Disclaimer
The information in this White Paper is subject to change or update and should not be construed as a commitment, promise or guarantee by Continent or any other individual or organization mentioned in this white paper relating to the future availability of services related to the use of the tokens or to their future performance or value.
The document does not constitute an offer or solicitation to sell shares or securities. It does not constituteor form part of and should not be construed as any offer for sale or subscription of or any invitation to buy or subscribe for any securities not should it or any part of it form the basis of or be relied upon in any connection with any contract or commitment whatsoever. Continent expressly disclaims any and all responsibility for any direct or consequential loss or damage of any kind whatsoever arising directly or indirectly from reliance on any information contained in the white paper, any error, omission or inaccuracy in any such information or any action resulting therefrom.
This is not a recommendation to buy or financial advice, It is strictly informational. Do not trade or invest in any tokens, companies or entities based solely upon this information. Any investment involves substantial risks, including, but not limited to, pricing volatility, inadequate liquidity, and the potential complete loss of principal. Investors should conduct independent due diligence, with assistance from professional financial, legal and tax experts, on topics discussed in this document and develop a stand−alone judgment of the relevant markets prior to making any investment decision.
We have prepared all information herein from sources we believe to be accurate and reliable. However, such information is presented “as is,” without warranty of any kind − whether expressed or implied. All market prices, data and other information are not warranted as to completeness or accuracy, are based upon selected public market data, reflect prevailing conditions, and our view as of this date, all of which are accordingly subject to change without notice. The graphs, charts and other visual aids are provided for informational purposes only. None of these graphs, charts or visual aids can and of themselves be used to make investment decisions. No representation is made that these will assist any person in making investment decisions and no graph, chart or other visual aid can capture all factors and variables required in making such decisions.
The information contained in this document may include, or incorporate by reference, forward−looking statements, which would include any statements that are not statements of historical fact. No representations or warranties are made as to the accuracy of such forward−looking statements. Any projections, forecasts and estimates contained in this document are necessarily speculative in nature and are based upon certain assumptions. These forward−looking statements may turn out to be wrong and can be affected by inaccurate assumptions or by known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, most of which are beyond control. It can be expected that some or all of such forward−looking assumptions will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results.
Introduction
The Continent team is building a platform where Web3 and non-Web3 users can mint, share and monetize their NFTs.
Users will find a platform to intuitively immerse themselves in the NFT world with a high-end and easy-to-use design. As a user, you can post digital assets from your in-app Continent wallet or from any wallet you own and share them with friends. As a creator, you can upload any of the assets you have created and seamlessly monetize them with your followers. NFT projects and creators will be also able to chat with their community and add value to their NFTs via announcements, token-gated groups and livestreams. As a community member, you will be able to interact with the community around you and engage one-on-one with community creators. Continent aims to bring Web3 to the masses by providing a simple-to- use, intuitive but yet powerful app to attract the crypto and non-crypto creator economy.
Continent Platform
Mission
At Continent we strive to deliver a high-end platform where users can share their NFTswith friends and where they can make use of all the advantages NFT technology provides. Fundamentally, we aim to develop features with a consumer-driven focus in order to create a seamless user experience that drives Web3 adoption.
We strive to create a new ecosystem where communities can strengthen their connectivity and find new ways to interact with themselves and potentially in joint collaboration with others. To create this environment, we aim to build upon three pillars we see the Web3 community needs or needs to reinforce: digital asset ownership, data ownership and community building.
Due to the lack of solutions that yet adapt to Web3 technology, communities need separate and different platforms to fulfill any of these three pillars:
• Traditional social media for branding. Eg. Twitter, Instagram.
• NFT marketplaces for monetization. Eg. OpenSea, Looksrare.
• Community groups via messaging apps. Eg. Telegram, Discord.
This hinders and limits community growth and we feel this is quite a rudimentary process that can be greatly improved to allow community growth and coordination, less barriers for entry and less obstacles to complete a purchase. Therefore, we aim to integrate all these yet complex features in a simple platform design powered by Web3.
In this way, the platform aims to enable users to engage in their Web3 activity in a smooth manner unlike the current hurdle it now feels. Thus, in a decentralized, secure and easy-to- use manner we aim to allow users to:
• Share NFTs, not just images and videos and prove ownership over the digital asset.
• Monetize their NFTs inside the app for a lower churn rate and boosted profits for creators.
• Allow creators to build a social profile inside the app so they can engage with their audience in the same place they share and monetize their NFTs.
• Give communities new ways of engagement and communication via token-gated groups, benefits and live streams.
• Give new users the opportunity to engage with NFTs for their first time in a familiar and easy-to-use manner as well as providing them with their first wallet.
• Giving users ownership over their data.
As the Company grows we aim to keep delivering new and innovative features that deliver value to communities and their NFTs with three aims in mind: community, minimalistic design and Web3 adoption.
Product Overview
Home Feed
The feed will be the place where users will see and engage with all non-fungible tokens and content that is shared by friends or users the user follows. Each post will display a digital asset that will also contain token properties such as owner, creator and rarity traits. Each post will allow users to like, comment, share the NFT as well as purchasing or making a bid.
NFT Sharing
When sharing an NFT we want the user experience to be as seamless as possible for both the crypto and non-crypto user. Users will be able to share any NFT they have in their wallet, providing a proof of ownership and sharing tool.
Community
The community section will be one of the most essential features of the app, that will be designed for communities to leverage the tool and grow. It will include a Chat where users can connect with each other and create token-gated groups. Notifications where users will see usual social interactions related to likes, comments and user follows as well as any offers or purchases the user receives for his/her assets. Lastly, we’ve added a section for Rewards where users will be able to see a history of prizes (airdrops, NFTs and the like) the user has received from NFT creators as part of community fidelization.
Gatherings
Gatherings will be an important place for community and creators to organize token-gated or public live streams to engage with their audience. We aim for these live streams to allow the interaction between users and creators not only socially but also in the form of micropayments and NFT gifts.
Explore
This section will be a place where Web3 and non-Web3 users can Explore the NFT space and find new collections or creators. Here you will find a list of public NFT collections filtered by several categories: Art, Collectibles, Gaming, Music, Photography, Sports, Virtual Worlds and more.
Wallet
With the Wallet, we aim to give non-Web3 users an opportunity to create a wallet for the first time. For this we have made the wallet creation process as seamless as possible, this can be done right upon sign up. For Web3 users, we want to give them an easy-to-use wallet. With the in-app wallet, users will be able to use any of the NFT sharing features in the app that are available with externally connected wallets. Purchase, share and receive profits from any assets sold in the marketplace with that wallet.
Marketplace
The Marketplace will allow users to buy, sell and bid NFTs inside the app. Each asset profile in the marketplace will also include all NFT details and item’s activity on the blockchain. Marketplace fees will be at 1.5%.
Web3 profile
Users will be able to create and tailor their own decentralized Profile to display all the NFTs they have either created, collected or to showcase any collections they have launched. Users will be able to select NFT profile pictures and create a decentralized username. Each user profile will also show the amount of NFTs posted, followers and a user description.
Benefits
The creation of a Web3 Social Network can bring a revolutionary change in the way we interact with each other and in how creators monetize their content in the creator economy. Multiple benefits illustrated below:
Continent Key
As the platform prepares to launch, the Continent Key will mark our first interaction with the community. The key will serve to unlock new token-gated features and content that we will be releasing with our community throughout this voyage. We make hearing the community one of the foundations of our company values and we want to make the Continent Key the key medium of interaction between Company and Community.
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Market Overview
As the Internet trends into a new paradigm of digital ownership, reflected in the growing adoption of technological innovation and in the market growth of Metaverse, NFT and digital identity markets we see there is a unique opportunity for Continent to redefine the existing technological infrastructure in a seamless user experience that provide new forms of digital interaction. In fact needed by Web3 communities but not yet available to boost their growth. By giving digital identity and ownership back in the hands of users we see there is a great opportunity to add value to the Web3 experience and drive mass adoption. Key metrics:
• 320 million cryptocurrency users worldwide5 with great market potential representing merely 6.36% of total Internet users (5.03 billion6) and only 4.01% of the total global population (7.97 billion7).• The NFT Market is now worth more than $40 billion dollars in transaction volume8 and rising.
• The Metaverse Total Addressable Market (TAM), only in the US, is expected to be at $8trn dollars9, according to a report by Morgan Stanley.
• The global social media market size is expected to grow from $223.11 billion in 2022 to $833.5 billion in 202610 with 4.7 active billion users worldwide as of 202211.
• Creator Economy market size is estimated to reach $104 billion dollars in 202212 with 50 million creators worldwide13.
Social Media Market
Continent’s mission is to build a social network where users can share their NFTs, explore Web3 and interact with each other in a decentralized way via their wallet, enjoying secure data ownership rights and with the possibility to earn CNT.
The main contender to the Web3 social network space has been Facebook with its signature rebranding to “Meta” which counter-intuitively brought notable market awareness to Web3- native metaverse projects such as The Sandbox and Otherside. Both projects saw significant growth after this announcement with The Sandbox seeing its token SAND rise in value by 800% in just a matter of 30 days14 and Otherside hosting a virtual land sale that went on to become the largest NFT mint in history yet with $600M dollars spent15. We have also seen Instagram, a Meta subsidiary, incorporating NFTs to its platform in an attempt to keep up with innovation. However, we haven’t yet seen a Web3-native social media platform.
At Continent we aim to build a platform that fully integrates the Web3 and social networking experience into one to unleash innovation in the social media and Web3 space. We see a significant advantage in starting as a Web3 company from the foundation since we don’t have the limits or restrictions being a Web2 company may bring when adapting to Web3.
With 4.7 billion active social media users worldwide16 and an increasing number of Web3 users, as seen on the chart below, we see we can bring extra utility to users as they look to not only purchase digital assets with their wallets but also to interact and socialize with them.
Creator Economy
A primary challenge facing Web3 creators in the current Web3 creator economy is they have limited ways of sharing their digital asset creations online. This results in Web3 creators having to communicate or share their creations in traditional Web2 social media platforms and separately selling their digital assets on NFT marketplaces without necessarily having a connection between both. At Continent we aim to build a platform where creators can socially engage and monetize their assets all in one. On the other hand, a hurdle facing Web2 creators is the lack of monetization and the growing discontent with Web2 platforms’ take rates17.
By building a Web3 social platform we aim to build tools that give value to creators in the following ways:
• Holistic Web3 Profile: In Continent, creators will be able to build a social profile and monetize their assets all in the same place. In this manner, for example, a voxel creator from The Sandbox will be able to create a social profile and share his/her creations as NFTs (not images) on the platform to monetize them instantly with his/her followers.
• New Business Models: In its essence, the Web3 revenue stream creates a new model in itself with NFT sales and secondary market royalty fees. Moreover, blockchain technology provides secure property rights of digital assets to creators and 100% ownership of profits unlike centralized platforms that can charge up to 47.5% creator fees18. New revenue streams can gain traction with growing engagement between Web3 creators and their community via the development of micropayments and NFT gifts within token-gated Gatherings such as live streams or groups.
• Brands & NFT projects: Brands, mainstream figures and NFT projects can find new tools to give utility to their NFTs and create value for their communities by enabling new ways of interaction. Token-gated groups and live streams can give higher degrees of interaction between communities themselves and with their founders. Moreover, in a new age of content established brands can find a platform in which they can implement new Web3 strategies and build fan fidelization (eg. Airdrops, Rewards and Community Benefits).
NFT & Metaverse Market
At Continent we have an undertaking to build a platform where Web3 and non-Web3 users can immerse, explore and interact with the NFT and Metaverse world. By building a space where users can: own digital assets, create an interoperable identity, engage in real-time human interaction with NFT communities, purchase digital and physical items and discover virtual worlds, we aim to provide a foundation for the next billion users that will form part of the $825 billion19 forecasted Metaverse market.
Moreover, Continent has a vision to enable users, creators and players to share their digital assets and creations with their followers and friends. As of 2022, the number of unique NFT buyers sits at 3.6 million20 which represents a fractional amount of the 320 million cryptocurrency users worldwide21. In an industry that grew 131 times between 2020 and 202122, combined with 50 million creators worldwide23, a $104 billion dollar creator economy24, a rapidly growing gaming market25 and an increasing number of gaming and retail companies addressing the Metaverse within their forward-looking strategies we see there is exponential room for growth and estimate that there will be an increasing amount of curated and engaging content from creators for communities and users to play and interact with.
Market solution
The platform’s user-centric innovations and improvements over current Web2 social media in the market make it probable that Continent can expand its reach beyond the 320 million cryptocurrency users worldwide and within the 4.7 billion social media market.
Technology
Network
We have chosen Ethereum blockchain as the initial network integration for users torecord ownership of their NFTs and allow users to share and engage with their NFTs. The Ethereum blockchain is for the moment the network with the highest amount of activity and developments in the NFT space. Since the Ethereum network not only acts as a transactional record of ownership but also as a storage of information, users will also be enabled to share their NFT properties and details from the assets’ metadata locally on the Continent platform.
Protocols
Several different standards exist for non-fungible tokens; the first blockchain protocols that will be integrated into the Continent platform are: ERC-721 and ERC-1155 which are the most commonly used protocols for non-fungible tokens. Furthermore, users will also be able to manage and interact with their ERC-20 protocol tokens.
Decentralization
Continent will take a non-custodial approach, this means Continent will never hold users’ funds, and we plan to stay this way. As part of our vision to build a decentralized platform, users will be owners of their funds via their private keys or seed phrase. Moreover, we have taken this approach further in enabling users to only be able to login into the platform with a wallet. For this purpose, we will allow users to either create a Continent decentralized non- custodial wallet or to connect external wallet providers.
Roadmap
Conclusion
Continent promises great potential to become the go-to Web3 social network for crypto and non-crypto users alike to interact, share and exchange digital assets and goods to potentially drive mass adoption and Web3 market growth.
Bibliography
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3 https://a16zcrypto.com/state-of-crypto-report-a16z-2022/
4 https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/13/apples-privacy-changes-show-the-power-it-holds-over-other-industries.html
5 Global Cryptocurrency Ownership Data 2021 - TripleA.
6 https://datareportal.com/global-digital-overview
7 https://datareportal.com/global-digital-overview
8 https://nonfungible.com/market-tracker?days=9007199254740991
9 Morgan Stanley, “The Metaverse: Evolutionary or Revolutionary?”, Morgan Stanley Research, United States, November 16 2021, p.1
10 https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/social-media-global-market-report#:~:text=The%20global%20social%20media%20market,(CAGR)%20 of%2039.7%25.
11 https://datareportal.com/global-digital-overview
12 https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report/
13 https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report/
14 https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/the-sandbox
15 https://dappradar.com/blog/yuga-labs-600m-otherside-nft-land-sale-records-highest-gas-fees-ever-on-ethereum
16 https://datareportal.com/global-digital-overview
17 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAZapFzpP64
18 https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-metaverse-charges-creators-47-percent-sales-fee-cut-zuckerberg-2022-4
19 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/metaverse-market-size-worth--824-53-billion-globally-by-2030-at-39-1-cagr-verified-market-research-301585725. html#:~:text=According%20to%20Verified%20Market%20Research,39.1%25%20from%202022%20to%202030.
20 https://nonfungible.com/market-tracker?days=9007199254740991
21 Global Cryptocurrency Ownership Data 2021 - TripleA.
22 https://findstack.com/nft-statistics/
23 https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report/
24 https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report/
25 https://www.thc-pod.com/episode/the-gaming-industry-is-now-bigger-than-movies-and-music-combined#:~:text=In%20the%20last%20decade%2C%20 the,and%20the%20music%20industry%20combined.