
[Guild.xyz](https://guild.xyz) creates token-gated access into online communities based on NFTs, NFT attributes, tokens, and more. Guild is a place for internet communities to come together and form guilds or groups to manage these private communities and start working together better. [Guild.xyz](http://Guild.xyz) is a project from [Agora](https://agora.xyz), which builds essential tools for internet communities.

Today we’re announcing Guild now has **native support** for Unlock Protocol membership NFTs!

![guild-screenshot](/images/blog/guildxyz-launch/guild-screenshot.png)

With Guild, you can control access and create membership layers for your Discord or Telegram community, with more platforms coming soon.

The Unlock integration with Guild is seamless, and you can set up token-gated roles for a community in minutes. (And the Guild UI is _ chef’s kiss _.)

![unlock-protocol-guildxyz.gif](/images/blog/guildxyz-launch/unlock-protocol-guildxyz.gif)

Want to hear more about Guild from Reka and Raz, core members of Guild team? Check out their full run-down on what we’re doing together on our recent Developer Meetup.

<div style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X5DKS48rDBE" title="Unlock Protocol and Guild.xyz Integration" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>


Unlock Protocol and Guild.xyz now seamlessly integrate, enabling the creation of token-gated Discord and Telegram communities in minutes.

Token-gate Discord and Telegram communities in minutes with Unlock Protocol and Guild.xyz

Token-gating Discord with Unlock Protocol and Guild.xyz!

<p><a href="https://guild.xyz">Guild.xyz</a> creates token-gated access into online communities based on NFTs, NFT attributes, tokens, and more. Guild is a place for internet communities to come together and form guilds or groups to manage these private communities and start working together better. <a href="http://Guild.xyz">Guild.xyz</a> is a project from <a href="https://agora.xyz">Agora</a>, which builds essential tools for internet communities.</p>
<p>Today we’re announcing Guild now has <strong>native support</strong> for Unlock Protocol membership NFTs!</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/guildxyz-launch/guild-screenshot.png" alt="guild-screenshot"></p>
<p>With Guild, you can control access and create membership layers for your Discord or Telegram community, with more platforms coming soon.</p>
<p>The Unlock integration with Guild is seamless, and you can set up token-gated roles for a community in minutes. (And the Guild UI is _ chef’s kiss _.)</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/guildxyz-launch/unlock-protocol-guildxyz.gif" alt="unlock-protocol-guildxyz.gif"></p>
<p>Want to hear more about Guild from Reka and Raz, core members of Guild team? Check out their full run-down on what we’re doing together on our recent Developer Meetup.</p>
<div style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X5DKS48rDBE" title="Unlock Protocol and Guild.xyz Integration" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>



![bring-your-own-nft.png](/images/blog/bring-your-own-nft/byonft-header.png)

One of the most common requests we’ve received over the past few months is “can I use an NFT from _project x_ with Unlock?” Now the answer is a resounding “yes!”

Prior to this release, Unlock locks for token gating content and other resources would only open for NFT access keys that were minted from that Unlock lock itself. Now, thanks to some amazing development magic from the Unlock Protocol dev team, creators can configure their Unlock locks to work with _any_ ERC-721, ERC-1155, or ERC-20. (We call this “Bring Your Own NFT.”)

- Want to have a section of your website where the content is only visible to holders of a **World of Women** NFT? You can do that.
- Want to give a special e-commerce discount to holders of **Boss Beauties**? You can do that as well.
- Want to set up a forum that’s only available to folks who have a **Zed’s Run** NFT? Done.
- Want to have special channel in your Discord server with snarky content that heckles folks who hold a **BAYC** NFT? We got you, fam. (I kid! I kid!)

Let’s take a deeper look.

### Implementation details for Bring Your Own NFT

The core of this implementation is handled by transferring the question _“does this person have an NFT from this contract?”_ from the Unlock lock itself to the contract that is associated with the NFT that is desired for access.

In order to do this, a small amount of configuration is required to configure what is known as a _hook_ contract that maps the contract for the lock to the contract for the NFT collection. Then, we need to instruct the lock to use that mapping instead of its internal mechanism for checking for the possession of an NFT key.

### How a creator can configure a Bring Your Own NFT token gate with Unlock

Here are the ingredients you’ll need in order to use an arbitrary ERC-721, ERC-1155, or ERC-20 with an Unlock lock. You’ll need:

- The contract address of the ERC-721, ERC-1155, or ERC-20 you’d like to use as the key
- A configured Unlock lock and its contract address
- The contract address of the hook contract that maps the Unlock lock to the NFT contract

**Note:** All three of the above contracts need to be on the **same** network (e.g. mainnet, Polygon, etc.) — this will not work if, say, the lock is on Polygon and the NFT you’d like to use as a key is on Ethereum mainnet.

End-to-end, creating the lock and mapping it to another ERC-721, ERC-1155, or ERC-20 should take about 5-10 minutes.

Here’s how to do it.

### Walkthrough of Bring Your Own NFT on Unlock

For this example, let’s say we wanted to use the [Unlock Protocol WordPress Plugin](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/unlock-protocol-wordpress-plugin) to restrict content on a WordPress page to holders of a Speakeasy ([SPKZ](https://spkz.io/)) NFT. To do this, we’re going to create a lock on Polygon, and we will then map that lock to the SPKZ contract using a hook.

First, let’s find the contract address for the SPKZ NFTs. A quick way to do this is to go onto an NFT marketplace like OpenSea, go to an individual NFT from the NFT collection you want to use for the key, and open up the details for that collection.

![spkz-contract-min.png](/images/blog/bring-your-own-nft/spkz-contract-min.png)

I see from the screenshot above that [this SPKZ NFT](https://opensea.io/assets/matic/0xaa9475f83f6fdb1416270447364f9bd70e41fb21/1410) is on Polygon, and the contract address is `0xaa9475f83f6fdb1416270447364f9bd70e41fb21`

Great. Now, I’ll go to my Unlock Creator Dashboard and [create a lock](https://unlock-protocol.com/guides/how-to-create-a-lock/) on Polygon.

![spkz-lock-min.png](/images/blog/bring-your-own-nft/spkz-lock-min.png)

> 💡 **Note:** Since this lock will be configured to look for the SPKZ NFT later in this blog post, the values of `Key Duration`, `Key Quantity`, and `Price` do not matter. They will be ignored and will not be used in this example.

The contract address for the Unlock lock is `0xf4e931a7FB3d461A005011d659a0F21a7FeA1826`.

Ok! Two out of the three ingredients I need for my recipe are set. Next, I need to find and configure the hook contract to map the Unlock lock to the SPKZ NFT contract. I look up the Polygon hook contract address in the [Unlock documentation on hook contracts](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/core-protocol/public-lock/hooks) and note the contract address for the Polygon hook contract for using an existing NFT is `0xf705b2dd649bbcb9418d08c1ff508a983f923516`. (**Note:** this address may change in the future. Always refer to the official documentation for the most current contract addresses for the hook contracts.)

I now have the three ingredients I need:

- Contract address for my Unlock lock: `0xf4e931a7FB3d461A005011d659a0F21a7FeA1826`
- Contract address for the NFT I want to use (SPKZ): `0xaa9475f83f6fdb1416270447364f9bd70e41fb21`
- Contract address for the hook contract: `0xf705b2dd649bbcb9418d08c1ff508a983f923516`

Now it’s time to wire things up.

### Wiring the contracts up to the hook

First, you’ll need to set up the mapping on the hook. The instructions below are from the Unlock documentation on [Using an Existing Contract](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/tutorials/using-an-existing-nft-contract/), and are repeated here for readability.

> 💡 Different hook contracts on different chains (e.g. mainnet) will have different URLs than this one. In the example we’re walking through here, the block explorer for the Polygon hook contract is at: [https://polygonscan.com/address/0xf705b2dd649bbcb9418d08c1ff508a983f923516](https://polygonscan.com/address/0xf705b2dd649bbcb9418d08c1ff508a983f923516).

The documentation tells us...

> _Using the block explorer for the mapping (hook) contract, click on the `Contract` and then the `Write Contract` buttons._

![write-contract.png](/images/blog/bring-your-own-nft/write-contract.png)

> _Now, connect your wallet by clicking on the `Connect to Web3` button in the block explorer. It is important that you do that from an address that is a Lock Manager on your lock (the account you used to deploy the lock is a lock manager).
> Then, in the `createMapping` form, enter the following values:_

- _`_lockAddress`: this is the address for your lock (you can get it from your Unlock Dashboard)_
- _`_nftAddress`: that is the address for your pre-existing NFT contract (ERC721)_

![hook-mapping.png](/images/blog/bring-your-own-nft/hook-mapping.png)

> _Then click on `Write`. You will be prompted to send a transaction by your wallet. Validate and wait for this to have been executed._

At this point, the hook has wired up the lock to the NFT that you want to use. Now, we need to tell the lock to use the hook contract, instead of its own keys, to unlock content.

First, go to your lock’s block explorer by clicking the icon in the dashboard.

![lock-block-explorer-min.png](/images/blog/bring-your-own-nft/lock-block-explorer-min.png)

Again, we refer to the documentation on [Using an Existing NFT](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/tutorials/using-an-existing-nft-contract/).

> _Once on **your lock's** block explorer page, follow the same steps as above by clicking on `Contract` and then `Write as Proxy`. Proceed to connect your wallet._

> _Then, look for the `SetEventHooks` function_

![hook-configuration.jpg](/images/blog/bring-your-own-nft/hook-configration.jpg)

> _Hooks are 3rd party contracts that can be called when your lock itself is called. Here we are interested in changing the behavior of the validKey function, so you will enter the address of the hook contract for your network (see list above!) in the `_onValidKeyHook` field. Make sure you add `0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000` in all the other fields to leave them unset.
> Click on `Write`, confirm the transaction in your wallet and you should be all set!_

And now, our sample lock is wired up, via the hook contract, to token gate access only to wallets that hold a SPKZ NFT.

### Wrapping up

At this point, we are ready to go! In the example shown here, if we were to use our lock at `0xf4e931a7FB3d461A005011d659a0F21a7FeA1826` on a WordPress website, a Discord server, or another location, the lock would check for the presence of a SPKZ key in the wallet of the site visitor and grant access to holders of a SPKZ token.

**Update May 2022:** Added support for ERC-1155 NFTs and ERC-20 tokens with Bring Your Own NFT


Using Unlock, creators now can token gate websites, Discord servers, and more using any ERC-721, ERC-1155, or ERC-20. We call this “Bring Your Own NFT” and it’s amazing.

Token gate anything using any ERC-721, ERC-1155, or ERC-20 with Unlock Protocol

Unlock Launches “Bring Your Own NFT” Token Gating

<p><img src="/images/blog/bring-your-own-nft/byonft-header.png" alt="bring-your-own-nft.png"></p>
<p>One of the most common requests we’ve received over the past few months is “can I use an NFT from <em>project x</em> with Unlock?” Now the answer is a resounding “yes!”</p>
<p>Prior to this release, Unlock locks for token gating content and other resources would only open for NFT access keys that were minted from that Unlock lock itself. Now, thanks to some amazing development magic from the Unlock Protocol dev team, creators can configure their Unlock locks to work with <em>any</em> ERC-721, ERC-1155, or ERC-20. (We call this “Bring Your Own NFT.”)</p>
<ul>
<li>Want to have a section of your website where the content is only visible to holders of a <strong>World of Women</strong> NFT? You can do that.</li>
<li>Want to give a special e-commerce discount to holders of <strong>Boss Beauties</strong>? You can do that as well.</li>
<li>Want to set up a forum that’s only available to folks who have a <strong>Zed’s Run</strong> NFT? Done.</li>
<li>Want to have special channel in your Discord server with snarky content that heckles folks who hold a <strong>BAYC</strong> NFT? We got you, fam. (I kid! I kid!)</li>
</ul>
<p>Let’s take a deeper look.</p>
<h3>Implementation details for Bring Your Own NFT</h3>
<p>The core of this implementation is handled by transferring the question <em>“does this person have an NFT from this contract?”</em> from the Unlock lock itself to the contract that is associated with the NFT that is desired for access.</p>
<p>In order to do this, a small amount of configuration is required to configure what is known as a <em>hook</em> contract that maps the contract for the lock to the contract for the NFT collection. Then, we need to instruct the lock to use that mapping instead of its internal mechanism for checking for the possession of an NFT key.</p>
<h3>How a creator can configure a Bring Your Own NFT token gate with Unlock</h3>
<p>Here are the ingredients you’ll need in order to use an arbitrary ERC-721, ERC-1155, or ERC-20 with an Unlock lock. You’ll need:</p>
<ul>
<li>The contract address of the ERC-721, ERC-1155, or ERC-20 you’d like to use as the key</li>
<li>A configured Unlock lock and its contract address</li>
<li>The contract address of the hook contract that maps the Unlock lock to the NFT contract</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> All three of the above contracts need to be on the <strong>same</strong> network (e.g. mainnet, Polygon, etc.) — this will not work if, say, the lock is on Polygon and the NFT you’d like to use as a key is on Ethereum mainnet.</p>
<p>End-to-end, creating the lock and mapping it to another ERC-721, ERC-1155, or ERC-20 should take about 5-10 minutes.</p>
<p>Here’s how to do it.</p>
<h3>Walkthrough of Bring Your Own NFT on Unlock</h3>
<p>For this example, let’s say we wanted to use the <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/unlock-protocol-wordpress-plugin">Unlock Protocol WordPress Plugin</a> to restrict content on a WordPress page to holders of a Speakeasy (<a href="https://spkz.io/">SPKZ</a>) NFT. To do this, we’re going to create a lock on Polygon, and we will then map that lock to the SPKZ contract using a hook.</p>
<p>First, let’s find the contract address for the SPKZ NFTs. A quick way to do this is to go onto an NFT marketplace like OpenSea, go to an individual NFT from the NFT collection you want to use for the key, and open up the details for that collection.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/bring-your-own-nft/spkz-contract-min.png" alt="spkz-contract-min.png"></p>
<p>I see from the screenshot above that <a href="https://opensea.io/assets/matic/0xaa9475f83f6fdb1416270447364f9bd70e41fb21/1410">this SPKZ NFT</a> is on Polygon, and the contract address is <code>0xaa9475f83f6fdb1416270447364f9bd70e41fb21</code></p>
<p>Great. Now, I’ll go to my Unlock Creator Dashboard and <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/guides/how-to-create-a-lock/">create a lock</a> on Polygon.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/bring-your-own-nft/spkz-lock-min.png" alt="spkz-lock-min.png"></p>
<blockquote>
<p>💡 <strong>Note:</strong> Since this lock will be configured to look for the SPKZ NFT later in this blog post, the values of <code>Key Duration</code>, <code>Key Quantity</code>, and <code>Price</code> do not matter. They will be ignored and will not be used in this example.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The contract address for the Unlock lock is <code>0xf4e931a7FB3d461A005011d659a0F21a7FeA1826</code>.</p>
<p>Ok! Two out of the three ingredients I need for my recipe are set. Next, I need to find and configure the hook contract to map the Unlock lock to the SPKZ NFT contract. I look up the Polygon hook contract address in the <a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/core-protocol/public-lock/hooks">Unlock documentation on hook contracts</a> and note the contract address for the Polygon hook contract for using an existing NFT is <code>0xf705b2dd649bbcb9418d08c1ff508a983f923516</code>. (<strong>Note:</strong> this address may change in the future. Always refer to the official documentation for the most current contract addresses for the hook contracts.)</p>
<p>I now have the three ingredients I need:</p>
<ul>
<li>Contract address for my Unlock lock: <code>0xf4e931a7FB3d461A005011d659a0F21a7FeA1826</code></li>
<li>Contract address for the NFT I want to use (SPKZ): <code>0xaa9475f83f6fdb1416270447364f9bd70e41fb21</code></li>
<li>Contract address for the hook contract: <code>0xf705b2dd649bbcb9418d08c1ff508a983f923516</code></li>
</ul>
<p>Now it’s time to wire things up.</p>
<h3>Wiring the contracts up to the hook</h3>
<p>First, you’ll need to set up the mapping on the hook. The instructions below are from the Unlock documentation on <a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/tutorials/using-an-existing-nft-contract/">Using an Existing Contract</a>, and are repeated here for readability.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>💡 Different hook contracts on different chains (e.g. mainnet) will have different URLs than this one. In the example we’re walking through here, the block explorer for the Polygon hook contract is at: <a href="https://polygonscan.com/address/0xf705b2dd649bbcb9418d08c1ff508a983f923516">https://polygonscan.com/address/0xf705b2dd649bbcb9418d08c1ff508a983f923516</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The documentation tells us...</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Using the block explorer for the mapping (hook) contract, click on the <code>Contract</code> and then the <code>Write Contract</code> buttons.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p><img src="/images/blog/bring-your-own-nft/write-contract.png" alt="write-contract.png"></p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Now, connect your wallet by clicking on the <code>Connect to Web3</code> button in the block explorer. It is important that you do that from an address that is a Lock Manager on your lock (the account you used to deploy the lock is a lock manager).
Then, in the <code>createMapping</code> form, enter the following values:</em></p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li><em><code>_lockAddress</code>: this is the address for your lock (you can get it from your Unlock Dashboard)</em></li>
<li><em><code>_nftAddress</code>: that is the address for your pre-existing NFT contract (ERC721)</em></li>
</ul>
<p><img src="/images/blog/bring-your-own-nft/hook-mapping.png" alt="hook-mapping.png"></p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Then click on <code>Write</code>. You will be prompted to send a transaction by your wallet. Validate and wait for this to have been executed.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>At this point, the hook has wired up the lock to the NFT that you want to use. Now, we need to tell the lock to use the hook contract, instead of its own keys, to unlock content.</p>
<p>First, go to your lock’s block explorer by clicking the icon in the dashboard.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/bring-your-own-nft/lock-block-explorer-min.png" alt="lock-block-explorer-min.png"></p>
<p>Again, we refer to the documentation on <a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/tutorials/using-an-existing-nft-contract/">Using an Existing NFT</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Once on <strong>your lock's</strong> block explorer page, follow the same steps as above by clicking on <code>Contract</code> and then <code>Write as Proxy</code>. Proceed to connect your wallet.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Then, look for the <code>SetEventHooks</code> function</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p><img src="/images/blog/bring-your-own-nft/hook-configration.jpg" alt="hook-configuration.jpg"></p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Hooks are 3rd party contracts that can be called when your lock itself is called. Here we are interested in changing the behavior of the validKey function, so you will enter the address of the hook contract for your network (see list above!) in the <code>_onValidKeyHook</code> field. Make sure you add <code>0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000</code> in all the other fields to leave them unset.
Click on <code>Write</code>, confirm the transaction in your wallet and you should be all set!</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>And now, our sample lock is wired up, via the hook contract, to token gate access only to wallets that hold a SPKZ NFT.</p>
<h3>Wrapping up</h3>
<p>At this point, we are ready to go! In the example shown here, if we were to use our lock at <code>0xf4e931a7FB3d461A005011d659a0F21a7FeA1826</code> on a WordPress website, a Discord server, or another location, the lock would check for the presence of a SPKZ key in the wallet of the site visitor and grant access to holders of a SPKZ token.</p>
<p><strong>Update May 2022:</strong> Added support for ERC-1155 NFTs and ERC-20 tokens with Bring Your Own NFT</p>



![feb-22-banner.png](/images/blog/feb-22-update/feb-22-banner.png)

Welcome to the February 2022 product updates from Unlock! The team delivered a number of new features this month that connect Unlock even more easily with standards and partners across the web3 ecosystem. This month's new capabilities include:

## Major updates to the Unlock checkout process

- **Bring Your Own NFT** — You can now [token gate anything using any ERC-721 NFT with Unlock Protocol](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/bring-your-own-nft).
- **Sign In With Ethereum** — Unlock’s front-end now provides a “[Sign In With Ethereum](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/tools/sign-in-with-ethereum)” endpoint that can be used by a third-party application to easily identify a user’s Ethereum address.

## Dashboard updates

- **Support for change of maximum number of keys on dashboard** — Creators can now change the maximum number of keys for their existing locks right from the dashboard.

## Dev tool updates

- **Unlock WebSub support** — The WebSub W3C standard enables publish/subscribe on any kind of HTTP resource. With [WebSub enabled for Unlock](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/websub), applications can subscribe to Unlock changes, be notified when new locks are deployed, and be notified when new keys are created.
- **Plugin hardhat for Unlock** — Powered by [Hardhat](https://www.hardhat.org), we now have [tools to deploy and configure our contracts, submit DAO proposals, upgrade contracts](https://github.com/unlock-protocol/unlock/tree/master/packages/hardhat-plugin), etc.

## Integrations

- **Refactored Cloudflare worker** — We made [improvements to Unlock's CloudFlare worker](https://github.com/unlock-protocol/cloudflare-worker).

Want to know what’s going on with Unlock in real time? [Jump into our Discord](https://discord.unlock-protocol.com/).


Unlock Protocol new features for February 2022, including Bring Your Own NFT, Sign In With Ethereum, and more.

Bring Your Own NFT, Sign In With Ethereum, and more

Unlock Protocol Product Updates for February 2022

<p><img src="/images/blog/feb-22-update/feb-22-banner.png" alt="feb-22-banner.png"></p>
<p>Welcome to the February 2022 product updates from Unlock! The team delivered a number of new features this month that connect Unlock even more easily with standards and partners across the web3 ecosystem. This month's new capabilities include:</p>
<h2>Major updates to the Unlock checkout process</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>Bring Your Own NFT</strong> — You can now <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/bring-your-own-nft">token gate anything using any ERC-721 NFT with Unlock Protocol</a>.</li>
<li><strong>Sign In With Ethereum</strong> — Unlock’s front-end now provides a “<a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/tools/sign-in-with-ethereum">Sign In With Ethereum</a>” endpoint that can be used by a third-party application to easily identify a user’s Ethereum address.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Dashboard updates</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>Support for change of maximum number of keys on dashboard</strong> — Creators can now change the maximum number of keys for their existing locks right from the dashboard.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Dev tool updates</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>Unlock WebSub support</strong> — The WebSub W3C standard enables publish/subscribe on any kind of HTTP resource. With <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/websub">WebSub enabled for Unlock</a>, applications can subscribe to Unlock changes, be notified when new locks are deployed, and be notified when new keys are created.</li>
<li><strong>Plugin hardhat for Unlock</strong> — Powered by <a href="https://www.hardhat.org">Hardhat</a>, we now have <a href="https://github.com/unlock-protocol/unlock/tree/master/packages/hardhat-plugin">tools to deploy and configure our contracts, submit DAO proposals, upgrade contracts</a>, etc.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Integrations</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>Refactored Cloudflare worker</strong> — We made <a href="https://github.com/unlock-protocol/cloudflare-worker">improvements to Unlock's CloudFlare worker</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>Want to know what’s going on with Unlock in real time? <a href="https://discord.unlock-protocol.com/">Jump into our Discord</a>.</p>



As developers integrate the Unlock Protocol in their applications, we are getting many feature requests to add APIs and tools that would make their lives easier.

![Websub](/images/blog/websub.png)

Today, we're excited to announce our [WebSub endpoints](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/unlock/developers/locksmith/webhooks)!

WebSub is a [W3C protocol](https://www.w3.org/TR/websub/) that provides a common mechanism for communication between publishers of any kind of Web content and their subscribers, based on HTTP **web hooks**.

This is a very powerful mechanism to enable Publish/Subscribe on any kind of HTTP resource! We added this as a way for applications to subscribe to changes in the Unlock: applications can get notified when new locks are deployed or when new keys are created.

Our team used this new API in order to [create a Discord bot](https://github.com/unlock-protocol/websub-discord) that notifies us when a new lock has been deployed or when a new key has been purchased.

We'd love to see how your application ends up using that new capabilities!


WebSub is a W3C protocol that provides a common mechanism for communication between publishers of any kind of Web content and their subscribers, based on HTTP web hooks.

Enabling subscriptions to new locks and new keys!

Websub

<p>As developers integrate the Unlock Protocol in their applications, we are getting many feature requests to add APIs and tools that would make their lives easier.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/websub.png" alt="Websub"></p>
<p>Today, we're excited to announce our <a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/unlock/developers/locksmith/webhooks">WebSub endpoints</a>!</p>
<p>WebSub is a <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/websub/">W3C protocol</a> that provides a common mechanism for communication between publishers of any kind of Web content and their subscribers, based on HTTP <strong>web hooks</strong>.</p>
<p>This is a very powerful mechanism to enable Publish/Subscribe on any kind of HTTP resource! We added this as a way for applications to subscribe to changes in the Unlock: applications can get notified when new locks are deployed or when new keys are created.</p>
<p>Our team used this new API in order to <a href="https://github.com/unlock-protocol/websub-discord">create a Discord bot</a> that notifies us when a new lock has been deployed or when a new key has been purchased.</p>
<p>We'd love to see how your application ends up using that new capabilities!</p>



![cstreet_unlockblog_1.jpg](/images/blog/ethdenver2022/cstreet_unlockblog_1.jpg)

Last week, over 10,000 web3 builders, artists, creators, and enthusiasts descended upon Denver for the ETHDenver conference, and some of the Unlock crew gathered IRL and met so many of our amazing community members. This was my first ETHDenver event and I was blown away at the energy of the Ethereum community and how many powerful conversations were in the collective discourse dedicated to **solving serious societal issues with technology**, preparing the innovation needed to power our human journey into a more peaceful and just experience and the soft skills of community building.

We kicked off our ETHDenver adventure by throwing a happy hour with our friends at [Mintgate](https://www.mintgate.io). As fate would have it, just as our event was starting, the skies opened up and a big old beautiful snowstorm smacked right into Denver. We were blown away at how many amazing community members braved the weather to join us for drinks and powerful conversations.

![cstreet_unlockblog_010.jpg](/images/blog/ethdenver2022/cstreet_unlockblog_010.jpg)

Every person I spoke with had **an intriguing project, either in motion or in their thought bubble, that involved membership NFTs and token gating.** Seeing and hearing all the possibilities with our protocol in the hands of our community members, and getting to finally meet so many of our locksmiths IRL was a lovely way to kick off the events of the week.

## Beyond Finance

![cstreet_unlockblog_5.jpg](/images/blog/ethdenver2022/cstreet_unlockblog_5.jpg)

Despite the snow and a never-ending stream of long lines, I was able to slip into the Schelling Point event at the very start of my first day at ETHDenver. While the venue itself was chaotic and the speakers were in the midst of that chaos, I was able to attend some talks that truly reinforced my belief in what’s possible with the technology that powers web3.

One talk that resonated was _Policy Proposals for Non Dystopian Crypto Protocols_ by [Nathan Schneider](https://twitter.com/ntnsndr) from the University of Colorado Boulder. Nathan spoke deeply, as deep as one can in 20 minutes, about governance and moving beyond blockchain as just a financial instrument. His slides placed some profound questions and premises into the community right from the start of Schelling Point.

> “Build finance around communities, not speculators”

> “Human Rights Fail-Safes — Like Human Rights Watch with cryptoeconomic teeth”

> “What policies would a decent world run on blockchains need?”

If you are at all interested in governance and the future of decentralized community building, please take a few minutes and [watch Nathan’s presentation.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROnYDEwnY04&list=PLvTrX8LNPbPlryx_S85pZPfH9yD7qcPsg&index=7)

<div style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ROnYDEwnY04" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

## Plurality

Another talk that drew me in was [Glen Weyl’s](https://twitter.com/glenweyl) presentation titled _Plurality_. He began by talking about **the notion of public freedom and moments where “the practices of a community have the chance to set a pattern for the whole way that social life works.”** He also placed some highly intellectual premises into the discourse on how we can begin to look at the different sectors of the ecosystem and avoid the mistakes made in past technological movements.

One slide that resonated explored “Ideologies of the Future: Corporate Libertarianism, Synthetic Technocracy & Digital Democracy.” He then spoke of the plurality of funding in relation to communities in the web3 ecosystem and he [published a deeper blog post](https://www.radicalxchange.org/media/blog/political-ideologies-for-the-21st-century/) about this very topic the day before his talk. Take a moment to watch his presentation because there are some profound theories and concepts we should explore as we build technology and web3 communities.

<div style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MsMsL5v2-Ls" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

## The Softer Side of Community

![cstreet_unlockblog_4.jpg](/images/blog/ethdenver2022/cstreet_unlockblog_4.jpg)

Community building was a prominent theme for many of the speakers and adapting traditional community-building methodology from web2 for a decentralized community structure like DAOs was a common narrative of ETHDenver. As a community builder, I’m obviously biased to the importance of this topic, and I was inspired to see the speakers talking about **the nuanced soft skills of holding space for community members and fostering positive environments so innovation and collaboration can occur.** I repeatedly heard speakers addressing the health of the community hinging on these often immeasurable, but necessary, soft skills.

The presentation titled _Coordinating Work in Web3 & Beyond_ by [Pooja Shah](https://twitter.com/pooja_eth) had a few particularly excellent slides. The points on the slide titled “Goals for Work Organization in Web3” were particularly interesting and if you watch her presentation, this entire section is worth taking notes and applying to your organization.

> “Massively scalable systems of human cooperation (unprecedented levels of scale)

> That can achieve directed outcomes.

> While preserving freedom, autonomy and self-direction effort.”

Her talk is relevant for managers and founders working with decentralized ecosystems, such as DAOs, and trying to build or adapt older systems of work organizational structures that will support the unique characteristics of the web3 community.

<div style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Web77iQLbfs" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

## Regenerative Culture

I was particularly impressed by a presentation from [Beth McCarthy](https://twitter.com/ontologymachine) called _Building Regenerative Culture_. I loved her talk so much I photographed almost every slide and spoke with her after the presentation. **She touched on the care work of community building and addressing cultural debt in a community.**

Here are my favorite points from her slides:

> “What is care work? It is administrative tasks; emotional labor; listening + holding space; anticipating, mediating + resolving conflict; creating the conditions for growth and connection; understanding your people, their needs, potential, fears and incentives”

> “Cultural Debt: Technical Debt for Human Systems. Cultural debt has wide-ranging ramifications that reverberate through teams and DAOs, and the products, systems, and ecosystems they create burnout, attrition, lack of diversity, poor relationships with the outside world, vulnerabilities, shoddily produced outputs.”

> “Care work is hard to measure or quantify — done right, it is invisible, subsumed or soon forgotten.”

> “Awakening our abundance of cultural surplus requires honoring cultural and care work, and embedding it in our systems, codes of conduct, interactions, mission statements & org charts.”

If you manage, build or have a protocol, project, or business powered by a community, **please take a moment and watch Beth’s presentation.**

<div style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ysaIeVbSDCo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

## Our Collective Narratives

What surprised me most about ETHDenver was the sheer number of speakers placing these same types of questions into our ecosystem’s collective conversations. **While the context varied, many speakers put forth visions that stretched beyond tokenomics and technicalities and touched the humanity on the other side of the technology.** And I was inspired to hear so many of the narratives presented on stage weaving their way through the individual conversations happening at coffeeshop, NFT art parties, community dinners, and while standing in lines. So many lines.

![cstreet_unlockblog_8.jpg](/images/blog/ethdenver2022/cstreet_unlockblog_8.jpg)

I believe these conversations are necessary to avoid repeating the mistakes of web2 as we build out the web3 infrastructure. **We have the opportunity, as both technologists and humans, to ensure that our technology is grounded in equality and justice.** And while I was already hopeful about the trajectory of this technology before my time in Denver, I now harbor even more hope and vision about what is possible because so many passionate and brilliant minds are addressing the issues of our time through such powerful and decentralized technologies.


Unlock recently attended ETHDenver to meet our community IRL, explore the next evolution of the web and place our fingers on the pulse of web3.

Technology created by the web3 community supports our collective human experience as we adapt our communities for a decentralized future

ETHDenver 2022 | Exploring the Evolution of web3

<p><img src="/images/blog/ethdenver2022/cstreet_unlockblog_1.jpg" alt="cstreet_unlockblog_1.jpg"></p>
<p>Last week, over 10,000 web3 builders, artists, creators, and enthusiasts descended upon Denver for the ETHDenver conference, and some of the Unlock crew gathered IRL and met so many of our amazing community members. This was my first ETHDenver event and I was blown away at the energy of the Ethereum community and how many powerful conversations were in the collective discourse dedicated to <strong>solving serious societal issues with technology</strong>, preparing the innovation needed to power our human journey into a more peaceful and just experience and the soft skills of community building.</p>
<p>We kicked off our ETHDenver adventure by throwing a happy hour with our friends at <a href="https://www.mintgate.io">Mintgate</a>. As fate would have it, just as our event was starting, the skies opened up and a big old beautiful snowstorm smacked right into Denver. We were blown away at how many amazing community members braved the weather to join us for drinks and powerful conversations.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/ethdenver2022/cstreet_unlockblog_010.jpg" alt="cstreet_unlockblog_010.jpg"></p>
<p>Every person I spoke with had <strong>an intriguing project, either in motion or in their thought bubble, that involved membership NFTs and token gating.</strong> Seeing and hearing all the possibilities with our protocol in the hands of our community members, and getting to finally meet so many of our locksmiths IRL was a lovely way to kick off the events of the week.</p>
<h2>Beyond Finance</h2>
<p><img src="/images/blog/ethdenver2022/cstreet_unlockblog_5.jpg" alt="cstreet_unlockblog_5.jpg"></p>
<p>Despite the snow and a never-ending stream of long lines, I was able to slip into the Schelling Point event at the very start of my first day at ETHDenver. While the venue itself was chaotic and the speakers were in the midst of that chaos, I was able to attend some talks that truly reinforced my belief in what’s possible with the technology that powers web3.</p>
<p>One talk that resonated was <em>Policy Proposals for Non Dystopian Crypto Protocols</em> by <a href="https://twitter.com/ntnsndr">Nathan Schneider</a> from the University of Colorado Boulder. Nathan spoke deeply, as deep as one can in 20 minutes, about governance and moving beyond blockchain as just a financial instrument. His slides placed some profound questions and premises into the community right from the start of Schelling Point.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Build finance around communities, not speculators”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>“Human Rights Fail-Safes — Like Human Rights Watch with cryptoeconomic teeth”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>“What policies would a decent world run on blockchains need?”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If you are at all interested in governance and the future of decentralized community building, please take a few minutes and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROnYDEwnY04&#x26;list=PLvTrX8LNPbPlryx_S85pZPfH9yD7qcPsg&#x26;index=7">watch Nathan’s presentation.</a></p>
<div style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ROnYDEwnY04" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<h2>Plurality</h2>
<p>Another talk that drew me in was <a href="https://twitter.com/glenweyl">Glen Weyl’s</a> presentation titled <em>Plurality</em>. He began by talking about <strong>the notion of public freedom and moments where “the practices of a community have the chance to set a pattern for the whole way that social life works.”</strong> He also placed some highly intellectual premises into the discourse on how we can begin to look at the different sectors of the ecosystem and avoid the mistakes made in past technological movements.</p>
<p>One slide that resonated explored “Ideologies of the Future: Corporate Libertarianism, Synthetic Technocracy &#x26; Digital Democracy.” He then spoke of the plurality of funding in relation to communities in the web3 ecosystem and he <a href="https://www.radicalxchange.org/media/blog/political-ideologies-for-the-21st-century/">published a deeper blog post</a> about this very topic the day before his talk. Take a moment to watch his presentation because there are some profound theories and concepts we should explore as we build technology and web3 communities.</p>
<div style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MsMsL5v2-Ls" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<h2>The Softer Side of Community</h2>
<p><img src="/images/blog/ethdenver2022/cstreet_unlockblog_4.jpg" alt="cstreet_unlockblog_4.jpg"></p>
<p>Community building was a prominent theme for many of the speakers and adapting traditional community-building methodology from web2 for a decentralized community structure like DAOs was a common narrative of ETHDenver. As a community builder, I’m obviously biased to the importance of this topic, and I was inspired to see the speakers talking about <strong>the nuanced soft skills of holding space for community members and fostering positive environments so innovation and collaboration can occur.</strong> I repeatedly heard speakers addressing the health of the community hinging on these often immeasurable, but necessary, soft skills.</p>
<p>The presentation titled <em>Coordinating Work in Web3 &#x26; Beyond</em> by <a href="https://twitter.com/pooja_eth">Pooja Shah</a> had a few particularly excellent slides. The points on the slide titled “Goals for Work Organization in Web3” were particularly interesting and if you watch her presentation, this entire section is worth taking notes and applying to your organization.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Massively scalable systems of human cooperation (unprecedented levels of scale)</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>That can achieve directed outcomes.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>While preserving freedom, autonomy and self-direction effort.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Her talk is relevant for managers and founders working with decentralized ecosystems, such as DAOs, and trying to build or adapt older systems of work organizational structures that will support the unique characteristics of the web3 community.</p>
<div style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Web77iQLbfs" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<h2>Regenerative Culture</h2>
<p>I was particularly impressed by a presentation from <a href="https://twitter.com/ontologymachine">Beth McCarthy</a> called <em>Building Regenerative Culture</em>. I loved her talk so much I photographed almost every slide and spoke with her after the presentation. <strong>She touched on the care work of community building and addressing cultural debt in a community.</strong></p>
<p>Here are my favorite points from her slides:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“What is care work? It is administrative tasks; emotional labor; listening + holding space; anticipating, mediating + resolving conflict; creating the conditions for growth and connection; understanding your people, their needs, potential, fears and incentives”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>“Cultural Debt: Technical Debt for Human Systems. Cultural debt has wide-ranging ramifications that reverberate through teams and DAOs, and the products, systems, and ecosystems they create burnout, attrition, lack of diversity, poor relationships with the outside world, vulnerabilities, shoddily produced outputs.”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>“Care work is hard to measure or quantify — done right, it is invisible, subsumed or soon forgotten.”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>“Awakening our abundance of cultural surplus requires honoring cultural and care work, and embedding it in our systems, codes of conduct, interactions, mission statements &#x26; org charts.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If you manage, build or have a protocol, project, or business powered by a community, <strong>please take a moment and watch Beth’s presentation.</strong></p>
<div style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ysaIeVbSDCo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<h2>Our Collective Narratives</h2>
<p>What surprised me most about ETHDenver was the sheer number of speakers placing these same types of questions into our ecosystem’s collective conversations. <strong>While the context varied, many speakers put forth visions that stretched beyond tokenomics and technicalities and touched the humanity on the other side of the technology.</strong> And I was inspired to hear so many of the narratives presented on stage weaving their way through the individual conversations happening at coffeeshop, NFT art parties, community dinners, and while standing in lines. So many lines.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/ethdenver2022/cstreet_unlockblog_8.jpg" alt="cstreet_unlockblog_8.jpg"></p>
<p>I believe these conversations are necessary to avoid repeating the mistakes of web2 as we build out the web3 infrastructure. <strong>We have the opportunity, as both technologists and humans, to ensure that our technology is grounded in equality and justice.</strong> And while I was already hopeful about the trajectory of this technology before my time in Denver, I now harbor even more hope and vision about what is possible because so many passionate and brilliant minds are addressing the issues of our time through such powerful and decentralized technologies.</p>



_As an open-source protocol, we take the tools we’ve built and place them in the hands of creators and developers and hope something beautiful emerges. In the late fall of 2021, Caroline aka [@littlefortunes](https://twitter.com/littlefortunes) joined our Discord with a brilliant idea, a ton of passion, and the determination to find solutions for the project she was building. She took her idea, integrated Unlock, and launched an initial rare NFT collection that sold out in 24 hours. An amazing accomplishment in itself, but what she’s created with her artistic brilliance and perseverance deserves a deeper examination._

![Tales of Elatora](/images/blog/talesofronin/tales-of-ronin-cover-min.jpeg)

## And so begins our story with the Tales of Elatora

Caroline began writing fantasy books at the age of 10. Over the course of several years, she wrote four books, ranging from 100 to 400 pages.

> As a kid, I really, really liked to write. That was my one and only passion. I wanted to become the next JK Rowling. And that's what I always told my parents. And then at some point, you start growing up and you let go of your childhood dreams.

As many artists enter adulthood, they place their artistic dreams on a shelf to enter the adult games of self-sufficiency in an economy that wasn’t built to celebrate and support art. Caroline followed this path and entered adulthood as an entrepreneur. Tapping into her artistic background, she created a successful graphic design firm. But as a true artist, she never released that desire to become a writer.

Enter web3 and the opportunity that NFTs provide for artists like Caroline. **Her vision is bigger than simply creating and selling art NFTs.**

Caroline wanted to create a community project where **participants could collectively write a fantasy novel using NFTs** and her main character, Ronin. Caroline used NFTs as an artistic expression **and** as tokens of community membership, brought this vision to life, and created an entire movement around her artwork.

## Bringing Tales of Elatora to Life

_[Tales of Elatora](https://www.talesofelatora.com/)_ was originally intended as a PFP project with her red panda character creation. While creating the various elements of the project, Caroline launched a daily NFT show where she talks about all things NFTs with her growing community. After just 12 days of running her show, Red Lion News contacted her and offered to sponsor her show. Seeing the potential that the NFT space was already providing, Caroline decided to lean into this new adventure with her show, building her project on the side while also running her graphic design agency.

As she was solidifying the main character's design, Caroline decided to explore crafting the _Tales of Elatora_ story through community. She created the framework of the story itself, the characters, and the initial chapters, and then began selling NFTs with membership tiers that enable collectors to participate in the story creation. Caroline didn’t simply “sell NFTs.” She built a community filled with collaborating storytellers.

_Tales of Elatora_ uses Unlock Protocol to create specialized membership tiers that enable collectors to participate in various aspects of the story creation process. The community itself gathers on Discord, where a token-gated Discord bot gives members access to various parts of the story-building process based on the type of NFT in their wallet.

> We're thinking of different sorts of quests that people can go on **with** their NFT. - @littlefortunes

Community members can vote on the different aspects of the story, such as battles or quests, that are relevant to their participation in the creation process. She even mentions that she hopes the community forms relationships while crafting the story together that reach beyond web3 and into real life.

## Empowering Artists and Creators

One of the most inspiring aspects of the web3 space, and NFTs in particular, is the fact that creators can now resurrect passions and artistic endeavors that were placed on hold when "putting food on the table" outweighed the drive to create art.

And for many creators and artists, the ever-present mantra from parents or society is that "art doesn't pay the bills." We are all painfully aware of the "starving artist narrative" and at some point, most artists and creators internalized this message. NFTs and web3 have shattered this narrative for many creators and created a new realm of possibility. This scenario couldn't be more true for Caroline and we’re so honored that the protocol helped her tap into so much possibility.

Seeing Caroline leverage Unlock to create a beautiful montage of art, storytelling, and community collaboration shows us just how profound specialized web3 tools are when placed in the right hands. Caroline had an amazing idea and began seeking the tools to breathe life into her vision. She came to our Discord, asked some deep questions of our community and our team, and with no prior smart contract experience, she was able to build the technical framework to manifest her artistic vision.

**Our mission at Unlock is to empower more artists and creators to build unique implementations of the protocol** that ultimately help them alter the paths of their lives, their communities, and all of our collective experiences on the web.


In the hands of a visionary artist, Unlock Protocol helped @littlefortunes create a stunning work of art that is also living, breathing fantasy story written in collaboration with the Tales of Elatora NFT collectors.

One artist’s childhood dream comes to life through NFTs as both memberships and art

A Community Unlocks the Tales of Elatora

<p><em>As an open-source protocol, we take the tools we’ve built and place them in the hands of creators and developers and hope something beautiful emerges. In the late fall of 2021, Caroline aka <a href="https://twitter.com/littlefortunes">@littlefortunes</a> joined our Discord with a brilliant idea, a ton of passion, and the determination to find solutions for the project she was building. She took her idea, integrated Unlock, and launched an initial rare NFT collection that sold out in 24 hours. An amazing accomplishment in itself, but what she’s created with her artistic brilliance and perseverance deserves a deeper examination.</em></p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/talesofronin/tales-of-ronin-cover-min.jpeg" alt="Tales of Elatora"></p>
<h2>And so begins our story with the Tales of Elatora</h2>
<p>Caroline began writing fantasy books at the age of 10. Over the course of several years, she wrote four books, ranging from 100 to 400 pages.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As a kid, I really, really liked to write. That was my one and only passion. I wanted to become the next JK Rowling. And that's what I always told my parents. And then at some point, you start growing up and you let go of your childhood dreams.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As many artists enter adulthood, they place their artistic dreams on a shelf to enter the adult games of self-sufficiency in an economy that wasn’t built to celebrate and support art. Caroline followed this path and entered adulthood as an entrepreneur. Tapping into her artistic background, she created a successful graphic design firm. But as a true artist, she never released that desire to become a writer.</p>
<p>Enter web3 and the opportunity that NFTs provide for artists like Caroline. <strong>Her vision is bigger than simply creating and selling art NFTs.</strong></p>
<p>Caroline wanted to create a community project where <strong>participants could collectively write a fantasy novel using NFTs</strong> and her main character, Ronin. Caroline used NFTs as an artistic expression <strong>and</strong> as tokens of community membership, brought this vision to life, and created an entire movement around her artwork.</p>
<h2>Bringing Tales of Elatora to Life</h2>
<p><em><a href="https://www.talesofelatora.com/">Tales of Elatora</a></em> was originally intended as a PFP project with her red panda character creation. While creating the various elements of the project, Caroline launched a daily NFT show where she talks about all things NFTs with her growing community. After just 12 days of running her show, Red Lion News contacted her and offered to sponsor her show. Seeing the potential that the NFT space was already providing, Caroline decided to lean into this new adventure with her show, building her project on the side while also running her graphic design agency.</p>
<p>As she was solidifying the main character's design, Caroline decided to explore crafting the <em>Tales of Elatora</em> story through community. She created the framework of the story itself, the characters, and the initial chapters, and then began selling NFTs with membership tiers that enable collectors to participate in the story creation. Caroline didn’t simply “sell NFTs.” She built a community filled with collaborating storytellers.</p>
<p><em>Tales of Elatora</em> uses Unlock Protocol to create specialized membership tiers that enable collectors to participate in various aspects of the story creation process. The community itself gathers on Discord, where a token-gated Discord bot gives members access to various parts of the story-building process based on the type of NFT in their wallet.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We're thinking of different sorts of quests that people can go on <strong>with</strong> their NFT. - @littlefortunes</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Community members can vote on the different aspects of the story, such as battles or quests, that are relevant to their participation in the creation process. She even mentions that she hopes the community forms relationships while crafting the story together that reach beyond web3 and into real life.</p>
<h2>Empowering Artists and Creators</h2>
<p>One of the most inspiring aspects of the web3 space, and NFTs in particular, is the fact that creators can now resurrect passions and artistic endeavors that were placed on hold when "putting food on the table" outweighed the drive to create art.</p>
<p>And for many creators and artists, the ever-present mantra from parents or society is that "art doesn't pay the bills." We are all painfully aware of the "starving artist narrative" and at some point, most artists and creators internalized this message. NFTs and web3 have shattered this narrative for many creators and created a new realm of possibility. This scenario couldn't be more true for Caroline and we’re so honored that the protocol helped her tap into so much possibility.</p>
<p>Seeing Caroline leverage Unlock to create a beautiful montage of art, storytelling, and community collaboration shows us just how profound specialized web3 tools are when placed in the right hands. Caroline had an amazing idea and began seeking the tools to breathe life into her vision. She came to our Discord, asked some deep questions of our community and our team, and with no prior smart contract experience, she was able to build the technical framework to manifest her artistic vision.</p>
<p><strong>Our mission at Unlock is to empower more artists and creators to build unique implementations of the protocol</strong> that ultimately help them alter the paths of their lives, their communities, and all of our collective experiences on the web.</p>



We believe **everyone's online identity should not be tied to a platform**. Users must be able to authenticate using an identity that they fully own and control.

There are two ways to think about physical wallets: as an object that stores bills and coins but also as an object where identity cards, driving licenses and membership cards live. In the web3 space, we focus too much on the wallet as _cash holder_ and not enough on the wallet as _identity holder_, even though, in pratice, the private keys that power them are what enables the cash transfers through transaction signing.

Until now, it was often quite complicated for applications (both web and native) to prompt the user for their wallet address, in order to identify them. As there exists many types of wallets (browser extensions, mobile applications, or even fully "hosted" web apps), it means that asking the user to connect their wallet requires the implementation of multiple API and approaches. Dealing with "injected" objects in the DOM is not trivial and limited to web applications...

Today, we're announcing our own implementation of the [Sign-In With Ethereum](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/unlock/developers/sign-in-with-ethereum) ([EIP4361](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4361)) specification!

![sign-in-ethereum](/images/blog/sign-in-ethereum/sign-in-ethereum.gif)

This is the flow that we implemented in our WordPress plugin and that's already used on websites like [Bakery](https://bakery.fyi/), [The Zedge](https://thezedge.com/all-breeds/) and many others!

We also wanted this flow to be similar to the frequent **OAuth** & **OpenId Connect** flows, so that other applications who only need to _know_ of the user's address do not have to worry about handling web3 providers, will still being able to identity users. For this, we make it trivial for applications to build "authentication" URLs with a **redirect scheme** that allows even native application to easily identify the user's address.

Once the user has signed the message, they are optionally redirected back to the application and the redirect URL includes an additional `code` query string that can be decoded and parsed in order to retrieve all the user's info.

Our implementation also includes handling for users who do not have their own crypto wallet installed already, through our [Unlock accounts](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/unlock/creators/unlock-accounts), which means that it's an easy way to let all users authenticate against your application!

Authentication is one of the core steps for any application that wants to [token-gate](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/unlock/developers/building-token-gated-applications) content or features. Unlock's implementation of Sign in with Ethereum works all across web3, and works for:

- Web applications
- Native applications
- All types of wallets
- Through [WalletConnect](https://walletconnect.com/)
- And even for users without a wallet

Unlock makes it trivial for all apps to monetize with their own membership!


Sign-In with Ethereum is a new form of authentication that enables users to control their digital identity through their crypto-wallets.

The easiest way to let your users connect to your applications!

Sign-In with Ethereum

<p>We believe <strong>everyone's online identity should not be tied to a platform</strong>. Users must be able to authenticate using an identity that they fully own and control.</p>
<p>There are two ways to think about physical wallets: as an object that stores bills and coins but also as an object where identity cards, driving licenses and membership cards live. In the web3 space, we focus too much on the wallet as <em>cash holder</em> and not enough on the wallet as <em>identity holder</em>, even though, in pratice, the private keys that power them are what enables the cash transfers through transaction signing.</p>
<p>Until now, it was often quite complicated for applications (both web and native) to prompt the user for their wallet address, in order to identify them. As there exists many types of wallets (browser extensions, mobile applications, or even fully "hosted" web apps), it means that asking the user to connect their wallet requires the implementation of multiple API and approaches. Dealing with "injected" objects in the DOM is not trivial and limited to web applications...</p>
<p>Today, we're announcing our own implementation of the <a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/unlock/developers/sign-in-with-ethereum">Sign-In With Ethereum</a> (<a href="https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4361">EIP4361</a>) specification!</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/sign-in-ethereum/sign-in-ethereum.gif" alt="sign-in-ethereum"></p>
<p>This is the flow that we implemented in our WordPress plugin and that's already used on websites like <a href="https://bakery.fyi/">Bakery</a>, <a href="https://thezedge.com/all-breeds/">The Zedge</a> and many others!</p>
<p>We also wanted this flow to be similar to the frequent <strong>OAuth</strong> &#x26; <strong>OpenId Connect</strong> flows, so that other applications who only need to <em>know</em> of the user's address do not have to worry about handling web3 providers, will still being able to identity users. For this, we make it trivial for applications to build "authentication" URLs with a <strong>redirect scheme</strong> that allows even native application to easily identify the user's address.</p>
<p>Once the user has signed the message, they are optionally redirected back to the application and the redirect URL includes an additional <code>code</code> query string that can be decoded and parsed in order to retrieve all the user's info.</p>
<p>Our implementation also includes handling for users who do not have their own crypto wallet installed already, through our <a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/unlock/creators/unlock-accounts">Unlock accounts</a>, which means that it's an easy way to let all users authenticate against your application!</p>
<p>Authentication is one of the core steps for any application that wants to <a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/unlock/developers/building-token-gated-applications">token-gate</a> content or features. Unlock's implementation of Sign in with Ethereum works all across web3, and works for:</p>
<ul>
<li>Web applications</li>
<li>Native applications</li>
<li>All types of wallets</li>
<li>Through <a href="https://walletconnect.com/">WalletConnect</a></li>
<li>And even for users without a wallet</li>
</ul>
<p>Unlock makes it trivial for all apps to monetize with their own membership!</p>



![Novum](/images/blog/novum-ogimage.png)

Seeing the innovation from the teams integrating Unlock Protocol never ceases to amaze us. What brings us even more joy, if that’s even possible, is to see a team build an amazing integration and then keep making that integration even more stunning. Such is the case with Novum Insights.

Novums Insights, a 2021 grantee for [their Firebase integration](https://github.com/novum-insights/unlock-protocol-firebase/issues), recently announced the completion of a full stack SvelteKit and Unlock Protocol integration! The short version — devs can now build a full stack application from scratch which accepts payments in crypto, allows NFT-based subscriptions, and more. And, now you can use NFTs as proof of subscription!

As they note in their blog post announcing this upgrade;

> The Novum team will be actively maintaining the library and consistently optimizing the user experience. We’ll continue to refine our robust software tool to create something that both the **Unlock** and **Svelte** communities can benefit from. Imagine automated, silent, friction-less, authentication for any website, board or club completely aligned to your subscription or membership level. Perhaps even generating a related QR code on your mobile for access on the move?

Yes, Novum Insights, we can imagine all of that goodness and we’re so excited to see the amazing technology you’ve built! Be sure to [head over to their blog](https://novuminsights.com/post/f0cff3e7-6f0a-4b99-bcef-a5a0b423e10d/) to see how it works and [check out their Github](https://github.com/novum-insights/sveltekit-unlock-firebase) as well!

### Developer Resources

[Novum Insights Announcement](https://novuminsights.com/post/f0cff3e7-6f0a-4b99-bcef-a5a0b423e10d/) (with wallet screenshots of the sign in process)

[Unlock-Protocol + Sveltekit Github from Novum](https://github.com/novum-insights/sveltekit-unlock-firebase)

[Unlock Protocol & Firebase Integration from Novum’s Github](https://github.com/novum-insights/unlock-protocol-firebase)

[Unlock + Firebase Integration blog post with code](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/firebase-integration)


A full stack option to create an NFT-based sign-in experience for your community.

A full stack option to create an NFT-based sign-in experience for your community

Novum Insights Adds an NFT-Based Authentication Experience

<p><img src="/images/blog/novum-ogimage.png" alt="Novum"></p>
<p>Seeing the innovation from the teams integrating Unlock Protocol never ceases to amaze us. What brings us even more joy, if that’s even possible, is to see a team build an amazing integration and then keep making that integration even more stunning. Such is the case with Novum Insights.</p>
<p>Novums Insights, a 2021 grantee for <a href="https://github.com/novum-insights/unlock-protocol-firebase/issues">their Firebase integration</a>, recently announced the completion of a full stack SvelteKit and Unlock Protocol integration! The short version — devs can now build a full stack application from scratch which accepts payments in crypto, allows NFT-based subscriptions, and more. And, now you can use NFTs as proof of subscription!</p>
<p>As they note in their blog post announcing this upgrade;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Novum team will be actively maintaining the library and consistently optimizing the user experience. We’ll continue to refine our robust software tool to create something that both the <strong>Unlock</strong> and <strong>Svelte</strong> communities can benefit from. Imagine automated, silent, friction-less, authentication for any website, board or club completely aligned to your subscription or membership level. Perhaps even generating a related QR code on your mobile for access on the move?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes, Novum Insights, we can imagine all of that goodness and we’re so excited to see the amazing technology you’ve built! Be sure to <a href="https://novuminsights.com/post/f0cff3e7-6f0a-4b99-bcef-a5a0b423e10d/">head over to their blog</a> to see how it works and <a href="https://github.com/novum-insights/sveltekit-unlock-firebase">check out their Github</a> as well!</p>
<h3>Developer Resources</h3>
<p><a href="https://novuminsights.com/post/f0cff3e7-6f0a-4b99-bcef-a5a0b423e10d/">Novum Insights Announcement</a> (with wallet screenshots of the sign in process)</p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/novum-insights/sveltekit-unlock-firebase">Unlock-Protocol + Sveltekit Github from Novum</a></p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/novum-insights/unlock-protocol-firebase">Unlock Protocol &#x26; Firebase Integration from Novum’s Github</a></p>
<p><a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/firebase-integration">Unlock + Firebase Integration blog post with code</a></p>



The Unlock Protocol team has been on a 🚀 ride of BUIDLing as we blast into 2022! First, there is a major new release of the underlying Unlock smart contract — the engine that powers Unlock — as well as a whole smorgasbord of new capabilities that add power and flexibility to the protocol.

Members of the Unlock team — heck, the whole Unlock community — are constantly finding new ways for creators and developers to benefit from building their membership-based projects, solutions and businesses using the open-source Unlock Protocol. Here’s what’s new in January 2022.

## You can now upgrade Unlock smart contracts

When you deploy a lock with Unlock, a new instance of the PublicLock contract (ERC-721) is created with the parameters you defined (name, token, etc). In Solidity, several patterns exist to deploy a contract from another contract. The previous version of Unlock was using a Minimal Proxy (EIP-1167). Instead of deploying the entire contract for each new lock created, a small proxy is deployed just to hold the data and forward calls to a main instance that deals with all the incoming data. That would potentially save a significant amount of gas when deploying a new lock instance.

However, the minimal proxy approach did not allow for upgrades. We wanted all locks to benefit from the latest features available, so we implemented a mechanism to deploy a full proxy from a contract and allow users to upgrade their locks when new features were released.

[Here is a deep dive behind what this means for implementers of Unlock](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/upgradeable-patterns).

## New capabilities for Creators

- [**Airdrop NFT keys directly from the Unlock dashboard**](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/airdrop-nft-memberships) — A lock owner can grant keys directly from the dashboard to their members
- **Non expiring memberships** — Memberships can be set to never expire
- **Increase the number of keys on a lock** — A lock manager can increase the number of keys on a lock even after it was created
- **Offer gas refund from locks** — A lock manager can allocate a “gas refund” to be paid to the person submitting a purchase transaction

## New tools for Developers

- **onValidKey Hook** — Ability to delegate the check about whether an address owns at least 1 valid membership to a 3rd party contract — this can check to see if a key purchaser has, for example, a particular ERC-721 NFT or a particular ERC-20 in their wallet
- **OnTokenUri hook** — A hook to let a lock owner customize the metadata on the NFT that’s fully on chain
- **Key manager on purchase** — When purchase transaction is called, a key manager can be set that could be different from the beneficiary of the membership
- **Try/catch on Unlock** — Locks could technically be “cut out” of Unlock and still work
- **Sign In With Ethereum**: Unlock’s front-end now provides a “Sign In With Ethereum” endpoint that can be used by a 3rd party application to easily identify a user’s Ethereum address

Ok, you’ll be glad you read down this far. This is kind of like the after-credits scene in the MCU movies. But — instead of Nick Fury, you get a look at some of the kick-ass stuff that members of the Unlock community have launched over the past couple of weeks. Check it:

[Croissant](http://twitter.com/croissanteth) has launched BakeryDAO with a thundering Twitter thread...

[![Croissant](https://unlock-protocol.com/images/blog/jan-22-update/1-min.png)](https://twitter.com/CroissantEth/status/1486387648457580546?s=20)

[ETHAnglia](http://twitter.com/ethanglia) is bringing web3 to the East of England...

[![ETHAnglia](https://unlock-protocol.com/images/blog/jan-22-update/2-min.png)](https://twitter.com/ETHAnglia/status/1484517935796400128?s=20)

[WPOptimizers](http://twitter.com/YoRaulGonzalez) 🇪🇸 has created a membership site for optimizing WordPress, the open-source content management system that powers 43% of the web...

[![WPOptimizers](https://unlock-protocol.com/images/blog/jan-22-update/3-min.png)](https://twitter.com/YoRaulGonzalez/status/1483756404947181571?s=20)

[The Willow Tree](http://twitter.com/twtdao) has launched their membership for bridging web3 and rave culture (and their site design is off the charts)...

[![TWT](https://unlock-protocol.com/images/blog/jan-22-update/4-min.png)](https://twitter.com/twtdao/status/1485996222003433477?s=20)

[CDAA](http://twitter.com/plannerdao) is one of the first projects we have seen using utility NFTs as the basis for industry certification and on-chain credentials for digital asset advisors...amazing...

[![CDAA](https://unlock-protocol.com/images/blog/jan-22-update/5-min.png)](https://twitter.com/PlannerDAO/status/1480991827209641988?s=20)

Want to know what’s going on with Unlock in real time? [Jump into our Discord](https://discord.unlock-protocol.com/). #protip


Unlock's January 2022 release adds upgradable contracts, NFT airdrop support, and over a dozen other new capabilities for creators and developers.

Upgradable contracts, new capabilities for creators and developers

Unlock Protocol Product Updates for January 2022

<p>The Unlock Protocol team has been on a 🚀 ride of BUIDLing as we blast into 2022! First, there is a major new release of the underlying Unlock smart contract — the engine that powers Unlock — as well as a whole smorgasbord of new capabilities that add power and flexibility to the protocol.</p>
<p>Members of the Unlock team — heck, the whole Unlock community — are constantly finding new ways for creators and developers to benefit from building their membership-based projects, solutions and businesses using the open-source Unlock Protocol. Here’s what’s new in January 2022.</p>
<h2>You can now upgrade Unlock smart contracts</h2>
<p>When you deploy a lock with Unlock, a new instance of the PublicLock contract (ERC-721) is created with the parameters you defined (name, token, etc). In Solidity, several patterns exist to deploy a contract from another contract. The previous version of Unlock was using a Minimal Proxy (EIP-1167). Instead of deploying the entire contract for each new lock created, a small proxy is deployed just to hold the data and forward calls to a main instance that deals with all the incoming data. That would potentially save a significant amount of gas when deploying a new lock instance.</p>
<p>However, the minimal proxy approach did not allow for upgrades. We wanted all locks to benefit from the latest features available, so we implemented a mechanism to deploy a full proxy from a contract and allow users to upgrade their locks when new features were released.</p>
<p><a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/upgradeable-patterns">Here is a deep dive behind what this means for implementers of Unlock</a>.</p>
<h2>New capabilities for Creators</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/airdrop-nft-memberships"><strong>Airdrop NFT keys directly from the Unlock dashboard</strong></a> — A lock owner can grant keys directly from the dashboard to their members</li>
<li><strong>Non expiring memberships</strong> — Memberships can be set to never expire</li>
<li><strong>Increase the number of keys on a lock</strong> — A lock manager can increase the number of keys on a lock even after it was created</li>
<li><strong>Offer gas refund from locks</strong> — A lock manager can allocate a “gas refund” to be paid to the person submitting a purchase transaction</li>
</ul>
<h2>New tools for Developers</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>onValidKey Hook</strong> — Ability to delegate the check about whether an address owns at least 1 valid membership to a 3rd party contract — this can check to see if a key purchaser has, for example, a particular ERC-721 NFT or a particular ERC-20 in their wallet</li>
<li><strong>OnTokenUri hook</strong> — A hook to let a lock owner customize the metadata on the NFT that’s fully on chain</li>
<li><strong>Key manager on purchase</strong> — When purchase transaction is called, a key manager can be set that could be different from the beneficiary of the membership</li>
<li><strong>Try/catch on Unlock</strong> — Locks could technically be “cut out” of Unlock and still work</li>
<li><strong>Sign In With Ethereum</strong>: Unlock’s front-end now provides a “Sign In With Ethereum” endpoint that can be used by a 3rd party application to easily identify a user’s Ethereum address</li>
</ul>
<p>Ok, you’ll be glad you read down this far. This is kind of like the after-credits scene in the MCU movies. But — instead of Nick Fury, you get a look at some of the kick-ass stuff that members of the Unlock community have launched over the past couple of weeks. Check it:</p>
<p><a href="http://twitter.com/croissanteth">Croissant</a> has launched BakeryDAO with a thundering Twitter thread...</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/CroissantEth/status/1486387648457580546?s=20"><img src="https://unlock-protocol.com/images/blog/jan-22-update/1-min.png" alt="Croissant"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://twitter.com/ethanglia">ETHAnglia</a> is bringing web3 to the East of England...</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/ETHAnglia/status/1484517935796400128?s=20"><img src="https://unlock-protocol.com/images/blog/jan-22-update/2-min.png" alt="ETHAnglia"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://twitter.com/YoRaulGonzalez">WPOptimizers</a> 🇪🇸 has created a membership site for optimizing WordPress, the open-source content management system that powers 43% of the web...</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/YoRaulGonzalez/status/1483756404947181571?s=20"><img src="https://unlock-protocol.com/images/blog/jan-22-update/3-min.png" alt="WPOptimizers"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://twitter.com/twtdao">The Willow Tree</a> has launched their membership for bridging web3 and rave culture (and their site design is off the charts)...</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/twtdao/status/1485996222003433477?s=20"><img src="https://unlock-protocol.com/images/blog/jan-22-update/4-min.png" alt="TWT"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://twitter.com/plannerdao">CDAA</a> is one of the first projects we have seen using utility NFTs as the basis for industry certification and on-chain credentials for digital asset advisors...amazing...</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/PlannerDAO/status/1480991827209641988?s=20"><img src="https://unlock-protocol.com/images/blog/jan-22-update/5-min.png" alt="CDAA"></a></p>
<p>Want to know what’s going on with Unlock in real time? <a href="https://discord.unlock-protocol.com/">Jump into our Discord</a>. #protip</p>



Whenever we get the call to step into the ETHGlobal Hackathons, our team gets almost giddy at the possibilities. Of course, we have our visions for deploying Unlock in ALL the places, but we love to see the innovation and creativity that flows from the hackers participating in these events. Such collaborations from a decentralized viewpoint really do show what’s possible with this ground-breaking technology.

As a sponsor for the NFTHack 2022, we were able to participate in the judging of these projects and saw all the big visions of these innovators, and were truly inspired. Below are the winners and top projects that deployed the protocol to power their creations. Be sure to visit their showcase pages, linked in each description, and see how the project was made. Many of the projects also have links to their Github so you can get a deeper look at the tech behind their work.

## First Prize Winner— NFTpay

NFTpay allows you to create blockchain-hosted invoices that are hosted for free using IPFS and can be fulfilled with crypto or credit card payments. Receipts are auto-hosted as NFTs with no chance of losing an attachment or document showing the time and receipt of purchase. Receipt and time of purchase are forever retained on the Ethereum blockchain.

The team used Unlock to create an Ethereum-based paywall where a user chooses an Ethereum wallet as the checkout method of choice. [Visit this link if you’d like to learn more](https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/nftpay) about the project and see the team’s amazing demo!

[![NFTPay thumbnail](/images/blog/nfthack-jan22/nftpay-min.png)](https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/nftpay)

## Second Prize Winner— NFTResy

NFTResy is a ticketing dapp that allows customers to select and reserve seats for restaurants, concerts, gatherings, and even Metaverse events. The end goal of the NFTResy team is to simply make ticketing easier by using NFTs powered by Unlock. We love that goal!

Since the tickets are built as NFTs, they can also be re-sold on platforms like OpenSea and exchanged for some other ticket NFTs. This is very common in fine-dining experiences, as you can exchange one reservation for a reservation at another restaurant that is equally as rare to get. The team created a demo that showcases this restaurant ticketing experience.

NFTResy aims to develop in 2 different ways: real-life, and Metaverse. [Please visit this link to see the demo](https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/nftresy) and learn more about the ultimate vision of the team.

[![NFTResy thumbnail](/images/blog/nfthack-jan22/nftresy-min.png)](https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/nftresy)

## Joint Prize Winner (with [Livepeer](https://livepeer.com/))— Got It

Got It is an NFT-based ecosystem to help broadcasters better engage with their audiences. Got It is a censorship-resistant video live streaming service with membership-only access options powered by Livepeer, IPFS, and Unlock.

Be sure to [head over to the Got It team’s showcase page](https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/got-it) to watch their demo and to better understand and support their big vision for reshaping sectors of the media industry!

[![Got It thumbnail](/images/blog/nfthack-jan22/gotit-min.png)](https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/got-it)

## **LetterLoops Unlocked!**

LetterLoops is a quiz game that uses dialectic graph networks to re-imagine human vocabulary in a different way. LetterLoops has a thriving community of players and a separate instance where users can pay to get access to the game and that revenue is paid back to users based on performance.

[Be sure to check out their project page](https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/letterloops-unlocked-) and notice how they used Unlock and Swordy Bot to power their game access.

## Graffiti Mint

A dapp to digitize and mint street art from IRL graffiti events. Graffiti Mint helps to digitize, mint, and monetize graffiti events. It integrates ERC1155 NFTs for 4-tier season passes for event supporters and ERC721 contracts to mint street art made in graffiti events at city parks as NFTs.

[Head over to their showcase page](https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/graffiti-mint) and take a few minutes to see this creative project in action!

## Exclusive EveNFT

Dapp created for events like wedding websites where guests can mint party gifts after the event on Polygon. Exclusive EveNFT is working to create a decentralized event website that could serve as membership and allow the host to send gifts to participants after the event.

Learn more about the project and [their big vision at this link.](https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/exclusive-evenft)

## Member Only Event

Member Only Event is a dapp that allows group members to access online events and join discussions. The team aims to build a decentralized application that can interact with a membership NFT contract, and implement members' only access to exclusive content and events.

Learn more about the project’s ultimate vision and [see their demo at this link.](https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/member-only-event)

## Real Meta Key

Real Meta Key enables users to support public goods and crypto brands through stream payments and get NFT as rewards. The special NFT can be used to collect additional rewards such as activation codes and is powered by Unlock.

The project details, including how it was built, [can be found on their showcase page.](https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/real-meta-key)

## TrueNFT

TrueNFT is a marketplace to mint NFTs with AI-enabled counterfeit NFT detection capability across networks and membership functionalities. Considering the high degree of duplicate and unauthentic NFTs generated in this space, TrueNFT is integrated with the "AI-enabled counterfeit NFT detection" API from NFTPort which utilizes the Google deep learning capabilities to ensure duplicate NFTs are checked during minting.

[Head over to their showcase page](https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/truenft) to see how the project was built and watch the demo.

## Excited for all the 2022 Hackathons!

Hackathons are one of our favorite ways to support the web3 community building the next generation of internet technology but also a chance to see the diversity and creativity of what’s possible with Unlock.

We say a giant THANK YOU to all of the winners and every single team that deployed Unlock to bring their vision to life. Please don’t forget that we offer grants for selected projects for Unlock integrations and our grant committee meets monthly, [so get your application in today!](https://share.hsforms.com/1gAdLgNOESNCWJ9bJxCUAMwbvg22?__hstc=157293157.511609ec6aad35f0d2471241abee4698.1639357465325.1642374234181.1642435770388.31&__hssc=157293157.1.1642435770388&__hsfp=3380286660)

We’re so grateful to ETHGlobal for your continued support of the web3 space and for allowing us to participate in these amazing hackathons! We look forward to seeing these projects evolve and for all the amazing hackathons for 2022!


ETHGlobal’s latest hackathon, NFTHack 2022, brought forward some fabulous opportunities for teams to deploy Unlock Protocol — and win prizes!

Hacking NFTs using Unlock at the latest ETHGlobal Hackathon

NFTHack 2022 Teams Tap Into Unlock

<p>Whenever we get the call to step into the ETHGlobal Hackathons, our team gets almost giddy at the possibilities. Of course, we have our visions for deploying Unlock in ALL the places, but we love to see the innovation and creativity that flows from the hackers participating in these events. Such collaborations from a decentralized viewpoint really do show what’s possible with this ground-breaking technology.</p>
<p>As a sponsor for the NFTHack 2022, we were able to participate in the judging of these projects and saw all the big visions of these innovators, and were truly inspired. Below are the winners and top projects that deployed the protocol to power their creations. Be sure to visit their showcase pages, linked in each description, and see how the project was made. Many of the projects also have links to their Github so you can get a deeper look at the tech behind their work.</p>
<h2>First Prize Winner— NFTpay</h2>
<p>NFTpay allows you to create blockchain-hosted invoices that are hosted for free using IPFS and can be fulfilled with crypto or credit card payments. Receipts are auto-hosted as NFTs with no chance of losing an attachment or document showing the time and receipt of purchase. Receipt and time of purchase are forever retained on the Ethereum blockchain.</p>
<p>The team used Unlock to create an Ethereum-based paywall where a user chooses an Ethereum wallet as the checkout method of choice. <a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/nftpay">Visit this link if you’d like to learn more</a> about the project and see the team’s amazing demo!</p>
<p><a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/nftpay"><img src="/images/blog/nfthack-jan22/nftpay-min.png" alt="NFTPay thumbnail"></a></p>
<h2>Second Prize Winner— NFTResy</h2>
<p>NFTResy is a ticketing dapp that allows customers to select and reserve seats for restaurants, concerts, gatherings, and even Metaverse events. The end goal of the NFTResy team is to simply make ticketing easier by using NFTs powered by Unlock. We love that goal!</p>
<p>Since the tickets are built as NFTs, they can also be re-sold on platforms like OpenSea and exchanged for some other ticket NFTs. This is very common in fine-dining experiences, as you can exchange one reservation for a reservation at another restaurant that is equally as rare to get. The team created a demo that showcases this restaurant ticketing experience.</p>
<p>NFTResy aims to develop in 2 different ways: real-life, and Metaverse. <a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/nftresy">Please visit this link to see the demo</a> and learn more about the ultimate vision of the team.</p>
<p><a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/nftresy"><img src="/images/blog/nfthack-jan22/nftresy-min.png" alt="NFTResy thumbnail"></a></p>
<h2>Joint Prize Winner (with <a href="https://livepeer.com/">Livepeer</a>)— Got It</h2>
<p>Got It is an NFT-based ecosystem to help broadcasters better engage with their audiences. Got It is a censorship-resistant video live streaming service with membership-only access options powered by Livepeer, IPFS, and Unlock.</p>
<p>Be sure to <a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/got-it">head over to the Got It team’s showcase page</a> to watch their demo and to better understand and support their big vision for reshaping sectors of the media industry!</p>
<p><a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/got-it"><img src="/images/blog/nfthack-jan22/gotit-min.png" alt="Got It thumbnail"></a></p>
<h2><strong>LetterLoops Unlocked!</strong></h2>
<p>LetterLoops is a quiz game that uses dialectic graph networks to re-imagine human vocabulary in a different way. LetterLoops has a thriving community of players and a separate instance where users can pay to get access to the game and that revenue is paid back to users based on performance.</p>
<p><a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/letterloops-unlocked-">Be sure to check out their project page</a> and notice how they used Unlock and Swordy Bot to power their game access.</p>
<h2>Graffiti Mint</h2>
<p>A dapp to digitize and mint street art from IRL graffiti events. Graffiti Mint helps to digitize, mint, and monetize graffiti events. It integrates ERC1155 NFTs for 4-tier season passes for event supporters and ERC721 contracts to mint street art made in graffiti events at city parks as NFTs.</p>
<p><a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/graffiti-mint">Head over to their showcase page</a> and take a few minutes to see this creative project in action!</p>
<h2>Exclusive EveNFT</h2>
<p>Dapp created for events like wedding websites where guests can mint party gifts after the event on Polygon. Exclusive EveNFT is working to create a decentralized event website that could serve as membership and allow the host to send gifts to participants after the event.</p>
<p>Learn more about the project and <a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/exclusive-evenft">their big vision at this link.</a></p>
<h2>Member Only Event</h2>
<p>Member Only Event is a dapp that allows group members to access online events and join discussions. The team aims to build a decentralized application that can interact with a membership NFT contract, and implement members' only access to exclusive content and events.</p>
<p>Learn more about the project’s ultimate vision and <a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/member-only-event">see their demo at this link.</a></p>
<h2>Real Meta Key</h2>
<p>Real Meta Key enables users to support public goods and crypto brands through stream payments and get NFT as rewards. The special NFT can be used to collect additional rewards such as activation codes and is powered by Unlock.</p>
<p>The project details, including how it was built, <a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/real-meta-key">can be found on their showcase page.</a></p>
<h2>TrueNFT</h2>
<p>TrueNFT is a marketplace to mint NFTs with AI-enabled counterfeit NFT detection capability across networks and membership functionalities. Considering the high degree of duplicate and unauthentic NFTs generated in this space, TrueNFT is integrated with the "AI-enabled counterfeit NFT detection" API from NFTPort which utilizes the Google deep learning capabilities to ensure duplicate NFTs are checked during minting.</p>
<p><a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.com/nfthack2022/truenft">Head over to their showcase page</a> to see how the project was built and watch the demo.</p>
<h2>Excited for all the 2022 Hackathons!</h2>
<p>Hackathons are one of our favorite ways to support the web3 community building the next generation of internet technology but also a chance to see the diversity and creativity of what’s possible with Unlock.</p>
<p>We say a giant THANK YOU to all of the winners and every single team that deployed Unlock to bring their vision to life. Please don’t forget that we offer grants for selected projects for Unlock integrations and our grant committee meets monthly, <a href="https://share.hsforms.com/1gAdLgNOESNCWJ9bJxCUAMwbvg22?__hstc=157293157.511609ec6aad35f0d2471241abee4698.1639357465325.1642374234181.1642435770388.31&#x26;__hssc=157293157.1.1642435770388&#x26;__hsfp=3380286660">so get your application in today!</a></p>
<p>We’re so grateful to ETHGlobal for your continued support of the web3 space and for allowing us to participate in these amazing hackathons! We look forward to seeing these projects evolve and for all the amazing hackathons for 2022!</p>
