Earlier this month, the virtual Lil Miquela and her creator’s company, Brud, released part two of their five-part NFT series known as Venus. The second part, entitled Unseen by eyes but forged in stone, was released for free to the first 1,500 people who shared their wallet with Lil Miquela on Twitter.
According to a press release, the NFT “offers a lush visual representation of her existence as a modern-day deity amidst shifting ideals of nature and beauty.”
The most interesting part about this drop is that the NFT is free — especially when compared to the first part of the series, which sold for 159.5 ETH (though it went to charity). Since the NFT boom started months ago, one of the most compelling but also alienating aspects of NFTs has been their price tags.
But as many people have been claiming (including Brud’s co-founder, Trevor McFedries), NFTs do have use that stretches beyond what we’ve seen so far. For instance, when combined with DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations), NFTs can help create autonomous economies that could especially benefit groups that are marginalized from the traditional economy.
Enjin, the blockchain platform known in-part for powering MetaverseMe (among other things), has released a fee-free blockchain called JumpNet on which users can mint and trade NFTs at no cost, opening up a whole new group NFTs. In addition, JumpNet is much more carbon-friendly than Ethereum is currently.
There’s no guarantee that others will follow suit, and we’ve probably yet to see the apex of the NFT boom. But NFTs potential is greater than what we’ve seen thus far. And just like with crypto in general, the best way to experience those benefits is when NFTs are democratized across various groups of people, something that free NFTs will help achieve.
