[published afterwards in LinkedIn Pulse, so that you can comment there]
A blockchain token is a digital object you can own in your blockchain e-wallet. From this e-wallet you can send this token to a friend or trade it in a decentralized exchange running as well on the blockchain. All these actions (create token, send, buy, sell) are transactions written on the blockchain that everybody can see.
Here is the example of
- the wallet I used to create my elements of the periodic table
- the sell orders of these elements
- one buy order by a collector (1 Selenium square for 236 BitCrystals)
Yes, people are happy to buy digital objects, because they really own it, and the scarcity as locked unit number of a token is certified in the blockchain, making this Selenium square a digital asset in limited edition.
Why such digital objects as blockchain token had success?
[Flashback to the pioneers]
In 2015, the game Spells of Genesis was crowdfunded with BitCrystals. Before and after the launch, fans and players bought the digital cards as blockchain tokens because they could enjoy the graphical art of the cards’ picture and play with them in the game. The token has a value mainly from the game.
In 2016, similar cards were created as User Generated Content (UGC) of the pepe meme for the Rare Pepe Directory. The cards had no real usage, except to enjoy the visuals and interact in the community (create, send, & trade). The token has value mainly from the community.
In 2017 CryptoPunks and CryptoKitties had their procedural assets, with each of them unique. The trading and interaction of the community of owners & collectors is big, reinforced by additional external services. The token has value for his design and uniqueness, allowing to be part of the community of owners and services.
The AtOMo collection
Atoms are present everywhere. Matters are sought and valued since centuries (e.g. sulfur, iron, mercury, gold). This longevity is a good fit with the perennity of blockchain and of the tokens created on it. And some of the elements of the periodic table were never produced, or just in few laboratories. Now it is possible to own all these elements digitally.
The usage of these periodic table elements is multiple:
- Visible & tradeable in the collection app Book of Orbs
- Additional tokens as words from symbols as characters, e.g. WOW, LuCKY, FUN, BRaIN
- Creative Commons of all images (png & animated gifs)
- Classification and atom values available on-line (Json file, e.g. atomose.json)
- Our own digital services
– word speller to see which words could be created with symbols
– stickers in Telegram
– emoji in slack
All these services and merchandising around the AtOMo collection could make this new visuals of elements more known and used. Then more people could be aware of the blockchain aspect: the tokens within a wallet. Part of these people can do the next steps: buying Bitcoin and Bitcrystals to trade and own AtOMo squares.
Conclusion
Just creating a blockchain token collection is not enough to have it is used. Naturally the content itself is important (and the embossed retro-style I used does not please all ? ). The different values of the content are crucial.
We are trying the following (step by step approach)
- content with value, taking the broad awareness and interest of something everybody knows: materials, atoms, periodic table
- services with value from this content: some from us, but more important the future ones from external people and third party who will promote their product and sustain the community
- awareness of the blockchain part, “onboarding” some AtOMo fans and users to start using blockchain wallet, to buy crypto-currencies, and to own digital assets as token.