Community Events Monetization Using POAP and Guild

How could POAP and Guild change how we monetize a tokenized community and brand?

The tokenized community space has seen a cool innovation which has remained under my radar until earlier this year: POAP monetization and its integration with the Guildxyz Discord bot.

We’re seeing Web3 monetization mature slowly in various areas: newsletters, live streaming, podcasts and so on… What I appreciate about the POAP x Guild integration is that it can be used to monetize events on Discord. And because POAPs are NFTs, this monetization tool unlocks interesting use cases discussed later in this post.

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In this post:

1. POAP: One of The Most Used Ethereum Apps

2. A Growing Set Of Use cases

3. POAPs Become Monetizable $$$

4. The 2 Advantages of Monetization

5. Case Studies and More

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POAP: One Of The Most Used Ethereum Apps

Most active Web3 participants know POAP: the Proof Of Attendance protocol that lets event organizers issue digital collectibles to their attendees as an on-chain proof of their participation.

At least that’s how it started.

I have been highly impressed by POAP's evolution since 2018. As a fan, I never expected the project to become one of the most used in the entire web3 ecosystem, with over 1 million wallets holding POAPs. Despite this success, the team has managed to retain its original ethos and mission. This is the kind of story that really excites me.

A Growing Set Of Use Cases For POAPs

• IRL meetups, conferences and parties

• Discord stages and Twitter Spaces, such as the Daily Dose show hosted daily by former Proof XYZ Ryan Carson, are popular URL events where POAPs play a vital role in the product (see Daily Dose growth below).

  

• The “You’ve met me” POAP business card

• Platform badges or milestones, such as the badges we issued at SuperRare to top collectors and artists in 2021 can be used to reward and incentivize users.

  

  

• And a long list of use cases.

In August 2022, POAPs Became Monetizable $$$

During a memorable community call #29, POAP’s founder & CEO Patricio Worthalter explained that he had been funding the project with his own funds as well as investor’s capital from inception but that, from now on, POAP needed to explore avenues for long term sustainability.

After 4 years and thousands of “free POAPs”, the POAP team dropped a POAP worth 1 MATIC on community call #30 through a integration with the Guild.xyz Discord bot (below). Guild.xyz went on to become the official POAP partner for Discord distributions.

The Advantages Of Monetization

There are two main advantages to POAP monetization with very little downsides.

1. Sybil Resistance: Prevent bots and farmers from collecting POAPs without contributing or providing any value. This has the added benefit of making POAPs more valuable, as it allows true supporters to differentiate themselves from farmers.

2. Revenue: Allow event organizers to make money from their events. Its like collectible Twitch Subs but for Discord community creators.

Guild itself has dropped a $1.95 POAP for the firsts time on their community call recently selling for a total of $1162. This makes the case for high quality online events and opens up new avenues for core teams to monetize their content and brand first, not their product.

I was amazed by the straightforward claiming process, which sparked my interest in what can be achieved with monetizable POAPs.

Use case 1: Discord Monetization

POAPs can be used in many online contexts, such as events and activities. Primarily, they are collectibles and serve as on-chain memories, providing more value than traditional subscription models, which only offer a transaction receipt.

Instead of subscribing to a community on a monthly basis, one could attend a few specific events each month and pay only for those once the event has finished. This would reduce costs and provide more flexibility.

Below is the POAP I bought after a POAP community call using POAP.checkout, POAPs own distribution tool.

Use Case 2: Decentralized Events Program

You could take it a step further and use this as financial infrastructure for a decentralized event program. Fund an ambassador group of vetted event creators, and split the proceeds generated with the POAPs between the event organizer and the community fund, according to predetermined terms.

Implementing this should be very straightforward.

1. Curate event creators

2. Provide a set of templates and guidelines for consistency

3. Administrate an events calendar

Use case 3: Community Fund (Zerion)

Last but not least, the money generated through POAPs could either be used to fund the core team as a new way of monetizing an early project or they could go to a community fund governed by POAP holders and events organizers.

Zerion, the web3 wallet and cross-chain aggregator, has already created one for their community containing north of $13K.

Currently the intended use of Zerion’s community fund is to “reward the most active and dedicated zers”.

Despite being in its early stages, this initiative reminds me of the original concept of tokenized communities: "Pooling resources to pursue a shared goal and finance activities that help us reach it.”

I’m excited to see that communities get increasingly powerful tools that let us be creative with monetization model. By building a community that people are eager to host amazing events for, we can unlock a world of possibilities.

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Resources

• POAP Community Call #29

• Oops on POAP economics

• First ever paying POAP

• Zerion x Guild Community Standup

• About POAP Checkout