February 2024

Unique Network, an NFT-centric platform built on Polkadot’s toolkit Substrate, announced the launch of NFTs 2.0 CodeCraft Grant Fund aiming to advance the next generation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The $250,000 fund will be shared amongst developers, enthusiasts and designers on Unique Network over the coming months, a statement from the team confirmed. Two companies on the platform, MusicMoon and DED Games have already received early grants to enhance NFTs in the world of music royalties and blockchain gaming respectively. Via the reserve, Unique Network welcomes participants to explore the vast potential of “advanced NFTs” (NFTs 2.0), urging them to create customizable, utility-driven solutions and innovative NFTs to enhance how NFTs can be used in virtually every industry across the globe. The grant fund further empowers developers and creators to leverage NFT technologies to build novel capabilities, as the space moves from speculative JPEGs into real-world innovative solutions. Alexander Mitrovich, CEO of Unique Network, believes the grant fund will push for the development of next-generation NFTs on his platform including customizable NFTs, composable NFTs, nested NFTs, dynamic NFTs and multi-asset NFTs. In addition, these advanced utility and function-focused NFTs will enable the creation of DApps and micro-DApps across the blockchain space. “NFTs have a long way to go. The first wave was driven by speculative jpegs, but it is the powerful NFT utility tools that will lead the next stage in NFTs,” he stated at the launch of NFTs 2.0 CodeCraft Grant Fund. “At Unique Network we already delivered these capabilities in the last year, and now we are seeing deep interest from the most innovative founders.” With the NFT space facing a downturn since the highs of 2021, where most enthusiasts only concentrated on JPEG collections of rocks, apes and kitties, the latest funding aims to launch a renewed interest in the space via new utilities and capabilities of NFTs. In addition, participants will be able to discover extraordinary use cases for NFTs, join collaborative developer communities on Unique Network and feature their work within workspaces provided on the platform. MusicMoon and DED Games First to Receive Grant Funding The NFTs 2.0 CodeCraft Grant Fund kicked off by awarding two projects on Unique Network – MusicMoon (previously known as LoopNFT), a platform that gives artists control over their music royalties via NFTs, and DED Games, a blockchain gaming platform implementing the Unique Network NFT SDK as part of their Web3 integration! MusicMoon aims to give back control to indie artists, challenging the power major music labels have over artists. Via Web 3, the platform empowers musicians and blockchain developers to leverage NFTs to make this possible. MusicMoon recently was accepted into Polkadot’s Blockchain Academy and won the Polkadot APAC Hackathon event held in September 2023. “This grant from Unique Network is not just funding; it's a catalyst propelling MusicMoon to revolutionize how artists create, share, and monetize their music, ensuring they retain rights and foster direct connections with their audience through blockchain technology,” stated Joesp Gracés, Founder of Music Moon. On the other hand, DED Games aims to extend blockchain gaming across the Polkadot universe, enabling players to participate across different ecosystems on the blockchain. The development team is currently developing their inaugural game, DED MINE, implementing the Unique Network NFT SDK as part of their Web3 integration! As the competition grows, Unique Network will be announcing new winners from the grant applicants in the NFT 2.0 CodeCraft Grant Fund on their social media pages. Participants must submit their entries online for each pre-selected project and join Unique’s Developer Telegram chat to be eligible.