A little over a year ago, on October 16, 2020, Dapper Labs launched the open beta of NBA Top Shot into a very different world. “Crypto” was seen as almost exclusively about currency back then — ”NFT” was a niche term, “Metaverse” was not yet on most radars, Web3 was in its infancy.

Everything is different now. NBA Top Shot itself has grown more than 100x — from ~10k signups and ~1k active users this week last December to over a million signups and ~150k active users last week. We’re now taking our work to the next level with NBA Top Shot (2022 roadmap) and starting to roll out the new NFL All Day, with UFC and La Liga close behind!

We’ve seen the community of Web3 developers building on Flow (flow.com) increase by 100x too: from a handful of early builders to thousands of pioneering teams, many who are also participating in the governance, technical development, and infrastructure of the network as well.

Flow Fam Just Built Different

Although we’ve seen awesome growth, the vibe of the Flow builder community has stayed authentic and community-focused.

The community comes from all walks of life, but we’re all here for similar reasons: we know that it’s inevitable that life is increasingly digital, and that Web3 is a one-time opportunity to lay the earliest building blocks of the open Metaverse.

An open Metaverse means that the software governing our digital lives will be transparent and run on public blockchains, not private servers: accessible to anyone, trusted by everyone, and controlled by the people that use it — not the people that made it.

Here is some recent news from pioneers building in the Flow community today, starting with a quick highlight on several PFP projects battling it out:

• NFT Genius launched Ballerz on Monday, over $3M in secondary sales volume in its first week on Gaia (ongaia.com)— the first NFT marketplace powered by Dapper!
• Flovatar is close behind, with an interactive, collaborative avatar-making experience accessible to anyone. Over $1M in primary sales in $FLOW — minting is still open but there are also deals to be had on the marketplace!
• The first PFP on Flow is Hoodlums, by Sturdy.Exchange. Also launched recently, Hoodlums brings an awesome aesthetic and passionate community to the space — we’re excited to see the growth here!

That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Flow community, which also includes fast-growing startups as well as established companies committed to doing the right thing for their customers:

• YouTube chose Flow as their first NFT minting platform, giving gifts to their top creators that are starting to make the rounds on the social web:

Flow on Twitter: "😻 Looking good @DashieXP! @flow_blockchain 💜 @YouTube Flow is an environmentally-safe platform built for consumer-friendly NFTs and Web3 apps -- we're proud to be @YouTube's choice! https://t.co/nu7GAZSFRz / Twitter"

😻 Looking good @DashieXP! @flow_blockchain 💜 @YouTube Flow is an environmentally-safe platform built for consumer-friendly NFTs and Web3 apps -- we're proud to be @YouTube's choice! https://t.co/nu7GAZSFRz

• Genies Warehouse is now live on Flow mainnet, limited to a hand-picked early access group (TechCrunch). Genies also recently announced a partnership with UMG’s entire artist roster as well as WMG virtuoso Nessa Barrett!

AK 👽🅰️ Nigam on Twitter: "(1/6) Today we debut The Warehouse, our avatar nft wearable marketplace focused on gen z cultural virtual identity for the masses. Prioritizing long term impact over short term capital gain. This is, and has always been, about the power of an avatar. https://t.co/84AaIgb3e5 / Twitter"

(1/6) Today we debut The Warehouse, our avatar nft wearable marketplace focused on gen z cultural virtual identity for the masses. Prioritizing long term impact over short term capital gain. This is, and has always been, about the power of an avatar. https://t.co/84AaIgb3e5

• Shopify on Flow will be fully self-service thanks to GigLabs, one of the earliest startups that made the switch from Ethereum to Flow. Read more from GigLabs then check out Shopify’s landing page: shopify.com/nft
• Matrix World, the first Metaverse project on Flow, did a very successful $4M+ Flow primary drop, crossed $1M in secondary sales on the Flow BloctoBay NFT marketplace this week, and just announced a partnership with Jay Chou!
• Seussibles is on the AppStore: a mobile-first, mainstream consumer NFT experience featuring the Dr. Seuss universe and expanding to other IPs in the future.
• Rcrdshp continues to impress, building one of the strongest team in the business while crossing $2M in sales in beta with ~170 music artists represented on the platform.
• Versus.Auction, one of the most innovative art NFT platforms in the world, launches collabs with amazing artists including John Orion Young, Ben Mauro, and Alotta Money
• Chainmonsters: One of the most promising and fun NFT games in production today, continues to grow the community organically.
• SportsIcon: Just announced a partnership with Floyd Mayweather himself— as well as an upcoming platform for all college and pro athletes!
• Our long-time partner Animoca built MotoGP and Olympic Pins this year as the foundation for our work building out the sports Metaverse on Flow.
• Alchemy, the leading blockchain developer platform, just launched Web3 University — a fantastic learning resource for everyone wanting to jump into this world.
• Eternal announced its funding round including folks like Mark Cuban, Gary V, and Coinbase in September –– and been executing consistently since then. Get started on eternal.gg!
• Two awesome Flow Naming Service apps have also launched recently: find.xyz with .find as well as FlowNS with .fn!
• Last but not least, Google has started writing about their experience working with Flow –– watch this space!

So many more amazing projects are hard at work building as well, follow FlowVerse and Flow on Twitter for the latest updates.

In closing, here’s a quick video our team made at Dapper Labs highlighting this year’s milestones — we hope you enjoy!

Thank you to our community and team for bringing their best every day and believing in our mission at every step, especially to the creators and fans that make all of this possible.

We’re amped for an incredible year ahead and wishing you all the most wonderful holiday season!!

2021: the Year Web3 and the Open Metaverse Became Inevitable was originally published in Dapper Labs on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Brud is creating community-owned media and collectively-built worlds
–brud.fyi

We’ve had a busy few weeks at Dapper Labs: raising $250M additional capital from the world’s top investors; announcing incredible new partnerships with the NFL and La Liga; welcoming Dwyane Wade and celebrating #HBDTopShot by trending all day on Twitter.

Today I’m proud and grateful to announce the most important move yet: the amazing Brud team, creators of Lil Miquela and expert community builders, are joining Dapper Labs in our first acquisition of a venture-backed company. The Brud team will help launch and scale a new business unit –– Dapper Collectives –– with the mission of bringing decentralized organizations (“DAOs”) to the mainstream.

We’ve been following Trevor, Nicole de Ayora (CPO), and Kara Weber (COO)’s work on virtual influencers and the Metaverse since before CryptoKitties –– it’s an honor to work together today. We’ve also been impressed with Trevor’s work more generally in the decentralized ecosystem, including cofounding the $FWB DAO on Ethereum.

From its inception in 2016 until now, Brud has raised over $27 million in venture capital, principally from Sequoia and Spark Capital. As part of this transaction, these equity holders in Brud will also receive Dapper Labs equity as well as FLOW tokens in certain cases — welcome aboard!

By joining forces and creating Dapper Collectives, we will:

• Bring community ownership and collective building to Dapper Labs products –– starting with Lil Miquela and her 10 million fans;
• Build and release open source tools to help other mainstream communities engage in decentralized ownership and governance on Flow blockchain;
• Help the most forward-thinking “web 2” companies decentralize their operations, engaging at the CEO and Board of Directors level to assist in tokenomics as well as technical implementation.

“We’ve been on a journey to create a completely new way of telling stories, together. Our mission is to change the world through community-owned storytelling. Joining Dapper Labs today allows us to accelerate and expand that mission on the fast-growing Flow blockchain, now home to even more of the world’s most compelling IP. With profound gratitude for our Board, amazing partners, best-in-class investors and longtime supporters, I can’t wait for the adventure ahead with the most amazing team in the world.”
– Trevor McFedries, CEO

We’re Hiring!

cdixon.eth on Twitter: "Why Web 3 matters 🧵 / Twitter"

Why Web 3 matters 🧵

Flow, the blockchain that powers NBA Top Shot, was built for mainstream applications of all kinds, of which NFT marketplaces are one subset.

We believe decentralized organizations will underpin the next wave of blockchain-enabled consumer applications because they enable a feature that has never existed before: shared governance of digital systems — whether of virtual storylines, ecosystem fund treasuries, NFT economies, or full-scale blockchain games.

From the very first day of Dapper Labs, our DNA has been as a multi-product company: we built NBA Top Shot as part of our studio, the underlying Flow blockchain, and the Dapper wallet payment systems all at the same time. That’s because we have a structure of interdisciplinary teams empowered to own their missions.

Dapper Collectives is a new business unit empowered to further the Brud mission of creating community-owned media and collectively-built worlds.

The team will have creative independence to do what they do best –– while being able to rely on the infrastructure and expertise of the Dapper Labs mother organization. In particular: a Fortune 500-caliber executive suite across legal as well as compliance, growth, infrastructure, and security –– not to mention 1.2 million Dapper Wallet users.

If all this sounds as exciting to you as it does to us, get in touch and let’s work together!

• https://dapperlabs.com/careers
• jobs@brud.fyi

Historical Context

Blockchain technology isn’t just a more efficient way to settle securities — it will fundamentally change market structures — and maybe even the architecture of the internet itself.
 — Abigail Johnson, CEO of Fidelity Investments

On the 23rd of May 2017 when Abigail Johnson was first quoted saying this, blockchains were principally thought as digital ledgers built to secure cryptocurrencies.

At around the same time, our team, led by current Dapper Labs CTO Dieter Shirley, realized that the same technology used to secure cryptocurrencies (“fungible tokens”) could be used to secure digital assets that are individually unique (“non-fungible tokens”, or NFTs). On September 20 2017, we submitted the first draft of the NFT standard to Ethereum. Two months later, on November 28, we shipped CryptoKitties.

Today, nearly four years after the initial launch of CryptoKitties, not only are cryptocurrencies much more accepted by the mainstream–– and a $2T+ asset class ––– “NFT” actually out-ranks “cryptocurrency” on Google Trends, with all the world’s top brands working through how to engage.

Even today, we are only scratching the surface of how blockchain will “change the architecture of the internet itself”. This is because blockchains are a new kind of computer, one that we’re still learning what kinds of apps we can build on top:

Dieter Shirley 🌊 on Twitter: "A blockchain is a computer that anyone can use, everyone can trust, and no-one can shut down or block.The fact that such a computer can be used to build decentralized financial systems is worth getting excited about, but that's only the beginning... / Twitter"

A blockchain is a computer that anyone can use, everyone can trust, and no-one can shut down or block.The fact that such a computer can be used to build decentralized financial systems is worth getting excited about, but that's only the beginning...

I like adding “public computer” to Dieter’s definition above –– as distinguished from the private servers operated by today’s large internet infrastructure companies. By the way: designed the right way, private companies like Google can join public networks like Flow without compromising decentralization.

Regardless of blockchain, most cryptocurrencies and NFTs built so far are about ownership and value transfer. Many projects take things one step further and use their tokens for access or status within the community, but we’re only starting to scratch the surface of the next step-function benefit blockchain can provide mainstream consumers –– governance.

From the A16Z Crypto Canon:

Crypto protocols are meant to be governed by decentralized communities of stakeholders. Not because it’s more efficient, or important for ideological reasons, but because it’s necessary to unlock their core value proposition: that the underlying protocols will continue to run as designed, and will remain open to anyone who wants to use or build on them, without having the rules shift under their feet.
– Jeff Amico

For more:

• Building Web 3.0 — Invest Like the Best with Patrick O’Shaughnessy
• “Fantasy Hollywood” — Crypto and Community-Owned Characters
• Brud — Using AI to Bridge Real and Virtual Worlds
• Brud, Creators of Virtual Human Lil Miquela, Announce a New Direction
• Follow Trevor @whatdotcd
• Follow Flow @flow_blockchain

The Future of [X] is Decentralized was originally published in Dapper Labs on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Alchemy is the leading blockchain developer platform, powering over $25 billion in transaction volume as well as the majority of NFT and DeFi projects including CryptoKitties.

That’s why I’m so proud and excited Alchemy has chosen Flow as the next public blockchain they will support with their entire developer platform.

Alchemy for Flow will enable all developers, from individuals to enterprises, with the tools and infrastructure they need to create great products bringing blockchain to its next billion stakeholders.

It also means we can get some help with NBA Top Shot, unlocking massive scalability and reliability as the community continues to grow!

It takes a village

Flow was originally developed by Dapper Labs and open sourced in early 2020. It puts into production a new layer one blockchain architecture driven from our learnings building CryptoKitties and other apps on Ethereum.

Less than a year after launch, Flow is the exclusive home of NBA Top Shot, the world’s most popular consumer blockchain product with over 330,000 paid collectors and over $400 million in transaction volume since October 2020. Flow is also home to independent wallets like Blocto, marketplaces like Viv3, and top-tier brands and studios including Moto GP and Animoca.

Alchemy’s entry signals a new chapter: independent developers on Flow can use Alchemy’s tools to get started more easily, while experienced teams need the power of their platform to handle scale or diagnose complex issues.

Alchemy will also support the network as a validator node operator, increasing Flow’s decentralization and joining an illustrious crew led by Samsung and T-Systems / Deutsche Telekom as well as 300+ other validator node operators including NBA players and NFT community members.

All this is exactly what the Flow ecosystem needs with demand from developers going parabolic!

What makes Flow different

The biggest and most convincing benefits of Flow compared to other blockchains for products aimed at mainstream consumers is Flow’s proven ability to onboard, engage, and retain those customers.

Most of NBA Top Shot’s users prefer credit cards over cryptocurrency –– these are the communities the next generation of consumer crypto apps will need to tap into.

In addition to the above, there are three fundamental, foundational technical differences between Flow and basically every other blockchain –– live or in development –– as well as a whole host of small but foundational improvements that make Flow a unique application platform.

1. Multi-node architecture allows scaling with full ACID compliance: almost every other blockchain scales by breaking the network up into smaller networks. Shards, sidechains, “layer two” –– they all complicate both the user- and developer experience. Flow is the only blockchain architecture we’ve seen that allows massive scale while preserving a fully atomic, composable execution environment as well as full decentralization.
2. Resource-oriented programming: smart contracts on Flow are written in Cadence, an easier and safer programming language for crypto assets and apps. Other blockchains talk about “compatibility” using languages that weren’t meant for smart contracts — the reality is anyone who has tried building with Cadence says it’s night and day compared to anything before it. Learn Cadence on Flow Playground.
3. Easy Payments and Onboarding: the Flow Client Library (FCL) means apps don’t have to choose between supporting credit cards or cryptocurrency –– they can easily support both based on their business preferences.

To stay in the loop with updates around Alchemy on Flow, either sign up for the Flow newsletter or open an Alchemy account!

Flow x Alchemy: Blockchain At Internet Scale was originally published in Dapper Labs on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“Despite everything, we live in the most incredible of times.
You just need to know how to live it” –– Hackatao (EradiGirl)

HaCKittieZ is our collab with @Hackatao and @AsyncArt to get ultra weird with our furry felines and thrust them into the world of programmable art.🙀 Modify up to 13 traits 👑 Compete for Hackatao's love😻 Bid on any of the these one-of-a-kind cats:https://t.co/iG1QV5HE5n pic.twitter.com/OqFjuLPHBm

Our lives today are increasingly digital, bringing us closer and teasing the possibility of an infinite future––a metaverse free for anyone to explore, play with, and build on.

Almost exactly on queue, crypto or blockchain technology is giving us the building blocks to make this vision a reality: real digital ownership; transparent global markets; permissionless development platforms; and new business models for digital creators.

We started CryptoKitties to highlight what’s possible with blockchain technology beyond just currency. At the end of the day, blockchains are the first public computers, open to be programmed and used by anyone with no need for intermediaries or middlemen. Three years later, people are making the most incredible things –– and the movement is just getting started.

HaCKittieZ is an unprecedented collaboration between top artist duo Hackatao, programmable art platform AsyncArt, and CryptoKitties.

Each “layer” is an individual dynamic artwork that can be changed at will by its owner. The sum of all layers make up the master, a constantly evolving social masterpiece powered by a smart contract that ties everything together:

These pieces of programmable art are living, breathing, and are the sum of their components!

The artist Hackatao themselves will keep control over the seventh layer, the Crown, which they will award on a rolling basis to their favorite user-influenced creation among the other layers. Everything is tracked immutably on the Ethereum blockchain, each art-piece a unique non-fungible token (NFT) that can be traded on any number of digital marketplaces.

Now that I have your attention, there are two ways to get involved:

1. Bid on AsyncArt: Bidding will close on October 24th 10:00 AM PT on all six 1/1 digital art “layers” as well as the master piece — head over now 🚀
2. Breed Purrstige Kitties: Make your own art by breeding limited edition CryptoKitties that can only be bred October 24–31. More details below!

Purrstige What?

In CryptoKitties, there’s a particularly special kind of Cattribute called Purrstige Traits. They’re challenging, rewarding, and create some of CryptoKitties’ coolest looking cats.

Purrstige Traits combine with your Kitty’s own unique genetics to create some of the most distinctive and sought-after kitties in the game. This is a way for anyone to make their own unique digital works of art; no artistic talent necessary!

Join the CryptoKitties Discord and tune in for our livestream Saturday 10AM PT to join the party.

For a detailed guide on how to get started:

Prowling For Purrstige Kitties - CryptoKitties Blog

About the Crew

🎨 The artistic diptych Hackatao was born in Milan in 2007 thanks to Sergio Scalet and Nadia Squarci. “Hack” for the pleasure of going under the skin and discovering what’s hidden inside; “Tao” for Yin and Yang, their creative dynamic balance. Hackatao’s creations have taken crypto art by storm.

📈 AsyncArt is pioneering #ProgrammableArt, digital paintings split into “Layers” which owners can use to affect the overall image. AsyncArt pieces can be programmed to evolve with time, react to their owners’ actions, track public information like the weather or stock prices, or any number of designs that are yet to be explored.

🐱 Three years ago, we wrote the first Non-Fungible Token (NFT) standard and built CryptoKitties to change the narrative of what’s possible with crypto. Since then, 100,000 collectors have given rise to a more than $40 million dollar economy of digital Kitties though trading and breeding. We also operate NBA Top Shot on the Flow Blockchain.

Join Us

• 🐦 Hackatao | AsyncArt | CryptoKitties
• 💬 AsyncArt | CryptoKitties

Presenting HaCKittieZ: Hackatao x AsyncArt x CryptoKitties was originally published in Dapper Labs on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Leading cryptocurrency exchange in Japan to highlight most reputable NFT projects powered by Ethereum and Flow

Today there are over 40 million people who hold cryptocurrency in wallets or exchanges but have never experienced a decentralized or crypto-enabled app.

It’s about time we changed that.

Coincheck, the leading cryptocurrency exchange in Japan, has just announced a partnership with Dapper Labs to bring NFTs to mainstream Japanese audiences. Coincheck’s focus will be exclusively on projects and assets that are ready for adoption by their millions of users.

Coincheck is one of the earliest and largest crypto companies in Japan, acquired in 2018 by financial conglomerate Monex Group for 3.6 billion Yen. Coincheck is also among the first exchanges to pass the rigorous FSA criteria for licensing.

They are bringing this same level of dedication and rigor to the creation of their NFT marketplace, choosing to list only the most reputable NFTs, starting with CryptoKitties on the new Flow blockchain.

As part of this partnership, Coincheck will be working with Dapper Labs to introduce many of the other great applications, crypto art, and branded IPs developers are bringing to Flow to Japanese audiences as well.

In so doing, Coincheck will be one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges to put NFTs front and center to their community — creating a new wave of adoption for decentralized apps.

What makes this partnership even more exciting is that the Japanese community have already been among the biggest supporters of digital collectibles and NFTs.

Japanese developers have also built some of the most successful crypto applications on Ethereum, including MyCryptoHeroes.

Moreover, Japanese art, comics, and gaming communities are some of the most vibrant in the world.

With digital collectibles more accessible than ever through Coincheck’s NFT marketplace, we can expect a boom in creativity, use cases, and apps around NFTs to serve an ever-growing, diverse user base.

We are excited and honored to welcome Coincheck to the Flow Community!

Coincheck Helps CryptoKitties and Other NFTs Go Mainstream in Japan was originally published in Dapper Labs on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

First-of-its-kind officially-licensed NBA experience comes out of private beta with over $2 million in pack sales and tens of thousands of trades on the secondary market

Our biggest launch ever: NBA Top Shot is open to the public!

High flying dunks. No look dimes. Game saving blocks. The level of drama and skill in NBA basketball is simply unmatched in the sports world. Now you can own a piece of that action.

The NBA, NBPA, and Dapper Labs have teamed up to create NBA Top Shot, a revolutionary new experience in which jaw-dropping plays and unforgettable highlights become collectibles that you can own forever.

To get started: nbatopshot.com

NEW: After selling more than $2 million in digital basketball cards during its private beta, @dapperlabs' NBA Top Shot is launching to the public. @kalrajs23 reports https://t.co/OyaRIkGPxE

What is NBA Top Shot?

NBA Top Shot is a fully-licensed NBA experience for collectors and gamers. For the first time ever, NBA fans can truly own a piece of the action — and trade with friends for real money in a new kind of hoops economy.

Your first three steps in NBA Top Shot are: pack drops, challenges, and the peer-to-peer marketplace. Let’s go!

Pack Drops

NBA Top Shots are sold in packs: limited edition, sold for a limited time. Once a pack is sold out, the only way to get the NBA Top Shots in it is on the peer-to-peer marketplace. Packs give fans the fun and mystery of the unknown — as well as the delight and social sharability of the pack opening experience.

Packs come in different editions which themselves can be common, rare, or legendary. Different pack editions can have varying numbers and types of moments inside.

E.g.: the first Western Conference Finals packs go on sale at 12pm PT TODAY with the hottest Moments from round 3 of the battle for the “best of the west”: big time plays like Lakers center Dwight Howard flying in for the big swat, or Nuggets guard Jamal Murray draining the deep 3 in crunch time 🔥

• Pack cost: $29
• Total packs available: 8991 (time-limited*)
• 8 moments per pack: 1x rare Western Conference Finals, 7x Base Set

As you might have guessed, that makes the Western Conference Finals pack a rare pack (because every pack contains a rare moment).

You never know exactly what you’re going to get until you open a pack —that’s part of the fun! And yes: you can now keep packs unopened and soon you’ll be able to trade sealed packs on the marketplace too.

*Any rare Moments still in unsold Western Conference Finals packs at 12 PM PDT, October 4, 2020 will be removed from sale and destroyed.

Here is your sneak peek into @nba_topshot Closed Beta where the doc opened up 8 Early Adopter packsShout-outs to @WhippedUpProd for the beats!Full video on my youtube; https://t.co/86AT2ZLWu2#NBATopShot pic.twitter.com/GN7wrnhtiW

Challenges

A way for collectors to unlock content that’s never available in packs, Challenges come in different shapes and sizes too.

When you visit the challenges page, you’ll be able to see which challenges are currently running as well as your current progress towards each. Click in to see the full details about which Moments are required, then find those missing Moments in packs (while supplies last) or on the marketplace where you can buy from other collectors! Make sure that you’re collecting the exact Moment (same play and set) that’s required for the challenge.

Once you have all the Moments, your job is simple: hold on to them until the challenge countdown timer expires and BOOM you get your reward – something only given to the most patient of collectors (details).

Peer-to-Peer Marketplace

If you hoop heads don’t get what you want in packs, you can always buy/sell in the marketplace to prune your collection and make some cash.

A global, open, peer-to-peer, always-on marketplace adds liquidity and value to everyones’ collection. There are always going to be BIG sales on the marketplace, with LeBron seemingly always leading the pack:

🚨 TOP COLLECTOR ALERT 🚨This is 1️⃣ of 4️⃣9️⃣ LeBron James Moments that can ever be minted in our Cosmic packs. Scooped up by user rapid_goji_berry2079 via the #NBATopShot marketplace 📈Start collecting Moments like these before the beta opens! https://t.co/S4XvtARyar 🏀⛓ pic.twitter.com/Lqm8grEIF1

But the greatest volume of sales are at price points accessible to many:

The magic of all this is every single transaction on the marketplace happens within seconds: everything related to authenticity and payments is automatically taken care of by Flow, no need to rely on rating agencies.

Here are two awesome community resources to dig deeper:

The Ultimate Guide to NBA TopShot — digital NBA collectibles on the blockchain

Hold up, what’s Flow?

The reason each individual moment in NBA Top Shot has value and can be traded with anyone else on the marketplace is because its authenticity and scarcity is secured by a new blockchain: Flow.

Flow is a fast, decentralized, and developer-friendly blockchain, designed as the foundation for a new generation of games, apps, and the digital assets that power them.

For creators, developers, and artists, Flow opens up new business models and organic ways to engage and reward communities. For users, applications built on Flow offer portable data, real ownership of digital assets, and the opportunity to share in the value they help create.

Flow was developed by Dapper Labs, the creators of some of the most successful blockchain applications to date including CryptoKitties.

To learn more about building on Flow, visit docs.onflow.org.

In addition to over 6000 smart contracts and nearly 3000 projects already deployed on the Flow developer Playground, Flow has had a lot of amazing news recently. Check out everyone joining NBA on this new network:

• Blockletes (Turner Sports / Warner Media): https://twitter.com/flow_blockchain/status/1311389261116182531
• Animoca (MotoGP and Star Girl, 1M+ users): https://ledgerinsights.com/animoca-to-bring-a-million-users-to-dapper-labs-blockchain-flow/
• Sumo Digital (a Tencent Company):
  https://www.pocketgamer.biz/news/74642/sumo-leamington-blockchain-projects-with-dapper-labs/
• Blockparty (digital art and collectibles marketplace): https://twitter.com/Blockparty/status/1309552287950557197
• Bitkub (Thailand’s largest cryptocurrency exchange): https://www.newsbtc.com/press-releases/bitkub-and-leading-influencers-announced-fans-fans-token-the-token-designed-for-fans/
• Ubisoft and Warner Music: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2019/09/12/exclusive-from-cryptokitties-to-cardi-b-warner-music-joins-11-million-investment-in-ethereum-replacement/#30ba6eec2b21

NBA Top Shot takes sports collecting to the next level — only on Flow was originally published in Dapper Labs on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Flow is the next-generation blockchain developed by Dapper Labs, the creators of CryptoKitties. Flow is currently live in beta mainnet with NBA Top Shot as its first flagship application.

The Metaverse can’t be built alone. It needs a constellation of dedicated creatives, developers, and passionate gamers. It needs maverick indies but also larger companies that have the resources to enable the endeavors of new creators and increase their reach by expanding the size of the platform.

Animoca entered the world of blockchain when it saw the potential in CryptoKitties and helped it reach a more global audience. Since then, they have been a key supporter in the growth of the NFT industry.

Animoca has invested in essential projects like OpenSea, dapp.com, Axie Infinity, Lucid Sight, and of course Dapper and Flow. Through acquisitions, they have enabled Pixowl/The Sandbox and NWAY to transition towards decentralized games, and have also converted some of the most exciting brands in the world, such as F1, Care Bears, and MotoGP™, to blockchain.

Animoca and Dapper Labs have a shared vision of the Metaverse, and see the assets and apps that our companies create as lego pieces for developers and community members to expand on. We are humbled to welcome Star Girl and MotoGP™ to the new Flow blockchain as a first step in a deeper partnership with Animoca Brands.

With Star Girl, MotoGP™, and the REVV community on Flow alongside other exciting games currently in development, we are kickstarting a burgeoning Metaverse that will attract new vibrant communities to the blockchain for the first time and will allow developers to expand on what’s being offered to these communities.

Star Girl in particular, with its 1 million monthly active users, will usher in a very important and passionate ecosystem of women gamers into our industry, expanding the diversity of people in crypto and breaking the mold of our industry’s demographic. Once launched, we expect the popularity of Star Girl to open up a new dimension to crypto’s appeal, exponentially expanding the kinds of apps and experiences that can be commercially viable.

Join us today:

• Flow community: discord.gg/flow
• Flow updates: twitter.com/flow_blockchain
• Animoca Brands: twitter.com/animocabrands

Welcoming Animoca, MotoGP, and StarGirl to the Flow blockchain was originally published in Dapper Labs on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If you’ve used Ethereum in the last few months, you’re well aware of the impact the network’s gas prices have had on dapp games. With daily average gwei prices reaching as high as 250+, the gas fees associated with a single game transaction can often exceed the ETH being spent. While parts of the ecosystem are thriving, the dapp gaming community is being forced to find alternative solutions for their players–Dapper Ethereum included. While we continue to believe bypassing the need to manually set gas on the fly makes interacting with dapp games much easier, the realities of the current ecosystem have forced us to re-evaluate and update our gas policy.

In addition to the changes we announced earlier, we will no longer be subsidizing gas for non-Dapper Labs developed games and some non-core CryptoKitties functions. We’re rolling out the updated policy starting this Thursday, September 3rd.

Now that we’ve ripped that band-aid off, we’d like to be upfront and give you the exact reason “Why?” and some of the data which has led us to this change in policy.

So, why the changes now?

When we first launched CryptoKitties, a major pain point reported by our players was having to deal with gas. This early feedback pushed the team to develop a way of removing gas adjustments from the dapp experience entirely. By achieving this, players could instead focus on playing their favorite games. However, Ethereum has changed quite a bit since 2017 and we’ve had to accept new realities–for better and worse. Context is always important, so here are a few main points which led to our decision.

Consistently high gas pricing. As Ethereum and it’s users grow, how the network is used is bound to change. As early as 2018, gas use across the whole network has increased significantly and this trend doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon. For a dapp experimenting with gas abstraction, this makes things rather difficult.

The increasing cost of supporting DeFi. The intended use for Dapper has always been for games and entertainment with the hope of bringing the benefit of blockchain to the masses. As cost rose, a compromise we made to continue subsidizing gas for the community was to lower the number of free weekly transactions. However, we quickly found this was not enough. From January to July 2020, our monthly ETH costs increased by 998.88%. From our internal analysis, a good portion of this was going to subsidize expensive DeFi transactions.

At current ETH rates, our total spend for July in USD was close to $107,000.

Gas attacks. The draw of free gas proved too valuable of an asset and, unfortunately, some bad actors abused our offering. Minting endless gas tokens or making thousands of micro-transactions weekly, these attacks became more common as gas pricing spiked. This not only increased cost but also caused a heavy amount of tech-debt for our engineering team. They had to spend valuable time monitoring specific transactions rather than focusing on how we could maintain the best possible product for the community.

CryptoKitties deep dive

As part of our investigation, we looked into the CryptoKitties contracts for insight into how gas was being spent. Working alongside their team we dug deeper into the costs and discovered some interesting behavior.

The true cost of listing and delisting on the marketplace

Two of the most used functions in the core CryptoKitties contract, exceeding gifting and even breeding, is listing and delisting cats on the marketplace. The cost of this innocuous function has skyrocketed as of late. On average, we found most players place their kitties for sale at about $0.50 cents. The cost of this action alone can end up being $2.50 per transaction. In the last couple of months, Dapper has subsidized over $40,500 USD just for listing and delisting kitties! Regrettably, this cost is simply not sustainable. In order to continue supporting functions crucial to CryptoKitties’ core game loop, listing and delisting will no longer be subsidized by Dapper. All other core functions remain free.

Specifically, these are the specific functions no longer being subsidized:

• cancelSiringAuction @kittycore
• cancelSaleAuction @kittycore
• createSaleAuction @kittycore
• createSireAuction @kittycore

Additional Improvements

In addition to the above changes, we’ve also made improvements to Dapper Ethereum which will alleviate cost while at the same time providing an even better experience for our community.

1. Contract (wallet) creation is now more efficient and costs less gas to deploy.
2. Our co-signers are now more effective at calculating gas prices and are able to better adjust for gas spikes.
3. We’ve made improvements to our fraud detection to get ahead of future gas attacks.
4. We’ve lowered the number of purchasable transaction passes to 1, 3, and 8 as requested by the community so passes can be used on a per-transaction basis.

Looking ahead to Flow

The learnings we’ve gained from developing on Ethereum have played a major part in how we’re approaching Flow’s architecture. While our experiment with Dapper Ethereum may not have panned out exactly how we expected, we’re very excited for the future with Flow! Tackling accessibility to the blockchain world is no easy task, but thanks to feedback (both positive and negative!) we’ve received across all our products–we couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come. To see what the Flow team and our early partner developers are up to, join the Flow Discord to keep up with the latest developments!

As always, if you have any questions or feedback on these recent changes, don’t hesitate to reach out on any of our Discord servers or contact the Dapper team directly.

Gas policy update for Dapper Ethereum was originally published in Dapper Labs on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

These Limited Edition CryptoKitties are inspired by the immersive, creative, visual world in Simulation Theory, the band’s latest hit album

“Without my music, where would I be
You taught me how to cry and still remain a G”
– Nate Dogg

Music is at once deeply personal and unabashedly social. From band posters on dorm-room walls to Spotify playlists, from t-shirts bought at concerts to autographed LP covers, the music we listen to — and how we choose to show off our fandom — in a lot of ways makes us who we are.

That’s why I’m so excited to present Marty and Mibbles, limited edition CryptoKitties and the first-ever officially-licensed music collectibles on the blockchain. Marty is inspired by Matt Bellamy’s transformation during Muse’s ‘Something Human’ video, while Mibbles depicts the mini-monster who created chaos in the band’s video for ‘Pressure’.

MUSE X CRYPTOKITTIES Excited to announce a world first collaboration with the launch of two limited-edition #SimulationTheory @cryptokitties. Marty and Mibbles are available now https://t.co/2GehiXVEww pic.twitter.com/xO0vGqXUCf

Marty and Mibbles are purely digital creatures: they are born on the blockchain and will live forever. Just like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, fans who get their hands on either Marty or Mibbles can keep them for the kinds (family heirlooms!) or trade them with others for real money.

Unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, each Marty and each Mibbles is individually unique — in other words, they are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Each NFT in the collection will be edition-authenticated by the band and will be available in limited quantities.

These two CryptoKitties represent our first collaboration with Muse (whose lead singer, Matt Bellamy, is a Dapper Labs investor) and Warner Music Group, one of the world’s largest music labels and among our closest partners and backers.

What are NFTs?

As NFTs, Marty and Mibbles — and indeed all CryptoKitties — are closer to physical collectibles like trading cards or Beanie Babies than they are to digital stickers or pictures on your camera roll:

CryptoKitties and other NFTs are the building blocks for the MetaVerse, made for a world that’s increasingly digital. Today’s fans need a digital dorm room wall as well as a digital bookshelf — NFTs are an open standard which means anyone can build apps to let users play with them.

Just like a Bitcoin or ETH token, NFTs can be limited edition (digitally scarce), freely tradable, and under the control of their owner. You can buy and sell CryptoKitties on cryptokitties.com — or you can take them to third party marketplaces like Opensea.

NFTs are created and managed by smart contracts that themselves can be made immutable on whatever blockchain they’re based on — that means your NFT benefits from the same security and permanence as the underlying native cryptocurrency asset. CryptoKitties will be around hundreds of years from now, as long as a single individual is running an Ethereum node.

The result of this is the most amazing thing about NFTs: they are open to be built on by any third party company or independent developer around the world, without permission or platform risk.

About the Technology

As with all CryptoKitties, Marty and Mibbles live on the Ethereum blockchain today and will soon have a bridge to travel over to our new blockchain, Flow, and the universe of apps on top.

Muse Kitties will be among the first to receive access.

Flow is a new blockchain network built from the ground up for consumer apps, games, and the digital assets that power them. We believe in an open MetaVerse where anyone can create — and drive value for their creations. Digital assets like NFTs and cryptocurrencies are the fuel that runs through the open worlds people will build on top of Flow.

To learn more, hop into discord.gg/flow and join the movement 🌊

Muse x CryptoKitties: Introducing Marty and Mibbles, the first officially-licensed music NFTs was originally published in Dapper Labs on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

EDIT: We got mucho press 🙏 —awesome interview with our Dr. Seuss partners in Decrypt and articles in TechCrunch, Fortune, VentureBeat!

This one is personal.

My family moved around a lot when I was a kid — awesome in retrospect, but disruptive in the moment. Dr. Seuss was a constant foundation in a sea of shifting realities. Cat in the Hat was always good for a chuckle while quips like “there is no-one alive who is you-er than you” taught me that it’s cool to be weird.

Dr. Seuss stories teach the importance of community as well as individual responsibility. I’m honored to announce we are working in a close partnership with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to bring new kinds of digital products that further these values to life as part of the Flow ecosystem.

Our mission with Flow is to bring about an open and inclusive world that gives every creator, consumer, player, and participant the opportunity to own the value they help create.

The first Flow flagship product, NBA Top Shot (make sure you’re on the waitlist!), is currently running in private beta and showing 20x higher conversion than CryptoKitties (on Ethereum) for mainstream users. This gives us confidence to expand our efforts.

The World of Dr Seuss – on Flow

What an amazing partner for our community.

The Dr. Seuss universe is a vibrant, emotional, and educational part of a billion fans’ lives. His books can be found in every corner of the world with over 700 million copies and counting. The two top grossing Christmas movies of all time both star the Grinch!

I guess we know when we need to launch this by…

Dr. Seuss on Flow lets fans own a piece of the incredible Dr. Seuss universe in a way never before possible — as digital collectibles created and secured with smart contracts on the Flow blockchain.

Fans compete to collect these limited edition Dr. Seuss World items in surprise drops, using them to complete sets that unlock new and hidden exclusive content. If a fan misses out, they have to trade with other fans to complete their collection, building engagement in the ecosystem and pushing fans to broaden their knowledge of the IP universe.

Anything fans own on Flow, they own forever: because Flow is a decentralized network, fans’ collections are permanent in a way that no piece of software could be without crypto. People can keep their collectibles for generations, enjoying and reliving the stories together with their families.

Developers of wallets, apps, and virtual worlds can also build new features directly for owners, benefiting from the power of composability and interoperability possible on Flow. This is the long-term value of blockchain and blockchain assets.

Dr. Seuss joins an amazing family of brands and partners we have already announced on Flow: NBA and NBPA as well as the UFC, Warner Music, Ubisoft, and Animoca to name a few — as well as an expanded universe for CryptoKitties anyone can play in.

More than 1,000 builders are part of the Flow community: including nearly 400 in our Open World Builders program (featuring NBA Nets’ Spencer Dinwiddie as well as famed venture capitalist Fred Wilson) and nearly 100 products in the works from venture-funded startups or Fortune 500 organizations. Over 2,000 projects have been created on the Flow Playground, one of the easiest ways to get started with blockchain development.

About Flow Blockchain

Flow is a new crypto network designed for consumer applications that need massive scale as well as excellent user experience. Flow is based on a novel, multi-role validator node architecture that allows the network to scale without breaking composability or compromising decentralization. Flow also introduces Cadence, a new resource-oriented programming language that dramatically reduces the effort and risk of developing smart contracts. Flow and Cadence were developed by the Dapper Labs team driven by experience building some of the most popular blockchain apps in the world, including CryptoKitties and Dapper wallet.

To learn more and join our community:

• 🐦 twitter.com/flow_blockchain
• 🐦 twitter.com/DrSeussWorld
• 💬 discord.gg/flow
• 🛠 onflow.org/flow-alpha

Dr. Seuss digital collectibles on Flow, by the creators of CryptoKitties was originally published in Dapper Labs on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.