Defiants Backs RareCandy3D
A next generation lifestyle platform for NFTs, DeFi, and Gaming
We are pleased to announce a partnership with RareCandy3D to provide community guidance and support for the upcoming launch of their innovative lifestyle platform. We have also provided early financial support through the purchase of an NCO (NFT Coin Offering) D-Grade ticket, thereby joining the likes of Arweave. We are thrilled to be involved with this project from the very beginning, and look forward to big achievements/realizations from the RC3 team in the near future.
To pitch you quickly:
“RC3 is a virtual publishing house of scarce NFT originals as well as a distribution channel for traditional indie artists, brands, record labels, and products that want to tap into the $3T crypto market without tackling the learning curve that sustains the gap between the two commerce fields.”
Why RareCandy3D?
We met Ross Peili, RareCandy3D’s Head of Corporate affairs back in October 2017 in the IOTA community. We had some good laughs back then, exploring the future of IoT and the ways in which blockchain could revolutionize the world as we know it. At the time, Ross was a tech writer for several crypto news outlets, while we were modding the IOTA community on Facebook.
Fast-forward to January 2021, we crossed paths again, as we had just established ourselves as a not-for-profit community management agency on Telegram, still looking to expand our client portfolio. Ross came in like a godsend and introduced us to Outlier Ventures, a Web3 accelerator, where he was working as a consultant for Web3 startups.
This marked a turning point for Defiants. Not only did this skyrocket our growth, it also brought us into contact with some of the more talented developers in the Web3 industry. This encounter helped us become a part of a bigger movement. So when Ross asked for our assistance with RC3, it was obviously hard to say no.
Let me start by saying that no startup we met before had this co-creative vibe as RC3. For those who have been longer in the space, complaining about teams stuck in their ‘ivory’ towers, hyping, yet not delivering. RC3 refreshes the air in the room.
RareCandy3D is a combination of libertarianism, urban drive, and the vision of living a “cryptopunk lifestyle”. This is a startup team that has gone down the “DLT” rabbit hole, giving them a wealth of experience that enables them to launch a Web3 lifestyle platform, which, apparently, will soon be ready to use.
Let’s dig in.
The core team/BoD consists of Ross, Andro, Max & Henry, surrounded by an international and diverse group of 7 individuals all actively contributing to a shared vision. This foursome usually comes up with the concepts, while Andro and Vlad, both citizens of Greece, are doing most of the research and development.
Ross:
“Instead of talking about what we might be building in the future, we’re here to show you what NFTs mean to us and how we’re using them on a regular basis.”
The problem with the creative industry?
NFT’s have been around for a few years now, yet remain questioned by quite some people. Why do we need an NFT if you can just copy-paste images? Is this a hype or a revolution? We asked Andro how RC3’s concept came into being.
Andro:
“Compared to other European countries, Greece undeniably ranks among the first in corruption, which unfortunately has become the norm in its society and local culture. In turn, this is hindering local artists and communities from creatively expressing themselves and feeling secure in their craft and choices in life. We believe that Web3 and NFTs are great tools that have the potential to decentralize and democratize P2P transactions, thus empowering creators as well as promoting local contemporary culture.”
To us, it seems that in the case of RC3, being “defiant” is an absolute necessity in an otherwise economically unstable Greece (And other parts of the world), where the adoption of blockchain technology might prove the best possible solution available for artists and designers. The creation of ‘trustless’ value flows (or peer-to-peer transactions) became a key component for freelancers, and more local economies, both on and offline. Not only does RC3 go hands-on with utilizing Web3, they are also disrupting the sometimes terribly skewed fundraising models in the crypto industry. But more about this in a bit.
Andro adds:
“The core values that define RC3 are education, accessibility, and, most of all, innovation.”
Therefore, by building future-oriented tools and services, RC3 literally opens the world of Web3 to designers and creators, who clearly have no idea how to use it, yet. Taking into consideration the tightening options of Web2 for the protection of ownership and distribution, there is an undeniable gap that RC3 is filling up, the latter not limited to just digital stuff, as the rise of physical NFTs is bound.
Why RC3 decided to come with a product instead of a whitepaper?
From what we can tell, and this might sound overly assuring, RC3 is more ready for a tokensale than 90% of whitepaper projects; projects which never moved beyond deploying an ERC-20 token.
Being a no-nonsense team with a more than decent UI/UX MVP (Or Beta dApp), as RC3 has its first user base; artists and collectors from Greece, Italy and Germany. We can confidently conclude some of the first in history to whitelabel their records with the use of NFT’s.
Ross:
“To us, being part of the NFT scene equals actively looking to broaden the scope of NFT use-cases. With regard to raising funds, there are several options; from the antiquated ICO to the more recent IDO, IEO, and Fairlaunch models. Yet, none seemed to match RareCandy3D’s identity and vision. Therefore, we decided to take the extra step of pioneering a new fundraising format which is an NFT in and of itself.”
While not too far-fetched an idea, RC3 is the first Web3 startup (that we know of) raising funds through NFT sales. RC3 dubbed it the NFT Coin Offering or NCO, a rare set of NFTs as investment slots.
Ross explains:
“There are four different NFTs, each NFT containing a claimable link for a predefined amount of $RCDY tokens. These NFTs have unlockable content upon purchase. In other words, you are buying ERC-20 tokens by means of ERC-721 tokens.”
In other words, you buy an NFT (ERC-721) and with it you hold the key to claiming your tokens (ERC-20’s). According to RC3, this prevents frontrunning and other manipulations that are common within IDO launchpads or IEOs, providing a more steady distribution of tokens.
The tokenomics model allows 31.5% of the total $RCDY supply to be reserved for sale and distributed in these four investment slots or NFTs and an additional public sale. The team’s tokens are unlocked as per monthly wage, which seems more than fair.
The NCO is happening just prior to the launch of the MVP and public sale. For RC3, it mattered to first develop a “secure and battle-tested” dApp prior to involving the public in making investments. I guess this proves they genuinely care for their investors.
What has been done so far and what will the future bring for RC3?
RC3 has been building since 2020, gaining momentum and recently reaching a point where they are ready to launch their token. We asked RC3 to summarize the most important milestones.
Andro’s shared with us:
1) A novel NFT-based token sale format, namely, the NFT Coin Offering (NCO).
2) A native Badge System that rewards user behavior across the platform by airdropping NFTs, $RCDY, and others. The badges themselves are NFTs and can be displayed in users’ profiles.
3) The essential NFT Media Player — so people can listen to their favourite NFT tracks.
Andro’s continued on what is yet to come:
4) Second-hand NFT Marketplace (coming soon): a dedicated place for reselling 2nd hand NFTs with added features such as custom descriptions, bundle options, etc.
5) NFT Profile Skins (upcoming): users will be able to customize their account profiles with different skins that may either be bought or earned via community events, badges, metaverse treasure hunts, etc.
6) NFT Ticketing System (upcoming): NFTs used as access keys to gated digital & physical events. Extra features: whitelisting, bundle options, and long-duration tickets.
When talking with Andro’s we wondered if they considered any docuseries portraying the culture RC3 is fueling.
Andro’s explains:
“Last October, we participated in a mini-doc which was organized by Onassis Foundation, exploring local NFT culture — this will be released soon. Coincidentally, the directors at OF are the same people that are running VICE Greece, so we are comfortable discussing a potential future documentary about RareCandy3D with them, as we are preparing some exclusive physical NFT releases (both music and fashion).
‘Unofficially’, we are in the talks with the founding father of techno in Detroit, Gerald Donald, and we are exploring the possibility of minting his first ever NFT. We are also in the talks with Clone Records (NL) about creating a dashboard for them to mint their catalogue in our platform (physical & digital music NFTs) and helping them dive deeper into Web3.
Same goes for Lobster Theremin. *A key feature of our physical NFTs is that the physical asset is pegged to its digital counterpart via the innovative HALO chips by our partner KONG, which can also act as cold wallets, and may be used for airdropping rewards through the redeemed physical asset, etc.”
It is not easy to convey in just one article all the activity RC3 has been hatching. They definitely seem to have the right connections to expand into the industry of fashion, music and art. While this all sounds promising, we wanted to answer an important question any investor likes to know: how RC3 will reach exposure to their targeted markets, or how will users find RC3’s platform?
Ross explains:
“We will launch an advertising campaign for new creators who want to start minting NFTs without becoming Web3 experts. We also consider media outlets, both traditional and crypto-friendly. But most important remains the word-of-mouth, based on our initial supporters, creators, and collectors. We are also thinking of implementing a referral scheme for sellers. E.g.: If you help an artist make a sale, he can give you 5–10% if they want to use this service. But that is still in discussion.”
Ross continues:
“I am confident that once we launch and take some time to onboard the first one hundred creators, the activity will snowball. Each creator has their own fanbase, collectors, socials etc. Currently trying to fill a list with people we should be talking to for onboarding besides the ones we already have. Rarible is up for helping us advertise, although OpenSea seems to become less community-oriented over time, and most OGs have already ditched it for LooksRare.
We are also about to push for an entertainment platform as the pitch, with an emphasis on lifestyle around Web3, digital ownership, and interactivity between assets, experiences, and people, that is what we imagine our community to live under. Casually using hi-tech to communicate, party, buy and sell stuff, get rewards, chill in VR, etc.”
To wrap it all up, we were wondering if their platform has any DAO features.
Ross:
“It is too early to predict how DAO components will come to work together, considering the fast pace of the scene. What’s sure for RC3 is that we will complement the annual creators/collectors awards with a voting system, and we’re exploring the potential benefits of bearing a lightweight Web3 identity that can act as an access card/whitelist token for particular events, physical and virtual location accessibility, eligibility for airdrops, and more.
I believe it will take 3 to 5 years for RC3 to become a self-sustainable, self-curated, and self-sovereign organization, whether we call it DAO or not.”
Being involved as both investor and crypto community provider, as Defiants were stoked to work with startups who care, but above all bring Web3 use cases!
About Defiants
Defiants is a non-profit community accelerator and aggregator. Our team of experienced community managers has a large portfolio of unique skills that empower blockchain startups to live up to their full potential. We build reputations that align with the vision of the project, and resilient communities that will watch that vision come to life. Learn more at defiants.org.
