For the past several months, the news of NFTs has taken the world like a storm. In case you’ve been living under the proverbial rock (I live there too, from time to time) and don’t know what an NFT is, let me give you the short version. An NFT is a non-fungible token created using blockchain technology. It allows the creator to turn any digital file, whether it be an artwork, a music composition, an in-game asset or even a legal document such as the deed to a house, to be stamped with a cryptographic, globally-unique digital signature so it can’t be duplicated or counterfeited. The token lives on the blockchain network and anyone, anywhere can verify that the token is an original creation, even when compared to a look-alike.
NFTs made a very famous appearance in the news when the artist Beeple sold his 12-year collection for over 70 million dollars. This has helped to open up a door of opportunities for struggling artists who for years have had to rely on galleries and middlemen to even eke out a profit (if any) for their hard work. The process of minting NFTs is virtually free and provides these content-creators world-wide access to buyers who would truly appreciate their visions.
But NFTs have a downside though. If you know a bit about mining cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, you also know that you need very powerful and specialized hardware to compete in the creation of the blocks that comprise the blockchain. And these machines consume a LOT of electricity. The world-wide proliferation of almost 4000 different cryptographic networks and projects, as revolutionary as they may be, has had a significant negative impact on the planet. And NFTs projects are now part of that ecosystem.
Well, why not find a way to circumvent this problem?
Well, this was one of the major driving forces behind the invention of the Stacks network. Since a great amount of energy and time have already been expended mining Bitcoin, there’s definitely no need to waste more! Even though Stacks and Bitcoin are designed for different purposes, they are now interconnected and mutually benefit each other. Miners commit their Bitcoin in support of the creation and running of the Stacks network and get rewarded in Stacks. The much-more efficient Stacks network leverages the power and security of the Bitcoin network to open the door for a host of new applications and services. And one of them is (you guessed it) the NFT!
You can read more about the Stacks Blockchain here.
Stacks has enabled one of the first NFT marketplaces built on Bitcoin that is simultaneously environmentally friendly. What an achievement.
‘This is Number One’ is a platform built in collaboration with Risidio.com and Chemical X to enable digital artists to create and share their artwork in an eco-friendly way. But it goes beyond that.
‘This is Number One’ is already working to support various charities with a minimum of ten percent of the proceeds from the sales of artwork created on the platform. Some of the charities include: Los Angeles Community Action, No Kid Hungry, Martlets Hospice, The Cara Delevingne Foundation and Refuge. But artists definitely get to support charities of their own choosing.
Even though Chemical X prefers to remain anonymous, his artwork is anything but. His work has been shown in London, Lisbon and Los Angeles and his pieces have regularly sold in excess of 100K. Now he’s working with Risidio.com to invite, not just artists, but people from varying backgrounds and interests to actively participate in, and share this vision and new opportunity.
Not only is this partnership with Stacks helping to usher in a carbon-neutral world, ‘This is Number One’ is focused on establishing a foundation whose main purpose is supporting long-term and environmentally conscious projects.
Do go over to their page to catch a glimpse of this vision and even if you are not an artist you can do your part by sharing this with as many people as you can.
