This segment was originally published in the Flarnchain newsletter on 9/16/2021, where I discuss the crypto markets and progress on development of the Flarnchain blockchain and Flarncoin cryptocurrency. Sign up to receive the Flarnchain newsletter here: www.flarnchain.com
Flarn Cards
I've talked about NFTs a few times in the Flarnchain newsletter. I'm going to talk about them again tonight. NFT stands for "non-fungible token" which is in contrast to a "fungible token". Fungible means that all of the things in a group are the same.
The flarnchainys collection image on the WAX blockchain
So like, any 1 Bitcoin is really the same as any other 1 Bitcoin. Or any 1 US Dollar is the same as any other 1 US Dollar. Something that's non-fungible means that it's unique. In cryptocurrency terms, a non-fungible token is verifiably unique through it's cryptographic signature. If that doesn't mean anything to you, that's okay. I'm not going to dive too much into the theory of NFTs, I'm just going to talk about NFTs that I'm creating to move the Flarnchain project along.
What are these NFTs I'm creating?
Well, they are called "Flarn Cards", and they are a collection of 100 unique digital artworks. Each digital artwork will have a maximum "mint quantity" of 100 NFTs. This means that in total, there will be 10,000 NFTs created as part of this project. Think the mint quantity similar to the print quantity of an artist's prints of a work of art. You can see the print quantity usually on the bottom of the artwork, that might look like "1 / 100" or "25 / 100".
Here's the first "back" side of Flarn Cards 1 through 3. The back will change as more Flarn Cards are minted.
NFTs can have similar features, but these features are provable through cryptography. So when you see a number in the top right hand corner of an NFT, you know the order in which that artwork was created or "minted" as they say in the biz.
Here's Flarn Cards 1 through 3. There will be a total of 100 Unique Flarn Cards v1.
VISION My vision for these NFTs is to serve the following three purposes (or utilities), with the purposes to potentially expand over time as I become more familiar with the concept and functionality of NFTs: Purpose One: As a vehicle to build the Flarnchain community, with unique artworks and verifiable ownership of those artworks. Think of Flarn Cards as passes to be members in the community. You own a Flarn Card? You are a member of the Flarnchain community.
Here's Flarn Card 4, a common Flarn Card
Purpose Two: To develop my skills and understanding in a gradual manner with pre-defined requirements and a structured timeline. These Flarn Cards are something I can create (AKA I currently have the skills and knowledge to actually create these things), thus they are a great opportunity to start building.
Purpose Three: As a fundamental element of the Flarncoin token emission structure. What are token emissions? This is the way tokens are created or "emitted" from a blockchain protocol. For example, the token emission schedule for Bitcoin is laid out in the Bitcoin whitepaper, and results in miners competing for the block reward by solving an arbitrarily complex cryptographic puzzle. Whoever wins the contest, every 10 minutes, wins some Bitcoin. The amount of Bitcoin emitted follows a predictable schedule, and in like 100 years, all 21 million Bitcoins will have been "emitted" by the protocol. What is the token emission schedule for Flarncoins? Well, that is not yet established. That said, one thing that is known, is that ownership of a Flarn Card will entitle the holder of that card to some % of the token emissions. I haven't quite worked out how to implement this, and I have not quite figured out the specifics of how many tokens, how frequent, but I have some time to answer these questions.
The key thing is that I know for certain that ownership of Flarn Cards will entitle the owner to some amount of Flarncoins. This works well, as it creates a unique cryptographic vehicle to create and deliver the Flarncoin cryptocurrency. I anticipate that Flarn Cards will be but a small part of the token emissions for Flarncoins. I think that Flarn Cards create a provably fair way to distribute Flarncoins, which will increase the chances of an adequately decentralized cryptocurrency with adequate community involvement.
If you want to learn more about Flarn Cards, consider taking a look at the "schema" page on the WAX blockchain, where I am minting Flarn Cards. I will mint all 100 series 1 Flarn Cards on the Wax Blockchain. I plan to mint around three to five Flarn Cards per week. Each Flarn Card minting will start with an initial 5 mintings, leaving 95 cards available to be minted in the form of drops and packs. Drops and packs require my collection to be "Whitelisted" by the WAX blockchain, for which I filled out an application this weekend. I'll hopefully complete this process by October. At that point, the Flarn Card collection will have a little check mark next to it, which creates additional validation that this project is legit and not plagiarized art.
An important distinction / disclaimer I'd like to make about blockchain technology:
Blockchain technology is not a single technology, it is a combination of cryptography, game theory, human psychology, computer science. The combination of the technologies is what makes blockchain so powerful. Well, that's about all I've got to say about Flarn Cards right now.
More news to come!
-Flarn
