NFT
Have been you into crypto earlier than the Ethereum merge? Now, you’ll be able to show it with a “Proof of Merge” NFT.
A pair of artistic thinkers at Web3 agency Andreessen Horowitz have created a Proof of Merge NFT that includes metadata that dynamically evolves because the Ethereum merge unfolds.
A16z engineering companion Michael Blau and crypto investments companion Mason Corridor engineered the black-and-white “Proof of Merge” Ethereum NFT, which fits via three phases triggered mechanically by its sensible contract. Software program developer Zachm.eth designed the entrance finish for the venture.
The primary section of every Proof of Merge NFT shows earlier than the merge and reveals two separate circles. The second section of the NFT, which occurred early Wednesday, reveals two half-merged circles. The third section will present the circles totally merged, forming a yin-and-yang image to point that the Ethereum merge is full.
“It’s mainly a aspect venture that Mason and I hacked collectively actually rapidly over the weekend, this previous weekend, and launched, and to this point it’s been fairly loopy,” Blau instructed Decrypt in an interview.
Asserting Proof of Merge: a totally on-chain, non-transferable, and dynamic NFT that can change all through The Merge:https://t.co/ZCCUqbZprq pic.twitter.com/k3A0BQPWiB
— Michael Blau (@blauyourmind) September 12, 2022
The artwork is a nod to an Ethereum panda bear meme, mentioned Corridor, which reveals Ethereum’s execution layer as a black bear and Ethereum’s consensus layer as a white bear. The 2 bears then mix to make the last word Ethereum panda bear, which has change into a metaphor for post-merge Ethereum.
At time of publication, about 9,000 distinctive crypto pockets addresses have already minted a free “Proof of Merge” NFT, that are limitless in quantity however can solely be claimed earlier than the merge is finalized.
Why did they select three phases? It was largely for simplicity’s sake, says Blau.
“We’re truly storing every ASCII picture on chain, and the extra phases we wished to retailer, that’s extra knowledge now we have to retailer, which is extra storage gasoline charges that we’d must pay when truly deploying the sensible contract initially,” Blau mentioned.
Notably, Blau’s brother Justin Blau can be into crypto and desires to alter the music trade via NFTs.
The NFTs—distinctive blockchain tokens which signify possession—are non-transferable. If somebody tries to switch their Proof of Merge NFT, the transaction will fail, however the sender will nonetheless must pay an Ethereum gasoline price.
Which means that the Proof of Merge NFTs additionally operate as a “proof of attendance” NFT of kinds, as they’ll solely be held by wallets that minted them earlier than the merge. The design contains a related black-and-white ASCII model to Blau’s earlier Ethereum NFT collections, MEV Military and x0r, which each launched earlier this 12 months.
Andreessen Says Its ‘Can’t Be Evil’ NFT Licenses Will Assist Keep away from Authorized ‘Ambiguity’
The intermediate section of two partially-converged circles was triggered by “a timestamp related to the block,” Corridor instructed Decrypt. “And so we use[d] a 12-hour window earlier than the merge truly occurs to signify this intermediate section.”
The sensible contract behind the Proof of Merge NFTs can be designed to have the ability to decide precisely when the merge happens to ensure that the NFT to alter into its third and ultimate state—the yin yang image.
“The one technique to detect if the merge occurred on chain or not is to measure one thing referred to as block dot problem,” Corridor mentioned. “It’s an attribute of a block that returns usually how troublesome it was to mine that block on the Ethereum proof of labor chain.”
This worth will equal zero when the merge is full.
The Ethereum Merge will happen late Wednesday night, based on estimates primarily based on Ethereum’s present hashrate. The merge will totally transition the Ethereum blockchain’s mainnet from proof-of-work mining to a proof-of-stake system—an enormous shift which is predicted to cut back Ethereum’s vitality consumption by 99.95%.