Digital art project brings minting and farming together

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are gaining popularity as verifiably original digital assets stored on the blockchain. In some cases, these pieces of digital art have come with a pretty hefty price tag, rewarding investors who were willing to hold them for a long time. While most are held, some NFTs are burned with the intent to increase the scarcity of other assets in the collection. The result is that many NFTs are not being actively traded and instead are held idly in a wallet as an investor waits for the platform to increase in value. An action comparable to individuals holding coins in their personal piggyback. For these reasons, liquidity has often been a significant challenge for NFTs, which are already struggling to deal with an underdeveloped ecosystem. 

As a result, the question to industry experts and cryptocurrency enthusiasts has become, how can we improve NFT liquidity?

Since NFTs are tokenized assets, like tokens, that can be invested in a value-creating cryptocurrency project or, in theory, an asset that can generate a regular income stream. This concept, more commonly known as NFT farming, requires NFTs or other tokenized assets to be transferred to a “staking platform,” where governance could be assigned to the asset to determine the tokenomics and reward issued.

The reward is typically based on the asset’s capacity to develop regular income, such as royalties. Again, we can make the comparison to interest-bearing savings accounts that store fiat money, rewarding bank account holders with payments added to their account balance.

Not only does this system provide investors with the potential for more significant rewards, but in the case of NFTs, it greatly expedites the development of the digital asset ecosystem. 

One platform aimed to further reduce the technological barriers to entry for minting for artists, simplify transactions and help connect new audiences to digital art is Umi Digital. The decentralized art project leverages the Ethereum (ETH), Polkadot (DOT) and Sora (XOR) blockchains to allow users to also take advantage of NFT farming. In the words of the team, the platform is described as a “cross-chain decentralized finance and nonfungible token farming project.” 

Where NFTs meet farming 

Umi Digital has continued to offer different NFTs from artists in an effort to grow their existing marketplace and brand. Among the most notable features is the ability to stake Umi NFTs and other cryptocurrency assets for rewards. Each NFT has its own yield generating powers that can help boost the awards earned when staked with other cryptocurrency assets. The platform’s latest drop includes digital chimps, created by a highly-skilled Japanese artist.

Looking closer at the collection itself, only 20 of each of the 20 chimps in the collection will be minted, making a total of 400 NFTs being made available to the public. Along with the collectible chimp will be a gift of UMI Millions through Airdrop to the first purchaser. The addition of this gift will allow owners to stake UMI in their DApp with their NFTs. Chimp NFTs are said to be turbocharged to provide a greater annual percentage yield (APY). The team behind Umi Digital also believes the collection’s release will act as a catalyst and driving force behind the platform. Avid collectors who can unlock the complete set of Digital Chimps will also be eligible to unlock additional features.

Currently, both the liquidity and NFT farms are available on testnet, with a Mainnet launch planned for the near future.

The path to becoming chain agnostic

To continue supporting new artists, Umi Digital strives to become chain agnostic, providing a DApp and services across multiple chains, including Polkadot, Matic, Binance Smart Chain and Sora. According to their official roadmap, these initiatives will be completed along with the release of UMI and NFT staking, an NFT minter and marketplace on the Ethereum Mainnet, followed by the launch of a DApp on Sora.