For a product that began as a fad, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have continued to gain momentum. Today there's virtually no facet of our lives that they haven't touched. Their popularity grows by the day as leading brands and new players look to integrate them into their businesses.
NFTs owe their popularity to their convenient and interactive nature. They not only ease the exchange of physical products but also encourage interaction. Further, they've eased the process of authenticating physical things.
The toy industry appreciates the importance of this asset class. The growing investment in this space shows just that. A case in point is the ongoing collaboration between the Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX) and three premier toy manufacturers.
These collaborations have seen Mattel, Hasbro and Funko develop and issue collectibles through the WAX NFT Marketplace. The three companies are leveraging the platform's proprietary vIRL technology to gain a foothold in the budding collectibles sector.
WAX's product manager, Lee Jenkins, shares their excitement, "vIRL NFTs are the future of commerce, and WAX is starting to see adoption on a massive scale for this exciting new technology."
So, what's in the deal?
The eco-friendly blockchain is supporting the three toymakers in developing their NFTs, as the companies are at different stages of issuing their collectibles at the moment.
Mattel, for instance, launched their Hot Wheels Garage NFTs on Nov. 16 out of Jay Leno's garage.
The collection features 97,200 NFTs that come in four variations. At the lower range are the Base NFTs. Then follows the Rare type. Finally, the top tier includes Premium and Treasure Hunt NFTs.
Holders of Premium and Treasure Hunt NFTs can exchange their vIRL for an actual diecast collectible.
Hasbro also issued a limited edition NFT collection in October. The event went live on its Hasbro Pulse site.
Fans could buy collectible packs with more than four thousand unique digital assets, and Holders were invited to redeem them for actual figures. Again, the collection featured figures from Hasbro's Power Ranger Franchise.
Funko has also held multiple Big Boy NFT sales. The first offer sold out fast after more than 50 thousand people lined up to snap it up.
Several reasons make WAX an attractive platform for launching digital collectibles, according to the team.
First of all, it's scalable. WAX is a one-stop shop for everything NFTs — besides marketplaces, it supports decentralized applications (DApps), games and exchanges. Secondly, it handles large transaction volumes daily – up to 15 million transactions a day.
The exchange has a straightforward cloud wallet that streamlines transactions. On top of that, it has a passionate and responsive team. The team is at hand to offer any support required.
Since WAX doesn't charge gas fees, there are guaranteed affordable exchanges. And to top it up, it's carbon neutral.
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