Memeland — 9GAG’s can’t-miss jump into Web3
Memeland is the genesis NFT project from 9GAG, the 200 million community member Web2 platform. As their first jump into the Web3 space, 9GAG has combined a focus on creator content along with traditional Web3 community building to present one of the most attractive NFT minting opportunities in recent history. Ghost Capital views the mint and project as an opportunity to buy into an established brand with a strong community focus and history of execution
Key Points
- Memeland is what we’ve been looking for in the NFT space: an established community and platform integrating an NFT element, versus projects minting NFT projects then building from the ground up
- The project represents a strong combination of team, marketing, community development and resources to execute a Web3 project. 9GAG’s approach of integrating into the Web3 community is unparalleled compared to historical Web2 attempts
- With a strong financial backing and brand recognition, Memeland has one of the best chances of delivering on the large task of metaverse/brand development in the Web3 space
- While some details are still to be released, Ghost Capital views the Memeland drop as a strong buy and plans to mint and accumulate the project
Project Highlights
Bridging the Divide Between Web2 and Web3 Communities. Memeland is the introductory NFT collection for global meme development powerhouse 9GAG. With a 14-year track record in community building and social media, 9GAG introduces its global Web2 audience of 200 million to Web3. For scale comparison, OpenSea, the predominate NFT trading platform, currently has approximately 500k active monthly users.
9GAG is backed by several well know Venture Capital partners including First Round Capital, Freestyle Capital, Greycroft Partners, True Ventures, Y Combinator, 500 Startups, and others. This is an increasingly important strategic advantage for NFT projects as seen by the strength of projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club, MoonBirds, and Axie Infinity. Having a strong source of capital, existing relationships and the manpower to execute the ever-increasing demands of Web3 project development is a critical requirement for successful projects today.
Additionally, the Memeland team has integrated themselves into the Web3 community better than any Web2 project thus far. Memeland has assembled a diverse and strong group of advisors spanning some of the largest projects in Web3 and Web2. Memeland has also partnered with the largest Web3 projects to curate a strong collection of white list holders. The marketing efforts of Memeland to integrate themselves in these communities and embrace Web3 is unparalleled.
Ecosystem
The initial drop will consist of 9,999 JPEG PFPs dubbed “Captains”. Every Captain will yield an undisclosed amount of $MEME tokens, the Memeland ecosystem token. The distribution of $MEME looks to be similar to the Cyberkongz model of daily yield, versus a one-time yield.
While details on exact $MEME distribution and utility, the team has provided the following on the Memeland site:
We’re assuming the $MEME passive holding yield will be through Captains, but undetermined if the “staking” referenced will be through staking the Captain NFTs or if there will be a way to earn $MEME through staking the token itself.
What’s interesting (and a differentiator for Memeland vs other Web2 drops), is that $MEME will be earned through “actively playing and creating content.” Given the huge platform that is 9GAG, the ability to integrate the token within the Web2 platform is something unseen before on Web2/Web3 branded NFT drops.
Web3 projects today with native tokens struggle to find balance in the supply and demand elements driving the utility. There’s only so much internal demand that can be created with a community base in the low digit thousands and only so much breeding that can happen. The ability to integrate the token into the Web2 platform opens up an almost unlimited way to both reward their Web2 community on the supply-side and provide sinks on the demand side.
Roadmap
While no formal roadmap has been released, the Memeland team has hinted at a few different developments including:
- Integration in the 9GAG Web2 platform
- Private club membership
- Access to a creator NFT marketplace
- IRL events
- Access to upcoming 9GAG drops and projects
Team/Advisors
Memeland is led by Ray Chan (@9gagceo) and assumably a team from 9GAG executing on the Memeland drop. As the leader of one of the largest Web2 communities, we’ve been impressed with how hands-on the 9GAG team has been with this drop. As we’ve seen with other Web2 movements into Web3, the involvement from upper levels on the Web2 side can be seen as sparse at best.
The advisor list can be described as nothing but vast and high quality. The list includes a well curated aggregation of Web2 and Web3 builders. A sample of the advisor list includes:
Community
Community is where Memeland differentiates itself within the Web3 project space. 9GAG today has an audience of 200 million users across all platforms. With one of the largest Web2 communities, it would have been easy to simply drop the NFT to their current audience.
Instead, Memeland has built relationships and integrated with some of the largest Web3 communities through white list spots and partnerships. The partnership list includes Cyberkongz, KaijuKingz, PreMint, SneakyNinjas, Proof/Moonbirds, Scholarz, The Littles, Karafuru, etc.
By developing these partnerships and integrating the 9GAG Web2 community, Memeland has the opportunity to be the best executed Web2/Web3 project integration that we’ve seen in the NFT industry.
Artwork
Exact details on the Captain artwork hasn’t been released, but it’s been indicated that the Captain drop will be human-based pixel art. With what we’ve experienced in the past, human-based NFTs can struggle to maintain value across the spectrum of the collection given personal preference is stronger on issues like race and gender, versus the animal based NFT collections. That being said, in the current utility-driven NFT market, it remains to be seen whether or not the human-based issues of the past are still relevant.
The artwork that has been shared to this point includes a Pirate theme, which we love in building the lore of the entire project. While common, the pirate theme hasn’t been played out to a point of over-saturation versus some of the animal-specific projects.
Mint Details
While many of these details are TBD, we expect the mint price to be on the higher end of recent drops given the quality of the team and project.
- Mint Date: TBD currently expected June 2022
- Mint Price: TBD
Total Supply: 9,999 Capitan PFPs
- 6,900 — 9GAG and Partner allowlist spots
- 3,000 — Public allowlist spots
- 99 — Memeland Treasury for future collaborations, hiring, marketing
Members of Ghost Capital plan to mint the project but have been provided no compensation for this report. This is not financial advice. Please do your own research before making an investment decision.
