NFT Protocol: May 2021 Development Update

The NFT.org DEX entered its alpha testing phase, NFT Protocol & Immutable X announced a partnership, NFT Protocol team additions and more!

We’ve been incredibly busy behind the scenes here at NFT Protocol so it’s been a couple of months since we’ve shared a comprehensive update with you all and we have a lot to share with you here to kick off the month of May!

NFT.org DEX Enters Alpha Testing Phase

Work on the smart contracts and front end/UI for the beta (v1) version of the NFT.org DEX reached completion in April and what is considered an alpha version of the DEX has been deployed on Ethereum mainnet where it is now being tested by the NFT Protocol team and a small group of verified $NFT token holders.

At the time this newsletter was published the smart contracts appear to be functioning without issue as can be seen in the demo video below, though a small number of issues with the front end/UI have been discovered by the testing group and are currently being addressed by the development team. Once testing has yielded a product fit for public use the code will be handed over to an auditor - we’re looking to work with Peckshield - and the beta (v1) version of the DEX will officially launch thereafter.

While the front end/UI issues uncovered by the testing group are being addressed our smart contract engineers have begun working on the next set of features for the DEX which include ERC 1155 support, asset bundling, minting, social trading and collateralization.

NFT Protocol & Immutable X Partnership

Last week Immutable X and NFT Protocol announced their partnership wherein NFT Protocol will be among the first group of NFT projects to be given access to Immutable X’s revolutionary ZK-rollup L2 for NFTs built directly onto Ethereum mainnet as well as to its developer grants program!

Right now Immutable X is in its DEUS development phase wherein its alpha mainnet trial is underway exclusively with the Ethereum-based online trading card game (TCG) Gods Unchained.

Throughout the DEUS phase Immutable X will refine its product and give NFT Protocol access to its test environment so that our development team may assess the technology and establish a plan for implementing it into the NFT.org DEX once the product is ready to progress into the COSMOS phase.

NFT Protocol’s implementation of Immutable X will allow for gas-free minting, trading and selling of NFTs on its NFT.org DEX for users who’ve deposited assets into the Immutable environment (deposits to Immutable do require gas). Immutable’s revolutionary iteration of ZK-rollup technology allows for transactions to be settled onto Ethereum mainnet via zero knowledge proofs which precipitate state changes to the blockchain that reflect transactions that take place within the Immutable environment. Whereas transactional state changes to the blockchain require gas, zero knowledge proofs do not.

This partnership represents a powerful move on behalf of NFT Protocol towards building the most efficient and cost-effective platform for decentralized minting, buying, selling and trading NFTs.

NFT Protocol Team Changes & Additions

The NFT Protocol team is incredibly excited to announce the addition of blockchain architect Tilo Ochotta to its development team! Tilo has an impressive background which includes work with Block.one on the EOSIO platform and most recently with Immutable. Tilo’s addition to the team will not only expedite development and add dimension to the feature set of the NFT.org DEX, but also facilitate the speed and efficacy of our upcoming Immutable implementation.

At the tail end of April our community manager Jake Cox was also brought on to the team in a full-time capacity and given an additional role as product manager for NFT Protocol. Jake stepping into the product manager role alongside his existing community manager role will not only bring additional clarity and efficiency to the product development process, but also ensure that the NFT.org DEX meets the nuanced needs of $NFT token holders and the NFT space at large.

The NFT Protocol Agenda for May 2021

NFT.org DEX Beta (v1) Launch Promotion

As testing and the subsequent audit of the DEX progresses and a date for launch comes into view, we will be working on a proposing through governance a promotional program mobilize a swatch of $NFT tokens from the governance pool to be made available to be claimed by those who list and/or purchase on the DEX within the promotional period. Not only could this incentivize use of the DEX when it launches, it could also increase distribution of the $NFT token and subsequent participation in the growing NFT Protocol DAO.

The NFT Protocol DAO

In order to make use of the growing number of contributors interested in being involved with NFT Protocol and progress towards our long-term vision of becoming a thoroughly decentralized organization, Jake has been busy this week working on setting up a Discourse forum for NFT Protocol. Discourse forums are what established DeFi projects and DAOs like Uniswap and Yearn typically use to enhance their governance processes. This is an important step in NFT Protocol increasing the viability of its existing $NFT token governance model, becoming more decentralized and leveraging the $NFT token governance pool for the purposes of attracting contributors to grow and expedite development of the protocol.

$NFT Token Utility

NFT Protocol will launch its beta (v1) version of its DEX with membership-based utility for the $NFT token. Those who hold 10k+ $NFT tokens in their connected wallet when fulfilling listings will not be charged any fees. The fees programmed into the version currently being tested are .001 ETH for ERC 721 <-> ERC 721 swaps and 1.0% for ERC 721 to ERC 20 sales though we encourage the consideration of a fee structure adjustment through a governance proposal in the future.

We are continuing to work with our new legal counsel (who is more than adequately experienced in the DeFi space) to come up with a legally compliant model for bringing further utility to the $NFT token comparable to the models with other governance and utility tokens in the DeFi space. DEX fee sharing among $NFT token holders who stake $NFT and participate in governance is certainly on the table and will become an increasingly viable point of utility as NFT Protocol continues to expand its DAO and become more decentralized.

NFT Protocol also continues to work closely with Blockparty on a regular basis on their efforts to implement the $NFT token into the Blockparty platform. They have come up with a lucrative model that aligns with NFT Protocol’s vision for $NFT token utility that is currently under legal review.

Partnerships & Collaborations

The NFT Protocol team has ongoing dialogue with several entities in the NFT, DeFi and DAO spaces regarding potential partnerships & collaborations. Throughout May these dialogues will continue with the intention to solidify further partnerships and collaborations which will bring more features and utility to NFT Protocol and the $NFT token.

Blockparty continues to engage in regular communication with Dapper Labs regarding the implementation of their Flow blockchain on both Blockparty and NFT Protocol’s NFT.org DEX. It remains unclear when we will begin building the DEX on Flow. When and where we place building the DEX on Flow on our development roadmap will likely depend on a number of variables including Immutable’s development timeline, though building on Flow certainly remains a top priority for us after our Ethereum deployment achieves adequate viability.

Recent Media

https://nonfungible.com/blog/nft-protocol-decentralized-exchange-nfts