
As of March 2022, our smart contracts have been audited by 3 different teams: [Code4rena](https://code4rena.com/), [ByteRocket](https://byterocket.com/) and Akira Tech.

We are pleased with the results of these audits as they have identified **no issue that would jeopardize creators or members' funds in a systemic way**. The audits did identify improvements that we have (or will) implement to simplify flows, make risky behaviors less error-prone as well as reduce gas consumption.

This step is an important one, and while we're working on more improvements and upgrades to the core protocol, we will get more audits in the future.

It also builds our confidence that we can move ownership of our contracts to the DAO, which we'll also work on the next few weeks.

You can download the reports as well as see a summary [in our docs website](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/core-protocol/audits)!


As we're scaling adoption, we have performed our first independent audits.

We received our first 3 audits

Audits

<p>As of March 2022, our smart contracts have been audited by 3 different teams: <a href="https://code4rena.com/">Code4rena</a>, <a href="https://byterocket.com/">ByteRocket</a> and Akira Tech.</p>
<p>We are pleased with the results of these audits as they have identified <strong>no issue that would jeopardize creators or members' funds in a systemic way</strong>. The audits did identify improvements that we have (or will) implement to simplify flows, make risky behaviors less error-prone as well as reduce gas consumption.</p>
<p>This step is an important one, and while we're working on more improvements and upgrades to the core protocol, we will get more audits in the future.</p>
<p>It also builds our confidence that we can move ownership of our contracts to the DAO, which we'll also work on the next few weeks.</p>
<p>You can download the reports as well as see a summary <a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/core-protocol/audits">in our docs website</a>!</p>



Earlier this month, we showed you [how to token-gate a Discord server](/blog/guildxyz-launch) using Unlock and Guild.xyz.

Today, we'll show you how to token-gate a Telegram chat with Unlock as well.

Before jumping into Guild and Telegram, make sure you have [set up a lock from the Unlock dashboard](https://unlock-protocol.com/guides/how-to-create-a-lock/). Remember the name of your lock.

Now, create a guild on [Guild.xyz](https://guild.xyz/). Connect your wallet, name your guild, give it a description, and select `Telegram`.

![guilda-png](/images/blog/guildxyz-telegram/guilda.png)

Now, open Telegram and start a new chat.

First, add the Guild bot (@guildxyz_bot) to your Telegram chat.

Then, in Telegram, configure the settings to allow the Guild bot to manage the chat.

Adjust the chat settings (set to Public, add a name, click "Done," then set the chat back to Private and click "Done").

![guild-1-gif](/images/blog/guildxyz-telegram/guild1.gif)

Set the Guild bot as an admin on the chat.

![guild-2-gif](/images/blog/guildxyz-telegram/guild2.gif)

After you've done the above, there will be a chat ID in the Telegram chat. (It'll look something like `-12345678`.) Copy the chat ID, hop back over the the Guild.xyz site, paste the chat ID into the box, and save.

![guild-3-jpg](/images/blog/guildxyz-telegram/guild3.jpg)

Ok! The Telegram side is in good shape now.

Head back over the the Guild.xyz site, and set up the token gate using an Unlock lock.

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

Save your updates, and you should be all set!

To invite someone to the token-gated chat, direct them to the Guild site for your guild. When someone attempts to join, Guild will manage the process and, if the visitor has the correct Unlock key in their wallet, Guild will link the new member over to the Telegram chat for you, seamlessly.

![telegram-with-correct-key.png](/images/blog/guildxyz-telegram/telegram-with-correct-key.png)

![telegram-link-to-chat.png](/images/blog/guildxyz-telegram/telegram-link-to-chat.png)

That's it! You now have a token-gated Telegram chat.

**Related:** Guild's Reka and Raz joined the Unlock Developer Meetup earlier this month and shared more thoughts!

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


Here's how to token-gate a Telegram chat with Unlock Protocol and Guild.xyz in minutes.

How to token-gate Telegram in minutes

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

<p>Earlier this month, we showed you <a href="/blog/guildxyz-launch">how to token-gate a Discord server</a> using Unlock and Guild.xyz.</p>
<p>Today, we'll show you how to token-gate a Telegram chat with Unlock as well.</p>
<p>Before jumping into Guild and Telegram, make sure you have <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/guides/how-to-create-a-lock/">set up a lock from the Unlock dashboard</a>. Remember the name of your lock.</p>
<p>Now, create a guild on <a href="https://guild.xyz/">Guild.xyz</a>. Connect your wallet, name your guild, give it a description, and select <code>Telegram</code>.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/guildxyz-telegram/guilda.png" alt="guilda-png"></p>
<p>Now, open Telegram and start a new chat.</p>
<p>First, add the Guild bot (@guildxyz_bot) to your Telegram chat.</p>
<p>Then, in Telegram, configure the settings to allow the Guild bot to manage the chat.</p>
<p>Adjust the chat settings (set to Public, add a name, click "Done," then set the chat back to Private and click "Done").</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/guildxyz-telegram/guild1.gif" alt="guild-1-gif"></p>
<p>Set the Guild bot as an admin on the chat.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/guildxyz-telegram/guild2.gif" alt="guild-2-gif"></p>
<p>After you've done the above, there will be a chat ID in the Telegram chat. (It'll look something like <code>-12345678</code>.) Copy the chat ID, hop back over the the Guild.xyz site, paste the chat ID into the box, and save.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/guildxyz-telegram/guild3.jpg" alt="guild-3-jpg"></p>
<p>Ok! The Telegram side is in good shape now.</p>
<p>Head back over the the Guild.xyz site, and set up the token gate using an Unlock lock.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/guildxyz-launch/unlock-protocol-guildxyz.gif" alt="guild-screenshot-gif"></p>
<p>Save your updates, and you should be all set!</p>
<p>To invite someone to the token-gated chat, direct them to the Guild site for your guild. When someone attempts to join, Guild will manage the process and, if the visitor has the correct Unlock key in their wallet, Guild will link the new member over to the Telegram chat for you, seamlessly.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/guildxyz-telegram/telegram-with-correct-key.png" alt="telegram-with-correct-key.png"></p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/guildxyz-telegram/telegram-link-to-chat.png" alt="telegram-link-to-chat.png"></p>
<p>That's it! You now have a token-gated Telegram chat.</p>
<p><strong>Related:</strong> Guild's Reka and Raz joined the Unlock Developer Meetup earlier this month and shared more thoughts!</p>
<div style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X5DKS48rDBE" title="Unlock Protocol and Guild.xyz Integration" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>



![siwe-header.png](/images/blog/siwe-blog/siwe-header.png)

## What is Sign-In with Ethereum?

In simple terms, Sign-In with Ethereum is a new standard form of authentication that enables end-users to access resources on the internet using their Ethereum account instead of relying on traditional authentication providers such as Google, Facebook, and the like.

According to the [EIP-4361 standard](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4361), the Sign-In with Ethereum specification "describes how Ethereum accounts authenticate with off-chain services by signing a standard message format parameterized by scope, session details, and security mechanisms (e.g., a nonce). The goals of this specification are to provide a self-custody alternative to centralized identity providers, improve interoperability across off-chain services for Ethereum-based authentication, and provide wallet vendors a consistent machine-readable message format to achieve improved user experiences and consent management."

## Why does Sign-In with Ethereum matter?

Historically, websites, web applications, and mobile apps not built with blockchain technology relied on centralized identity providers with centralized control over users' information. In most cases, these centralized identity providers were the only existing authentication infrastructure and were convenient to end users.

For example, Google provides you with an email address to send emails and sign up for services on the internet. In return, you agree to provide them with data they can use to tweak their algorithms to track you, serve you ads and [subconsciously influence your decisions](https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/algorithms-decision-making/). Google, Facebook, and others similarly provide identity services "for free," in exchange for keeping their users reliant on their silos.

A key question needs to be raised. What then happens to user data in the event of a data breach at one of these centralized services with millions of customers? Or what happens if a user simply wants to cut the cord with one of these centralized entities?

Enter "Sign-In with Ethereum."

The new Sign-In with Ethereum standard eliminates uncertainties about who has access to your private information, your digital footprint, and so on. Since the blockchain powers it, the Sign-In with Ethereum standard by default was designed with decentralization in mind.

## How is Sign-In with Ethereum different from current approaches?

The Sign-In with Ethereum authentication method differs from current centralized approaches because it is based on a new self-custodial option for internet users who wish to assume more control and responsibility for their own digital identity. (“Self-custody” means that you and only you have possession of your digital assets and only you control the private key. This also comes with a great deal of responsibility — you are responsible for safeguarding access to your private key because it is not stored anywhere else.)

Already, many services support workflows to authenticate identity using Ethereum accounts by way of message signing. With Sign-In with Ethereum, there is an opportunity to standardize the sign-in flow and improve interoperability across existing services while also providing wallet vendors a reliable method to identify signing requests.

## How to integrate with Unlock

Sign-In with Ethereum is the future of user authentication for the ".eth" era, and an increasing number of blockchain-tech companies have implemented their versions of the EIP-4361 standard, including Unlock Protocol.

Unlock Protocol recently announced their implementation of the EIP-4361 standard by updating [their documentation](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/unlock/developers/sign-in-with-ethereum) and in [this blog post](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/sign-in-with-ethereum) by its founder Julien Genestoux.

Until now, the act of prompting users for their wallet address to authenticate them was quite an arduous development process as there are many wallet providers; asking users to connect their wallets to your application requires the implementation of multiple APIs and approaches.

Unlock offers an easier way to implement the Sign-In with Ethereum authentication method with a few lines of code.

Unlock has created a flow similar to the popular OAuth flow that users are familiar with. When the user has signed the message, they get redirected to the application. The redirect URL contains a code that the developer can decode to retrieve the user's information. If the user also does not have a wallet address, they can sign up using Unlock.

Unlock does all the heavy-lifting, so developers can focus on building what matters.

Here’s how you can implement Sign-in with Ethereum into your application.

![iniubong-final.gif](/images/blog/siwe-blog/iniubong-final.gif)

We'll use Vue.Js for this demo and Tailwind for styling, but the concepts explained here can be replicated in any other framework.

> 💡 Editor's note: Please practice good code hygiene on any code or links you access on any website, including this one. Code samples referenced here may have changed after publication of this blog post, so please review them carefully before copying or implementing.

You can find all the code for this demo in the CodeSandbox below. Feel free to fork and tweak the code as you wish.
[https://codesandbox.io/embed/smoosh-dream-urw2qt?fontsize=14&hidenavigation=1&theme=dark](https://codesandbox.io/embed/smoosh-dream-urw2qt?fontsize=14&hidenavigation=1&theme=dark)

To get started, we need to create a Sign-In link with our application's URL as such:

```
https://app.unlock-protocol.com/checkout?client_id=urw2qt.csb.app&redirect_uri=https://urw2qt.csb.app
```

Just replace `urw2qt.csb.app` with your URL. Here, I'm using the link to the app generated by [CodeSandbox](https://urw2qt.csb.app).

For this to work, both `client_id` and `redirect_uri` are required fields, and the `client_id` field must match the host part of the `redirect_uri` for security reasons.

When the user clicks on the Sign-In link from our application, they get prompted to connect their wallet through whichever means they prefer. Once successfully connected, they will also be redirected to the application, this time with an extra query parameter. The value of this parameter is base64 encoded and can be decoded by your application to retrieve the signature message and the signed message. Using these two values, you can retrieve the address of the signer.

If the user refuses to connect and sign a message in their wallet, they get redirected back to the `redirect_uri`, and a new query string parameter is attached `?error=access-denied`.

## Too easy, right? That's the power of Unlock.

For more information on implementing Sign-In with Ethereum, visit the [official documentation](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/unlock/developers/sign-in-with-ethereum).

_This blog post is a guest post from Iniubong Obonguko. Iniubong is a frontend web developer & technical writer. You can read his blog [here](https://blog.iniubongobonguko.com/)._


Sign-In with Ethereum is a new standard form of authentication that enables end-users to access resources on the internet using their Ethereum account.

Sign-In with Ethereum is a new standard form of authentication

What is Sign-In with Ethereum?

<p><img src="/images/blog/siwe-blog/siwe-header.png" alt="siwe-header.png"></p>
<h2>What is Sign-In with Ethereum?</h2>
<p>In simple terms, Sign-In with Ethereum is a new standard form of authentication that enables end-users to access resources on the internet using their Ethereum account instead of relying on traditional authentication providers such as Google, Facebook, and the like.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4361">EIP-4361 standard</a>, the Sign-In with Ethereum specification "describes how Ethereum accounts authenticate with off-chain services by signing a standard message format parameterized by scope, session details, and security mechanisms (e.g., a nonce). The goals of this specification are to provide a self-custody alternative to centralized identity providers, improve interoperability across off-chain services for Ethereum-based authentication, and provide wallet vendors a consistent machine-readable message format to achieve improved user experiences and consent management."</p>
<h2>Why does Sign-In with Ethereum matter?</h2>
<p>Historically, websites, web applications, and mobile apps not built with blockchain technology relied on centralized identity providers with centralized control over users' information. In most cases, these centralized identity providers were the only existing authentication infrastructure and were convenient to end users.</p>
<p>For example, Google provides you with an email address to send emails and sign up for services on the internet. In return, you agree to provide them with data they can use to tweak their algorithms to track you, serve you ads and <a href="https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/algorithms-decision-making/">subconsciously influence your decisions</a>. Google, Facebook, and others similarly provide identity services "for free," in exchange for keeping their users reliant on their silos.</p>
<p>A key question needs to be raised. What then happens to user data in the event of a data breach at one of these centralized services with millions of customers? Or what happens if a user simply wants to cut the cord with one of these centralized entities?</p>
<p>Enter "Sign-In with Ethereum."</p>
<p>The new Sign-In with Ethereum standard eliminates uncertainties about who has access to your private information, your digital footprint, and so on. Since the blockchain powers it, the Sign-In with Ethereum standard by default was designed with decentralization in mind.</p>
<h2>How is Sign-In with Ethereum different from current approaches?</h2>
<p>The Sign-In with Ethereum authentication method differs from current centralized approaches because it is based on a new self-custodial option for internet users who wish to assume more control and responsibility for their own digital identity. (“Self-custody” means that you and only you have possession of your digital assets and only you control the private key. This also comes with a great deal of responsibility — you are responsible for safeguarding access to your private key because it is not stored anywhere else.)</p>
<p>Already, many services support workflows to authenticate identity using Ethereum accounts by way of message signing. With Sign-In with Ethereum, there is an opportunity to standardize the sign-in flow and improve interoperability across existing services while also providing wallet vendors a reliable method to identify signing requests.</p>
<h2>How to integrate with Unlock</h2>
<p>Sign-In with Ethereum is the future of user authentication for the ".eth" era, and an increasing number of blockchain-tech companies have implemented their versions of the EIP-4361 standard, including Unlock Protocol.</p>
<p>Unlock Protocol recently announced their implementation of the EIP-4361 standard by updating <a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/unlock/developers/sign-in-with-ethereum">their documentation</a> and in <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/sign-in-with-ethereum">this blog post</a> by its founder Julien Genestoux.</p>
<p>Until now, the act of prompting users for their wallet address to authenticate them was quite an arduous development process as there are many wallet providers; asking users to connect their wallets to your application requires the implementation of multiple APIs and approaches.</p>
<p>Unlock offers an easier way to implement the Sign-In with Ethereum authentication method with a few lines of code.</p>
<p>Unlock has created a flow similar to the popular OAuth flow that users are familiar with. When the user has signed the message, they get redirected to the application. The redirect URL contains a code that the developer can decode to retrieve the user's information. If the user also does not have a wallet address, they can sign up using Unlock.</p>
<p>Unlock does all the heavy-lifting, so developers can focus on building what matters.</p>
<p>Here’s how you can implement Sign-in with Ethereum into your application.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/siwe-blog/iniubong-final.gif" alt="iniubong-final.gif"></p>
<p>We'll use Vue.Js for this demo and Tailwind for styling, but the concepts explained here can be replicated in any other framework.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>💡 Editor's note: Please practice good code hygiene on any code or links you access on any website, including this one. Code samples referenced here may have changed after publication of this blog post, so please review them carefully before copying or implementing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You can find all the code for this demo in the CodeSandbox below. Feel free to fork and tweak the code as you wish.
<a href="https://codesandbox.io/embed/smoosh-dream-urw2qt?fontsize=14&#x26;hidenavigation=1&#x26;theme=dark">https://codesandbox.io/embed/smoosh-dream-urw2qt?fontsize=14&#x26;hidenavigation=1&#x26;theme=dark</a></p>
<p>To get started, we need to create a Sign-In link with our application's URL as such:</p>
<pre><code>https://app.unlock-protocol.com/checkout?client_id=urw2qt.csb.app&#x26;redirect_uri=https://urw2qt.csb.app
</code></pre>
<p>Just replace <code>urw2qt.csb.app</code> with your URL. Here, I'm using the link to the app generated by <a href="https://urw2qt.csb.app">CodeSandbox</a>.</p>
<p>For this to work, both <code>client_id</code> and <code>redirect_uri</code> are required fields, and the <code>client_id</code> field must match the host part of the <code>redirect_uri</code> for security reasons.</p>
<p>When the user clicks on the Sign-In link from our application, they get prompted to connect their wallet through whichever means they prefer. Once successfully connected, they will also be redirected to the application, this time with an extra query parameter. The value of this parameter is base64 encoded and can be decoded by your application to retrieve the signature message and the signed message. Using these two values, you can retrieve the address of the signer.</p>
<p>If the user refuses to connect and sign a message in their wallet, they get redirected back to the <code>redirect_uri</code>, and a new query string parameter is attached <code>?error=access-denied</code>.</p>
<h2>Too easy, right? That's the power of Unlock.</h2>
<p>For more information on implementing Sign-In with Ethereum, visit the <a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/unlock/developers/sign-in-with-ethereum">official documentation</a>.</p>
<p><em>This blog post is a guest post from Iniubong Obonguko. Iniubong is a frontend web developer &#x26; technical writer. You can read his blog <a href="https://blog.iniubongobonguko.com/">here</a>.</em></p>



![unfurl.png](/images/blog/unfurl/unfurl.png)

_Unfurl Connect is a grantee of the Unlock Protocol Grant Program. Unlock's Grant program provides grants to developers around the world creating solutions using Unlock Protocol. Learn more about the Unlock Protocol Grant Program at [https://unlock-protocol.com/grants](https://unlock-protocol.com/grants)._

## What is Unfurl Connect?

Unfurl Connect is a lock-aware identity provider – think “Connect with Google”, but with locks. It is fully Open ID Connect compliant so it works with virtually everything. Unfurl Connect was built by David Layton and was funded by the Unlock Protocol Grants Program.

## How does Unfurl Connect work?

Security roles are assigned/provided by querying the Unlock subgraphs on the backend with the relevant keys in the user's link wallet addresses and mapping the corresponding locks via the client's (lock manager) supplied lock-to-role mapping.

## What are the benefits of Unfurl Connect?

With Unfurl Connect, any app can go from no payment system, no login, and no user management to the gold standard for web security with 20-60 minutes of effort using Unlock and Unfurl. This should halve the development time for most SaaS-style MVPs using Unlock.

Additionally the added convenience, credibility/quality, and eventual network effect of this uniform experience across crypto-paid applications should drive adoption for Unlock but the penetration of crypto in general.

<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/bGV-W9i9GWM" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

## Unfurl resources

- **Website:** [https://unfurl-connect.com](https://unfurl-connect.com)
- **Source code:** [https://github.com/Unfurl-Connect](https://github.com/Unfurl-Connect)
- **Creator profile:** [https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-matthew-layton](https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-matthew-layton)
- **Dev languages:** Javascript, TypeScript


Unfurl Connect is a lock-aware identity provider – think “Connect with Google”, but with locks. It is fully Open ID Connect compliant so it works with virtually everything. Unfurl Connect was built by David Layton and was funded by the Unlock Protocol Grants Program.

An Open ID Connect compliant identity solution created with Unlock Protocol NFTs

Unfurl Connect | Unlock Grantee Spotlight

<p><img src="/images/blog/unfurl/unfurl.png" alt="unfurl.png"></p>
<p><em>Unfurl Connect is a grantee of the Unlock Protocol Grant Program. Unlock's Grant program provides grants to developers around the world creating solutions using Unlock Protocol. Learn more about the Unlock Protocol Grant Program at <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/grants">https://unlock-protocol.com/grants</a>.</em></p>
<h2>What is Unfurl Connect?</h2>
<p>Unfurl Connect is a lock-aware identity provider – think “Connect with Google”, but with locks. It is fully Open ID Connect compliant so it works with virtually everything. Unfurl Connect was built by David Layton and was funded by the Unlock Protocol Grants Program.</p>
<h2>How does Unfurl Connect work?</h2>
<p>Security roles are assigned/provided by querying the Unlock subgraphs on the backend with the relevant keys in the user's link wallet addresses and mapping the corresponding locks via the client's (lock manager) supplied lock-to-role mapping.</p>
<h2>What are the benefits of Unfurl Connect?</h2>
<p>With Unfurl Connect, any app can go from no payment system, no login, and no user management to the gold standard for web security with 20-60 minutes of effort using Unlock and Unfurl. This should halve the development time for most SaaS-style MVPs using Unlock.</p>
<p>Additionally the added convenience, credibility/quality, and eventual network effect of this uniform experience across crypto-paid applications should drive adoption for Unlock but the penetration of crypto in general.</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/bGV-W9i9GWM" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<h2>Unfurl resources</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>Website:</strong> <a href="https://unfurl-connect.com">https://unfurl-connect.com</a></li>
<li><strong>Source code:</strong> <a href="https://github.com/Unfurl-Connect">https://github.com/Unfurl-Connect</a></li>
<li><strong>Creator profile:</strong> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-matthew-layton">https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-matthew-layton</a></li>
<li><strong>Dev languages:</strong> Javascript, TypeScript</li>
</ul>



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

Let’s take a deeper look.

### Implementation details for Bring Your Own NFT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here’s how to do it.

### Walkthrough of Bring Your Own NFT on Unlock

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I now have the three ingredients I need:

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

Now it’s time to wire things up.

### Wiring the contracts up to the hook

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

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

The documentation tells us...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

> _Then, look for the `SetEventHooks` function_

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

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

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

### Wrapping up

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

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


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

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

Unlock Launches “Bring Your Own NFT” Token Gating

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



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

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

## Major updates to the Unlock checkout process

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

## Dashboard updates

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

## Dev tool updates

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

## Integrations

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

Want to know what’s going on with Unlock in real time? [Jump into our Discord](https://discord.com/invite/Ah6ZEJyTDp).


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

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

Unlock Protocol Product Updates for February 2022

<p><img src="/images/blog/feb-22-update/feb-22-banner.png" alt="feb-22-banner.png"></p>
<p>Welcome to the February 2022 product updates from Unlock! The team delivered a number of new features this month that connect Unlock even more easily with standards and partners across the web3 ecosystem. This month's new capabilities include:</p>
<h2>Major updates to the Unlock checkout process</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>Bring Your Own NFT</strong> — You can now <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/bring-your-own-nft">token gate anything using any ERC-721 NFT with Unlock Protocol</a>.</li>
<li><strong>Sign In With Ethereum</strong> — Unlock’s front-end now provides a “<a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/tools/sign-in-with-ethereum">Sign In With Ethereum</a>” endpoint that can be used by a third-party application to easily identify a user’s Ethereum address.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Dashboard updates</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>Support for change of maximum number of keys on dashboard</strong> — Creators can now change the maximum number of keys for their existing locks right from the dashboard.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Dev tool updates</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>Unlock WebSub support</strong> — The WebSub W3C standard enables publish/subscribe on any kind of HTTP resource. With <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/websub">WebSub enabled for Unlock</a>, applications can subscribe to Unlock changes, be notified when new locks are deployed, and be notified when new keys are created.</li>
<li><strong>Plugin hardhat for Unlock</strong> — Powered by <a href="https://www.hardhat.org">Hardhat</a>, we now have <a href="https://github.com/unlock-protocol/unlock/tree/master/packages/hardhat-plugin">tools to deploy and configure our contracts, submit DAO proposals, upgrade contracts</a>, etc.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Integrations</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>Refactored Cloudflare worker</strong> — We made <a href="https://github.com/unlock-protocol/cloudflare-worker">improvements to Unlock's CloudFlare worker</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>Want to know what’s going on with Unlock in real time? <a href="https://discord.com/invite/Ah6ZEJyTDp">Jump into our Discord</a>.</p>



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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Enabling subscriptions to new locks and new keys!

Websub

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



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

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

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

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

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


## Beyond Finance

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

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

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

> “Build finance around communities, not speculators” 

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

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

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

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

## Plurality

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

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

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

## The Softer Side of Community

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

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

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

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

> That can achieve directed outcomes.

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

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

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

## Regenerative Culture

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

Here are my favorite points from her slides:

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

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

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

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

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

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

## Our Collective Narratives

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

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

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


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

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

ETHDenver 2022 | Exploring the Evolution of web3

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



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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

## Bringing Tales of Elatora to Life

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

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

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

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

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

## Empowering Artists and Creators

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

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

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

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


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

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

A Community Unlocks the Tales of Elatora

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