Editorial Notes (vol. 9) — More than a JPEG

The market has been gloomy, however, builders are here to stay and we’ve got a great Explore Screen update for you today. In today's edition, we’ll be looking at a couple features. Firstly, Cryptotesters are back with their monthly Cryptotesters’ Picks feature where they highlight quality projects that have caught the attention of one of the top communities in Web3. In the More Than a JPEG feature, we’ll take a look at some of the NFT collections which offer additional benefits to their owners, besides the pleasure of having a great looking profile picture (PFP).

Besides the two features which can be found on The Grill in your favorite wallet, we’ll also be expanding our collection of Arbitrum bridges in preparation for the Onboarding Week of the Arbitrum Odyssey and adding a couple new dApps from Harmony ecosystem.

Let’s dive right in! 👇

Cryptotesters’ Picks

Cryptotesters are on a mission to onboard people to crypto and help them find the coolest products in the space. Our monthly Cryptotesters feature in Omni will give you insight into the most interesting projects that have emerged and gotten the attention of the Crypotesters community.

Access a new DeFi primitive – uncollateralized loans for DAOs and businesses with Atlendis

Atlendis enables businesses to open borrowing pools to take out revolving lines of credit with predetermined maturities. End-users can lend assets into pools and receive a higher interest rate than with other DeFi lending protocols. The first two pools are live on Polygon with ZigZag and DeversiFi.

Get yourself a Cryptotesters NFT on Optimism and become a member of one of the best communities

Mint a membership to get into a community that has the finger on the pulse of everything going on in L2 land. The membership gives you perks and discounts across Web3.

Get sustainable fixed yield and token price upside by utilizing Porter Finance convertible bonds

Porter Finance allows DAOs and other on-chain entities to borrow stablecoins using tokens they have in their treasury as collateral by issuing convertible bonds. Any time before the maturity date, lenders can convert their bonds into a set amount of collateral tokens.

Easily participate in automated option strategies with Polynomial

Polynomial is an option strategy platform on Optimism, Layer-2 Ethereum. Polynomial uses user funds to engage in automated on-chain option strategies netting users juicy — but not entirely risk free — yields. Transactions on Optimism are very fast and inexpensive.

More Than a JPEG

NFT collections have been centered around profile pictures for a long time now. However, there is an increasing desire to provide more benefits to the community of holders. This week our team looked at a few projects that are doing just that – expanding what can be done to align interests of the founders and community, and provide holders with extra utility.

Get yourself one of The Idols and earn interest from stETH rewards in perpetuity

The Idols is a collection of 9999 NFTs living on the Ethereum blockchain with some additional key features which fully align incentives between the team and community. 100% of proceeds from the "mint" are converted to Lido's stETH and deposited back into the protocol. Interest earnings from stETH in the treasury will be paid out in perpetuity to all Idol NFT holders.

Ronin NFTs are great PFPs, but will also act as your avatar in the Ragnarok metaRPG game

Owning at least one Ronin from the collection of 7777 will grant you exclusive access to the Ragnarok RPG. There, your profile picture will become your in-game character and a part of your identity in the game’s metaverse.

Cryptotesters NFTs will grant you access to a token-gated community which has a wealth of knowledge to be shared among the members

By minting a Cryptotesters NFT you’ll gain access to a community that has the finger on the pulse of everything going on in L2 land. On top of that, the membership gives you various perks and discounts across Web3.

Hold at least one Raptor from The Last Raptor collection and get showered with benefits along the way

To honor the discovery of the first Velociraptor fossil in 1923, the collection consists of only 1923 unique Raptors. Each piece was generated from a collection of 100+ hand-drawn attributes and offers a plethora of benefits, including exclusive access to the Raptors Club, the ability to sell products on their platform and keep 80% of the profits, unlimited access to NFT Portfolio Manager's VIP features for life, and gives you a free NFT (only need to pay gas) from a future collection.

Contribute to Pooltogether’s ongoing defense in a lawsuit by minting a Pooly NFT

The Pooly Collection is a limited edition set of NFTs owned by people supporting PoolTogether Inc. in defending against the lawsuit. Proceeds from the sale will go to PoolTogether Inc. and be used for legal expenses of the company and its officers and directors, as needed. Besides supporting one of the oldest and most reliable decentralized finance protocols, you’ll also be eligible for future art drops.

CyberKongz — unique and randomly generated 2D/3D NFT Social Avatars for your online experiences

One of the biggest NFT collections in existence, CyberKongz offers the holders much more than just a cool PFP. The team behind the collection has generated playable 3D avatars out of the 2D PFPs. These avatars can be taken into the Sandbox metaverse, where you can explore the space as your PFP. On top of that, you’ll gain full comercial rights over your CyberKong assets, access to guilds, and more.

Join the corner where web3 enthusiasts meet to create a decentralized future with Azuki

Owning a part of a collection of 10000 avatars will grant you membership access to The Garden, where builders, artists, and Web3 wizards connect. As an Azuki NFT member of their global community, you will also explore a new genre of media, be a part of an authentic and artistic NFT project, get exclusive access to their drops, live events, cool streetwear collaborations, and much more.

Get a rubber duck from Duck.art and send it to bath parties where it will grow and evolve

Rubber Duck Bath Party is a collection of 10,000 dynamic NFTs. Owners of the ducks get to join community parties with them, during which their NFTs grow and evolve, becoming rarer and earning extra traits. It is pure fun and a great community building experience.

Join the Fancy Bears Metaverse – the first Metaverse dedicated to social media, celebrities, and entertainment only

Besides becoming a cool looking bear, the membership in the club grants you some special perks. Firstly, owners of the NFTs will be in control of the governance of Fancy DAO which will be funded by 30% royalties and own NFTs, ETH, and other assets. Additional benefits consist of a Metaverse land airdrop, free merch, special events, new NFT collections, and more.

We're also adding a couple of dApps to the Explore Harmony section. Both of these dApps have gained good traction within the ecosystem, becoming some of the most used products on Harmony.

The first algorithmic stable coin on Harmony pegged 1:1 to ONE enabled by UNITE

In the short term, until the peg is achieved, UNITE is focused on optimizing the protocol and creating wealth for early investors through Farms and Boardrooms, which offer high APR for early participants. Once the peg is achieved, the system’s mechanisms will focus on stability and consistency so that UNITE can function as a mirrored, liquid asset to ONE.

Access a high-risk investing system with Prime and earn a daily 7.8% - 18%, plus referral rewards

Prime offers a high-risk investing system on multiple chains, including Harmony. The Deposit Period can be from 7 to 30 days, but keep in mind that different Deposit Periods have different profitability between 119% and 234%. The longer your Deposit Period, the bigger the reward and higher the risk.

Last but definitely not least, we’ve added new bridges to the Explore Arbitrum section, to get you set up for the upcoming Arbitrum Odyssey.

Abritrum Bridges: Multichain, Li.Finance, Arbitrum Bridge, DeBridge, Connext, and Celer.