Summary
Bytepitch is proposing to add a smart-contract that enables NFT lending on the Agoric chain. This contract will enable Bytepitch’s mainnet dapp Crabble.
Crabble redefines the utility of NFTs by introducing a short-term rental model akin to Airbnb, but for non-fungible tokens. Designed to alleviate the market liquidity issues faced by NFTs with practical utility, Crabble allows NFT owners to monetize their digital assets when they are not actively using them.
Crabble will be the second mainnet partner dapp launching on the Agoric chain with a targeted release date of: 18th December 2023
Application Overview
NFTs with clear utility can have low market liquidity, making it difficult for owners to make use of their assets. Crabble’s marketplace will make an NFTs utility more beneficial for its owner through short-term rentals.
Crabble’s platform empowers NFT holders to lucratively engage with their tokens by offering them as short-term rentals. Owners easily list their NFTs, set their availability, and let the automated system handle the rental transactions. This streamlined process makes it very convenient for owners to earn passive income.
On the safety front, Crabble gets it right by ensuring that all rentals are backed by collateral, as determined by the NFT owner. This collateral system serves as a security measure to protect owners against potential loss of their valuable assets during the rental period.
When a borrower finds an NFT he wishes to rent, the platform facilitates a swift transfer of ownership upon payment. This speed ensures that the borrower can quickly access the utility he or she is after without the long-term binding investment in owning the NFT. Meanwhile an owner enjoys the financial benefits of renting out his dormant asset with peace of mind knowing that his NFT is safeguarded by collateral.
The Crabble ecosystem flourishes as it caters to a win-win situation: borrowers receive temporary access to utility without the burdens of ownership, and owners earn from assets that would otherwise be idle.
In essence, Crabble is evolving the NFT landscape by unlocking the potential of short-term rentals for digital assets, offering a practical and profitable solution to both NFT owners and users.
Note: this will be a technical launch to get the associated contracts deployed on chain. Inventory will be added at a later date.
Background
Bytepitch is a blockchain development and consulting firm with six years of robust presence in the Web3 space. Established by a team of innovative minds, Bytepitch has carved out a niche in delivering custom blockchain solutions that align with diverse business needs. With a workforce of over fourty software engineers, Bytepitch brings technical prowess and strategic insight to the table, propelling projects from ideation to successful launches on mainnets. Bytepitch services span from conceptualizing and developing decentralized platforms to managing the intricacies of operating blockchain nodes.
The company joined the Agoric ecosystem two years ago, contributions include successfully completed bounties such as a Lending Pool Protocol, Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) Liquidity Mining, and Automated Market Maker (AMM) Stop Loss functionalities. Initiating its journey with public bounties and subsequently developing an Agoric curriculum into its Chainboard Academy, an online bootcamp tailored for developers. Bytepitch’s latest venture, Crabble, exemplifies its commitment to fostering innovation within the sector. As a crypto-native startup, Crabble reflects Bytepitch’s mission to enhance the utility of NFTs through a user-friendly short-term rental protocol, showcasing the practical application of blockchain technology beyond the conventional scope.
Contract/Component Details
The contract is designed to manage the short-term rental process of NFTs automating several key features to make the system easy, safe, and fast for the users:
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Listing and Availability Management: Allows NFT owners to list their assets on the platform and set availability schedules for rental.
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Rental Agreement Execution: Manages the agreements between the NFT owners and borrowers, incorporating terms like rental duration and cost.
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Collateral Handling: Collects and holds the agreed-upon collateral from the borrower to ensure the safety of the NFT during the rental period.
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NFT Transfer Mechanism: Temporarily transfers the control or access rights of the NFT to the borrower for the duration of the rental period.
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Rental Termination and Asset Return: Ensures that after the rental period ends, the NFT is returned to the owner, and the collateral is released back to the borrower if the NFT is returned.
The contract incorporates elements of smart contract programming related to ICS721 once Agoric integration is in place and in later release with the Interchain Accounts and Interchain Queries. It may also integrate with other DeFi protocols for collateral management or utilize oracle services for off-chain data.
The components of Crabble’s smart contract are designed with modularity and interoperability in mind so that other projects can reuse and adapt them to their specific needs. This could be accomplished by:
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Making the code base available on GitHub, so other developers can use and modify it for their projects.
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Develop a library of smart contract functions that handle generic tasks like collateral management, NFT transfers, and payment distribution.
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Establishing a set of standards for NFT rentals that could be widely adopted by the industry, making the system interoperable with different NFT marketplaces and platforms.
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Offering templates or builder tools that allow other projects to customize the rental contract according to their specific use case without needing to code from scratch.
By addressing these areas, Crabble will position itself not just as a platform for NFT rentals, but also as a provider of infrastructure that other projects in the NFT space could leverage to introduce rental features into their ecosystems. This would further enhance the utility and flexibility of NFTs across various markets and applications.