Executive Summary:

These crypto startups are turning Web3 communities into profit centers for businesses:

• Blocksee – NFT minting and Web3 native CRM
• NFTpay – Seamless onboarding of non-crypto people
• Blockpass – Compliance solution for AML and OFAC
• Credentialing Standard Institute – A platform for companies to issue digital credentials for businesses looking to collaborate with other industry leaders as they make the Web3 migration.

If you are ready to explore Web3 for your business, follow the steps below to make build, manage, and monetize your digital community:

Step 1.   Create an NFT with artwork, or your logo, to identify its holder as one of your community members.

Creating NFTs for your community should be fun! You should choose an image that represents your brand values. It’s a chance for your brand to alchemize what makes you unique into a digital membership card that your customers can use and display with pride. The images you choose don’t have to be identical but should have a common identifying theme – see the NFT projects listed below for some prime examples. Once you have chosen the images for your NFTs, there are several ways that you can get them info the digital wallets of your customers:

1. Email them a link to mint their membership NFT.
2. Offer a limited number of memberships NFTs for sale online through a promoted ‘minting event’ (which has been popular, see previous article on Donald Trump’s NFT collection).
3. Offer an NFT as a bonus feature to a purchase that your client makes. For example, ‘buy the Deluxe Package of ‘xyz’ and receive a free membership NFT from our community’.

The method you use to distribute your NFTs to your community depends on your specific customer base and business.

Step 2. Create Value for your NFTs.

There are many ways that you as the NFT issuer can add value to your NFT community.  In the case of Trump’s NFTs, owning a certain number of NFTs guaranteed an invitation to an event or a golf outing with the former president.  In the case of luggage manufacturer Bugatti Group, holding one of their NFTs provides discounts when ordering their bags online.  It isn’t necessary to list all the benefits of community membership ahead of your NFT launch, but it is important to let your community know why holding one of your NFTs is potentially beneficial to them.

Vodka manufacturer and dance club owner E11even Vodka has seen robust demand for their NFTs.  The utility associated with this NFT offers the holder the ability to skip to the front of the line at their popular nightclubs in Miami and Las Vegas and includes a free bottle of vodka once inside.  Their NFT was launched with a limited supply of 1,111 at a price of 1 Ethereum ($1,850) and now trades in the market for 2.4 Ethereum (~$4,368).

Perhaps your community would be interested in free shipping, member discounts or early access to exclusive events…?  It all depends on your business and what excites your customers.

Step 3. Create an easy process for non-web3 native customers to join your community. 

Emailing your customers with a notification about their ability to join your digital community is easy for most existing business, but helping customers that do not hold any cryptocurrency and have not set up a digital wallet complete the transaction is more challenging.  Luckily business have emerged to address this challenge.  We recommend the crypto company NFTpay to help with new client onboarding. They’ll help someone that has never set up a crypto wallet to buy your NFT with their credit card. They’ll then email the customer after the transaction is complete with instructions on what to do next.

Step 4. Manage your Digital Community

Once your community is established and your membership NFTs are in your customers’ digital wallets, you’ll want to interact with this community to let them know about events, promotions and other community building activities.  The firm Blocksee has emerged as a leading web3 community manager and CRM platform. They will mint your NFT for you, provide a platform for ‘token-gated’ chats (chats that are only available to verified holders of your NFT), as well as offering you as the community manager the ability to send your members additional NFTs or Tokens as advertisements, invitations or ‘airdrops’.  Blocksee allows communities of up to 100 members to use their platform for free with reasonable charges for larger communities.

The American Crypto Academy that we have spoken about in this column before (and on whose advisory board I serve) uses Blocksee to manage its digital subscriptions, classroom chats and the delivery and management of course completion certificates.  We could not run our Web3 business without Blocksee.

Step 5.  Stay Compliant with US Laws and Regulations

The US has now fallen behind the EU when it comes to comprehensive cryptocurrency regulation with the recent signing into law of the EU’s MiCA regulations. However, it should be assumed that whatever the final version of US laws is, they should be expected to include:

1. restrictions on making false statements.
2. requirements for disclosure of project sponsors and their contact information.
3. restrictions on market manipulation and insider trading.
4. adherence with existing privacy and data storage rules (HIPAA and GDPR compliance).
5. Know Your Client (KYC) requirements.
6. and procedures for compliance with OFAC rules related to sanctioned counties.

While numbers 1-3 on the above list are typically best handled at the company level, compliance requirements 4-6 can, and should be, outsourced to a company that specialize in staying current with these changing rules.  We see many sophisticated NFT projects, including the company behind ‘Bored Apes Yacht Club’, one of the most successful Web3 communities, use crypto firm Blockpass to assist them in their data privacy and know-your-customer compliance.

If you are looking for consulting on how to take your business into Web3, you can reach out to the American Crypto Academy at [email protected]

Disclosures: Not investment advice. The Author, Sarson Funds, Inc. and its affiliated managers may hold positions in the projects mentioned. Talk with your financial advisor before making any investment decisions or have them contact Sarson Funds directly at [email protected].