Identity, the qualities, beliefs and appearance that characterize a person are considered an individual's most valuable assets. While one's identity was once represented by their participation in the real world, it has quickly shifted to take on the meaning of "internet identity" on social media.
However, as value transfers to the digital realm, each individual's identity is now undergoing another evolution in which the physical world will become augmented with the digital one. The intent is that in this augmented reality, users can share interests, passions, communities, investments, projects and pastimes through their social identity, which conveys who they are and what they hope to achieve better than if they were to do so in words.
Core to this evolution is nonfungible tokens (NFTs), which enable each metaverse user to demonstrate an identity they own and can use across a host of ecosystems. These NFTs, which may include an avatar on the surface, will run far deeper, offering functionality for proof-of-attendance to events, creator tooling passes, and even going so far as to verify one's banking details, value that is often stolen in the physical world by identity thefts.
The only question left unanswered with this powerful application is, "where will one's social identity, the one centered around NFTS, exist?" Gamma.io, also known as Gamma, aims to provide that answer as a hub for one's metaverse identity.
Gamma consists of three core platforms: its user-first marketplace for exploring and collecting NFTs, its creator-first launchpad for artists to deploy fully-tested no-code smart contracts and its social platform.
The project, which was launched in September as STXNFT, has since rebranded in alignment with its expansion to more native BTC integration, which includes extended social features to bring together creators and collectors in a Web3-native way.
Back to the foundation
Foundationally, Gamma presents a different model than most NFT offerings with its basis on Bitcoin (BTC), as opposed to Ethereum (ETH), where most digital assets now exist. Gamma made this decision out of a strong belief in Bitcoin's decentralization and widespread trust and adoption present in the settlement layer. Logically, these features could be extended into the settlement layer for nonfungible assets.
Consider that NFTs originated on the Bitcoin blockchain back in 2016, where they later became popularized on other chains due to prior base layer technology limitations. Although this transition made sense at the time, recent breakthroughs for smart contracts settled on the Bitcoin base layer have led to NFTs being brought back to Bitcoin, which presents a larger ecosystem than any other blockchain.
The team behind Gamma believes that by unlocking Bitcoin's capital, Web3 technologies can take advantage of arguably the most reliable store of value, spurring on NFT and metaverse adoption.
Jamil Dhanani, a Stanford graduate student, former Apple engineer and now the founder and CEO of Gamma, shares,
"Over the past year, NFTs have transformed digital asset ownership and served to connect artists, creators, collectors and community members. Our platforms have already brought together people from around the world - Gamma is our next step, doubling down on community and putting collectors and artists first."
In recognition of being a creator-first platform, Gamma has brought on over a dozen artists and creators as partners that could effectively bring people together around Bitcoin and Web3.
As partners, these artists receive compensation from Gamma for their efforts, which will be accompanied by 100% of mint revenues and royalties from the collections.
Strong foundations since the beginning
Although its founding was less than six months ago, Gamma has become one of the largest open marketplaces on Stacks, with thousands of buyers and a dedicated user base that averages out six purchases each.
The platform, which already supports the minting of some NFTs via lightning payments, has made it their focus to work on accepting native Bitcoin through their marketplace in upcoming quarters. Other milestones listed on the project’s roadmap include building out their social platform, which will give creators and collectors additional ways to engage with each other and build more extensive communities.
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