Popular nonfungible token (NFT) collector “punk6529” unveiled an ambitious open Metaverse project that is looking to attract 100 million users on Thursday.
The self-funded project is dubbed “OM” and aims to be an open platform that is built and shared by the community. The broader vision for the project is to launch 10 self-governing cities with a maximum population of 10 million each.
The museum district of the first city (Genesis City) was launched in alpha mode earlier Thursday, with punk6529 bullishly telling their 323,200 Twitter followers that it might be “the most high-end art NFTs ever displayed in one place.”
A promo video for OM shows a long list of NFTs from top projects such as CryptoPunks, Tyler Hobbs’ Fidenza collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club and Art Blocks. At this stage, there are 2000 NFTs on display that belong to either punk6529 or the project’s team members. However, new users will be also able “load” their NFTs into OM’s galleries.
The NFT proponent outlined that they are not looking to charge fees or generate crowdfunding at this stage, as they look to deliver a working product before scaling up via investment. At this stage, anyone is free to join and build in the alpha, as long as their “ideas match” that of the museum district.
“I do not want your ETH, I want your input on how to design OM. I collect in public, I invest in public and we are going to build OM in public together.”
“The fundamental governance model of OM is at the district level: Districts can either be "developed" or "open." 6529 is going to develop the 6529 Museum District, for example. Others can develop others. Others can be free-for-all experimental spaces,” they added.
In terms of scale, punk6529 stated that the museum district has 25 active buildings in the center square, along with another 2000 buildings that are yet to be activated.
“Each building can host between 1 to 100 spaces, so this district type can easily host 100,000 citizens,” punk6529 said.
The NFT collector also offered their take on an open Metaverse, noting that they envision OM as having “no one party in charge. A Metaverse where you don’t have to worry "who is the shareholder and do you agree with them?"
“This is not so shocking, humans have accomplished this before. There is not one human being in charge of: email, or HTML or TCP/IP or Bitcoin or ERC-721.”
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For the project to grow and attract a mainstream audience, punk6529 notes that it will have to be affordable, user friendly and provide a bridge to the real world to scale beyond “ETH/crypto degens.”
If all goes to plan, OM will transition into a public beta around June or July if the Metaverse attracts enough users and the tech is able to support further development and large spaces.
Cointelegraph has reached out to punk6529 for more information on the project and will update the story if they respond.