Here’s how we’re different from the old guard
There have been barrels of digital ink spilled on the subject of why NFTs no longer matter, why the Web3 party is over, yadda yadda yadda.
Nearly all of the critics seem to have short memories. Remember the conventional wisdom of 2000 that the “dot-coms” were a ridiculous aberration and who’s going to buy anything over the Internet, anyway?
While we saw a huge washout of many of the more dubious tech startups, it augured an era that brought radical change to our lives. Amazon Prime trucks now a ubiquitous sight on thousands of city streets. The rise of the social media tech giants. The birth of ecommerce juggernauts like Shopify, Zappos and Alibaba.
NFTs 1.0 were a perfect example of Chris Dixon’s aphorism that the next big thing would start out looking like a toy. But NFTs no longer have to be pictured in the public’s mind as ugly monkey jpegs that are pointlessly traded on marketplaces like Blur and OpenSea.
Get ready for NFTs 2.0.
A marketplace with creators & digital collectors at the center
At Amberfi, we’ve been working on a new kind of platform for creators, collectors and brands as a stealth project for the past year. Today we’re ready to announce the upcoming launch of the “Origins & Ancestries: Genesis” art drop on Expressions.com on May 15, 2023.
Expressions isone part an aggregation marketplace for Amberfi clients but more importantly an open, democratic marketplace designed with creators and the next generation of digital collectors in mind.
It’s the marketplace for the rest of us. For artists from diverse cultural traditions around the world. For art lovers who look at the offerings on the other NFT marketplaces and gag. For collectors who want to get in early on one of the biggest projects of the year.
Members of our community got together and outlined our vision for The Creators Project over at ambr.live. Step one is the launch of “Origins & Ancestries,” followed by opening of Expressions to a wider set of creators around the globe. Step two is the launch of our $AMBR token for the creator community in the second half of 2023.
Expressions is here to lift up women artists, to spotlight underrepresented artists and to give voice to those who feel left out of the incumbent NFT marketplaces. We’re less a traditional marketplace and more of a community-minded discovery hub and creativity platform where you can tell your story and sell your digital or physical NFTs in a safe, secure way and uncover new voices and astonishing talents from around the world.
How we’re different
How are we different from the other guys? Let’s count the ways! Let’s start with the benefits for creators:
Free mints
Amberfi picks up the cost of all NFTs minted on Polygon for all creators. We also support Ethereum and will be adding more blockchains shortly.
Pegged pricing
We’ve heard from creators who don’t like it when the prices of their works get devalued by 10 or 20 percent in a couple of days. Amberfi lets creators peg the sales price of their digital collectibles to USDC.
Enforceable royalties
As far as I know, we’re the only marketplace that enforces royalty payments for creators who choose content encryption to protect their high-fidelity works. No blacklists needed.
Private workspace
This innovation is cool. We give you a free workspace to draft and edit your NFTs and collections before you’re ready to set them live.
Sell physical works
While most collectors like to snap up digital works, there are still a lot of art lovers who want to hang a big, beautiful artwork in their living room. Creators can attach a painting, sculpture or physical work to their NFT and ship it using easy pricing tools.
Buy with a credit card
At Expressions, creators can set a “buy now” price and any buyer can acquire your works with a credit card. (Hat tip to NBA Topshot for pioneering the way.)
Choose an NFT license
We’ve created the premier set of NFT licenses on the Internet, ranging from a general license, commercial or limited commercial licenses, Creative Commons licenses or upload your own license — after working with the renowned Web3 law firm Klaris. We think both creators and buyers should know the rights and permissions attached to any NFT.
What’s coming soon
Our global team — members hail from Japan, India, Singapore, Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, the Bahamas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine — is already working on the next phase of our roadmap. Here’s a partial look ahead:
Earn points
We’re working with DappBack to reward users who contribute to the community by liking favorite NFTs, minting and listing, filling out their profiles, buying art, and more. The more points you earn, the more benefits you’ll enjoy. For instance, Amber tier NFT holders will be entered into a raffle to win a 43-inch Blackdove wall canvas, retail value $799.
Protect your purchases
When even Kevin Rose of Proof and Moonbirds fame (and Digg before that) can get scammed, you know that anyone is susceptible to having their NFTs and crypto stolen. That’s why we’re soon rolling out a new technology to protect your wallet from being compromised by thieves.
Create your own drop
Have you put together a compelling collection and want to do a drop? We’re close to putting this self-service feature in the hands of all creators (and we’re glad to see OpenSea launch a similar service).
Verify seller identities
With so much fraud, piracy, copyminting and scammy behavior taking place, Amberfi is giving sellers the option to verify their identity — a way to add that missing trust layer to NFT transactions. Once you know someone’s real identity, the incidence of fraud and rug pulls plummets.
Our backstory and mission
Expressions was started as a project of the Artists & Creatives Foundation, a Panama nonprofit. But it has evolved into a community-driven Web3 project — developed, curated, underwritten and operated by people like you. We are international by design and collaborative in spirit.
The big idea here is to bring creatives and collectors together to co-create a space where creativity and commerce can flourish without Web2’s exploitative advertising models.
The foundation’s mission is to bring together artists, photographers, videographers, musicians, writers, poets and other creative souls and connect them with developers, marketers, curators and volunteers who want to build a community that supports creatives and their craft.
At Expressions, creators can earn revenue and build out a global fan base. Collectors can create virtual portfolios, show off their taste in the creative arts, and acquire works that gain value over time — while supporting emerging talents and great charitable causes. (Oh, yeah. We’re starting off by supporting six amazing Caribbean nonprofits.)
No gatekeepers
Some 99.99% of artists the world over have not yet joined Web3 — and will never have the opportunity to appear on Sotheby’s or Christie’s. We decided to set ourselves apart from SuperRare, Nifty Gateway and other sites by removing the barrier to entry — any artist can upload his, her or their works to our open, democratic, commerce-enabled community of creativity.
Won’t you join us?
Contact us for more info!
