Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs and the onchain frontier

Dear Bankless Nation,

I always wondered what a more crypto-native version of Reddit Collectible Avatars might look like.

That’s why cygaar’s thread on Sofamon, a digital stickers project that just launched its beta on Base, caught my attention last week.

Sofamon has the potential to catch on with Telegram’s many millions of crypto users, so for today’s post let’s break down what you need to know about this interesting new platform.

P.S. The Metaversal rebrand is kicking off on Thursday, catch up on what’s leveling up! All Metaversal issues after today’s will come via team@bankless.com 🧑‍🚀️

-WMP

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Sofamon Explained: A New Onchain Take on Digital Stickers

The beta begins

On March 26th, Sofamon—“a new layer of social expression” centered around collecting and trading onchain Telegram stickers—kicked off its beta on Base. Within just one week of launching, the project has already generated over 3,300 ETH in trading volume and over 95 ETH in revenue.

The key aspects of Sofamon

Sofamon is designed to serve as a new cultural platform for crypto natives. It’s main pillars include:

📱 Telegram — Leveraging Telegram, a favorite app among crypto diehards, Sofamon allows people to use their avatars and collectible wearables as stickers.
🎀 Customizable Avatars — Sofamon lets users customize their avatars with a variety of collectible items for individuality and expression.
🎨 A Platform for Creators — While only the first genesis collectibles are live today, Sofamon will eventually allow artists to launch their own collections on the platform, thereby expanding the aesthetic options over time.
📈 Dynamic Pricing — Sofamon uses a Friend Tech-style bonding curve for its collectibles, ensuring liquidity for immediate buys and sells and a responsive price mechanism based on demand.
💬 Collector Chats — The project also provides token-gated Telegram channels, exclusive to collectors of specific items. This creates a unique social layer, where ownership not only provides access to coveted stickers but also entry into private communities.

Are Sofamon stickers NFTs?

I’m not a smart contract dev, but in scanning the Sofamon smart contract, I didn’t come across any NFT mentions, e.g. ERC-721, ERC-1155, etc.

Instead, Sofamon appears to use a more streamlined metadata system where each sticker is tracked as a unique segment of metadata onchain. This approach offers fungibility within sets of wearables and non-fungibility between them, and it also lends itself well to the project’s fractional ownership and dynamic pricing elements.

Of course, my analysis could be off here. The Sofamon team could also expand with added NFT elements later. As for the stickers now, though, they’re non-fungible-ish but don’t appear to be NFTs per se. And that’s perfectly fine, it’s a different but similar approach. Let’s see if it sticks!

Hunting for an invite

Sofamon’s beta is in invite-only mode, so you will need an invite code like one of these already used ones to get started.

I’m currently clamoring for a code myself, and I think the best strat this early on is to turn on post notifications for the Sofamon Twitter account, which has been dripping out new batches of invites over the past week. If you do get your hands on a code, then just punch it in at sofamon.xyz/onboarding/invite to begin.

Base, Privy, Telegram, oh my!

Base is currently the hottest Ethereum L2, Telegram has hundreds of millions of users, and Privy makes onboarding simple via embedded wallets.

This is Sofamon’s stack, and the project is the first of its kind when it comes to using this exact combo. In my opinion, this approach positions the platform to become a force to be reckoned with in the crypto social scene in the months ahead.

Like I said in the intro, I’ve been curious to see a more crypto-native take in the general ballpark of Reddit Collectible Avatars, and now I think we’ve got our first real answer here in Sofamon.

To be sure, the project has only just begun, and it can evolve much more going forward. But I see a charming and promising foundation that I believe the team can build some serious momentum around, and I’m excited to try it myself.

Looking further ahead, it will be interesting to see how Sofamon continues to position itself in the increasingly crowded NFT market, especially against or with the reigning PFP (profile picture) projects. Also, the project’s expansions with new art releases and potentially with leaps to platforms beyond Telegram will be key threads to watch!

Today’s action steps:

🧑‍🚀️ Catch up on the rebrand: Metaversal Levels Up
📱 Explore Sofamon: Hunt for an invite

Author Bio

William M. Peaster, Senior Writer, has been with Bankless since January 2021. Immersed in Ethereum since 2017, he writes the Metaversal newsletter on the onchain frontier, covering everything from AI projects to crypto games, as the team’s lead NFT analyst. With a background in creative writing, he writes fiction and publishes art on Ethereum in his free time. He lives in Washington.

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Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.