Web3 is all about community, whether you’re an NFT project founder looking for fellow degens who share your vision, a dev building a cool tool looking for traction, or an artist who’s attracted a dedicated group of collectors. 

NFTs are often used to represent membership in a community, but their utility often ends there. So what to do if you’re a creator who wants to reward holders? You could airdrop some ERC-20 tokens, token gate some content or experience on a Web2.5 platform, whitelist wallet addresses for a companion NFT drop, offer IRL merch, etc. 

But what if you could turn your existing NFTs into a content-delivery channel so you could reward holders directly with exclusive content?

The Darkblock protocol makes this a reality. As a creator, you can use Darkblock to add decentralized unlockable content to any NFT. You can add content to a single NFT, an entire collection, or even target NFTs with specific traits. The content you deliver is up to you; could be music, videos, lectures, comic books, animations, 3D metaverse assets, ebooks—the format is not a limiting factor. There’s also no limit to the amount of content you can add to an NFT, so you can provide a constant stream of content to NFT holders.

This added utility enables creators to explore new Web3-enabled business models. Want to deliver a new issue of your comic book to your audience each week? That’s doable. Want to release a new episode of your own animated TV show? Yep. Want to sell NFTs to your audience and use them as a delivery channel for your OnlyFans content? It’s possible with Darkblock.

How exactly does it work? Using the Darkblock app (or a growing number of Web3 platforms integrating the Darkblock protocol), NFT creators upload the digital content they want to sell via NFTs or deliver to existing holders. Darkblock’s protocol then encrypts the content, stores it on Arweave (the only decentralized and permanent storage solution out there), and immutably ties to your chosen NFT. Again, you can attach content to a single NFT, an entire 10k PFP collection, or use the trait-targeting feature to deliver a piece of content to the holders of… female zombie heads, for example. From the creator dashboard, you can also determine how you want holders to be able to interact with your content. Is it downloadable or not? Can it be rented out (using the protocol to allow holders to rent darkblock content is on the roadmap)? Up to you as the creator.   

Darkblock currently supports five chains: Ethereum, Solana, Tezos, Polygon and Avalanche. The tool to upgrade a single NFT is at app.darkblock.io. If you’re interested in the full collection-upgrade tool, you’ll need to use one of these links (as the feature is still in beta and not fully integrated into our web app yet):

But how do NFT holders access the content, you might ask. NFT owners could always use the Darkblock web app, but an even better solution would be for you as an NFT creator (or dev working on any web3 platform) to use Darkblock’s easy integration tools to embed a Darkblock Viewer right on your own project website (read how in our docs). 

The Darkblock Viewer, whether on your own website or our app, allows NFT owners to find an NFT that contains one or more darkblocks, authenticate ownership of said NFT, decrypt the content, and then consume the content right in the Darkblock Viewer. The Viewer supports lots of file formats, so watching a video or reading an ebook is intuitive and easy.

Embedding the Darkblock Viewer on your own site ensures your community members don’t need to leave your website to consume your content. Darkblock is also in various stages of integration with NFT marketplaces and other web3 platforms. We’re also close to releasing our Android TV app that will allow your holders to display their NFT art (you could store a high-res version as a darkblock) or watch your videos or even full-length films on their smart TVs.

The Darkblock protocol is revolutionary for two reasons: 1) It allows creators to interact with and deliver content directly to their communities of NFT holders without a centralized platform taking a cut of their proceeds, and 2) their holders have ownership/stake in your content for the first time. This ownership allows for community building unlike ever before. Darkblock’s collection-upgrade feature allows for a subscriber-like following/loyalty with or without a recurring fee to access the content. Instead, your community members own the content the same way they would if they went out and bought one of your CDs or Blu-Rays or comic books. This means that it is in everyone’s best interest for the NFT to succeed and gain value. 

And NFTs would gain value. A NFT that has dozens of pieces of existing content would likely be more valuable on the secondary market than a brand new NFT that hasn’t been upgraded with darkblocks yet. The more content the NFT creator uploads, the more value the NFT holds. The longer you have subscribed to your favorite web3 musician, the more you are rewarded. 

Collection upgrades are the future of subscription services and community-building platforms because all players win: the creator, the collector, and the community.

If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of collection upgrades with Darkblock, or have questions about how to embed the Darkblock Viewer in your own project website, reach out on Twitter or Discord. We are happy to help integrate our protocol into your web3 project!