Concept: Fractionalized Proof of Work Non-Fungible Tokens
Inspired by the reemergence of the Mooncat Project, could Proof of Work (PoW) be used to create fractionalized puzzles online?
I wanted a space where I can expand on my ideas and thoughts. That is why I created the ‘Concept’ series. These ideas may become side projects, they may not. Enjoy.
Influence: MooncatRescue
The MoonCatRescue Project required users to save ‘MoonCats’ from the moon using their computers CPU. When a MoonCat was saved (this took between 15–90 seconds on average), it would have a ‘Seed’ and an ‘ID’ which needed to be noted down. The user would then go to the MoonCatResucue smart contract on Etherscan and rescue their cat using their ‘Seed’.
These MoonCats came in an array of colours, with genesis cats being black and white. The value of the MoonCat would be dependant on its colour and characteristics. The rarity of each MoonCat can be found here.
The developers behind the MoonCatRescue project had been dormant since October 2017, but on 12 March 2021, amid the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) craze, the project reemerged due to a tweet by RealAllenHena. It appeared that the Mooncats were the second oldest NFTs on Ethereum (ETH) and the first that required Proof of Work.
That is important as CryptoPunks, which are commonly referred to as the original NFTs on ETH have seen their value substantially increase this year. CryptoPunks have a limited supply of 10,000 with an average sale price of $26,827. There have been 7,604 sales over the past 12 months with a lifetime value of sales of $203.99M. Therefore, with the original NFTs valued this high, many perceived that MoonCats would also be highly valued.
The supply of MoonCats is 25,600, and in over an hour, the remaining MoonCats were rescued. The opportunity was gobbled up! Since the MoonCats were rescued, the project has seen a growing community form, the original developers have been contacted and are now active in the project, and there are new developers involved to help progress this project.
But, there were those who rescued MoonCats as they speculated they would make a good return. Gas fees at the time of rescuing a MoonCat were $50, and the current floor price is about 0.5 ETH or $900 which would see a return of 1800%. Even more impressive is that a genesis MoonCat sold for 100 ETH which is about $180,000 with today’s prices.
Despite this, what fascinated me was the idea of using PoW to create an NFT. Could this concept be used to generate tokens that would be similar to puzzle pieces?
Decentralised PoW Puzzles
Jigsaw puzzles are universally enjoyed. The concept is simple, there is x number of pieces, and once put together correctly, they create an image. Could a decentralised puzzle with exchangeable pieces using the MoonCatRescue mechanism or similar be possible?
Rather than rescuing MoonCats, each user would ‘mine’ or ‘find’ pieces of a puzzle. Each piece or token would have a different rarity which would create value in the ecosystem. Once all the pieces have been found by the user they can combine them to create the NFT artwork. This NFT/ completed puzzle can then be held in the users wallet or sold.
On the left, I have created a hypothetical 3x3 puzzle to explain this concept. Each piece in the puzzle has a different rarity. For example, the 7th piece has a 1:5 chance of being found, whereas the 5th piece has a 1:1000 chance of being found. If 1000 pieces were minted, then the 5th piece would be the most valuable piece as there would only be one available and is essential for completing the NFT. If a user ‘found’ the fifth piece in this scenario, they could sell it to a buyer, who may have the remaining pieces, or they can choose to hold it and complete the puzzle for the final artwork.
Similar to MoonCatRescue, a user would enter the website for this project and chose to ‘search for pieces’. When a piece is found, the user can choose to search for more pieces, add the piece to their puzzle or sell the piece on an exchange similar to the adoption centre in MoonCatRescue. If the user continues to search for pieces and is lucky enough to get all the necessary pieces to combine into the puzzle, they can burn the collection of tokens to mint the NFT which represents the puzzle artwork. By burning the tokens that make the puzzle, the pieces are removed from the ecosystem preventing pieces from being used multiple times allowing for a limited supply on final NFTs.
The Interface
The user interface would be very simple. It would allow for users to ‘search for pieces’, exchange pieces and also view their current and past puzzles. When attempting to complete a puzzle, the tokens that represent pieces would be filled in according to where they should go. Pieces that are missing can be hovered over and clicked on to show which wallets have those pieces. That way a wallet messaging interface can be included where users can request pieces for ETH as a direct bidding service, while also having access to the peer-to-peer market place.
Decentralised Autonomous Organisation Token
To provide value to the wider project, rather than the individual puzzles, a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) Token would be required. A guide on DAOs can be found here for readers unfamiliar with the term.
This hypothetical DAO token would provide 6 uses:
- The ability to vote and buy artwork/ NFTs to factionalize into pieces.
- The ability to vote on artists to commission to create artwork to fractionalize to turn into puzzles.
- The ability to vote on the size of upcoming puzzles. For example, a 10x10 or 100x100.
- A portion of the fees generated by the protocol.
- Those staking the DAO token would get regular airdrops of pieces for new puzzles.
- A requirement for entrance on puzzles. Tokens would need to be staked for a time determined by the DAO per puzzle and meet the minimum threshold of tokens staked. When a user joins a puzzle, they will have a % determined by the DAO of tokens burnt.
Possible Names
GameTheory. It’s simple and reflects the nature of this project. It also works as a double entendre as this would be a game for users that would require some meticulous thinking.
