Ethernity Community Update | Q2 2023
Welcome to our Ethernity Q2 Community Update. The “Builder’s Market” continues as we work in parallel with Ethernal Labs, powering their fast-growing comics and gaming divisions. Behind the scenes, we’re working daily and building nonstop, putting us ahead of market competitors. We’re proven to be well fortified and continue to be executing our vision. This past quarter took us to a number of industry conferences: NFTLA, NFTMiami, NFTNYC, and Consensus. The overall sentiment within the industry is clear: the impressive Ethernity team is dedicated, relentless and unquestionably here to build for the long term.
Overview of Update: here we’ll be giving you, the community, synopses of key developments:
- Stones Store
- Exorians Universe
- Gaming development
- Licensing & IP
- App finalization
- Tech Updates
- Team & Close
1. STONES STORE
We are excited to introduce the highly anticipated Stones Store, a game-changing addition to our platform! Launching on June 12th, the Stones Store will transform the quarterly Stones Event into a 24/7 shopping experience, offering our community a wide array of unique items and experiences.
Here’s a sneak peek at what the Stones Store will feature:
First Week: Users will have the opportunity to purchase Mystery Boxes containing exclusive NFTs, including the highly coveted Genesis Satoshi NFT. These Mystery Boxes will be available as buy-now items, allowing you to secure rare collectibles.
Second Week: Exciting auctions will take place for unique NFTs, including the Genesis Satoshi NFT. Bidders will compete for these special items, adding an element of thrill and competition.
Third Week: Get ready for Mystery Boxes filled with a mix of physical and digital goods, along with exclusive merchandise. These Mystery Boxes will be available as buy-now items, bringing an element of surprise to your shopping experience.
Fourth Week: The Stones Store will feature auctions for both digital and physical goods, providing a variety of exciting products for bidding.
2. EXORIANS UNIVERSE
Exciting progress continues to unfold in the development of the Exorians Universe!
As we previously announced, we have put our Exorians launch on hold. In the meantime, we have been working behind the scenes to create the entire ecosystem. We started with comics to familiarize the community with the Exorians story. The soft launch of the Exorians comic series will be during the San-Diego Comic-Con in late July. We also have a AAA Game being created under the supervision of Thomas Vu.
With the highly anticipated relaunch just around the corner this summer, the Ethernal Labs team are leaving no stone unturned in shaping this extraordinary franchise.
Comics: Our comic team, consisting of global names like Scott Snyder, Frank Tieri, Ryan Smallman, and others, has reached a significant milestone. They have meticulously finalized the debut issue of Exorians, setting the stage for an epic storytelling experience.
Brand: In our quest to provide an immersive and captivating universe, we have teamed up with the renowned branding agency, PaperCrowns. Together, we are crafting a brand-new identity and website for the Exorians Universe. We have removed content from our social media channels and placed exciting teasers on the icons to prepare for the re-launch.
Mint Pass: Rest assured that all Exorians Mint Pass holders will still be entitled to an incredible array of Exorians-related utilities, which will be released in the future. We’re working on a full plan with a set of exclusive deliverables for our holders. Anyone who has a Mint Pass should be excited with what’s to come.
3. EXORIANS GAME DEVELOPMENT
As some of you may know, Ethernal Labs launched its gaming vertical last quarter and has sprung into action- already developing its alpha demo, layout, world, first characters, and gameplay. Our dedicated gaming team have been hard at work, investing countless hours, diligently aligning the gameplay experience with the new brand and compelling storyline, ensuring that every player will be fully immersed in the captivating world of Exorians. Plus, we’re working with licensors for in-game IP crossover besides Exorians characters. This opens the game up to exciting outside character interaction.
Here is a community-only first preview of the game demo as released by Nick Rose, our CEO:
*(Old outdated character — for community showcasing purposes only)*
https://vimeo.com/ethernallabs/exoriansdemo?share=cop
Password: ERNGAMING10
4. LICENSING & IP
Bolstered by the addition of our new Licensing Lead, Luke Walsh, our team is in near final contract negotiations on a number of licensing and rights deals. This is twofold: both to power the rollout of our app as well as long term partnerships for years to come creating significant visibility and value to our community. Know that the industry experienced waves of hype and flattening demand when a gold rush mentality by both licensors and speculators augmented the market in 2022. Today, the landscape has enabled a major company like us to be able to engage in meaningful discussion and negotiation with the world’s leading brands. Announcements to follow.
5. APP FINALIZATION
First, a mea culpa from our team: we wanted to take a moment to share an important update on the status of our mobile and web app development because we know how excited you are to get your hands on it. After some delays to our initial timeline, we made important changes in our development team and are now continuing to build the app with an enhanced new roster of world class developers. The app is making incredible progress and is set to be delivered this year.
A. Application Development: We’ve been working tirelessly to create an app experience that lives up to the high standards you’ve come to expect from Ethernity. However, the initial development trajectory did not align with our vision for the app. This resulted in the need for a strategy pivot, so we decided to overhaul our dev team.
B. New Developers on Board: We’ve now enlisted an industry-leading development studio, a team known for crafting top-notch apps. Their experience and proven track record give us the confidence to say we are now on the right path.
C. Timeline: The new team is rocking and rolling! They’ve come onboard with enthusiasm and expertise, and have committed to completing the app asap this year. In the meantime, we will be resuming drops on ethernity.io
D. Front-End Reimplementation: While we are incredibly proud of the design outlined in Figma/XD, the implementation of it by our previous dev team didn’t quite hit the mark. Therefore, we’re redoing it from scratch to faithfully execute our original vision and ensure a user interface that matches the high-quality experience.
E. Back-End Re-Engineering: We noticed that the back-end had been developed in an overly complicated way. It’s currently being streamlined and simplified, ensuring stability, scalability, and enhanced performance.
F. Cross-Platform Compatibility: To ensure a seamless user experience across all platforms (iOS, Android, Web), we’re leveraging the power of React Native in our development process. This will help us maintain coherence across all platforms.
Now, this might feel like a setback, but remember, we are laser-focused on delivering the app as planned. We’re taking these steps not just for the sake of change, but because we believe in a top-quality product that meets and surpasses your expectations. Rest assured that we remain committed to our original promise of conducting thorough testing of the mobile app involving our community members. We appreciate your patience and continued support as we work towards bringing you the best possible mobile app experience.
6. TECH UPDATES
Below please find a hit list of all the technical upgrades our development team has been working on and implementing. Our dev team is one of the industry’s best and continues to deliver stellar work.
A. FIXED STAKING:
We have an important update regarding our Fixed Staking product. The available rewards in the current pool have been completely depleted, and we saw this as an opportunity to implement significant improvements. As a result, we have taken the initiative to build a completely new Fixed Staking contract from scratch.
Rest assured, this new contract has undergone meticulous auditing and thorough verification to ensure the highest level of security. One of the major advantages of this new contract is the enhanced flexibility it offers, allowing us to add rewards at any given point in time.
In light of the Goerli testnet’s upcoming decommissioning by the end of the year, we have migrated to the Sepolia testnet. Currently, we are in the final stages of testing the new contract on Sepolia testnet and once we successfully launch the Stones Store, we will be ready to reopen the Fixed Staking pool this summer.
B. TESTNET MIGRATION:
The migration process from Goerli Testnet to Sepolia Testnet has been successfully completed. This decision was prompted by the escalating gas fees on the Goerli Testnet, as well as a decline in the number of nodes confirming transactions. Despite Goerli Testnet being supported until the end of 2023, the unsustainable gas fees and limited transaction confirmations made it necessary for us to transition to a more stable testing environment. As a result of this migration, the launch of the Stones Store has been pushed from May to June.
Ensuring thorough testing and having a reliable testnet is paramount to us. Hence, we prioritized the migration process to the Sepolia Testnet to facilitate the smooth implementation of the Stones Store and other upcoming products. We would like to express our gratitude to the community for their support and understanding as we strive to deliver the best possible experiences through meticulous testing and a robust infrastructure.
C. PRIZE REDEMPTION MECHANISM
We are excited to announce that the 3rd DAO voting has concluded, and the community has chosen to implement a new and innovative way of redeeming prizes obtained from the Stones Store. This option emerged as the winner and will be integrated into our upcoming initiatives, serving as one of the final steps before the launch of the Stones Store.
The chosen redemption method includes the following principles:
Burning NFTs: To redeem a prize, owners will need to burn the corresponding NFT, incurring an additional gas fee similar to the process used for Stones Madness Physical Jerseys.
Initiation from Product Page: The redemption process can be initiated by NFT owners directly from the product page view.
Transfer and Sale: NFT owners will have the flexibility to transfer or sell their redeemed NFTs to other clients or wallets.
Time Limit: We want to keep things fair and efficient, so we’re setting a reasonable time limit of 90 days for redeeming your prize. If you don’t redeem it within that time, it will be forfeited.
We appreciate the active participation of our community in shaping these decisions. The implementation of this new redemption process will enhance the overall experience for our community members, providing a seamless and transparent method to redeem prizes.
7. TEAM ADDITIONS & CLOSE
At Ethernal Labs, the parent company of Ethernity, we conduct daily team calls to discuss our ongoing projects and progress. During these meetings, we actively gather valuable information that is worth sharing with our community. We carefully select highlights from these discussions to create a comprehensive update. The primary objective of this initiative is to offer valuable insights into the behind-the-scenes activities of our team.
In fact, we brought on two new key members to the team this past quarter:
Luke Walsh joined as our Licensing Lead. Luke was formerly the Director Of Business Development at partner company, ABG, Authentic Brands Group, and he brings a wealth of inside industry knowledge connecting us to the top licensors and rights holders across a spectrum of IP.
Sergio Rodriguez next joined our team on the community front. Sergio is a passionate collectibles expert who’s been active across the board throughout various collectibles communities. He provides incomparable insight to the very pulse of what collectors are aiming for.
And to close, a disclaimer of sorts. It is vital to understand that the information we share is not set in stone and is subject to change. Our work is dynamic and continuously evolving, and we kindly ask our community members to adjust their expectations accordingly. If you haven’t already done so, we invite you to visit the “Community Updates” channel on Discord where we’ll share more about our work and progress with you all.
Stay tuned as we approach the momentous relaunch of the Exorians Universe, our app rollout, licensing partnerships, and constant technical upgrades. The stage is set, and we can’t wait to invite you to embark on this extraordinary journey with us.
