Upgradable NFT avatars for Discord and Telegram

NFTs are rigid and restrictive

Unlike our self-expression, NFTs don't evolve. It's in the name: "non fungible". We use stickers and memes to talk to our friends. A web2 avatars company called Bitmoji (acquired by Snapchat) has over 20million users across Web, Android and iOs.

Avatars in social apps, metaverses and games are the ideal use-case for NFTs. But NFTs don't fit here because of their rigidity. This is where 3moji comes in play.

3moji avatars are NFTs that evolve

With 3moji, you can combine many NFTs by sending them to a smart contract. The originals are always preserved and can be take out of the contract. This allows for seamless upgrades.

The combination is called a "meta NFT". Since each component of the meta NFT is a regular NFT, the existing infrastructure for marketplaces, rarity etc can be used.

3moji is built on the Meta Blocks protocol and runs on the Solana blockchain.

3moji are NFTs that you can use in social apps

With 3moji avatars, you can use the NFTs you buy to express yourself on social apps. Here's a demo of the Discord bot in action.

3moji avatars being used in a Discord bot

A mobile keyboard is on the post-launch roadmap. This will enable usage across other social apps like Telegram.

Backstory

After explosion of NFTs last year, I had a hard time understanding the hype. In my head, NFTs were on-chain pointers to some artwork. The pointers proved the ownership of an art. But what special rights did it bring? Unlike real world artwork, NFTs can be copied by anyone.

The only benefit of ownership was the ability to sell it later. Which made me classify NFTs as ponzi schemes, because owning an NFT was beneficial only if you sell it.

I was wrong. My argument is sound but misses the cultural aspect of NFTs.

Culture and expression

Our monkey brains have evolved to form tribes. Staying around people who are like you gives you an environment to thrive. This similarity is what forms the culture. The culture you were born in, guides your self expression - like your accent, your eye-brows, your beard, your aspirations.

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Men born in South Korea are unlikely to have a beard, but those born in UAE are highly likely.

This is a simple example of culture influencing expression. But what happens when the size of our tribe goes from 10s to millions?

Internet is a group of cults

We are not designed to handle personal connections that internet enables. I was wrong because holding the NFT allowed you to represent yourself. It signalled the universe that you belong to a group. A group that believes that finance should be open and accessible. A group that envisions a decentralised future.

There is an artwork aspect too, because art is more tangible and easy to explain. But more than art, its expression. That's the reason why people use NFTs as their avatars.

Social apps, emojis ✨ and memes

The scale of the internet tribe is beyond individual comprehension, emojis and memes evolved as a shared vocabulary. Memes are universal. Emoji's have hidden meanings that all cultures agree on. It's like a language of its own ✨.

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Memes are universal. Emoji's have hidden meanings that all cultures agree on.

And this language evolved because of the shared channels we use. Instagram, Whatsapp, Twitter, Discord, Telegram are fertile lands for culture to evolve. These social apps are the new city squares. The difference being anyone from the world can visit the square at an instant.

So is the blockchain.

3moji bridges the old and the new

Taking NFT avatars to web2 apps serve two purposes:

1. Immediate utility for NFT holders
2. Introduction to blockchain for the web2 audience

In the long run, we want to be the expression engine across all social channels and meta verses. We have raised a few pennies in a seed round, but more than money, we need you ❤️.

If you like what we are doing, come say hi on Twitter and join the waitlist below.