Three Years of NFT Experiments

I must admit, when I first learned about NFTs in the context of people selling jpegs for thousands of dollars I was immediately skeptical. I grew up in the days of the early internet and was well-versed in RCS (right-click, save). The whole thing seemed absurd to me. Over time though, and with some successful flips, I became genuinely interested in this new asset class and what it could do.

Once I was sold on the idea, I began learning to develop and write my own smart contracts. Not one to simply copy existing works, my projects always aimed to do at least one thing a little different. Between 2022 and 2025 I shipped about a dozen experiments, most of them free mints, exploring the edges of ERC-721 and ERC-1155. Minor quirks like time-based dynamic metadata, voting-escrow bonuses, changing artwork for token stakers, and Avalanche's first soulbound token gave me a deep understanding of what these standards could actually do.

The Experiments

One of my more technically ambitious projects was a hybrid protocol I created called CARDS404, deployed as Worldwide Hydes. Every NFT in the collection starts face-down, and holders have to flip their cards to reveal the metadata underneath. The twist was that the revealed artwork changed based on time zones. Each character had an assigned location, and between midnight and 6am in that character's local time they transformed from humans into monsters. If you held a character based in Tokyo, you'd see their monster form while Japan slept, then check back during business hours and they're human again.

For whitelist management across my free mints, I built what became Avalanche's first soulbound token. Since most projects were free, I needed a way to gate participation to people who had engaged with previous drops. Around 300 holders ended up with these non-transferable tokens, serving as proof of participation across everything I was building.

I also created Revealed Truth, an ERC-1155 collection with daily mints of Bible verses and their interpretations, allowing users to fill their wallets with scripture. No financial angle, just exploring what it meant to collect something meaningful rather than speculative.

Only One Free NFT

One particularly fun experiment revolved around the idea of uncontrollable token transfers and the illusion of minting. One afternoon I joined a popular Twitter Space with over 100 listeners and promoted a new free mint called "Only One Free NFT." Unbeknownst to the participants, clicking the mint button didn't have the normal result they were used to. After the first participant minted the NFT, each subsequent mint actually stole the only NFT in the collection from the previous minter's wallet. This resulted in dozens of people who thought they minted an NFT being shocked when they realized it had been magically taken out of their wallet.

The reactions were mixed. Some people were genuinely shocked that something could be taken from their wallet without approval. One user said they were both amazed and "punching air" in excitement, but also disappointed because they had stayed up past midnight in the UK to mint what they thought was theirs. The point of the experiment was to demonstrate that NFT contracts can do things most users don't expect. The rules people assume exist are just conventions, not limitations of the technology itself.

What I Learned About Blockchain Gaming

CARDS404 taught me something important about on-chain gaming. On testnet we had over 200,000 card flips. People loved the mechanic. But this didn't translate to mainnet where each flip cost around 25 cents in gas. Traditional games hide the economics behind a single purchase or free-to-play with ads. Blockchain gaming puts a price tag on every interaction, and that friction kills engagement for most users. The successful models will need to find ways to subsidize or batch transaction costs, because per-action fees won't work for mass adoption.

Where This Leaves Me

Pushing the boundaries like this, and testing the limits of NFT contracts, has given me a deep insight into both the possibilities and limitations of the technology. Whether you intend to issue NFTs as collectibles, use them as collateral in DeFi, or create a soulbound identity mechanism for your company or brand, it is likely that I have at least considered the idea and can point out potential pitfalls you may not have thought of.

While I have come to the conclusion that collectibles may not be the highest and best use case for NFTs, I do still believe there are many applications for the underlying technology that will prove valuable. DeFi receipt tokens are already standard, things like Uniswap V3 liquidity positions and vault deposits that need unique non-fungible records. And identity management through soulbound credentials feels like it's just getting started.

If you're building something with NFTs and want to talk through the approach, get in touch.