I led the development of a blockchain-based NFT platform and marketplace with the mission towards creating a positive impact in the lives of millions of African-origin artists, entrepreneurs and workers. My personal mission was also to learn and experience web3.
The platform would attract artists, art organisations and collectors to create, sell, buy and trade digital art in the form of NFTs on the Cardano blockchain. This idea was also submitted for funding to Catalyst - the largest decentralised innovation funds.
NFTs and the art market
NFTs are non-fungible tokens that run on a blockchain network. NFTs offer a formalisation of digital ownership, with each NFT is unique and can't be replicated, which makes them sellable. The NFT digital art market is a
new market. It experienced a significant surge in growth and interest in 2021 during the pandemic period. The pandemic forced artists (sellers) and collectors (buers) to connect digitally through NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea.io, Sothebys.com, Niftygateway.com and others, generating $10 billion sales globally. It is expected to grow multi-fold over time.
Cardano blockchain & Project Catalyst
Cardano is the third largest blockchain network by market cap at the time of writing this post. Catalyst is a global community initiative by Cardano Foundation to drive the adoption of blockchain technology. It is one of the largest decentralised innovation funds in the world, with a community of 60,000 members providing funding of $48M to over 1200 ideas. The project 'Digital art NFT Platform for Art Organisations’ was pitched for funding as part of Catalyst Fund 5.
My role
I discovered the project through my network. The team was fortunate to be led by Dynal Patel - CPO, IOHK. This was outside my normal day-to-day job role, working in the capacity of a product specialist a few hours-a-week, mostly weekends.
I was responsible for guiding the product design, functionality and user experience. Other responsibilities included wireframing, project management and advising on payments infrastructure (fiat and crypto), evaluating various crypto and fiat payment gateway options, such as Moonpay, Stripe, and Wyre.
Traction in Africa
The project has drawn interest from museums and galleries across Africa and helped build interest with other creators and developers to join the Cardano community. The Cardano blockchain is now the third biggest ecosystem for issuing NFTs. Lowering the barriers of entry for emerging markets will drive further ecosystem growth. There are now several workstreams solely focussed on driving growth of the ecosystem in Africa. The team are now completing the MVP and have secured funding from an Investor in Dubai. They narrowly missed out on funding from Project Catalyst. They are revising the proposal and will resubmit the proposal for the next round of funding.
Opportunity in Europe
The interest in art in the Europe is reflected in the high prices paid for works by leading artists at auctions and private sales. The rise of online galleries and art platforms has made it easier for artists to showcase their work and for buyers to purchase digital art.
Business model
Platform adoption among artists and art buyers will result in sales of digital art on the platform, contributing to platform revenue. Digital art as NFT allows the ability to re-sell art pieces contributing to additional revenue every time a secondary sale is made on the platform. Europe has a thriving creative industry, and digital art is becoming an increasingly important part of it. The government will benefit directly from the sales that accrue from the UK/Europe based entity. The platform would also build a customer base that is interested in participating in emerging market digital art providing exposure to developing and upcoming artists. The platform would provide them with an additional channel to generate income.