We all know that NFTs are infiltrating industries in our everyday lives. Wildpaws project aims to do so by bridging the Web2 and Web3 worlds by building a link between in-real-life organizations, and the owners of the NFT, through a ‘digital adoption’ relationship.
By connecting reality and Web3, this project aims to popularize the adoption of NFT to the non-Web3 audience. With detailed videos and web tutorials, the team is encouraging newbies to get their first NFT through Stripe as a payment platform.
Real cat shelters across SEA region of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand will “go virtual” as Digital Twins that can be purchased as an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain. Their NFT provides a real-life business model for digitalizing real cats for adoption.
Wildpaws NFT
Wildpaws NFT is a collection of uniquely designed 3D cat images by the Wildcats team. Their “Felines With Benefits (FWB)” NFT consists of 2 different collections, each serving its own purpose and benefits the feline community in its own way.
Unlike traditional NFTs which are typically authenticated artworks, Wildpaws NFTs Digital Twin collection authenticates a real cat that lives in one of the partnering shelter’s facilities. Each NFT contains unique biometric data of the adopted cat, which, for cat lovers, means they can keep their digital pets forever.
Subsequent usage of NFTs includes authenticating medical care and provisions supplied to cats within the shelter, including vaccinations, medicine, and prescription diets. NFT ownership rights also include shelter membership benefits, discounts at partner services, and access to exclusive virtual and physical events in respective animal shelters.
Digital Twin Cats
Every Digital Twin is based on a real living cat currently being cared for at a nonprofit cat shelter. The team of graphic designers studied numerous real-life cats in detail to design the 3D art, averaging 1.5 days to create each individual Digital Twin cat.
Buying one of the Digital Twin NFT from a collection of 50 different digital twins will help support various shelters across the SEA region in:
- Digital adoption of real-life cats through certificates
- Live updates of cats regularly (through social media platforms)
- Owning the artwork
- Access to physical and online events to meet your supported cats
- Discounts on animal services and products c/o our partners
Every digital twin cat sold will go the extra mile for shelters in supplementing their daily operation costs and gives NFT holders discounts on veterinary services. This NFT can also be resold on secondary marketplaces.
Follow the link to see cats across different shelters who are up for adoption.
Meow-taverse Cats
The second collection consists of 5,555 NFTs for “virtual adoption” (minting). Of which, 4,550 consists of Neighbourhood Cats, 980 Rare cats and 15 Legendary Cats. Not only would the NFT holders be able to own the artwork which is individually curated, but you will also be able to get access to physical and online events to meet your supported cats. Furthermore, holders will be able to access various entitlement of discounts and animal services and products from their co-partners.
After 12 days after mint, the NFT will evolve from a kitten to a fully evolved “Meow-taverse Cat” with further evolutions mechanism optionally available 6 months after mint. All FWB collection NFTs sold shares from 25-100% of profits to shelter partners. The more the NFTs sold, the higher the % contribution.
Serving a bigger purpose
By bridging Web2 and Web3 through the digital adoption relationship, Wildcats aims to popularize the adoption of NFTs to the non-web3 audience. Unlike traditional NFTs which are typically authenticated artworks, Wildpaws NFTs Digital Twin collection authenticates a real cat that lives in one of the partnering shelter’s facilities.
“Wildpaws NFT project reduces the need for donations by creating a sustainable and scalable business model for us to sell NFTs…. It also allows us to tap into larger and wider audiences, creating new income streams” quoted Josie T Lim from Whiskers’ Syndicate, an animal shelter in Bandung, Indonesia.
Besides the great support from Whiskers’ Syndicate, the Wildpaws NFT project has been well supported and advocated by shelters, partners and pet lover communities across the region including The Odd Cat Bali, Catster Club, Cat Beach Sanctuary, Whiskers’ Syndicate, The Voice Foundation, Cate for Cat, ZumVet, Pawtner, Digital Penang.
Find out more about the Cat shelters they are supporting here.
The Wildcats team also spent time on the ground with various shelters, creating custom artworks across each of the cats. “We love how past injuries and deformities such as a missing limb or eye on our real cats become unique markers that increase the rarity and value of the Digital Twin NFT,” By doing so, they aim to honour the “difficult lives many of our cats have lived and uplift their past hurts as markets of their one-of-a-kind stories”.
Shelters run on a very best-effort basis. They are able to do a lot more when their basic needs in running the shelters are met. These include medical supplies and expertise, funding and volunteers. Through their NFT collections, Wildpaws also aims to alleviate these stresses by integrating elements of Web3 beyond the capabilities of what Web2 has to offer.
By doing so, Wildpaws NFT also reduces the need for donations by creating sustainable and scalable businesses in the sale of NFTs. Ultimately, they tap into a larger audience beyond the animal lovers community.
The future ahead
As of date, the Wildpaws teams are in talks with 2 animal shelters in Singapore and are aiming to launch a collection next month during Singapore’s national day period. They are also actively engaging in their various community channels in identifying new shelters across regional and global levels for new shelters they should support.
Wildpaws aim to expand into other pet services, including veterinary care, food, treats, toys and accessories. These rewards can be claimed by the buyers for their own consumption or gifted to shelters as rewards.
For veterinary care services, their partnership with Singapore-based petcare services, ZumVet allows for teleconsultation to be easily accessible virtually across the region.
[This article is written in collaboration with Wildpaws Project and does not represent financial advice. Please do your own research before investing.]
Featured Image Credit: ChainDebrief
