What are POAPs?

Proof-of-Attendance-Protocol (POAP), pronounced as “poh-ap,” is an infrastructure that helps in minting non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for collectors who have attended/participated in a digital/physical event. These are akin to the physical collectibles or tickets offered for events in the real world. POAP Inc is the company behind the POAP collectibles, which are ERC-721 tokens registered on the Gnosis (previously xDai) blockchain, a subnet of the Ethereum network. Crypto artists and businesses provide POAPs to engage better with their followers by providing utilities. A crucial point to note here is that POAPs do not carry monetary value but are digital records of memories of attending an event.

Proof-Of-Attendance-Protocol in Detail

The Proof-of-Attendance-Protocol is a set of smart contracts that assists in creating POAP collectibles that can be offered to attendees of an event in the physical/virtual world. So far, these smart contracts are governed by a firm POAP Inc, as its creators feel that the concept needs more fine-tuning until it can be made open-source. The smart contracts and the POAP NFT collectibles are created on the Gnosis (previously xDai) blockchain, which is a subnet of the Ethereum blockchain. POAPs use the Gnosis network since it has lower gas charges, and POAP owners can migrate their POAPs to Ethereum, although they will be required to pay the gas charges for the process.

Why are POAPs Important?

With the world advancing towards Web3, collecting memories has become monetized since NFTs can be bought easily. POAPs serve as digital memories that are non-transferable in nature, similar to soul-bound tokens (SBTs). POAPs can ensure that artists/businesses truly provide utilities to their users, as POAPs can be minted only by people who had actually attended the event. POAP collectibles can also be called digital badges, as their look resembles badges. These badges can carry social value and offer subsequent benefits to their holders. They also help in fostering meaningful connections between different spectra of people in the Web3 world.

How Do POAPs Work?

  • There are three needs for a POAP NFT: It must use the official smart contract; It must have metadata with a timestamp for up to a year; It must have an image.
  • Event organizers can use the official website of POAP Inc to mint POAP badges using the Proof of Attendance Protocol. The website has everything for organizers to create POAP NFTs.
  • Organizers can provide attendees with minting links as QR codes or web links that lead to a minting portal. They can also use “Secrets” and “Delivery” options on the POAP website.
  • Secrets are words/phrases that POAP issuers can select and allow people who know them to mint for a short period. These can be effective when Secret phrases are shared verbally.
  • Delivery is an option similar to NFT whitelists, where wallet addresses are pre-selected by POAP issuers to provide badges. These can be useful for Web3 platforms involving NFTs, DeFi, and DAOs.

Events and POAPs

Since POAPs came into existence as memorabilia for hackers who had attended the hackathon at ETHDenver in 2019, many Web3-based events have utilized these badges to a great extent. Most Ethereum-based community events, such as conferences in both virtual and physical worlds, have distributed POAP badges to their attendees. Also, online Web3 communities have issued POAPs to members who take part in weekly or monthly meetings and offer extra benefits to them afterward. Also, the play-to-earn (P2E) ecosystem has seen POAPs too, as P2E games offer these digital badges to celebrate special milestones inside the gaming platform.

Metaverse and POAPs

Metaverses such as Decentraland regularly give POAP badges to users who attended in-game events. In recent times, metaverses have become the new stage for events, particularly those related to Web3 or by people who support Web3. These event organizers have realized the need to pay tribute to the attendees in some way or another. New findings often come in the Web3 space, and Web3 enthusiasts can proclaim that they had been part when an impressive project debuted if they have a POAP badge for the event. As metaverses utilize more facets of Web3, we can say that POAPs’ role would increase further.

Value of POAPs

  • POAPs contain an emotional value for attendees of a landmark event, serve as recognition for students of educational programs, and work as a way of rewarding fans who attended a concert.
  • POAP badges work similarly to NFTs since each has a unique and unchangeable serial number. Such nature makes POAPs candidates for virtual resumes that test the users’ involvement in communities.
  • POAP badges are totally owned by collectors, which means they are free to trade them at their discretion, although using SBTs in POAPs could change things for the better.
  • Blockchains have been the perfect information storage venues in the current era as distributed data cannot be tampered with by individuals, and POAPs cannot be altered to suit one’s own interests.

POAPs – The Next Hot Trend in NFTs

As the world is welcoming Web3-based applications with open hands, it should be noted that more walks of people are utilizing them. NFTs have already been used by many people in different ways, and POAPs are a slight diversion of these tokens. Their non-monetary nature means they cannot be transferred between persons and serve as memories. Still, they can offer rights to future benefits such as voting, token drops, and access to meetings. With events getting more digital and even phygital, Proof-of-Attendance-Protocol (POAP) has become the next big turning point. POAP badges are preferred nowadays by different community events in the Web3 space.

Why Consult Us for Creating POAPs and Similar Products?

Blockchain App Factory has been involved in Web3 applications development for a long time with a massive success rate. We have already experts in developing NFT tickets and event memorabilia, which are in a way similar to POAP badges. We know that POAPs are vastly different from the existing event-based NFTs and our professionals have been actively involved in relevant research. POAP is still a road being paved, and our experts have been looking forward to helping you with developing POAP badges with consistent research and analytics.

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