SuperRare Investment Report | Deep Dive
Review Date: August 13, 2021
Project Overview
Created by its parent company Pixura, SuperRare is paving the way as the most “exclusive” NFT marketplace by creating an ecosystem of talented artists that only sell single-edition artworks. Built leveraging Ethereum and ERC- 721 NFT tokens, SuperRare provides artists and collectors the highest quality of security alongside an intuitive peer- to-peer marketplace
Project Description
A decentralized social platform for selling unique digital artwork, SuperRare is utilizing the power of non-fungible tokens (NFT’s) to introduce artists to a new medium to get their art recognized. Using SuperRare’s NFT platform and marketplace, artists are empowered to create limited edition artwork that is uniquely identifiable and copyrighted by way of blockchain technology.
Transforming the way we collect, interact, and showcase artwork – the platform gives collectors the ability to display their art collections in virtual galleries and sell artworks securely with royalties going back to the creator. To ensure the highest quality artists and artwork is available on their platform at all times, SuperRare implemented a stringent vetting process before onboarding new artists. In addition to this, SuperRare hopes to protect a collector’s downside by accepting artists who spend more time on individual pieces – hoping to create exclusivity and a lower total supply of a respected artist’s work. Using the power of the second-largest blockchain, SuperRare has been able to create an ecosystem for collectors and artists where they can mutually enjoy art without having to worry about fraud, forgery, and scams.
Unique Value Proposition
Featuring creator exhibitions, projects, and special releases – SuperRare curates and recognizes unique artists. With the capability of browsing and building collections of the most cutting-edge digital artwork, customers are also guaranteed the peace of mind of owning exclusive artwork with SuperRare’s strict adherence to copyright and intellectual property laws. With all transactions happening on-chain, the platform is able to maintain and create a tamper-proof record of each artwork’s history; unlike competitors like OpenSea or Rarible, SuperRare’s vetting process does not let just anyone sell on their platform.
Use Case
Minting their first NFT artwork on April 5th of 2018, SuperRare has accumulated $90M to date in NFT sales by over 1400 artists. As part of this artistic revolution, the platform has been able to capitalize on the new form of art collection and curation by putting ownership in the hands of artists, collectors, and a digital art community at large. SuperRare is also ensuring exclusivity and security by building and hosting its marketplace through ERC-721 smart contracts. As an up and coming marketplace, SuperRare has attempted to distinguish itself from competitors like OpenSea and Rarible by creating a unique vetting process that funnels only the best talent to ensure the highest quality of inventory. Also, to attract more mainstream attention to the protocol, the team implemented a chic graphical user interface that allows users to follow and like an artists’ page or work. With the recent launch of its curation token $RARE, and the planned transition of the protocol to a decentralized autonomous organization, SuperRare is positioning itself as the go-to platform for one-off exclusive NFT’s.
Technology
Previously, the only major technological component of the protocol was Ethereum ER-721 smart contracts. However, the experienced team at SuperRare and parent company Pixura has just released the following updates to the protocol.
As of 08/17/2021, SuperRare has deployed the following advancements to its protocol:
- SuperRare Spaces: With the hope of becoming a DAO, SuperRare is utilizing the power of its large community to create community-vetted galleries for curators and collectors to highlight and release work through the platform. Overseen by a group of delegators who have staked a necessary amount of $RARE token, elected delegators will be able to choose and onboard artists of their choosing, and earn commission on all sales through their Space. With the intention to shift into a DAO, the platform is also earning on-chain commission on sales from these community curated spaces – giving holder’s a greater incentive to pursue high-quality curation of the entire ecosystem.
- SuperRare DAO: Already beginning to route funds to the new DAO, SuperRare has created a community treasury backed by $ETH and $RARE to be governed by the $RARE token holders and community. Appointing a genesis governance council to oversee this shift, SuperRare is implementing this core step of decentralization to further its mission of being a community- driven platform that is owned by and for the people. Currently, the SuperRare governance council is tasked with overseeing curated spaces, the community treasury, and the platform’s future.
- Sovereign Smart Contracts: Built using Ethereum’s native ERC-721 smart contract, SuperRare has created its own multi-contract platform that provides “Sovereign Smart Contracts” which allows independent artists to mint their own NFT’s or project-branded tokens.
NFTs: Representing ownership over digital or physical assets NFT’s can be considered to be a diverse universe of assets that are quickly expanding due to their decentralized nature and uniqueness.
Some current use-cases include:
- Physical Property – Houses, Unique Artwork
- Virtual Collectibles – Unique digital artwork, in- game horses, and collectible cards
- “Negative Value” Assets – loans, burdens, and other liabilities
By creating a simple-to-use application for individuals to collect ERC-721 NFT’s, SuperRare is distinguishing itself from its competition by creating a more personable collecting experience for collectors while simultaneously granting generous royalties to artists.
Main Features: Leading the industry as one of the most successful iterations of a decentralized social network alongside an NFT marketplace, SuperRare offers users the following features via its landing page.
- Features: Showcasing exciting collaborations, artists, and other community favorite pieces, the “Features” page is an opportunity for NFT artists to showcase their work for a better opportunity of catching the eye of a potential investor. Currently, there are 30+ features on SuperRare.
- Activities: Displaying a personalized news feed of artists, the “Activities” page gives users the ability to follow and like their favorite NFT’s and creators – ensuring an interactive community experience for everyone on the platform.
- Community: With a vibrant community of over 130,000 on Twitter alone, the SuperRare team keeps its followers engaged by featuring daily updates and activities on artists in the SuperRare Editorial. The editorial is also the best place for art inspiration and information on current and upcoming art sales. The SuperRare team has also teamed up with the Medium blog which hosts weekly news updates and announcements for readers.
Token Utility
Owning SuperRare’s native token $RARE provides holders with the following benefits:
- Committed to being a DAO, holders of $RARE will oversee key platform parameters, allocate funds from community treasury, and vote on featured SuperRare Spaces and artists.
- In addition to governance, $RARE will also provide users with the ability to stake their tokens to different galleries to signal their favorite art pieces – curating the best artwork for the community
Tokenomics: Airdropping $RARE tokens to early artists and user’s of the platform, SuperRare is committed to its decentralized vision of becoming the go-to platform for artists by rewarding those who have been most influential on their platform to date. As of July 21, 2021, the $RAREdrop for early user’s was subject to the following distribution:
Nature of Token Supply:
With a total circulating supply of 1 billion $RARE tokens representing the value of this exclusive NFT marketplace and the vibrant community that it is building, SuperRare is incentivizing the continuous growth of its platform by handing over control to a community-owned DAO. Ensuring its protocol growth, the native token $RARE is subject to the following distribution and emission schedule shared below:
Token Supply and Liquidity
SuperRare currently has a circulating supply of ~101 million tokens, approximately 10% of its projected supply. With a daily trading volume of approximately 77 million dollars and a market cap of 110 million dollars, SuperRare currently has a liquidity ratio of 70%.
Exchanges
SuperRare is currently being traded on 10+ exchanges, including:
Uniswap (V2), Uniswap (V3), Sushiswap, DODO, Ox Protocol, 1inch Exchange, MEXC, AEX, BKEX, ZT
Company History
SuperRare was founded in 2017 by John Crain, Charles Crain, and Jonathan Perkins- the CEO, CTO, and CPO. They are also the founders of Pixura, the company building the crypto collectible technology running SuperRare. It was launched in April 2018, and although sales averaged at about $8,000 a month for their first year, SuperRare has done over $90M in NFT Art Sales since. In early 2021, SuperRare raised a $9M Series A led by Velvet Sea Ventures and 1confirmation, with participation from other investors like Collaborative fund and Mark Cuban. In August of 2021, SuperRare launched a “curation token” to decentralize the Project: the $RARE curation token. It is a means to identify and empower new curatorial talent in the SuperRare Community. The $RARE curation token will be used as the primary vehicle to onboard a growing network of curators, collectives, and galleries.
Leadership
John Crain, CEO and Cofounder: Passionate about using computers, programming, and processing to create art. Technology and blockchain-focused entrepreneur.
Jonathan Perkins, CPO and Cofounder: Software engineer & blockchain entrepreneur with diverse experience in web application development.
Charles Crain, CTO and Cofounder: Blockchain Entrepreneur, Haskell/Purescript developer. Passionate about applying his experience in technology to help others.
Competition
Rarible, OpenSea, MakersPlace, Palm NFT
Early Investor
SuperRare raised a total of $9 million in their first Series A, with Velvet Sea Ventures and 1confirmation leading the round. Other investors include Version1 ventures, Collaborative Fund, Shrug Capital, Third Kind, The LAO, SamsungNext, Mark Cuban, Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary’s Sound Ventures, Andrew Steinwold, Marc Benioff, Naval Ravikant, and Chamath Palihapitiya.
Community Size
The SuperRare community is a big one,
Twitter: 127.3K Followers
Telegram: ~2K Followers
Instagram: ~230K Followers
Non-Crypto Mainstream Press
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/superrare-drops-rare-token-to-decentralize-nft-marketplace-2021-08-17 https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/30/nft-art-marketplace-superrare-closes-9-million-series-a/
Verdict
SuperRare is an NFT marketplace and decentralized network that aims to connect artists and art investors. The platform allows artists to work directly with dedicated enthusiasts by buying, selling, and collecting ERC-721 NFTs. Allowing only rare, single-edition artworks on their platform, these digital collectibles are secured by way of cryptography on the second-largest blockchain, Ethereum. With the potential of becoming the go-to platform for artists and collectors, SuperRare is in a unique position to become the most exclusive community governed DAO that features an NFT marketplace. After just launching its platform and its $RARE token, SuperRare has the opportunity to overshadow competitors like Rarible and PalmNFT if it continues to expand at the rate that it has. Although it is still a young project, SuperRare has attracted a large online presence in the crypto and mainstream media as a robust community of almost half a million followers. As the platform continues to attract more artists and collectors, SuperRare is continuing its development under the guidance of its DAO, hoping for a full-product launch in 2022.
After evaluating the project in its entirety, the Token Metrics team scored SuperRare objectively, and the results were the following:
Fundamental Score 87%
Competition 5/10
Team 13/15
Community 5/5
Web Design 4/5
Good Use-Case 20/20
Investors/Partners 15/15
Token Distribution 5/10
Tokenomics 5/10
Audit N/A
ROI Potential 6/10
References
- Labs, SuperRare. “$RARE Curation.” August 16, 2021
- Labs, SuperRare. “$RARE Curation.” August 16, 2021
- Labs, SuperRare. “$RARE Curation.” August 16, 2021
Disclaimer
Token Metrics Media LLC is a regular publication of information, analysis and commentary focused especially on blockchain technology and business, cryptocurrency, blockchain-based tokens, market trends, and trading strategies.
Token Metrics Media LLC does not provide individually tailored investment advice and does not take a subscriber’s or anyone’s personal circumstances into consideration when discussing investments; nor is Token Metrics Media LLC registered as an investment adviser or broker-dealer in any jurisdiction.
Information contained herein is not an offer or solicitation to buy, hold or sell any security. The Token Metrics team have advised and invested in many blockchain companies. A complete list of their advisory roles and current holdings can be viewed here: https://tokenmetrics.com/disclosures/
