All New from Origin Story: Redeemable NFTs

Redeemable NFTs Now in Beta

Origin Story has innovated at the forefront of NFTs since our inception.

From hosting the largest music NFT mint in history, to providing marketplace-as-a-service for premier NFT project Pudgy Penguins, to even selling homes as NFTs – Origin continues to unlock value for some of the most exciting players in the space.

We’re thrilled to announce Origin Story’s latest innovation: Redeemable NFTs!

Story’s new Redeemable NFT platform enables users to redeem NFTs for physical goods which will be shipped to their mailing addresses. The platform also enables redemption of digital items (think: tickets, exclusive content, discount codes, etc.).

Imagine participating in an NFT drop for a coveted sneaker, concert ticket, or in-demand collectible, and having a frictionless way to redeem your NFT for the physical item.

Through Origin Story’s new platform, you don’t have to compete with bots for the item you’re eyeing. The NFT you purchase represents the right to redeem the item – the pair of sneakers, for example. Once you have the NFT, you can choose to redeem it and have the sneakers sent to your house, or, you can sell the NFT on the secondary marketplace. If you sell the NFT, the new owner may similarly redeem it, or sell it. Each NFT can only be redeemed once and the creator earns royalties on all secondary sales.

This is a huge unlock for the NFT space.

It makes the benefits of NFTs feel tangible for mainstream audiences – NFTs help them get their hands on products they want from brands/creators they love.

For brands and creators, Redeemable NFTs provide an opportunity to carve out new revenue streams, reach new user bases, leverage their IP in new and interesting ways, and ensure in-demand products are fairly distributed to real fans (and not bots).

For Origin, this is our first step toward tokenizing all types of real world assets (RWAs). While most NFTs these days represent digital art, the longer-term promise of NFTs is to wrap trillions of dollars of physical assets. Our vision is to leverage NFTs to enable global, permissionless trade and liquidity of asset classes including luxury goods, ticketing, real estate, and beyond.

Want to be one of the first to debut this functionality? Or get a demo?  Reach out to us here. 

Why Sell Items as NFTs?

There are numerous benefits of selling tokenized assets over traditional sales:

NFTs provide transparency of ownership and provenance. By using a blockchain to track the ownership and movement of an NFT, you can establish a clear and verifiable record of the authenticity of an NFT, who has owned it before, and whether it has been redeemed. This can make a world of difference in industries where counterfeit goods run rampant.

NFTs help reward loyal customers. Brands can use NFTs to identify and reward their loyal customers. For example, NFT holders can be granted invitations to future brand events, a first pass at purchasing products, or discount codes. For brands who typically sell through distributors, NFTs can provide a direct connection to their customers, as well as data about their interests. Brands can also use NFT ownership to identify co-marketing opportunities (i.e. run a promotion for all the wallets holding Delta and Marriott NFTs).

NFTs provide legitimate secondary marketplaces. In many industries, secondary sales are conducted on platforms such as eBay, Facebook or StubHub where it can be difficult to verify authenticity. NFTs enable transparent secondary sales and even constitute an additional revenue stream for creators as they can choose to earn royalties on secondary sales.

NFTs enable ownership and trading without possession. Tokenizing RWAs opens up the possibility to own and trade an asset without ever possessing it. For example, individuals could own NFTs representing bars of gold – and even trade them to others – without the underlying gold ever leaving a vault.  

NFTs can help determine demand upfront. Forecasting demand for a product ahead of time can be one of the biggest challenges for brands and creators. Some savvy brands are pre-selling redeemable NFTs and then manufacturing the product based on sales. This eliminates the guesswork and ensures that no product goes to waste.

NFTs can be used in financialization. An NFT representing a building or a work of art can easily be used as collateral to take out a loan on a DeFi lending platform. What’s more, NFTs can be fractionalized, allowing for multiple unassociated people to share ownership of an individual asset. 

Exploring Redeemable NFT Applications

Redeemable NFTs carry clear disruptive potential across industries.

Luxury Wine & Spirits

Highly prized wine and spirits vintages and limited-edition runs are collectibles and a speculative asset class for investors. With this in mind, the luxury alcohol industry becomes a prime candidate for redeemable NFT adoption.

Leading brands have already begun to make forays into the space. In 2022, LVMH-owned cognac brand Hennessy launched NFTs tied to an exclusive run of prized bottles. Holders could redeem the NFTs in order to receive the physical bottles, as well as exclusive Hennessy sculptures and carafes.

Story has played a critical role in NFT adoption in the alcohol sector. In 2021, we auctioned off the prized 1991 Macallan cask for a record-breaking $2.3M.

Luxury Fashion & Streetwear Brands

Redeemable NFTs enable luxury fashion and streetwear brands to build hype around limited edition drops, and ensure products are distributed fairly.

Beyond that, Origin’s platform (optionally) allows holders to trade their items via legitimate secondary marketplaces. These marketplaces live on bespoke branded platforms that maintain a brand’s personality and values throughout the end-to-end customer experience. Additionally, buyers don’t have to worry that they’re purchasing counterfeit goods.

Creators/brands benefit from earning royalties on secondary sales and customers benefit from having a premium, trusted experience and not having to rely on third parties such as eBay for secondary sales.

Iconic industry leaders are beginning to recognize the power of redeemable NFTs. In 2023, Louis Vuitton launched VIA Treasure Trunks. Holders will receive a physical replica of their digital Treasure Trunk, unlocking access to upcoming Louis Vuitton products and immersive events.

Ticketing

The ticketing sector continues to be plagued by counterfeits and armies of bots targeting resale. This year, Ticketmaster was forced to cancel sales for the Taylor Swift Eras Tour after receiving 3.5 billion requests during launch.

Selling tickets as redeemable NFTs and offering an official platform for secondary sales could easily stem the tide of scalpers by disallowing the unsanctioned ticket transfers that scalpers rely on.

What’s more, NFT integration would allow event organizers to better track and reward loyal supporters. Wallets that have purchased tickets and attended events in the past could be given priority access to future events. And tickets could be NFTs or come along with NFTs that could be redeemed for exclusive perks and memorabilia, think: VIP access, limited edition merch.

Real Estate and Beyond

Having already tokenized physical homes for sale with Roofstock onChain, the Origin Story team is thinking big and exploring further applications of Redeemable NFTs and other forms of RWA tokenization across real estate, automotive, lending, and beyond.

While NFTs remain in their infancy, their long term trajectory is beginning to take form. Origin believes that the scope of utility offered by tokenizing RWAs will be a key driver for the industry’s continued growth, disrupting megalithic asset classes for years to come.

Join us in paving the way to mass adoption. If you’re a brand or innovator interested in how redeemable NFTs can revolutionize your offerings, get in touch with us.