Background

According to NFTScan data, over the past four years, more than 2 billion NFTs have been minted across major blockchain networks, with the global market cap now reaching hundreds of billions of dollars. Currently, around 4,000 to 6,000 NFT projects are launched daily, contributing approximately 5 million new NFTs each day. NFTs are rapidly evolving as one of the most dynamic categories of crypto assets on the blockchain.

Compared to fungible tokens, NFTs offer superior scalability and programmability. NFT assets can embed richer metadata, enhancing the utility of blockchain ledgers and enabling the creation of more valuable on-chain assets. Meanwhile, NFTs have diverse applications across AI Agents, intellectual property (IP), Real-World Assets (RWA), AI-generated content (AIGC), music, ticketing, membership systems, reputation systems, digital identity, crypto art, gaming, entertainment, social interaction, and brand marketing. NFTs are set to revolutionize many Web2 industries, significantly improving operational efficiency and value capture.

On another level, NFTs, being more accessible and understandable, facilitate the global dissemination of decentralized and distributed blockchain concepts, promoting blockchain education and adoption worldwide. As a new class of crypto assets, NFTs will play a crucial role in this process.

During the past few years, our team identified several challenges in the NFT sector, such as low standardization of NFT assets, lack of liquidity, and chaotic data copyright management. These problems are likely to have a significant impact on the NFT industry and ecosystem, both now and in the future. Therefore, we have decided to build Mint Blockchain, providing developers with a secure, stable, decentralized network and an efficient, agile development environment.

Introduction to Mint Blockchain

Mint Blockchain is an Ethereum Layer2 network initiated by NFTScan Labs and the MintCore developer team, starting its development in October 2023. The mainnet launched in May 2024, marking the beginning of its ecosystem development phase.

Mint Blockchain is built on the OP Stack, positioning it as a native Layer2 solution and a core member of the Optimism Superchain. Its DA layer relies on the Ethereum mainnet, ensuring security through Ethereum’s consensus mechanism. Being fully EVM-compatible, Ethereum developers can seamlessly expand their projects onto Mint Blockchain. As a Layer2 scaling network, Mint Blockchain significantly reduces gas fees, enhancing scalability for the Ethereum ecosystem.

The Mint team is actively developing a comprehensive suite of open-source infrastructure around NFT assets on Mint Blockchain, including NIPs Platform, Mint Studio, IP Layer, Mint Liquid, and NFT-AI Agent.

Mint Blockchain’s Vision & Mission:

Using NFTs to connect global users and AI Agents, enabling every individual in human society—including both humans and AI Agents—to freely own NFT assets. Our goal is to make NFTs the most unrestricted value carrier in the crypto world.

Core Modules of Mint Blockchain

Mint Blockchain aims to create a decentralized network dedicated to serving the entire lifecycle of NFT assets, from issuance to trading and settlement, to on-chain data indexing. The current key modules of Mint Blockchain include:

Module 1: Mint Studio

Mint Studio is an NFT creation tool designed for creators and developers, supporting the minting of text, images, audio, and video into NFTs across networks like Mint Blockchain, Berachain, Base, Optimism, and BNBChain.

Module 2: IP Layer

The IP Layer provides IP assetization services for NFTs across 20+ blockchains, including Ethereum, Mint Blockchain, Solana, Berachain, Base, Optimism, and BNBChain. It allows users to register and price their NFT assets on-chain, enabling royalty earnings.

Module 3: Mint Liquid

Mint Liquid is a multi-chain liquidity solution supporting NFT and token trading, built using protocols like Superchain, ERC7683, Uniswap, and Across Protocol. It enables cross-chain liquidity aggregation and asset interoperability.

Module 4: RWA-Rareshop

RareShop is the world’s first consumer-oriented RWA NFT marketplace, leveraging the ERC7765 asset protocol standard to offer features like crypto payments, privacy protection, pre-sales, gifting, and physical delivery, providing comprehensive Web3 solutions for global brands.

Module 5: NFT-AI Agent

NFT-AI Agent integrates with NFTScan, Mint Studio, IP Layer, and Mint Liquid, offering:

1. NFT Image Recognition
2. On-Chain NFT Data Retrieval
3. Token/NFT On-Chain Trading
4. NFT Market Trend Analysis

Business Summary:

Through the development of the five core modules, Mint Blockchain is building a decentralized network dedicated to serving NFT assets. This network covers the entire lifecycle of NFTs, from asset issuance to trading & settlement and on-chain data indexing. Mint Blockchain aims to make NFTs the most valuable asset class in the crypto world, enabling everyone to own NFT assets and establishing NFTs as a free asset connecting humans and AI Agents.

Mint Ecosystem Incentive Mechanism

To better promote the innovation of NFT asset protocols and consumer applications, Mint Blockchain introduces an incentive mechanism at the economic model level, focused on rewarding innovative asset protocol developers. The incentives will be funded by MintDAO. The details are as follows:

• NFTs to Earn: Encourages creators to create new NFT assets within the Mint ecosystem.
• Mint Eco Fund: Invests in and supports native applications and developer teams within the Mint ecosystem.
• ETH Gas Rewards: Rewards outstanding protocol standards and applications with ETH gas incentives.
• RetroPGF Mechanism: Offers long-term retroactive rewards to infrastructure builders of the Mint ecosystem.

Mint Blockchain Tokenomics

Mint's native token, MINT, coordinates all the flow of value in the Mint ecosystem.

• Token Name: MINT
• Token Ticker: $MINT
• Total Supply: 1 Billion

Mint Blockchain ($MINT) Token Distribution:

82% for community builders, early supporters, and ecosystem developers:

• MintDAO: 50%
• Launch Contributors: 20%
• Community Airdrop: 12%

18% for the MintCore team.

$MINT Token Utility:

$MINT performs several key functions within the Mint Blockchain ecosystem:

1. Governance Rights: $MINT holders have voting rights to participate in the governance of the Mint Blockchain network.
2. Ecosystem Incentives: $MINT is used to incentivize developers to build and contribute to the development of the Mint Blockchain ecosystem.
3. Utility: As the native cryptocurrency of Mint Blockchain, $MINT serves as the official asset for use within the network. It is the designated staking asset for Mint Blockchain validators.
4. Asset Pricing: $MINT is used for asset pricing and transaction pricing during the issuance of Real-World Asset (RWA), NFT, Token, Meme, and other assets on the Mint Blockchain network.

MINT Staking & Restaking Mechanism

Mint Blockchain implements a decentralized distribution of rewards for network transaction ordering through the $MINT Staking & Restaking mechanism.

After the $MINT Token Generation Event (TGE), users will be able to participate in $MINT staking through the MintPool protocol. MintPool is a decentralized staking protocol on the Mint Blockchain network, which supports the staking of $MINT, $ETH, and NFT assets.

When users stake $MINT, they must choose a Staking Node for the staking operation. Staking Nodes can be classified into two types:

• Super Node: Super Nodes are initially evaluated based on reputation and require staking a certain amount of $MINT tokens to run a node server. Super Node members must actively contribute to the development of the Mint ecosystem and are typically made up of large infrastructure providers and investment organizations within the Mint ecosystem.
• Base Node: Base Nodes are community-driven nodes and are generally formed by the global Mint community and developer communities. Base Nodes are more open and have lower entry barriers, allowing any developer organization or crypto community to apply and join the Mint ecosystem. Both Super Nodes and Base Nodes can receive node mining rewards funded by MintDAO. The rewards are based on the amount of $MINT staked in each Staking Node, typically around 10% of the staking rewards that are additionally distributed to the Staking Nodes by MintDAO.

After users stake $MINT via a Staking Node, they will receive staking certificates called sMINT Tokens (Staked MINT Tokens).

Holding sMINT provides an APR of 15% in $MINT token mining rewards, funded by MintDAO.

Once users acquire sMINT, they can combine it into BC721 Mint-eNFT assets (the required amount of sMINT varies based on the Bonding Curve, adding an element of strategy and excitement). Holding a BC721 Mint-eNFT grants users 50% of Mint Blockchain’s sequencer revenue (after deducting DA fees and Superchain fees) as mining rewards. This process can be understood as a Restaking operation for $MINT tokens.

Summary of Earnings from $MINT Staking & Restaking:

Users participating in $MINT Staking & Restaking will gain two layers of rewards:

1. First Layer: An APR of 15% in $MINT as staking rewards.

2. Second Layer: 50% of the net ETH earnings from the Mint Blockchain’s sequencer revenue as Restaking rewards.

This Staking & Restaking mechanism greatly improves the capital efficiency of $MINT tokens, strengthens the security of the Mint Blockchain network, stabilizes the ecosystem’s economy, and decentralizes the distribution of network sequencer revenue rewards. It also enables the community to capture long-term benefits from the Mint Blockchain’s development, enhancing consensus within the community and promoting active participation in the ecosystem’s growth.

MintDAO Organization

MintDAO is the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) within the Mint Blockchain ecosystem, managing 50% of the total $MINT supply through a multi-signature wallet. As the Mint ecosystem grows, the multi-signature authority of MintDAO will gradually be delegated to the core organizations and builders within the Mint ecosystem, aiming for decentralized governance of ecosystem development.

Core Functions of MintDAO:

• $MINT Basic Liquidity Provision: MintDAO is responsible for providing early liquidity for the $MINT asset.
• Mint Staking Incentives: MintDAO funds the staking rewards for the $MINT token.
• Mint Eco Fund: MintDAO directly manages the Mint Eco Fund, investing in innovative products and protocols within the Mint ecosystem.
• Mint Blockchain Branding: MintDAO promotes the Mint Blockchain brand globally, helping to expand the adoption of the NFT market.
• Mint Community Growth: Through the creation of MintHub, MintDAO drives community development globally, ensuring that more users understand and use the Mint network.
• Mint Ecosystem Growth: MintDAO facilitates the development of the Mint Blockchain developer ecosystem through hosting online and offline developer events.

Funding Sources for MintDAO:

• Initial Allocation of $MINT: 50% of the total $MINT supply, which is 500 million $MINT tokens.
• Mint Blockchain Sorter Revenue (ETH): A portion of the ETH earnings from the Mint Blockchain network’s sorter will be allocated to the MintDAO treasury.
• Mint Eco Fund Investment Earnings: The investment returns from the Mint Eco Fund will contribute to the MintDAO treasury.

MintDAO Treasury Expenditure:

All major expenditures from the MintDAO treasury will be disclosed on-chain, allowing the public to verify. Regular operational expenses of MintDAO will undergo third-party auditing.

Mint Blockchain Resources

Website: https://mintchain.io (opens in a new tab)

X: https://x.com/Mint_Blockchain (opens in a new tab)

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/mint-blockchain (opens in a new tab)

Github: https://github.com/Mint-Blockchain (opens in a new tab)

Blog: https://mirror.xyz/mintchain.eth (opens in a new tab)

Ecosystem: https://www.mintchain.io/applications (opens in a new tab)

Mint Eco Fund: https://www.mintchain.io/ecofund (opens in a new tab)

MintPool: https://mintpool.mintchain.io (opens in a new tab)

Developer Docs: https://docs.mintchain.io (opens in a new tab)

Block Explorer: https://explorer.mintchain.io (opens in a new tab)

NFTScan: https://mint.nftscan.com (opens in a new tab)

L2beat: https://l2beat.com/scaling/activity (opens in a new tab)

Growthepie: https://www.growthepie.xyz (opens in a new tab)

Similarweb: https://www.similarweb.com/zh/website/mintchain.io (opens in a new tab)

Conclusion

Mint Blockchain is positioned to be a transformative force in the NFT ecosystem, offering a secure, scalable, and decentralized infrastructure designed to empower creators, developers, and users across the Web3 landscape. By leveraging Ethereum Layer 2 technology and integrating advanced solutions like Mint Studio, IP Layer, Mint Liquid, RareShop, and NFT-AI Agent, Mint Blockchain provides the essential building blocks for the future of NFTs and decentralized applications.

With its mission to connect global users and AI agents through NFT assets, Mint Blockchain aims to foster a vibrant, inclusive ecosystem that empowers individuals to freely own and trade digital assets. The Mint DAO governance model and innovative incentive structures ensure the long-term growth and sustainability of the platform, while its multi-chain capabilities and seamless interoperability make it a valuable addition to the broader Web3 space.

As we continue to enhance the Mint Blockchain ecosystem, our vision remains clear: to unlock the true potential of NFTs as a decentralized value carrier and bring about a new era of digital ownership and innovation. By driving the adoption of NFT standards, creating opportunities for decentralized finance, and revolutionizing industries across the globe, Mint Blockchain is at the forefront of the Web3 digital revolution.

We invite developers, creators, and users to join us on this journey and help shape the future of the blockchain-powered world.