NFTS have been a hot topic in the world of tech as of late, though the hype has died down a bit due to market conditions, lack of understanding by new user and the high fees on the main network, Ethereum. There is no doubt that tokenized content is here to stay and we have only seen a preview of what is to come.
Today I want to bring your attention to a new NFT Blockchain based in Japan called Hashpalette that goes by the ticker PLT. This token was the first Japanese IEO which took place on the Coincheck exchange. The IEO started on July 1st 2020 and ended on July 15th in a lottery style offering instead of a first come first serve bases. The PLT tokens will be available to trade on Coincheck starting July 29th.
I didn't win the Lottery
Many Japanese clients seemed to be a little disgruntled at how the IEO was handled, or basically they were upset they bought early, but couldn't get any tokens as it was a lottery style.
I participated in the IEO the day it was out and applied to purchase 10,000 PLT tokens at a cost of 4.05 yen per token + an 8% fee ( many were complaining about this fee). The total spent was 43,740 yen which came out of funds which I had on coincheck ( remember to take profits so you can take advantage of opportunities).
On July 20th, the day the lottery winners would be decided, many were eagerly awaiting the news, looking out for an email that would come days later. I realized I didn't win when my money was refunded to my account. Not the best way to find out but it works. Many were expecting an email explaining the results and for this reason, many were upset.
Let's see how things go once the token is trading on July 29th. Will the price rocket or tank? It will be interesting to see as the coin is only trading on one exchange, but one with a lot of volume and interests in the coin.
What is Hashpalette?
Hashpalette is an NFT blockchain based in Japan that offers cross chain interoperability, ease of use with or without cryptocurrencies, low transaction fees and governance by consensus nodes. Palette is a blockchain network to mint, manage and trade digital content as NFTs that is geared towards Japanese content creators.
The platform seeks to be the entry way for Japanese content creators of music, manga, art etc to reach the world in a more value efficient manner. on the flip side, it gives Japanese content consumers access to such works.
Now, many might be saying, "here we go again, another NFT platform". But I believe PLT has huge potential. Just think how loved manga and anime are around the world? I am personally not much of a fan but I realize the global reach and impact the culture has on the world.
Another thing to note is that the founders of Hashpalette already have a foot in the door when it comes to manga and anime as they are the owners of an app called Manga-One. The app is a collaboration with Shogakukan, a major magazine and book publishing company founded in 1922 as well as pocket Language and English learning app, jointly developed by NHK.
Token Distribution
- Total supply - 1,000,000,000 PLT
- IEO - 23% ( 230,000,000 PLT )
- Ecosystem rewards- 34 % ( 340,000,000 PLT ) ( released over a six year period according to the growth of the platform. 67% of the ecosystem rewards will be released by the first 3 years of the main net launch. After, the amount unlocking per block will be halved and released in the following 3 years.
- Owned by the team - 27% ( 270,000,000 ) - This will be released 6 months after the token sales, evenly in 10 installments every 3 months.
- Partner Rewards -16% ( 160,000,000) distributed to new partners that join the ecosystem.
IEO Distribution
35%- Palette Grant Program ( PGP) to facilitate the development of the NFT powered applications built on Palette.
28%- Marketing, to expand the user base and attract valuable content to palette. Essentially used to market to make profits.
12%-to contractors for example crypto exchanges, accounting, hack defense (hackathons).
8%-Operations used to reward management.
17%-reserves.
Test Net
The test net has been up and running stably since November 2020. The test-net supports cross-chain interoperability with three other chains, Ethereum, NEO and Ontology. The plan is to gradually expand the reach in the future. The main-net is set to go live in August of 2021, let us see how that goes.
Consensus Nodes with staking mechanism.
The Palette Chain Consortium currently consist of 12 entities running nodes on the test-net. The companies can be seen in the image below. One thing to note is that 4 of the companies are highly respected blockchains, 3 are exchanges, 1 is an NFT branding company ( Amico- The leader in branding blockchain gaming ). Others include fintech and blockchain start ups, a marketing firm and of course Hashpalette and Link-U. Content creators can also become node operators once the chain goes live.
Conclusion
Hashpalette is an interesting project as it caters to creators from a market that is underserved ( lack of Japanese translations on NFT platforms and not formatted to the culture) but also in high demand. There are a few crypto savvy Japanese creating NFTs on the platforms available, but Palette could entice many more to get involved in the space. The partnerships it already has, ( book and magazine publisher, Amico brands, Link-U etc) could make it the go to platform for Japanese NFT content.
Link-U, is a Japanese company that was founded by one of the the team members of Hashpalette in 2013. It provides a one-stop server development, application development and deployment. Link-U is a major developer for manga apps in Japan. See some of their apps below. Look out for this project as it gets rolled out to more exchanges.
