, you become eligible for bonuses and increments besides your regular salary. The same goes for NFTs.

The Asur solution is to create a medium where holders can provide value to creators, and creators do the same in return.

However, not all holders can provide the same value. So Asur have created a dynamic system that measures and divides holders according to skill and get output using the skill tree concept. It allows the creators to provide equivalent value in return- a contribute-to-earn model.

Infrastructure

Asur propose Next-gen NFT infrastructure – a complete on-chain smart-contract infrastructure, that allows holders to unlock and provide value to creators and vice-versa.

All Asur NFTs are digital collectibles created using this infrastructure and offer an immersive experience. These NFTs have the potential to leverage the Tezos ecosystem. But how?

Each Asur NFT has the above-mentioned smart contract infrastructure, i.e., their factory smart contract. The building blocks of this factory contract are slots, and Asur call each slot a level (you can define however many for an NFT).

Each level has two sub-slots connected via an unlocking mechanism. These sub-slots are called effort and reward slots. Creators set the effort their NFT holders have to put in to unlock rewards.

The effort slot is sub-categorized into the Mechanical Effort and Monetary Effort slots.

Any task, either on-chain/off-chain, which can be measured or quantified via KPIs or verified on the blockchain or off-chain via oracles and APIs, can be considered Mechanical Effort.

It can be as small as a social task, such as a tweet about a project with NFT, or a complicated skill task, like contributing to the code base or the design, marketing support, and much more.

Asur have created an easy way out for the NFT holders who do not want to perform Mechanical efforts.

They can bypass the mechanical effort via the Buy-out Mechanism, which comes under Monetary effort. It provides an additional revenue stream for creators and a token-burning mechanism for projects.

Impact of this infrastructure

• Bilateral transfer of value to holders and creators – This model provides value to both the creators and holders, unlike holders getting incentivized to only hold an NFT and keep getting FOMO-ed.
• Convert a single-point interaction model of NFTs to a multi-point interaction model – Currently, only a single interaction is possible between creator and holders. Yes, holders have other options to interact with NFTs, but not with creators. Asur models convert this to a multi-point interaction model by introducing multiple levels.
• Allow NFTs to leverage the existing digital ecosystem – The digital ecosystem is already robust, but space currently lacks the means to integrate it seamlessly with NFTs. The Asur model allows that integration in a gamified manner.For example, if you provide Token liquidity on a Tezos DEX, you unlock an additional 2% on the staking portal. Or, if you create 5 Fan NFTs on the objkt marketplace, you unlock NFT staking and access to the next IRL event or a discount code. It all depends on the creativity of the creators.

Conclusively, the model is expected to be fruitful for NFT holders, creators, NFTs, and the entire ecosystem.

Conclusion

All in all, Asur is a complete package for the whole NFT space.

Adding a rewards and utilities layer over the base NFT contract adds one or many use cases to the NFT. Therefore, the NFT that was previously equivalent to pretty digital art only now has value-deriving activities attached to it. With the addition of these interactive layers, Asur allow access to new applications and increase mainstream adoption of NFTs. Conclusively, leading to the continued interest of the community in the project.

After you buy an Asur NFT, they offer not one or two but a wide range of opportunities for you to interact with the ecosystem using your NFT. By doing so, you not only support Asur, but also add significance and value to the ecosystem.

For any queries or discussions, email – [email protected] or DM Asur on Twitter.