Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs, virtual worlds, & digital collectibles
Dear Bankless Nation,
The new decentralized NFT marketplace sudoswap recently unveiled its $SUDO token plans.Â
Like weâve seen plenty of times before in DeFi and NFTs, the protocolâs builders are allocating a chunk of its governance tokens through a retroactive airdrop to its early liquidity providers.Â
If youâre interested in getting airdropped more responsibility like this from notable NFT efforts, a simple starting point is trying NFT projects that havenât released governance tokens yet and that could conceivably do so in the future.Â
For todayâs Metaversal, Iâve created a list of projects that appear to meet these basic targeting criteria. Letâs dive in then and put them on your radar!
-WMP
đ Sponsor:Â Nexo - Buy BTC, ETH, and 40+ cryptocurrencies and keep your assets safe.âš
15 potential NFT governance airdrop opps
Managing expectations
Of all the projects below, I think only two have announced explicit governance token plans. All the others Iâve listed simply because they donât have a governance token yet and because elements of their designs would seemingly fit well with future community governance.Â
To be sure, this isnât the most precise targeting methodology! Some of the efforts below may never launch governance tokens, at least not as ERC20s. However, in contemporary crypto many projects embrace community governance via ERC20s at some point, so itâs not crazy to assume that at least a couple of those listed below will do the same.Â
All that said, try these projects knowing you may never receive anything but the satisfaction of supporting pioneering tech and the benefit of building out your NFT skill tree. If you do receive any associated airdrops in the future, itâll be icing on the cake. Now letâs walk through the candidate projects, which Iâve grouped across three categories: marketplaces, group collecting, and NFTfi.
đ NFT marketplaces
1. Zora
Description: Zora is a universal media registry protocol that makes it easy for people to buy, sell, and curate NFTs.Â
Resources: Website | Twitter | Discord
Why Zora: Zora V3 has protocol âFee Switchâ NFTs, a.k.a. ZORFs, which are presently owned by Zora DAO. If Zora opts to open up ZORFs to wider community steering, it may use a governance token to do so.Â
Potential airdrop strategy: Create and collect NFTs on Zora! Â
2. Nifty Gateway
Description: Nifty Gateway is an NFT marketplace.Â
Resources: Website | Twitter | Discord
Why Nifty Gateway: Nifty Gateway just unveiled its new Publishers system, which is opening the platform to community curation. I speculate that the project may eventually embrace a governance token to decentralize this curation model even further.Â
Potential airdrop strategy: Collect NFTs on Nifty Gateway!Â
3. Foundation
Description: Foundation is an NFT marketplace.Â
Why Foundation: Foundationâs FAQ says the project âdoes not currently have a token.â To me, the operative word there is currently. That phrasing suggests Foundation may eventually launch its own governance token.Â
Potential airdrop strategy: Create and collect NFTs on Foundation!
4. Gem
Description: Gem is an NFT marketplace aggregator.Â
Resources: Website | Twitter | Discord
Why Gem: People thought the chances of Gem rolling out its own token was squashed when OpenSea acquired the NFT aggregator earlier this year. In the wake of that news, Gem co-founder Vasa said token plans still were ânot out of the question,â and we havenât heard anything otherwise since, so the possibility is seemingly in play.Â
Potential airdrop strategy: Sweep NFTs on Gem!Â
5. Quix
Description: Previously known as Quixotic, Quix is the first NFT marketplace on the Optimism layer-two (L2) scaling solution.Â
Resources: Website | Twitter | Discord
Why Quix: Quix may look to eventually consolidate its lead as Optimismâs first-mover NFT marketplace by invigorating its community with a governance token.Â
Potential airdrop strategy: Collect NFTs on Quix!
6. Stratos
Description: Created by the same team that built Quix, Stratos is an NFT marketplace deployed on the Arbitrum L2.Â
Resources: Website | Twitter | Discord
Why Stratos: Treasureâs Trove is the reigning marketplace on Arbitrum today and Trove has $MAGIC, so Stratos may eventually release its own token in a bid to grab more market share from its biggest competitor.Â
Potential airdrop strategy: Collect NFTs on Stratos!
7. Protecc
Description: Protecc is an upcoming NFT liquidity protocol.Â
Why Protecc: While Protecc isnât live on mainnet yet, it will be soon. And since other liquidity protocols like NFT20, NFTX, and now sudoswap have their own native tokens, thereâs reason to believe Protecc will embrace the same approach too.Â
Potential airdrop strategy: Buy and sell NFTs on Protecc once itâs launched!
8. fx(hash)
Description: fx(hash) is a generative art platform and NFT marketplace on the Tezos blockchain.Â
Resources: Website | Twitter | Discord
Why fx(hash): fx(hash) plans to launch a DAO and an FXH token, though those plans have been paused for now. The distribution details havenât been unveiled yet, so using the platform today may slot you in for an FXH airdrop in the future.Â
Potential airdrop strategy: Buy and sell NFTs on fx(hash)! Check out my Quick Guide to Tezos NFTs if you donât know where to start.
đ Group collecting projects
9. Tessera
Description: Previously known as Fractional, Tessera is a protocol for collectively owning and governing NFTs.Â
Resources: Website | Twitter | Discord
Why Tessera: At the heart of Tessera is the notion of collective ownership. Toward that idea, the project may eventually make the protocol itself collectively owned through a governance token.Â
Potential airdrop strategy: Buy and sell fractions of NFTs on Tessera once the projectâs new UI is launched!
10. PartyBid
Description: PartyBid is a dapp that makes it easy for groups of people to collectively bid on NFTs together.Â
Why PartyBid: PartyBid is built by PartyDAO, which is managed via the $PARTY token. If PartyDAO ever decides to expand further, it may do so by expanding $PARTY to the public.Â
Potential airdrop strategy: Collect fractions of NFTs through PartyBid!
đ NFT finance
11. Arcade
Description: Arcade is an NFT borrowing and lending protocol.
Resources: Website | Twitter | Discord
Why Arcade: Arcade currently doesnât charge any protocol fees, but the projectâs FAQ notes that fees may be charged in the future. If that happens, Arcade may use a governance token so that its community can decide these fee parameters.Â
Potential airdrop strategy: Borrow or Lend on Arcade!
12. Astaria
Description: Astaria is an upcoming NFT borrowing and lending protocol.
Why Astaria: âWe believe that web3 platforms live by their community,â Astariaâs team said last month. âBe sure to keep an eye out for what we have planned for our community after the launch.â
Potential airdrop strategy: Take out an NFT loan on Astaria once itâs live!
13. Hook
Description: Hook is a new NFT-native options protocol.
Resources: Website | Twitter | Discord
Why Hook: Hookâs protocol is âpotentially upgradeable in the future to timelocks or even governance contracts,â per the projectâs docs. That said, donât be surprised if Hook eventually rolls out a governance token.Â
Potential airdrop strategy: Buy NFT call options on Hook as liquidity permits!
14. MetaStreet
Description: MetaStreet is a decentralized interest rate protocol for NFTs.Â
Resources: Website | Twitter | Discord
Why MetaStreet: The projectâs landing page teases that governance will be needed in the future to determine which new NFTs are creditworthy or not.
Potential airdrop strategy: Deposit into one of MetaStreetâs vaults!
15. Sodium
Description: Sodium is an NFT borrowing and lending protocol.Â
Resources: Website | Twitter | Discord
Why Sodium: The project has explicitly stated it plans to release its SOD token post-launch.Â
Potential airdrop strategy: Borrow or lend through the project once itâs live!
Action steps
đȘ Consider trying potential NFT airdrop candidate projects like the ones listed above
âš Read my previous Celebrating the Merge with NFTs write-up if you missed it!
Author Bio
William M. Peaster is a professional writer and creator of Metaversalâa Bankless newsletter focused on the emergence of NFTs in the cryptoeconomy. Heâs also recently been contributing content to Bankless, JPG, and beyond!
Subscribe to Bankless. $22 per mo. Includes archive access, Inner Circle & Badge.
đThanks to our sponsor
NEXO
Nexo follows a robust business model that safeguards your crypto in all market conditions. The companyâs strict overcollateralization policy makes it the go-to platform to safely borrow against your crypto. You can also buy or exchange 40+ assets and earn daily compounding interest.
đ Get Started Now!
Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.
Airdrops are Dabdragon Approved just like Bankless