Emerging NFT Platforms Endorse Sustainable Ecosystem Growth The recent growth in cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance protocols has led to the rise of another category of digital assets: the NFTs or non-f...

The recent growth in cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance protocols has led to the rise of another category of digital assets: the NFTs or non-fungible tokens. During the first three months of 2021, the combined market capitalization of significant NFT projects grew nearly by 1,800%. Another report showed that users spent more than US$2 billion on NFTs, during Q1 2021. Compared to the sales figures of Q4 2020, the growth was nearly 2,100%.

Q1 2021 hedge fund letters, conferences and more

These four-digit growth numbers stand testimony to the traction that NFTs have gained of late. NFTs are blockchain-based cryptographic assets that come with unique identification codes and metadata. No two NFTs are alike, and one can not exchange or trade them for equivalency. The sense of rarity that NFTs carry with them makes them all the more lucrative and desirable. While the demand stems from this willingness to own a rare and unique asset, companies that are making it big in this domain are not only focused on capitalizing on this short-term growth. These companies are walking the path of long-term sustainable growth.

Ethernity

Founded in 2021 by its current CEO Nick Rose Ntertas, Ethernity chain is a platform producing limited edition authenticated NFTs and trading cards that artists design and eminent personalities endorse.

Ethernity has teamed up with international soccer superstar Pele. The soccer legend launched his first NFT trading cards, created by artists Kingletter and Visual Lab, on May 2nd this year. On June 1st, 2021, ABG or Authentic Brands Group, a company with a majority stake in the IP rights of global icon Marilyn Monroe, also partnered with Ethernity Chain to launch a collection of NFT artworks inspired by Marilyn Monroe.

Once the artists get the required endorsement from the icons, Ethernity makes available limited editions of their artwork through auction and sales. These are known as aNFTs. The auction winners and buyers claim their aNFTs, and a part of these transactions goes to charity and ERN holders. ERN tokens are the native assets of the Ethernity chain.

Ethernity plans to build a large NFT library for its token holders to farm, generating regular income for the artists and the charities. Up to 90% of an artwork's sale price can go into charities, while the rest gets split equally among the marketplace fees/gas fees and Ethernity fees.

Meme.com

Meme.com positions its brand as explorers of exquisite memes and trends. As its mission on the ground, Meme.com intends to bridge the gap between meme coins and NFTs to create a long-term sustainable economy for meme creators and meme enthusiasts. You can use Memecoin to sponsor your favorite memes and earn rewards. It is a win-win for explorers who have the eye to spot great memes and their creators.

As an explorer, you can find out the most remarkable memes and submit them to Meme.com's meme council. Explorers contributing the most amazing memes will get exciting monthly rewards.

A long-term sustainability program for the Meme ecosystem is what Meme.com aims to deliver, and this is what has earned them $5 million funding from a host of VC funds, including Outlier Ventures, Digital Finance Group, Morningstar, Block Hype, Spark Digital Capital, and more. It also earned contributions from Gabby Dizon, CEO of Altitude Games, and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal. The funding indicates that crypto industry stakeholders can go all out to back solutions that take care of the sustainable growth of an ecosystem.

Hoard Exchange

While Meme.com helps the meme creators and enthusiasts leverage the benefit of NFTs to develop as a self-sufficient ecosystem, the Hoard Exchange bridges the gap between NFTs and gaming. To provide broader access to digital goods for both developers and gamers, it has launched an NFT marketplace for users to trade, rent, and lend NFTs.

While in-game items will occupy a large share of NFTs in this marketplace, they will also have digital art, music, domain names, and more. The marketplace will act as the microcosm of the larger NFT economy, allowing users to list their NFTs for sale, discover purchasable NFTs listed by others, and use NFTs as loan collateral. Lenders will earn high yields and be eligible to acquire the NFT in cases of foreclosure. Anyone holding stablecoins and NFTs can benefit from this system - be it a borrower or a lender. The platform also has a native token, HRD coin, with a maximum supply of 1 billion units. Holders of the HRD token can stake the coin in exchange for a financial return on their investment.

The growth of the NFT economy can be reasonably expected to encourage more such platforms - in the days to come - that will focus on building a long-term, sustainable ecosystem.