by Aaron R K

In earlier years, considering finance normally brought images of conservative, serious looking bankers and inside investors in business suits, discussing the dull details of accounting ledgers, tax write-offs and macroeconomics.

Fast forward to 2022, and the world world of gamified finance. Instead of the sleepy world of accounting, we now have dreamy worlds of fire-breathing dragons that hatch from golden eggs, and magic wands by which the investor is transformed into a wizard, casting spells in the metaverse.

Though these projects are more colorful and fun than the traditional world of stocks and bonds, they are more than children’s toys, incorporating advanced digital technology. For example Magical Mutts, minted with the use of a digital magic wand, is a collection of NFTs with augmented reality capabilities. Magical Mutts may be the world’s first example of an AR NFT that also includes a solid, real world collectible sent to all holders of the NFT, in the form of Magical Mutts art (on canvas or as a poster, shipped at no additional charge). These solid objects are connected with a digital certificate of authenticity, with Kaledo, a blockchain company , which provides the Kaledo AR app, available on Google Play and the App Store.

Such linking of real world assets with blockchains may have a profound effect on the world economy, beyond the collectibles associated with a particular NFT collection. As more and more real world assets are represented by tokens on decentralized services, this “children’s toy” may be an early glimpse into the future world of digital authenticity, as it relates to a wide range of potential assets. Imagine ownership of stocks or valuable real estate, available as fractions of the entire asset, for example an apartment in Paris or a single Apple stock, divided into thousands or even millions of ownership tokens, so that those with a small investment sum, such as $10, have the opportunity to invest in blue chip stocks and prime real estate. Imagine this market available around the world, 24/7 365 days a year. This type of investment environment would likely have a profound, positive economic impact on every country in the world.

Having missed out on Crypto Punks and Bored Apes, I am now on a quest for the next big thing in NFTs. This generally  means getting in early, when the price of a digital collectible is still low. The best deals, for NFT collections that actually do go up in price,  are often obtained by getting onto the white list of a particular NFT project, which is the list of those allowed to participate in the minting of an NFT. At this point, the collection is new, and the price for its NFTs may be lower than when it is put for sale on the secondary market (where it is potentially exposed to a larger market of buyers who can push the price up). Being on the white list allows one to mint an NFT for oneself, usually for a relatively small amount of crypto. There are sometimes even free mints, which cost nothing, other than the gas (network transaction fees). 

How do you find out about projects and get onto an NFT white list? For those who aren’t project insiders, this is often done through social media and messaging apps, especially Twitter, Telegram and Discord.  YouTube can also be good. Though, by the time videos are posted to YouTube, it is often already too late to get on the white list of a promising, popular project. 

After joining a Discord group (which Discord calls a “server”), there can are various ways to gain a white list spot. With projects that become very popular prior to the time of minting, competition for white list spots can be intense. Getting in early, when a project first launches often helps, as does being an active participant in the online community of those interested in the project. There are also games with white list spots as prizes, including white list giveaways to lucky winners. 

For this article, I’m focusing on 2 very gamified NFT projects: Dumble DAO, including its NFT portfolio and Magical Mutts NFT collection, and Golden Eggs DAO, including its NFTs and Dragon Fire token. 

Exploring DumbleDAO, it doesn’t take long to see that there are a lot of Harry Potter fans in its community. In fact the name of the DAO is inspired by the Harry Potter fantasy series, specifically the character Dumbledore, in the Harry Potter series. Dumbledore is a legendary collector, and DumbleDAO is based upon a collection, in the form of an NFT portfolio, which is shared by members of the DAO. In other words, it is a community owned NFT portfolio. On their website (DumbleDAO.io), they set the bar high, intending to acquire the world’s largest collection of high performing passive yield NFTs. DAO members own fractional shares of the digital assets in the portfolio. 

One of the innovative features of the Magical Mutts mint, is that it is done by paying for the mint in advance, using PledgeMint.io. A benefit of using PledgeMint’s service is that, since the mint is paid for in advance, there are little or no gas fees. This is an important factor when investing in NFTs, since a lot of people minting at the same time can lead to increased gas prices.

 I have personally seen a gas charge of well over $600 for a single NFT minting transaction, which is, of course, way too high a price to pay.  PledgeMint.io, can be used to decrease gas costs when minting an NFT.

The Golden Egg DAO has a digital collection of dragons’ eggs. Egg holders will receive airdrops of dragon NFTs. Holders of dragons and eggs will receive an additional mutant NFT (if it’s anything like the Bored Apes Yacht Club, these will probably be some kind of thing or creature with a strange mutation). Those who stake their egg NFTs, at an online app called Stakooor, also receive a daily amount of crypto called Dragon Fire.

In addition, they have an online crypto betting game, and crypto income from this game will be shared with egg holders.

I got my Dragon NFT from Golden Egg DAO. Unfortunately, according to my antivirus, there was a threat of data leaking or data loss, in connection with nftstorage.link, a site used when minting the dragon. My antivirus protected my computer, and I got 2 dragons, one for each golden egg in my wallet. I am interested in finding out more about the security issue.

Golden Egg DAO also provides information about early NFT opportunities. At this point in time, I’ve received Dragon Fire token, though I’m not sure of its value, and it’s not yet listed on CoinMarketCap.com. I also have not yet tested the early NFT tips provided by Golden Eggs DAO, but I’m hoping they’re good. 

Another interesting aspect to these two NFT projects is their use of Web 3 apps for online verification, and connection of wallets and social media accounts. The Magical Mutts project uses Collab.Land, with which I connected my crypto wallet and Discord account. Golden Eggs DAO uses Matrica.io, with which I connected my wallet, Twitter , and Discord accounts. 

If you invest in NFTs, I wish you success. As with investments generally, there are of course no 100 percent guarantees, and I’m only investing what I can afford to lose.

For these 2 projects, I fell for the hype and invested some of my crypto. The result was complete financial loss of the assets, along with a lot of degen fun!

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