By allowing creators to autonomously mint their own NFTs at scale, Together Labs, the company behind the world’s largest web3 social metaverse IMVU, has put in place the final transactional piece of the most inclusive fully-fledged virtual economy.
With 67% of women creators and players, IMVU’s gender diversity bucks industry trends. Powered by MetaJuice, the company’s blockchain division, IMVU users are now able to design, sell and monetize creator-managed limited editions that they have complete control of.
The first-ever IMVU creator-minted NFT was a limited edition white ‘Bunny Hat’ priced at $1.20 that quickly sold out all of 200 NFTs, with some already resold. It was designed, minted and launched by one of IMVU’s many women creators. Other NFTs created as a part of the beta testing program included animated avatar effects, custom nails, hairstyles, jackets, tops, shoes, dresses, and more. More than 100 creators created NFTs during the beta period, creating and selling items ranging from $2 Kawaii hairstyles to $80 ancient helmets and $100 candy-inspired nails.
Together Lab’s almost million daily active IMVU users already have access to more than 60 million creator-made digital items in the IMVU marketplace, with more than 20 million digital items exchanged every month and 10,000 new items created every day. With this new service, IMVU’s creators can now design their own digital items, set a marketplace price using VCOIN targeting their desired level of exclusivity, then click a button that mints and lists as an NFT with full Immutable-backed blockchain functionality, no matter their level of technical prowess. Immutable’s technological processes for minting NFTs are 475,000 times more energy efficient than minting with Ethereum. The new NFTs can be bought with VCOIN or VCORE.
“We’re handing over entrepreneurial control to the platform’s creators by allowing them to self-mint their NFTs and allowing all of our users to participate in the economy through the purchase and resale of NFTs. It’s a big breakthrough because it opens up a key pillar of the metaverse economy and devolves financial freedom to creators and users,” MetaJuice President John Burris said. “The freedom to create self-worth and notoriety through creative endeavors is now as legitimate in the online space on IMVU as it is in the real-world spaces of New York, Milan, London, or Paris. In this economy, creators and users set the prices and earn from these functional NFTs, setting up a real working, de-gentrified web3 economy, where creators and users benefit and gain utility.”
Prior to launching the ability to self-mint NFTs, this year, Together Labs worked with Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova, Australian LGBTQ+-focused movement Not Your Bro, and LA fashion collective Freak City to release Limited Edition NFT drops based on the stylings and physical designs for which each is renowned. Now, anyone in IMVU can join their ranks and enrich the fashion and culture of the largest social web3 metaverse.