Initially, we’re minting 777 of our LightningWorks Portals (Genesis NFTs), which we are billing as a “Web3 Comic Shop.” However, we’re also allowing for more of them to be minted over the course of the next seven years.
This isn’t typically done in the NFT space and perhaps never done before, although it’s common in the world of crypto and works well. Typically, a cryptocurrency startup, Foundation, or DAO, will be rewarded with a treasury with which to build value for the coin. So, we are bringing the same idea to the NFT space.
In my view, this gives us a huge advantage over competitors in the NFT space, because we’re going to be well-funded to produce lots of great comic books for our Genesis holders to mint and sell. More money for us, means better artists and writers and more of everything, more frequently.
There are really so many reasons why this is going to help us and give us an advantage in the growing NFT market for years to come. I’ll explain a few below.
Future Proof – Possibly Zero Royalties in the NFT Space
Royalties are extremely important to the creators and artists who are making NFTs, but they aren’t enforced on-chain and it’s possible to bypass them. NFT Marketplaces that don’t pay royalties have already been created and are rapidly gaining users who don’t want to pay them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0psN12_uoU8
We believe there’s a good chance that the entire space could go to a zero-royalty model, and we need to ensure that no matter what happens, LightningWorks and our artists are getting something on an ongoing basis so that we can grow the company and add new value to these Genesis NFTs. We don’t have time to wait around to see how this royalties drama shakes out in the space. We must be FUTURE PROOF no matter what happens.
It’s to the benefit of all Genesis holders to insure that we have a big warchest to build value. Since we are only charging around $150 for these, our warchest needs to come from royalties or extra mints, not the initial mint.
Marketing DAO – One Third Goes to the DAO itself
One-third of the mints we will give to the LightningWorks DAO. All Genesis holders will get a vote based upon their tier, to elect a board of directors that decide what to do with the DAO’s share. This helps to solve a big problem that all Crypto and NFT companies face, which is that HOLDERS are often single-mindedly focused on PRICE and want the company to spend it’s time and resources PUMPING the price up. Meanwhile, responsible companies see the big picture and are planning long-term, and so we want to build great technology, reward our team, forge partnerships, etc. So, the DAO can, if it chooses, use its resources to focus on price, while the company is being responsible for carrying out long-term growth strategy.
What will we Do with Them?
Each year, we’ll be minting more Genesis and will be able to sell or keep them. Of course, holders will need to trust us to be smart about this and not dump them on the market to kill the price. How can you trust us? Well if you don’t, then you probably shouldn’t be buying this Genesis NFT anyway.
However, we’re also doing this in a way that mitigates certain problems that holders may be concerned about. The way we’re designing the tech, we’ll be receiving them randomly all throughout the year, not once per year, so you won’t need to worry about “dumping events” when we receive many at once. And, we may not sell them at all… we may keep them and sell the comics, or forge them. We have options, and that’s a good thing because it makes us more nimble as a company no matter what the future brings.
The chart above shows the growth in supply, which is less than 20% in the first year and dropping rapidly after that. I have already proven that proper gamification and tier structures can absorb huge growth in supply when done properly. When we launched our $DIVI cryptocurrency in 2017, we started with 108% inflation in the first year! Six years later, we’re still in the 15% range. Yet, because of our tiered staking/node system, the market cap and price also rose dramatically, making us one of the most successful ICOs of all time, as shown by the following chart. In fact, we have beaten both Ethereum and Bitcoin during this timeframe.
Strategic Partnerships
In order to grow the company, bring in millions of fans to the LightningWorks ecosystem, and get them reading our stories and taking interest in our characters, we need the ability to bring in strategic partners. There are over 2200 comic book stores in the United States alone, and we need as many as possible in our ecosystem. One way to do that is to offer them Genesis tokens to be distributors of our comics.
The more we expand the market, and partnerships are a great way to do it, the better it will be for all Genesis holders. We hope to expand the market by a thousand times or more, but are only increasing the total supply from 777 to 1227. So I think anyone can see how Genesis holders will benefit.
In fact, we really should have far more Genesis to give to potential partners. What happens if a company like Gamestop, which has over 4500 locations, wants to partner with us? We will not be able to give each one a Genesis NFT and they won’t be able to buy them on the market. Of course we want to find ways to increase the number of buyers in our ecosystem, which is good for everyone, but we decided to be very conservative on supply growth to make sure everyone is comfortable. And Gamestop? There are other solutions to this, such as finding ways for Epic and Legendary holders to co-distribute to bigger holders. Chain stores can also sell our cheaper comics, back issues, and merch, and we’ll be developing software for that.
