
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>



Creators can easily deploy their membership contracts (called Locks) using the Unlock dashboard. Each Lock has different membership terms: membership price, number of members, duration of the membership (yes, the NFT does expire!)... etc.

Memberships can then be purchased directly by the fans. This happens by calling the `purchase` function on the Lock contract. In practice, this function can actually be called with another recipient's address, in order for them to receive the NFT (instead of the buyer).

However, in a lot of cases, creators may want to "give away" or **airdrop NFT memberships** for free to some of their users. Here are examples of why this is useful:

- This is how our [credit card](/blog/credit-card-nft) flow works: the NFT is paid "off chain" via a credit card transaction, and _granted_ on chain (technically, no on-chain payment happens).
- Someone might want to give a "limited time" trial. For example, my [personal blog](https://ouvre-boite.com) has a membership of its own, where NFTs expire after 1 year, but where anyone who [follows me on Twitter](https://twitter.com/julien51) [can claim a 30 minute](https://claim-ouvre-boite-membership.herokuapp.com/) trial!
- Finally, some communities and memberships cannot be purchased, but only be granted. That is the case for the [PlannerDAO certifications](https://twitter.com/PlannerDAO/status/1479097169747529735).

# How to airdrop NFT memberships

## Using the Dashboard

We have created a comprehensive guide to [airdropping NFTs](https://unlock-protocol.com/guides/how-to-airdrop-memberships/) using Unlock Protocol using the Dashboard.

[![Airdrop](/images/blog/airdrop-nft-memberships/airdrop-guide-image.png)](https://unlock-protocol.com/guides/how-to-airdrop-memberships/)

## Using code

Of course, granting keys is possible through code! The `grantKeys` function on the lock can be called by any _lock manager_ or _key granter_ ([read more about the roles](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/core-protocol/Public%20Lock/access-control)). In order to reduce risks, we recommend using a dedicated `key granter` in your application so that if that account (or contract) was compromised, the attacker could "only" grant new keys (which could be cancelled by a lock manager too...).

Then, on your code you would call the `grantKeys` function](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/core-protocol/smart-contracts-api/IPublicLockV10#grantkeys). This function can in fact be called to grant multiple keys to multiple users at once. There is a practical limit based on the block-size of each chain. You would call this function with 3 arrays of the same size:

1. the recipients
2. the expiration timestamps
3. the key managers

---

Airdropping memberships is a very important part of the Unlock protocol because it enables not only multiples types of memberships, but also new ways of rewarding or incentivizing community members!

**Updated:** 9 January 2023


Creators have multiple options to airdrop memberships to their fans so they can become members and receive the NFT in their wallets

How to easily grant access to token-gated communities

Airdrop for NFT Memberships

<p>Creators can easily deploy their membership contracts (called Locks) using the Unlock dashboard. Each Lock has different membership terms: membership price, number of members, duration of the membership (yes, the NFT does expire!)... etc.</p>
<p>Memberships can then be purchased directly by the fans. This happens by calling the <code>purchase</code> function on the Lock contract. In practice, this function can actually be called with another recipient's address, in order for them to receive the NFT (instead of the buyer).</p>
<p>However, in a lot of cases, creators may want to "give away" or <strong>airdrop NFT memberships</strong> for free to some of their users. Here are examples of why this is useful:</p>
<ul>
<li>This is how our <a href="/blog/credit-card-nft">credit card</a> flow works: the NFT is paid "off chain" via a credit card transaction, and <em>granted</em> on chain (technically, no on-chain payment happens).</li>
<li>Someone might want to give a "limited time" trial. For example, my <a href="https://ouvre-boite.com">personal blog</a> has a membership of its own, where NFTs expire after 1 year, but where anyone who <a href="https://twitter.com/julien51">follows me on Twitter</a> <a href="https://claim-ouvre-boite-membership.herokuapp.com/">can claim a 30 minute</a> trial!</li>
<li>Finally, some communities and memberships cannot be purchased, but only be granted. That is the case for the <a href="https://twitter.com/PlannerDAO/status/1479097169747529735">PlannerDAO certifications</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h1>How to airdrop NFT memberships</h1>
<h2>Using the Dashboard</h2>
<p>We have created a comprehensive guide to <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/guides/how-to-airdrop-memberships/">airdropping NFTs</a> using Unlock Protocol using the Dashboard.</p>
<p><a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/guides/how-to-airdrop-memberships/"><img src="/images/blog/airdrop-nft-memberships/airdrop-guide-image.png" alt="Airdrop"></a></p>
<h2>Using code</h2>
<p>Of course, granting keys is possible through code! The <code>grantKeys</code> function on the lock can be called by any <em>lock manager</em> or <em>key granter</em> (<a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/core-protocol/Public%20Lock/access-control">read more about the roles</a>). In order to reduce risks, we recommend using a dedicated <code>key granter</code> in your application so that if that account (or contract) was compromised, the attacker could "only" grant new keys (which could be cancelled by a lock manager too...).</p>
<p>Then, on your code you would call the <code>grantKeys</code> function](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/core-protocol/smart-contracts-api/IPublicLockV10#grantkeys). This function can in fact be called to grant multiple keys to multiple users at once. There is a practical limit based on the block-size of each chain. You would call this function with 3 arrays of the same size:</p>
<ol>
<li>the recipients</li>
<li>the expiration timestamps</li>
<li>the key managers</li>
</ol>
<hr>
<p>Airdropping memberships is a very important part of the Unlock protocol because it enables not only multiples types of memberships, but also new ways of rewarding or incentivizing community members!</p>
<p><strong>Updated:</strong> 9 January 2023</p>



Looking back at everything that happened this year, 2021 will be remembered as the year Unlock Protocol really started to take off. This is a testament to our growing community, and if you’re reading this, it means you are part of it. Thank you!

Back in the global uncertainty of January 2021, it was difficult to predict exactly where we might land come December, or that everything would happen according to plan over the course of the year.

That said, key parts of our vision were clear. We wanted to continue on our mission to...

- Build an open protocol that is decentralized and permissionless
- Give the power back to creators, letting them design experiences to engage their members, on their own terms.

The fundamental item on our roadmap was also clear: we wanted to make Unlock Protocol more accessible to wider communities.

Here’s what happened in 2021.

**Winter-Spring 2021: Deliver improvements to help avoid high gas fees**

Back in March, we wrote [“Over the last few months, it became clear that purchasing memberships would often not be economically viable with gas fees costing up to $10 per transaction.”](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/xdai) Well, these were the good old times, right?

While gas fees have gone through the roof ever since, we wanted to lead the way when it comes to offering alternatives to our community.

So we started exploring “layer 2” options starting with xDAI support, which we released in March.

Our path did not stop there; we now support 5 networks: in addition to the Ethereum mainnet, we currently support xDAI, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, and the layer 2 roll-up Optimism.

![five network logos](/images/blog/unlock-2021-review/5-network-logos.png)

And to make these network options easily available to both developers and end users early on, we released a [multichain paywall](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/multichain-support). It allows developers to choose which networks they want to make available while letting end users pick the one to use for payment. This is a way for the paywall application to connect to several locks at once, on different chains.

**Spring 2021: Provide more places for our community to come together**

Our next step was to set the building blocks of our community. We wanted to offer more places for developers, creators, and Unlock fans to connect and discuss their use of the protocol and their ideas to make it better.

We naturally opened the [Unlock Protocol Discord server](https://discord.unlock-protocol.com/). It’s now a gathering place for over 1,650 members (have you joined us yet?).

Joining our Discord is a special experience, as one gets to “unlock” the server to access the different channels. How? By grabbing a free NFT-membership through the Unlock checkout! And we’re proud to say that it was built by one of our community members: Patrick Gallagher. The bot powering this experience — [Swordy Bot](https://swordybot.com/) — allows any community to design membership experiences and token gate their Discord server.

![swordy bot](/images/blog/unlock-2021-review/swordybot.png)

In addition to the Discord server, we opened up [unlock.community](http://unlock.community) — our Discourse forum. This was built by another community member: Camille Besse. Similar to our Discord experience, members can “unlock” access to specific categories in the forum by getting a free membership using their crypto wallet. Want to add a lock to your Discourse forum? Read [Camille’s tutorial](https://unlock.community/t/unlock-discourse-plugin/64).

One of the most exciting capabilities of the Unlock Protocol is that community membership natively works cross-platform. By using the same lock across our Discord server and our Discourse forum, new Unlock members get access to both.

Unlock can power memberships that your community can use across all your platforms, everywhere on the web.

**Summer: Credit card support and a funding announcement**

While the Unlock checkout allows users to authenticate and purchase NFT memberships using their crypto wallet, we didn’t want people who don’t use crypto to be left out.

In July, we released credit card support, powered by Stripe, through which community members can [buy NFT memberships with their credit card](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/credit-card-nft). This means developers and creators can extend NFT memberships to users who don’t yet have a crypto wallet.

![credit card](/images/blog/unlock-2021-review/creditcard.png)

July was also when the EthCC Paris conference finally took place, after being postponed in 2020. [Did you know participants who purchased their EthCC ticket with a crypto wallet used Unlock](https://twitter.com/ethcc/status/1233397647794483200)? Other conferences like [Liscon](https://liscon.org/!) also use Unlock to sell NFT tickets and manage attendees, with endless capabilities to design various levels of membership experiences (via crypto or fiat, thanks to our credit card support).

Last but not least, we ended summer announcing a $4 million investment round from Betaworks, Cygni Labs, GMG Ventures (parent company of The Guardian), and Metacartel Ventures China, along with participation from early investors

**Fall: Airdrop, governance, and retroactive funding**

This fall was transformative for Unlock. Like any other protocol, we believe the protocol should belong to its community of users and adopters.

With this in mind, [we launched the Unlock DAO](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/unlock-dao) to give control and power to the developers, creators and users of Unlock Protocol. Anyone who has used Unlock Protocol, even only once, can earn governance tokens, as well as contribute and vote on proposals in order to collectively govern the protocol and its treasury.

In December, we went one step further with a **retro-active airdrop** to reward our earliest adopters. Anyone who has contributed to Unlock before September 1st 2021 is eligible to receive some UDT (if you haven't claimed your tokens yet, there is still time — head to [https://airdrop.unlock-protocol.com/](https://airdrop.unlock-protocol.com/?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_aOsk5hRt7WI_GcRLSN-EpFLhEfoVNux99uCbPl8hF5Mo7zPEyE0F6fzNaJIdKmHSBgtFM)).

But more importantly, in order to claim their tokens, we're inviting airdrop recipients to delegate them to the address of their choice. Why? Our goal is to make sure that all new tokens claimed are accounted for when it comes to governance, while ensuring active participation in the Unlock DAO.

In December, we also released an all-new update to our [Unlock Protocol WordPress plugin](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/unlock-protocol-wordpress-plugin), bringing web3 to the 43% of the web that uses WordPress.

![wordpress](/images/blog/unlock-2021-review/wordpress.jpeg)

Last but not least, to reward the most active implementers and community members of Unlock, we have launched our first monthly retroactive funding campaign in December 2021.

We wanted the process to be decentralized and open. Here is how it works: Unlock is allocating 100 UDT each month to the community, and we’re letting the community nominate individuals they feel had the biggest impact on the protocol in the previous month, and therefore vote for who should get a share of the 100 UDT.

In our first retroactive campaign, [the community chose to reward 7 of its members](https://unlock.community/t/retroactive-funding-november-2021/199/11) via quadratic voting on Snapshot.

**Throughout the year: What makes us the most excited? The 35+ Grantees building with Unlock**

Aside from all the milestones described above, one of our most exciting projects of 2021 was certainly the launch of the [Unlock Token Grant Program](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/token-grant-program)!

The goal of the program is to enable developers and creators to make Unlock more accessible to wider communities. Grantees are selected every month by a decentralized Grant Committee composed of Unlock advisors, investors and past grantees. Grantees are awarded UDT tokens after their project is launched and shared publicly.

To date, five cohorts of Grantees have already been selected, making it a total of 37 Grantees building with Unlock! A small sample of the projects includes:

- A [Decentraland integration](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/decentraland) that allows anyone to create unique in-world NFT memberships.
- A [Firebase integration](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/firebase-integration) that brings the power of Unlock to developers building Google apps.
- [An embed of the Unlock checkout in Mintgate](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/mintgate) (the low code token gated content platform) which allows creators to easily gate access to videos and other content while their fans can simply purchase access in crypto or fiat.

![decentraland](/images/blog/unlock-2021-review/decentraland.png)

We’re amazed at seeing our community of Grantees create game-changing use cases for Unlock, creating documentation or helping extend the reach of the protocol. [Want to see what Grantees are building? Head over to the Unlock Showcase](https://www.unlockshowcase.com/). Created by Cohort 1 Grantee Kalidou Diagne, the showcase features a gallery of all projects built using Unlock Protocol.

We’re always on the lookout for new Grant applications. Want to join our token grant Program? [You can submit your project here](https://share.hsforms.com/1gAdLgNOESNCWJ9bJxCUAMwbvg22).

**2022: We’re so glad we’re on this journey with you**

2022 is around the corner and we want to open it up to you.

Where should we go next? What can we improve? How can we help you?

Write to us at hello@unlock-protocol.com and let’s get in touch.


2021 was a transformative year for Unlock Protocol with a new community DAO, support across multiple networks, $4M in new funding, and more.

A new DAO, new network support, new funding, and more

Unlock Protocol Year in Review 2021

<p>Looking back at everything that happened this year, 2021 will be remembered as the year Unlock Protocol really started to take off. This is a testament to our growing community, and if you’re reading this, it means you are part of it. Thank you!</p>
<p>Back in the global uncertainty of January 2021, it was difficult to predict exactly where we might land come December, or that everything would happen according to plan over the course of the year.</p>
<p>That said, key parts of our vision were clear. We wanted to continue on our mission to...</p>
<ul>
<li>Build an open protocol that is decentralized and permissionless</li>
<li>Give the power back to creators, letting them design experiences to engage their members, on their own terms.</li>
</ul>
<p>The fundamental item on our roadmap was also clear: we wanted to make Unlock Protocol more accessible to wider communities.</p>
<p>Here’s what happened in 2021.</p>
<p><strong>Winter-Spring 2021: Deliver improvements to help avoid high gas fees</strong></p>
<p>Back in March, we wrote <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/xdai">“Over the last few months, it became clear that purchasing memberships would often not be economically viable with gas fees costing up to $10 per transaction.”</a> Well, these were the good old times, right?</p>
<p>While gas fees have gone through the roof ever since, we wanted to lead the way when it comes to offering alternatives to our community.</p>
<p>So we started exploring “layer 2” options starting with xDAI support, which we released in March.</p>
<p>Our path did not stop there; we now support 5 networks: in addition to the Ethereum mainnet, we currently support xDAI, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, and the layer 2 roll-up Optimism.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/unlock-2021-review/5-network-logos.png" alt="five network logos"></p>
<p>And to make these network options easily available to both developers and end users early on, we released a <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/multichain-support">multichain paywall</a>. It allows developers to choose which networks they want to make available while letting end users pick the one to use for payment. This is a way for the paywall application to connect to several locks at once, on different chains.</p>
<p><strong>Spring 2021: Provide more places for our community to come together</strong></p>
<p>Our next step was to set the building blocks of our community. We wanted to offer more places for developers, creators, and Unlock fans to connect and discuss their use of the protocol and their ideas to make it better.</p>
<p>We naturally opened the <a href="https://discord.unlock-protocol.com/">Unlock Protocol Discord server</a>. It’s now a gathering place for over 1,650 members (have you joined us yet?).</p>
<p>Joining our Discord is a special experience, as one gets to “unlock” the server to access the different channels. How? By grabbing a free NFT-membership through the Unlock checkout! And we’re proud to say that it was built by one of our community members: Patrick Gallagher. The bot powering this experience — <a href="https://swordybot.com/">Swordy Bot</a> — allows any community to design membership experiences and token gate their Discord server.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/unlock-2021-review/swordybot.png" alt="swordy bot"></p>
<p>In addition to the Discord server, we opened up <a href="http://unlock.community">unlock.community</a> — our Discourse forum. This was built by another community member: Camille Besse. Similar to our Discord experience, members can “unlock” access to specific categories in the forum by getting a free membership using their crypto wallet. Want to add a lock to your Discourse forum? Read <a href="https://unlock.community/t/unlock-discourse-plugin/64">Camille’s tutorial</a>.</p>
<p>One of the most exciting capabilities of the Unlock Protocol is that community membership natively works cross-platform. By using the same lock across our Discord server and our Discourse forum, new Unlock members get access to both.</p>
<p>Unlock can power memberships that your community can use across all your platforms, everywhere on the web.</p>
<p><strong>Summer: Credit card support and a funding announcement</strong></p>
<p>While the Unlock checkout allows users to authenticate and purchase NFT memberships using their crypto wallet, we didn’t want people who don’t use crypto to be left out.</p>
<p>In July, we released credit card support, powered by Stripe, through which community members can <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/credit-card-nft">buy NFT memberships with their credit card</a>. This means developers and creators can extend NFT memberships to users who don’t yet have a crypto wallet.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/unlock-2021-review/creditcard.png" alt="credit card"></p>
<p>July was also when the EthCC Paris conference finally took place, after being postponed in 2020. <a href="https://twitter.com/ethcc/status/1233397647794483200">Did you know participants who purchased their EthCC ticket with a crypto wallet used Unlock</a>? Other conferences like <a href="https://liscon.org/!">Liscon</a> also use Unlock to sell NFT tickets and manage attendees, with endless capabilities to design various levels of membership experiences (via crypto or fiat, thanks to our credit card support).</p>
<p>Last but not least, we ended summer announcing a $4 million investment round from Betaworks, Cygni Labs, GMG Ventures (parent company of The Guardian), and Metacartel Ventures China, along with participation from early investors</p>
<p><strong>Fall: Airdrop, governance, and retroactive funding</strong></p>
<p>This fall was transformative for Unlock. Like any other protocol, we believe the protocol should belong to its community of users and adopters.</p>
<p>With this in mind, <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/unlock-dao">we launched the Unlock DAO</a> to give control and power to the developers, creators and users of Unlock Protocol. Anyone who has used Unlock Protocol, even only once, can earn governance tokens, as well as contribute and vote on proposals in order to collectively govern the protocol and its treasury.</p>
<p>In December, we went one step further with a <strong>retro-active airdrop</strong> to reward our earliest adopters. Anyone who has contributed to Unlock before September 1st 2021 is eligible to receive some UDT (if you haven't claimed your tokens yet, there is still time — head to <a href="https://airdrop.unlock-protocol.com/?utm_campaign=Newsletters&#x26;utm_source=hs_email&#x26;utm_medium=email&#x26;_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_aOsk5hRt7WI_GcRLSN-EpFLhEfoVNux99uCbPl8hF5Mo7zPEyE0F6fzNaJIdKmHSBgtFM">https://airdrop.unlock-protocol.com/</a>).</p>
<p>But more importantly, in order to claim their tokens, we're inviting airdrop recipients to delegate them to the address of their choice. Why? Our goal is to make sure that all new tokens claimed are accounted for when it comes to governance, while ensuring active participation in the Unlock DAO.</p>
<p>In December, we also released an all-new update to our <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/unlock-protocol-wordpress-plugin">Unlock Protocol WordPress plugin</a>, bringing web3 to the 43% of the web that uses WordPress.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/unlock-2021-review/wordpress.jpeg" alt="wordpress"></p>
<p>Last but not least, to reward the most active implementers and community members of Unlock, we have launched our first monthly retroactive funding campaign in December 2021.</p>
<p>We wanted the process to be decentralized and open. Here is how it works: Unlock is allocating 100 UDT each month to the community, and we’re letting the community nominate individuals they feel had the biggest impact on the protocol in the previous month, and therefore vote for who should get a share of the 100 UDT.</p>
<p>In our first retroactive campaign, <a href="https://unlock.community/t/retroactive-funding-november-2021/199/11">the community chose to reward 7 of its members</a> via quadratic voting on Snapshot.</p>
<p><strong>Throughout the year: What makes us the most excited? The 35+ Grantees building with Unlock</strong></p>
<p>Aside from all the milestones described above, one of our most exciting projects of 2021 was certainly the launch of the <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/token-grant-program">Unlock Token Grant Program</a>!</p>
<p>The goal of the program is to enable developers and creators to make Unlock more accessible to wider communities. Grantees are selected every month by a decentralized Grant Committee composed of Unlock advisors, investors and past grantees. Grantees are awarded UDT tokens after their project is launched and shared publicly.</p>
<p>To date, five cohorts of Grantees have already been selected, making it a total of 37 Grantees building with Unlock! A small sample of the projects includes:</p>
<ul>
<li>A <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/decentraland">Decentraland integration</a> that allows anyone to create unique in-world NFT memberships.</li>
<li>A <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/firebase-integration">Firebase integration</a> that brings the power of Unlock to developers building Google apps.</li>
<li><a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/mintgate">An embed of the Unlock checkout in Mintgate</a> (the low code token gated content platform) which allows creators to easily gate access to videos and other content while their fans can simply purchase access in crypto or fiat.</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="/images/blog/unlock-2021-review/decentraland.png" alt="decentraland"></p>
<p>We’re amazed at seeing our community of Grantees create game-changing use cases for Unlock, creating documentation or helping extend the reach of the protocol. <a href="https://www.unlockshowcase.com/">Want to see what Grantees are building? Head over to the Unlock Showcase</a>. Created by Cohort 1 Grantee Kalidou Diagne, the showcase features a gallery of all projects built using Unlock Protocol.</p>
<p>We’re always on the lookout for new Grant applications. Want to join our token grant Program? <a href="https://share.hsforms.com/1gAdLgNOESNCWJ9bJxCUAMwbvg22">You can submit your project here</a>.</p>
<p><strong>2022: We’re so glad we’re on this journey with you</strong></p>
<p>2022 is around the corner and we want to open it up to you.</p>
<p>Where should we go next? What can we improve? How can we help you?</p>
<p>Write to us at hello@unlock-protocol.com and let’s get in touch.</p>



Last month, [EthGlobal held another ground-breaking hackathon called web3jam](https://jam.ethglobal.com/) to help further promote the creation of foundational tech for the next evolution of the web. Unlock Protocol was also a sponsor of the event and we were blown away by the number of teams that integrated Unlock into their projects. Let’s take a minute to celebrate several winners of the hackathon who used our protocol to power their projects over the finish line and into the winner's circle!

[**Backer by Mark Carey**](http://unlockshowcase.com/project/backer)

Backer is a Web3-native platform for creator patronage and provides an alternative to Patreon. Backer allows individuals to directly support creators, without needing payment processing intermediaries like Stripe or PayPal.

Unlock Protocol is used to facilitate the patronage membership, with each tier of support represented by a different lock. To learn more about the project, explore its features, and watch a demo video [please click this link](http://unlockshowcase.com/project/backer).

**[Huddle01](http://unlockshowcase.com/project/huddle01/)**

Huddle01 created a web3 alternative to Zoom, allowing users to have conduct video conferences using wallets, token gating and ENS names. We’re excited to see more options in web3 that provide the possibility for replacing these web2 legacy platforms! Learn more about Huddle01 and [watch the demo video here!](http://unlockshowcase.com/project/huddle01/)

**[Portals](http://unlockshowcase.com/project/portals/)**

Portals was created as a response to Web 2.0 models of Patreon, OnlyFans, and Substack. Portals uses a Web3 stack to allow creators to keep 100% of their subscription revenue and have more flexibility in how their content is presented to their audiences. The protocol was deployed to allow creators to manage membership tiers.

We’re all about restoring the power and control to creators and Portals gets it! Explore the features and [watch the team demo the platform at this link!](http://unlockshowcase.com/project/portals/)

**Adoption & Integration**

Approximately 17 teams worked with our protocol in some capacity in their projects and that gives us both hope in the future direction of web3 and joy in the fact that so many teams saw what was possible with Unlock. While we’re still so early in the web3 world, we are very excited to see so much adoption of the protocol is in motion for the devs building the foundational elements of the next evolution of the web.

A special thanks to EthGlobal for creating such powerful hackathons and for giving us an avenue to sponsor so many amazing projects. wagmi.


A few of last month’s EthGlobal web3jam Hackathon winners used the protocol to help power their projects over the finsh line and into the winner’s circle!

Unlock Protocol is helping create web3 foundations by sponsoring EthGlobal web3jam

Web3jam Winners Deploying Unlock Protocol

<p>Last month, <a href="https://jam.ethglobal.com/">EthGlobal held another ground-breaking hackathon called web3jam</a> to help further promote the creation of foundational tech for the next evolution of the web. Unlock Protocol was also a sponsor of the event and we were blown away by the number of teams that integrated Unlock into their projects. Let’s take a minute to celebrate several winners of the hackathon who used our protocol to power their projects over the finish line and into the winner's circle!</p>
<p><a href="http://unlockshowcase.com/project/backer"><strong>Backer by Mark Carey</strong></a></p>
<p>Backer is a Web3-native platform for creator patronage and provides an alternative to Patreon. Backer allows individuals to directly support creators, without needing payment processing intermediaries like Stripe or PayPal.</p>
<p>Unlock Protocol is used to facilitate the patronage membership, with each tier of support represented by a different lock. To learn more about the project, explore its features, and watch a demo video <a href="http://unlockshowcase.com/project/backer">please click this link</a>.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://unlockshowcase.com/project/huddle01/">Huddle01</a></strong></p>
<p>Huddle01 created a web3 alternative to Zoom, allowing users to have conduct video conferences using wallets, token gating and ENS names. We’re excited to see more options in web3 that provide the possibility for replacing these web2 legacy platforms! Learn more about Huddle01 and <a href="http://unlockshowcase.com/project/huddle01/">watch the demo video here!</a></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://unlockshowcase.com/project/portals/">Portals</a></strong></p>
<p>Portals was created as a response to Web 2.0 models of Patreon, OnlyFans, and Substack. Portals uses a Web3 stack to allow creators to keep 100% of their subscription revenue and have more flexibility in how their content is presented to their audiences. The protocol was deployed to allow creators to manage membership tiers.</p>
<p>We’re all about restoring the power and control to creators and Portals gets it! Explore the features and <a href="http://unlockshowcase.com/project/portals/">watch the team demo the platform at this link!</a></p>
<p><strong>Adoption &#x26; Integration</strong></p>
<p>Approximately 17 teams worked with our protocol in some capacity in their projects and that gives us both hope in the future direction of web3 and joy in the fact that so many teams saw what was possible with Unlock. While we’re still so early in the web3 world, we are very excited to see so much adoption of the protocol is in motion for the devs building the foundational elements of the next evolution of the web.</p>
<p>A special thanks to EthGlobal for creating such powerful hackathons and for giving us an avenue to sponsor so many amazing projects. wagmi.</p>



Cohort 5 is in the house and they are ready to launch their amazing ideas into the web3 ecosystem using the Unlock Protocol! And we're here to celebrate each and every fabulous vision of our grantees!

![Cohort 5](/images/blog/cohort-5/cohort-5.png)

Here’s a quick introduction to each grantee, their project and how to find them on the Twitters so you can support their projects. If reading about these projects sparks your creation engine, simply click the link at the bottom of the article and submit your proposal!

**Jenil Thakker - Coinvise**

[https://twitter.com/CoinviseCo](https://twitter.com/CoinviseCo)

Every time a member of a creator community claims a membership on Unlock, they'll be eligible to claim an airdrop on Coinvise. Coinvise is a platform of powerful tools for creators to build and operate tokenized communities.

**Andrew Berkowitz - Socialstack**

[https://twitter.com/trysocialstack](https://twitter.com/trysocialstack)

Socialstack is an impact-driven toolkit to launch and manage a social token community. They're cultivating a curated community of impact-first brands, organizations, creators, and DAOs to launch on their platform and onboard their community into Web3. Socialstack is planning to implement Unlock's functionality into their CommunityOS dApp to enable communities to activate turnkey membership NFTs across all the platforms that Unlock enables, and provide their members with membership NFTs to purchase. Check out [their platform here.](https://www.socialstack.co/)

**Blair Gardner - Dinner DAO**

[https://twitter.com/dinner_dao](https://twitter.com/dinner_dao)

Dinner DAO represents a modern day dinner club that brings together members of the web3 community through IRL meals and events to bond, network, share stories, and extend the connections we're building as a community into the real world. Learn more about [Dinner DAO here.](https://dinnerdao.xyz/)

**Justin Holmes - Gymnasia**

Gymnasia makes it possible for anyone to earn cryptocurrencies & NFTs by participating in virtual fitness challenges. They've also made it possible for the creators of those challenges and participants to earn passive income, in perpetuity. They'll be integrating Unlock to power specific aspects of their platform to help people earn and better understand the web3 ecosystem!

**Gaetan Renaudeau - Greweb Monthly Plots**

[https://twitter.com/greweb](https://twitter.com/greweb)

Gaetan is a generative artist and coder looking to integrate Unlock into various aspects of their NFT artwork. Be sure to check out their artwork [at this link!](https://greweb.me/plots)

**Micol Ap - VCA**

[https://twitter.com/verticalcrypto](https://twitter.com/verticalcrypto)

The VCA Residency vision is to democratise the access to knowledge and give free educational programs dedicated to creators of all kinds interested in Crypto Art and the NFT ecosystem. VCA will integrate Unlock to power their memberships and access for participants in their ecosystem

### Are you ready to join our Grantees?

We’re excited to have such insightful projects in our grant program and are wishing our grantees all the best as they bring their visions to life. If you’d like to join our Discord to connect with our grantees about their projects or explore some ideas of your own, please [join us here](https://discord.gg/Ah6ZEJyTDp).

AND if you already have an idea for an integration using Unlock, please submit your project [proposal here](https://share.hsforms.com/1gAdLgNOESNCWJ9bJxCUAMwbvg22).

Unlock Protocol is driven by and for our community. We’re here to help YOU build the future path of blockchain technology and together we’ll explore all that’s possible with community and decentralization as our core foundations. [Join the conversation.](https://unlock.community/)


We're so excited to announce our fifth cohort of Unlock grantees! Please check out their projects and follow their progress!

And we are so grateful to have all of these amazing projects implementing the protocol!

Cohort 5 Grantees have arrived!

<p>Cohort 5 is in the house and they are ready to launch their amazing ideas into the web3 ecosystem using the Unlock Protocol! And we're here to celebrate each and every fabulous vision of our grantees!</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/cohort-5/cohort-5.png" alt="Cohort 5"></p>
<p>Here’s a quick introduction to each grantee, their project and how to find them on the Twitters so you can support their projects. If reading about these projects sparks your creation engine, simply click the link at the bottom of the article and submit your proposal!</p>
<p><strong>Jenil Thakker - Coinvise</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/CoinviseCo">https://twitter.com/CoinviseCo</a></p>
<p>Every time a member of a creator community claims a membership on Unlock, they'll be eligible to claim an airdrop on Coinvise. Coinvise is a platform of powerful tools for creators to build and operate tokenized communities.</p>
<p><strong>Andrew Berkowitz - Socialstack</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/trysocialstack">https://twitter.com/trysocialstack</a></p>
<p>Socialstack is an impact-driven toolkit to launch and manage a social token community. They're cultivating a curated community of impact-first brands, organizations, creators, and DAOs to launch on their platform and onboard their community into Web3. Socialstack is planning to implement Unlock's functionality into their CommunityOS dApp to enable communities to activate turnkey membership NFTs across all the platforms that Unlock enables, and provide their members with membership NFTs to purchase. Check out <a href="https://www.socialstack.co/">their platform here.</a></p>
<p><strong>Blair Gardner - Dinner DAO</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/dinner_dao">https://twitter.com/dinner_dao</a></p>
<p>Dinner DAO represents a modern day dinner club that brings together members of the web3 community through IRL meals and events to bond, network, share stories, and extend the connections we're building as a community into the real world. Learn more about <a href="https://dinnerdao.xyz/">Dinner DAO here.</a></p>
<p><strong>Justin Holmes - Gymnasia</strong></p>
<p>Gymnasia makes it possible for anyone to earn cryptocurrencies &#x26; NFTs by participating in virtual fitness challenges. They've also made it possible for the creators of those challenges and participants to earn passive income, in perpetuity. They'll be integrating Unlock to power specific aspects of their platform to help people earn and better understand the web3 ecosystem!</p>
<p><strong>Gaetan Renaudeau - Greweb Monthly Plots</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/greweb">https://twitter.com/greweb</a></p>
<p>Gaetan is a generative artist and coder looking to integrate Unlock into various aspects of their NFT artwork. Be sure to check out their artwork <a href="https://greweb.me/plots">at this link!</a></p>
<p><strong>Micol Ap - VCA</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/verticalcrypto">https://twitter.com/verticalcrypto</a></p>
<p>The VCA Residency vision is to democratise the access to knowledge and give free educational programs dedicated to creators of all kinds interested in Crypto Art and the NFT ecosystem. VCA will integrate Unlock to power their memberships and access for participants in their ecosystem</p>
<h3>Are you ready to join our Grantees?</h3>
<p>We’re excited to have such insightful projects in our grant program and are wishing our grantees all the best as they bring their visions to life. If you’d like to join our Discord to connect with our grantees about their projects or explore some ideas of your own, please <a href="https://discord.gg/Ah6ZEJyTDp">join us here</a>.</p>
<p>AND if you already have an idea for an integration using Unlock, please submit your project <a href="https://share.hsforms.com/1gAdLgNOESNCWJ9bJxCUAMwbvg22">proposal here</a>.</p>
<p>Unlock Protocol is driven by and for our community. We’re here to help YOU build the future path of blockchain technology and together we’ll explore all that’s possible with community and decentralization as our core foundations. <a href="https://unlock.community/">Join the conversation.</a></p>



![Introducing the Unlock WordPress plugin.](/images/blog/wordpress-plugin/unlock-wordpress.jpg)

The [Unlock Protocol WordPress plugin](https://wordpress.org/plugins/unlock-protocol/) brings web3 to WordPress.

Unlock Protocol is a fundamental layer of web3, and uses NFTs to manage membership, access, and monetization. Unlock is used by websites and applications including [The Defiant](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/thedefiant-case-study) (media and publishing), [MintGate](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/mintgate-unlock-case-study) (token-gated access), [MyCrypto](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/mycrypto-unlock-case-study) (blockchain tools), and many others.

The plugin creates an Unlock Protocol block that can be used on WordPress posts and pages in the same manner as any other block. Creators can nest any "members-only" content they desire within the Unlock block.

Site visitors who have the appropriate "key" (in the form of an Unlock NFT) in their crypto wallet are granted immediate access to the content within the Unlock Protocol blocks on the website. Unauthenticated visitors, on the other hand, will see that there is content available, and will be prompted to become a member of the site in order to access that content.

Using the Unlock Protocol plugin, WordPress creators can build membership sites, provide exclusive features and benefits, grant perks, or monetize any other content they wish using Ethereum, xDAI, Polygon (Matic), and many other crypto-based assets.

For site visitors who are not yet onboarded into web3, the Unlock Protocol plugin also supports credit card transactions via Stripe integration.

**Why does it matter?**

WordPress [powers 43% of all websites](https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-wordpress), and is the de facto standard for Content Management Systems. To date, there has been no robust mechanism for WordPress site creators to bridge the gap to web3.

From the site visitor side, WordPress site visitors did not have a means to authenticate themselves to WordPress websites using web3-based mechanisms such as connecting with their crypto wallets (vs. logging with a username and password). The Unlock Protocol plugin solves this.

From the website owner and creator side, site owners and creators did not have a way to either provide member-specific content or to monetize that content without relying on the centralized mechanisms of legacy solutions. The Unlock Protocol plugin solves this as well.

It's important to note that Unlock Protocol is built not only on the technology, but also the principles of web3. As such, any time a purchaser purchases a key using the Unlock Protocol plugin, not only do they get an NFT that provides access to exclusive content, but the key purchaser _also receives some amount of UDT, the protocol's governance token_. UDT holders can vote on proposals in the Unlock DAO, and literally have a vested interest in — and can help to set the future direction of — the protocol itself.

The Unlock Protocol enables a new business model for the web, gives creators the power to be compensated directly from their community, and enables creators and their community to connect directly as well as have direct say and influence into the future of the protocol.

The Unlock Protocol plugin brings these capabilities to WordPress.

**How do I get started?**

To get started, install and activate [the Unlock Protocol plugin](https://wordpress.org/plugins/unlock-protocol/) into your WordPress site. **Note:** The general WordPress settings must allow user ("Subscriber") registration, since the plugin creates a WordPress subscriber account for each crypto wallet.

A site admin can choose which crypto networks (e.g. Ethereum mainnet, Polygon, Rinkeby, etc.) are available as options in the plugin admin settings. The admin can also set global styling for the "Connect to Crypto wallet" and "Purchase" button colors.

The Unlock Protocol block is available as soon as the plugin is installed and activated. It is a block just like any other WordPress content block.

To use the Unlock Protocol block, drag it onto a page or post. Each block needs to be configured by choosing which crypto network it works on, and the address of the Unlock Protocol lock that is associated with the particular block. Locks must be created using the [Unlock Protocol dashboard](https://app.unlock-protocol.com/dashboard) on the Unlock Protocol website prior to configuring a block, since the block needs the address of the lock for configuration.

Once the block is configured, you can place other content blocks inside of it. Site visitors will need to have — or purchase — a key to that lock to view its content.

**See the plugin in action.**

There is a demo site at [https://unlockwpdemo.com](https://unlockwpdemo.com). This demo site was built on top of the WordPress Twenty Twenty theme. Certain areas of the site, a fictitious site for the "UMoMA" modern art museum, are "members only" sections. To access these sections, the site visitor must "purchase" a key using the Unlock Protocol plugin. For this demonstration, the key is priced as "free," although the key "purchaser" will need to have a small amount of Polygon (Matic) in their crypto wallet to cover gas for the transaction. In a live site, the keys can be priced at any price, and can be perpetual or time-restricted (e.g. 30 days or any other length).

**Want to check it out? You can install the latest version of the plugin from the WordPress.org plugin repository today.**

The plugin is here for installation or for download: [https://wordpress.org/plugins/unlock-protocol/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/unlock-protocol/)

## Videos of the Unlock Protocol WordPress plugin

### Admin view of the experience

<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/9qNeoJeZ6I8" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

### Member view of the experience

<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/GQGqhkz6ZUg" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

## Screenshots of the Unlock Protocol WordPress plugin

### Configuring the plugin: Networks

![admin network config](/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-admin-networks-min.png)

### Configuring the plugin: Button colors

![admin button config](/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-admin-button-colors-min.png)

### Adding an Unlock Protocol block to a post or page

![block menu](/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-block-menu-min.png)

### Configuring the network and lock address for a specific block

![configuring unlock block](/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-unlock-block-min.png)

### Embedding a nested image block inside the Unlock block

![embedding image content block](/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-image-block-min.png)

### After embedding a nested image block within the Unlock block

![embedded image content](/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-admin-image-content-min.png)

### Experience of a site visitor who does not have a key when visiting the post

![locked content](/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-locked-content-min.png)

### Returning site visitors can log in with their crypto wallet

![login to wordpress with crypto wallet](/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-log-in-with-crypto-wallet-min.png)

### Visitor experience when a subscriber is logged in with their crypto wallet

![unlocked content for members](/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-member-content-min.png)

## Unlock WordPress plugin documentation

See the [full documentation for the Unlock Protocol WordPress Plugin](https://unlock-protocol.com/guides/guide-to-the-unlock-protocol-wordpress-plugin/).


Use Unlock Protocol to manage membership, access, and monetization with existing WordPress sites.

Use NFTs to manage membership, access, and monetization with existing WordPress sites

The Unlock Protocol WordPress plugin brings web3 to WordPress

<p><img src="/images/blog/wordpress-plugin/unlock-wordpress.jpg" alt="Introducing the Unlock WordPress plugin."></p>
<p>The <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/unlock-protocol/">Unlock Protocol WordPress plugin</a> brings web3 to WordPress.</p>
<p>Unlock Protocol is a fundamental layer of web3, and uses NFTs to manage membership, access, and monetization. Unlock is used by websites and applications including <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/thedefiant-case-study">The Defiant</a> (media and publishing), <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/mintgate-unlock-case-study">MintGate</a> (token-gated access), <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/mycrypto-unlock-case-study">MyCrypto</a> (blockchain tools), and many others.</p>
<p>The plugin creates an Unlock Protocol block that can be used on WordPress posts and pages in the same manner as any other block. Creators can nest any "members-only" content they desire within the Unlock block.</p>
<p>Site visitors who have the appropriate "key" (in the form of an Unlock NFT) in their crypto wallet are granted immediate access to the content within the Unlock Protocol blocks on the website. Unauthenticated visitors, on the other hand, will see that there is content available, and will be prompted to become a member of the site in order to access that content.</p>
<p>Using the Unlock Protocol plugin, WordPress creators can build membership sites, provide exclusive features and benefits, grant perks, or monetize any other content they wish using Ethereum, xDAI, Polygon (Matic), and many other crypto-based assets.</p>
<p>For site visitors who are not yet onboarded into web3, the Unlock Protocol plugin also supports credit card transactions via Stripe integration.</p>
<p><strong>Why does it matter?</strong></p>
<p>WordPress <a href="https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-wordpress">powers 43% of all websites</a>, and is the de facto standard for Content Management Systems. To date, there has been no robust mechanism for WordPress site creators to bridge the gap to web3.</p>
<p>From the site visitor side, WordPress site visitors did not have a means to authenticate themselves to WordPress websites using web3-based mechanisms such as connecting with their crypto wallets (vs. logging with a username and password). The Unlock Protocol plugin solves this.</p>
<p>From the website owner and creator side, site owners and creators did not have a way to either provide member-specific content or to monetize that content without relying on the centralized mechanisms of legacy solutions. The Unlock Protocol plugin solves this as well.</p>
<p>It's important to note that Unlock Protocol is built not only on the technology, but also the principles of web3. As such, any time a purchaser purchases a key using the Unlock Protocol plugin, not only do they get an NFT that provides access to exclusive content, but the key purchaser <em>also receives some amount of UDT, the protocol's governance token</em>. UDT holders can vote on proposals in the Unlock DAO, and literally have a vested interest in — and can help to set the future direction of — the protocol itself.</p>
<p>The Unlock Protocol enables a new business model for the web, gives creators the power to be compensated directly from their community, and enables creators and their community to connect directly as well as have direct say and influence into the future of the protocol.</p>
<p>The Unlock Protocol plugin brings these capabilities to WordPress.</p>
<p><strong>How do I get started?</strong></p>
<p>To get started, install and activate <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/unlock-protocol/">the Unlock Protocol plugin</a> into your WordPress site. <strong>Note:</strong> The general WordPress settings must allow user ("Subscriber") registration, since the plugin creates a WordPress subscriber account for each crypto wallet.</p>
<p>A site admin can choose which crypto networks (e.g. Ethereum mainnet, Polygon, Rinkeby, etc.) are available as options in the plugin admin settings. The admin can also set global styling for the "Connect to Crypto wallet" and "Purchase" button colors.</p>
<p>The Unlock Protocol block is available as soon as the plugin is installed and activated. It is a block just like any other WordPress content block.</p>
<p>To use the Unlock Protocol block, drag it onto a page or post. Each block needs to be configured by choosing which crypto network it works on, and the address of the Unlock Protocol lock that is associated with the particular block. Locks must be created using the <a href="https://app.unlock-protocol.com/dashboard">Unlock Protocol dashboard</a> on the Unlock Protocol website prior to configuring a block, since the block needs the address of the lock for configuration.</p>
<p>Once the block is configured, you can place other content blocks inside of it. Site visitors will need to have — or purchase — a key to that lock to view its content.</p>
<p><strong>See the plugin in action.</strong></p>
<p>There is a demo site at <a href="https://unlockwpdemo.com">https://unlockwpdemo.com</a>. This demo site was built on top of the WordPress Twenty Twenty theme. Certain areas of the site, a fictitious site for the "UMoMA" modern art museum, are "members only" sections. To access these sections, the site visitor must "purchase" a key using the Unlock Protocol plugin. For this demonstration, the key is priced as "free," although the key "purchaser" will need to have a small amount of Polygon (Matic) in their crypto wallet to cover gas for the transaction. In a live site, the keys can be priced at any price, and can be perpetual or time-restricted (e.g. 30 days or any other length).</p>
<p><strong>Want to check it out? You can install the latest version of the plugin from the WordPress.org plugin repository today.</strong></p>
<p>The plugin is here for installation or for download: <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/unlock-protocol/">https://wordpress.org/plugins/unlock-protocol/</a></p>
<h2>Videos of the Unlock Protocol WordPress plugin</h2>
<h3>Admin view of the experience</h3>
<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/9qNeoJeZ6I8" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<h3>Member view of the experience</h3>
<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/GQGqhkz6ZUg" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<h2>Screenshots of the Unlock Protocol WordPress plugin</h2>
<h3>Configuring the plugin: Networks</h3>
<p><img src="/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-admin-networks-min.png" alt="admin network config"></p>
<h3>Configuring the plugin: Button colors</h3>
<p><img src="/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-admin-button-colors-min.png" alt="admin button config"></p>
<h3>Adding an Unlock Protocol block to a post or page</h3>
<p><img src="/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-block-menu-min.png" alt="block menu"></p>
<h3>Configuring the network and lock address for a specific block</h3>
<p><img src="/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-unlock-block-min.png" alt="configuring unlock block"></p>
<h3>Embedding a nested image block inside the Unlock block</h3>
<p><img src="/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-image-block-min.png" alt="embedding image content block"></p>
<h3>After embedding a nested image block within the Unlock block</h3>
<p><img src="/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-admin-image-content-min.png" alt="embedded image content"></p>
<h3>Experience of a site visitor who does not have a key when visiting the post</h3>
<p><img src="/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-locked-content-min.png" alt="locked content"></p>
<h3>Returning site visitors can log in with their crypto wallet</h3>
<p><img src="/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-log-in-with-crypto-wallet-min.png" alt="login to wordpress with crypto wallet"></p>
<h3>Visitor experience when a subscriber is logged in with their crypto wallet</h3>
<p><img src="/images/blog/unlock-wordpress-plugin/unlock-wp-member-content-min.png" alt="unlocked content for members"></p>
<h2>Unlock WordPress plugin documentation</h2>
<p>See the <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/guides/guide-to-the-unlock-protocol-wordpress-plugin/">full documentation for the Unlock Protocol WordPress Plugin</a>.</p>



_Chris Cacace is the Founder and CEO of Content Rooms and presented at Unlock's [Developer Meetup](https://youtu.be/s7w_MDmqeUQ?t=412)._

[Content Rooms](https://www.contentrooms.com) is a platform for Creators to connect with and monetize their community. We enable Creators to build a subscription fanbase and host exclusive events that are protected using Unlock Protocol.

The level of access Creators have to their following makes fandom feel more like friendship. This social phenomena is changing media as quickly as decentralization is changing the web. As Creators gain bigger followings, it’s important that they maintain control of their relationships. We’re using Unlock to empower both Fans and Creators to build and benefit from the value they generate together.

## NFTs as stores of Value

NFTs are unique because they can transfer and hold value at any level. On a Layer2 chain like Polygon, a single NFT Key can be minted from an Unlock Lock for a cost lower than a dollar (including gas!). Many are still not aware that NFTs can be bought and transferred at such low prices. Thanks to the KeyPurchaser function, we will make this pricing available for all users - whether they can “bridge Polygon” or not.

Over time, lower priced NFTs can grow in value, but only if the experience associated with it is memorable and the NFT keeps utility. Content Rooms’ goal is to help associate NFTs with incredible experiences and lifelong memories. Imagine if you bought one of twenty NFTs to a ContentRoom that Post Malone made early on in his career - and then he reopened the Room today. What might it be worth?

## Moving across the Web3 Landscape

The most powerful part of building on top of Unlock is that ContentRoom Creators will automatically have the ability to move across physical, online, and metaverse realms. For example, the ticket you buy to a physical concert could immediately give you access to a ContentRoom. In the ContentRoom, the artist you’re going to see would engage with concertgoers in the weeks leading up to the performance. Then when the time comes, you could show up to the concert with your NFT ticket to enter the venue. If you can’t make it in person, you might pop into Decentraland instead to gain access to a livestream party we’re hosting in the metaverse.

The sweetest part is that Content Rooms gains these abilities simply because we’re built on Unlock. We didn’t need to spend time integrating into Decentraland or Discord — thanks to the other members of the [UnlockDAO](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/unlock-dao) who did. Creators and organizations using Content Rooms will benefit from their work and vice versa.

## Reducing the friction to purchase

In the short term, web3 is still really hard to understand for most people. It is Content Rooms’ goal to make it as simple as possible. We make minting an NFT on Content Rooms as simple as signing up and putting in your credit card. The immediate reward for buying the NFT is also very tangible - you get access to the Creator’s Room.

Our vision is to make web3 friendly.

<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/TEm82GVDYms" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>


Content Rooms is a platform for Creators to connect with and monetize their community powered by Unlock Protocol.

Online events that help build a subscription fanbase

Creators and their fans connect with Content Rooms

<p><em>Chris Cacace is the Founder and CEO of Content Rooms and presented at Unlock's <a href="https://youtu.be/s7w_MDmqeUQ?t=412">Developer Meetup</a>.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.contentrooms.com">Content Rooms</a> is a platform for Creators to connect with and monetize their community. We enable Creators to build a subscription fanbase and host exclusive events that are protected using Unlock Protocol.</p>
<p>The level of access Creators have to their following makes fandom feel more like friendship. This social phenomena is changing media as quickly as decentralization is changing the web. As Creators gain bigger followings, it’s important that they maintain control of their relationships. We’re using Unlock to empower both Fans and Creators to build and benefit from the value they generate together.</p>
<h2>NFTs as stores of Value</h2>
<p>NFTs are unique because they can transfer and hold value at any level. On a Layer2 chain like Polygon, a single NFT Key can be minted from an Unlock Lock for a cost lower than a dollar (including gas!). Many are still not aware that NFTs can be bought and transferred at such low prices. Thanks to the KeyPurchaser function, we will make this pricing available for all users - whether they can “bridge Polygon” or not.</p>
<p>Over time, lower priced NFTs can grow in value, but only if the experience associated with it is memorable and the NFT keeps utility. Content Rooms’ goal is to help associate NFTs with incredible experiences and lifelong memories. Imagine if you bought one of twenty NFTs to a ContentRoom that Post Malone made early on in his career - and then he reopened the Room today. What might it be worth?</p>
<h2>Moving across the Web3 Landscape</h2>
<p>The most powerful part of building on top of Unlock is that ContentRoom Creators will automatically have the ability to move across physical, online, and metaverse realms. For example, the ticket you buy to a physical concert could immediately give you access to a ContentRoom. In the ContentRoom, the artist you’re going to see would engage with concertgoers in the weeks leading up to the performance. Then when the time comes, you could show up to the concert with your NFT ticket to enter the venue. If you can’t make it in person, you might pop into Decentraland instead to gain access to a livestream party we’re hosting in the metaverse.</p>
<p>The sweetest part is that Content Rooms gains these abilities simply because we’re built on Unlock. We didn’t need to spend time integrating into Decentraland or Discord — thanks to the other members of the <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/unlock-dao">UnlockDAO</a> who did. Creators and organizations using Content Rooms will benefit from their work and vice versa.</p>
<h2>Reducing the friction to purchase</h2>
<p>In the short term, web3 is still really hard to understand for most people. It is Content Rooms’ goal to make it as simple as possible. We make minting an NFT on Content Rooms as simple as signing up and putting in your credit card. The immediate reward for buying the NFT is also very tangible - you get access to the Creator’s Room.</p>
<p>Our vision is to make web3 friendly.</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/TEm82GVDYms" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>



Today, the whole team is extremely excited to announce that we have deployed Unlock on [Optimism](https://www.optimism.io/about), making it the first NFT-based protocol to be available on 5 networks, including a roll-up L2!

## Ethereum's future

Gas fees on the Ethereum mainnet have now been outrageously high for more than a year, moving Ethereum away from its target of being a "world computer" accessible to everyone with an internet connection. It also makes use cases like Unlock much harder to use: our membership NFT should work well for $1 as well as $10,000 memberships!

Don't get us wrong: in some ways, high gas fees are a good problem to have for the Ethereum community. They mean that demand for the very precious block space is much higher than the available supply.

That said, the community has realized this for a long time, and multiple "layer 2" solutions have emerged. Vitalik Buterin [wrote many times](https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2021/12/06/endgame.html) about why he believes that "roll ups" are the way to scale beyond the limited block space, and we agree!

## Unlock on Optimism

A few months ago, we launched Unlock on [xDAI](/blog/xdai), on [Polygon](/blog/unlock-on-polygon) and more recently on the [Binance Smart Chain](/blog/binance-smart-chain). All of these are great solutions for anyone who wants to deploy a lock, even today! They generally reduce some requirements around permissionlessness in favor of greater usability and much lower fees.

However, roll-ups represent an opportunity to find another balance between cost and security and we believe Unlock should embrace these too!

So, starting today, Unlock is available on Optimism. We have deployed the same contracts deployed on all the other chains and our front-end fully supports it! For this initial release, locks deployed on Optimism will not yield UDT governance contracts, but we hope to enable that by the end of the year! Get started by [going to the Unlock Dashboard](https://app.unlock-protocol.com/dashboard) and select "Optimism" in the network dropdown!

We can't wait to hear what memberships are going to be unlocked on Optimism :) Like always, please join our community and share your experiments with us!


The Unlock Protocol is now available on Optimism, making it the first NFT-based protocol to be available on 5 networks, including a roll-up L2!

The Ethereum world is moving to Layer 2, Unlock paves the way

Unlock is available on Optimism

<p>Today, the whole team is extremely excited to announce that we have deployed Unlock on <a href="https://www.optimism.io/about">Optimism</a>, making it the first NFT-based protocol to be available on 5 networks, including a roll-up L2!</p>
<h2>Ethereum's future</h2>
<p>Gas fees on the Ethereum mainnet have now been outrageously high for more than a year, moving Ethereum away from its target of being a "world computer" accessible to everyone with an internet connection. It also makes use cases like Unlock much harder to use: our membership NFT should work well for $1 as well as $10,000 memberships!</p>
<p>Don't get us wrong: in some ways, high gas fees are a good problem to have for the Ethereum community. They mean that demand for the very precious block space is much higher than the available supply.</p>
<p>That said, the community has realized this for a long time, and multiple "layer 2" solutions have emerged. Vitalik Buterin <a href="https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2021/12/06/endgame.html">wrote many times</a> about why he believes that "roll ups" are the way to scale beyond the limited block space, and we agree!</p>
<h2>Unlock on Optimism</h2>
<p>A few months ago, we launched Unlock on <a href="/blog/xdai">xDAI</a>, on <a href="/blog/unlock-on-polygon">Polygon</a> and more recently on the <a href="/blog/binance-smart-chain">Binance Smart Chain</a>. All of these are great solutions for anyone who wants to deploy a lock, even today! They generally reduce some requirements around permissionlessness in favor of greater usability and much lower fees.</p>
<p>However, roll-ups represent an opportunity to find another balance between cost and security and we believe Unlock should embrace these too!</p>
<p>So, starting today, Unlock is available on Optimism. We have deployed the same contracts deployed on all the other chains and our front-end fully supports it! For this initial release, locks deployed on Optimism will not yield UDT governance contracts, but we hope to enable that by the end of the year! Get started by <a href="https://app.unlock-protocol.com/dashboard">going to the Unlock Dashboard</a> and select "Optimism" in the network dropdown!</p>
<p>We can't wait to hear what memberships are going to be unlocked on Optimism :) Like always, please join our community and share your experiments with us!</p>



The Defiant, headed by CEO, journalist, and author Camila Russo, is “The Bloomberg of DeFi.” (Russo should know; she’s a former Bloomberg journalist.) Fiercely independent from its name to its actions and its editorial voice, The Defiant is a rapidly-growing media network that spans newsletters, videos, podcasts, and articles covering decentralized finance (DeFi).

The Defiant funds its operations through paid subscriptions from readers as well as through sponsorships. True to its journalism roots, The Defiant does not accept any paid article placements in editorial content, nor does it accept compensation for tweets or retweets.

[See the full case study](/case-studies/the-defiant.pdf).

[![The Defiant thumbnail](/images/blog/thedefiant-case-study/thedefiant-thumbnail-2.png)](/case-studies/the-defiant.pdf)


When The Defiant was looking for a crypto-native way to monetize its content and newsletter subscriptions, it turned to the Unlock Protocol.

Newsletter Monetization at The Defiant | Unlock Case Study

<p>The Defiant, headed by CEO, journalist, and author Camila Russo, is “The Bloomberg of DeFi.” (Russo should know; she’s a former Bloomberg journalist.) Fiercely independent from its name to its actions and its editorial voice, The Defiant is a rapidly-growing media network that spans newsletters, videos, podcasts, and articles covering decentralized finance (DeFi).</p>
<p>The Defiant funds its operations through paid subscriptions from readers as well as through sponsorships. True to its journalism roots, The Defiant does not accept any paid article placements in editorial content, nor does it accept compensation for tweets or retweets.</p>
<p><a href="/case-studies/the-defiant.pdf">See the full case study</a>.</p>
<p><a href="/case-studies/the-defiant.pdf"><img src="/images/blog/thedefiant-case-study/thedefiant-thumbnail-2.png" alt="The Defiant thumbnail"></a></p>



In an effort to provide more support to our community builders, members and supporters, we're launching a retroactive funding campaign. The short and sweet is that we want to support the supporters of the protocol in a way that is decentralized and open to the entire community to vote to decide who gets rewarded for their _past_ participation.

Unlock Inc is allocating 100 UDT each month to the community and, more importantly, we want to let the community decide who should get them, with the hopes that the community will allocate them to whoever had the biggest impact on the protocol in the previous month.

Here is how we're doing it:

- On the first of every month, we will create a new thread for nominations on [https://unlock.community/](https://unlock.community/). Anyone in the community is free to apply for themselves or someone else and explain why they should get some governance tokens. The only requirement is for the person to post the address that should receive tokens!
- On the 8th, we will close nominations and open a Snapshot vote for each and every address that was nominated. We will use a [quadratic voting strategy](https://docs.snapshot.org/proposals/voting-types#quadratic-voting) so that the number of voters matters (vs. just their token balances). Voting is off-chain and gas-less (free!)
- At the end of the voting period (8 days), Unlock Inc. will split the number of tokens between all the addresses, using their relative share of votes. We will distribute these tokens on the Polygon network in order to reduce the impact of high gas fees.

And it starts... [today!](https://unlock.community/t/retroactive-funding-november-2021/199) We hope to do that every month for at least one year, but we will re-evaluate every quarter.

Our mission here is simple. We believe that the more adoption we have by builders and creators across the ecosystem, the stronger the protocol will become and the more we all benefit as a community. But not every contributor or project falls into our grant program or other means of support, so we feel this retroactive funding will help provide that additional support that is needed to grow our community.

We really put trust in the community and we hope you will all use that mechanism as a way to reward our active community members!


In an effort to provide more support to our community builders, members and supporters, we're launching a retroactive funding campaign.

The community will pick the best contributors to the protocol every month!

Retroactive Funding

<p>In an effort to provide more support to our community builders, members and supporters, we're launching a retroactive funding campaign. The short and sweet is that we want to support the supporters of the protocol in a way that is decentralized and open to the entire community to vote to decide who gets rewarded for their <em>past</em> participation.</p>
<p>Unlock Inc is allocating 100 UDT each month to the community and, more importantly, we want to let the community decide who should get them, with the hopes that the community will allocate them to whoever had the biggest impact on the protocol in the previous month.</p>
<p>Here is how we're doing it:</p>
<ul>
<li>On the first of every month, we will create a new thread for nominations on <a href="https://unlock.community/">https://unlock.community/</a>. Anyone in the community is free to apply for themselves or someone else and explain why they should get some governance tokens. The only requirement is for the person to post the address that should receive tokens!</li>
<li>On the 8th, we will close nominations and open a Snapshot vote for each and every address that was nominated. We will use a <a href="https://docs.snapshot.org/proposals/voting-types#quadratic-voting">quadratic voting strategy</a> so that the number of voters matters (vs. just their token balances). Voting is off-chain and gas-less (free!)</li>
<li>At the end of the voting period (8 days), Unlock Inc. will split the number of tokens between all the addresses, using their relative share of votes. We will distribute these tokens on the Polygon network in order to reduce the impact of high gas fees.</li>
</ul>
<p>And it starts... <a href="https://unlock.community/t/retroactive-funding-november-2021/199">today!</a> We hope to do that every month for at least one year, but we will re-evaluate every quarter.</p>
<p>Our mission here is simple. We believe that the more adoption we have by builders and creators across the ecosystem, the stronger the protocol will become and the more we all benefit as a community. But not every contributor or project falls into our grant program or other means of support, so we feel this retroactive funding will help provide that additional support that is needed to grow our community.</p>
<p>We really put trust in the community and we hope you will all use that mechanism as a way to reward our active community members!</p>
