
Hello, Unlock community! We’re very excited to announce that [Austin Robey](https://twitter.com/austinrobey_) is now Unlock’s Head of Growth. He’ll help us expand the use of our protocol within the indie music industry and beyond. Co-founder of [Ampled](https://twitter.com/ampl3d), a co-op support platform for musicians that’s among the first orgs to integrate Unlock, Austin is a recent recipient in our Token Grant program, and the founder of the fast-growing [Dinner DAO](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/dinnerdao), along with being an active member of several DAOs, such as Seed Club and Forefront. Last month he wrote [a post on our blog](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/how-musicians-can-use-unlock) detailing the many ways musicians can leverage Unlock to grow and maintain their fanbase.

![Amber Case](/images/blog/austin-robey.png)

I first met Austin in my work as a Fellow studying web monetization with the [Mozilla Foundation](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/). Since then he’s dived into Web3 technologies with impressive energy and passion to help Unlock work for independent creators. We also love his strong design background, with an architecture degree from Pratt, and an ongoing relationship as a designer with the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. So we can’t wait to see how he better connects Unlock with projects across many creative fields.

What that let me turn the mic over to Austin to talk about his new role, and his vision for helping Unlock:

> I’m excited to begin work as Unlock Protocol’s Head of Growth.

> In my previous work (as a founder of [Ampled](http://www.ampled.com/), and also as a DAO member of groups like [Forefront](https://forefront.market/) and [Seed Club](https://seedclub.xyz/)) I’ve been passionate about exploring alternative economic structures to support creators. Unlock, in particular, is incredibly powerful tooling that I believe can help generate a new foundation for a creator-first online economy.

> I see Web 3.0 as a new paradigm that can shift power away from platforms and back towards people. I’ve been impressed by the Unlock team and their foresight and commitment towards the creation of a more distributed, equitable, and open web.

> Unlock’s forward-thinking approach to NFTs is unique. While many people currently associate NFTs with pixelated crypto art,  Unlock is demonstrating that NFTs can be much more. Not only can an NFT represent artwork, but it can also be a membership badge, access pass, or passport to participate in digital (or physical) experiences across the web or IRL. This has the potential to radically reshape our entire creative economy away from attention and advertisements - and help us create new business models -- free from corporate walled gardens and monopolistic tech platforms.

> We’re still in the very early stages of a new Web 3.0 era for creators and communities. In my role, I’ll be helping tell the story of Unlock, its capabilities, and onboarding great communities to showcase the transformative power of the protocol.

> If you’d like to connect, I’d love to hear what you are working on. Feel free to reach me at [austin@unlock-protocol.com](mailto:austin@unlock-protocol.com) or in the [Unlock Discord](https://discord.gg/N5y68jAvKF).

Also, 👋 if you’re in the Oregon area, come say Hi to Austin and I at [Eth Portland 2021](https://2021.ethportland.com/).


We’re very excited to announce that Austin Robey is now Unlock’s Head of Growth! He’ll help us expand the use of our protocol within the indie music industry and beyond

Growing the team, to grow usage of the protocol!

Welcome Austin Robey to Unlock!

<p>Hello, Unlock community! We’re very excited to announce that <a href="https://twitter.com/austinrobey_">Austin Robey</a> is now Unlock’s Head of Growth. He’ll help us expand the use of our protocol within the indie music industry and beyond. Co-founder of <a href="https://twitter.com/ampl3d">Ampled</a>, a co-op support platform for musicians that’s among the first orgs to integrate Unlock, Austin is a recent recipient in our Token Grant program, and the founder of the fast-growing <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/dinnerdao">Dinner DAO</a>, along with being an active member of several DAOs, such as Seed Club and Forefront. Last month he wrote <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/how-musicians-can-use-unlock">a post on our blog</a> detailing the many ways musicians can leverage Unlock to grow and maintain their fanbase.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/austin-robey.png" alt="Amber Case"></p>
<p>I first met Austin in my work as a Fellow studying web monetization with the <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/">Mozilla Foundation</a>. Since then he’s dived into Web3 technologies with impressive energy and passion to help Unlock work for independent creators. We also love his strong design background, with an architecture degree from Pratt, and an ongoing relationship as a designer with the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. So we can’t wait to see how he better connects Unlock with projects across many creative fields.</p>
<p>What that let me turn the mic over to Austin to talk about his new role, and his vision for helping Unlock:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m excited to begin work as Unlock Protocol’s Head of Growth.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>In my previous work (as a founder of <a href="http://www.ampled.com/">Ampled</a>, and also as a DAO member of groups like <a href="https://forefront.market/">Forefront</a> and <a href="https://seedclub.xyz/">Seed Club</a>) I’ve been passionate about exploring alternative economic structures to support creators. Unlock, in particular, is incredibly powerful tooling that I believe can help generate a new foundation for a creator-first online economy.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>I see Web 3.0 as a new paradigm that can shift power away from platforms and back towards people. I’ve been impressed by the Unlock team and their foresight and commitment towards the creation of a more distributed, equitable, and open web.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Unlock’s forward-thinking approach to NFTs is unique. While many people currently associate NFTs with pixelated crypto art,  Unlock is demonstrating that NFTs can be much more. Not only can an NFT represent artwork, but it can also be a membership badge, access pass, or passport to participate in digital (or physical) experiences across the web or IRL. This has the potential to radically reshape our entire creative economy away from attention and advertisements - and help us create new business models -- free from corporate walled gardens and monopolistic tech platforms.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>We’re still in the very early stages of a new Web 3.0 era for creators and communities. In my role, I’ll be helping tell the story of Unlock, its capabilities, and onboarding great communities to showcase the transformative power of the protocol.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>If you’d like to connect, I’d love to hear what you are working on. Feel free to reach me at <a href="mailto:austin@unlock-protocol.com">austin@unlock-protocol.com</a> or in the <a href="https://discord.gg/N5y68jAvKF">Unlock Discord</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Also, 👋 if you’re in the Oregon area, come say Hi to Austin and I at <a href="https://2021.ethportland.com/">Eth Portland 2021</a>.</p>



While working on debugging a signature issue in the UDT contract, we identified a critical vulnerability. This vulnerability was introduced in a UDT contract upgrade on August 2nd 2021 and discovered on October 14th around 1045AM ET. A patch was successfully deployed on [the same day at about 1PM ET](https://etherscan.io/tx/0x615f52d89673d41e7c5d3940beb50d586331f4664bae69556ef70b877175896c). The vulnerability was *not* exploited.

# The vulnerability

In a nutshell, the vulnerability *allowed anyone to burn tokens from any other address.* Even though this could not have resulted in funds being transferred, and we could have recovered any "burned" tokens through a contract upgrade, we believe it could have impacted the price and behavior of the protocol in ways that would have been hard to recover from.

The UDT contract did not originally included a `burn` function. However, in order to support [governance](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/unlock-dao) functions, we had to perform an upgrade to our contract on August 2nd 2021. Even though we only used [OpenZeppelin](https://openzeppelin.com/contracts/)'s library for the UDT contract (and did not write any logic ourselves), the upgrade required some very specific work to support changes in the contract storage between the version we deployed in November 2020 and the ERC20 version used for governance. Specifically, we had to flatten the OpenZeppelin library in order to apply some patches to avoid storage slot conflicts.

While doing, so we overlooked that we had to remove the `burn` function from the flattened contract file.

# The patch

Fixing the vulnerability was trivial: we just rendered the `burn` function non operating by removing the internal call to `_burn`. In a subsequent deployment, we completely removed the `burn` function so that calling it will result in errors.

# Signatures

We identified the vulnerability as we were debugging some signature issues. We had previously found that a lot of the delegations performed using the `delegateBySig` function did not effectively perform delegation as we expected. We found that the contract was *recovering* a signer address that did not match the actual signer on the front-end. The team at OpenZeppelin kindly helped us identify the issue, where we realized that when we performed that August 2nd update, we failed to call some required initializers (namely, `EIP712_init`, `ERC20Permit_init` and `ERC20Votes_init`). Not calling these lead to the signatures being computed in an unexpected way.

Our patch was thoroughly tested, but it was never tested *as an upgrade*, but rather as a whole new implementation/deployment. This is the root cause of the issues we were seeing.

# Moving forward

Even though the vulnerability was **not** exploited, we have put ourselves and all of the people who are governing the protocol *at risk*. This is not something we take lightly and we will have to perform a few important changes.

- We will add a new testing framework to test our changes *as upgrades* (on top of unit tests). We already leverage hardhat's amazing "local fork" feature and we will increase our use of this. We will additionally perform these tests as part of our CI cycle.
- We will perform an audit for the UDT contract. We have always considered, and this is still the case, that the funds at risk on the Unlock and PublicLock contracts (the core protocol) were in fact smaller than the cost of auditing (especially as the protocol still evolves quickly). However, this is not the case for the UDT contract. We have contacted a few firms and we will share results once we have them.
- Even though no funds were stolen, the signature issue we identified means that a lot of people who have claimed tokens for the airdrop did not actually delegate their votes. We have identified the list of all accounts that have been affected. We are pondering a way to cover the gas cost of them issuing a 2nd delegation and we'll have something to offer soon.

In closing, I want to offer a very special thank you to Hadrien and Francisco at OpenZeppelin who have been extremely helpful along the way.


While working on debugging a signature issue in the UDT contract, we identified a critical vulnerability. This vulnerability was introduced in a UDT contract upgrade on August 2nd 2021 and discovered on October 14th around 1045AM ET. A patch was successfully deployed on the same day at about 1PM ET. The vulnerability was not exploited.

Last week, we identified a serious vulnerability in the UDT contract. It is now fixed and has not been exploited.

UDT Vulnerability Disclosure

<p>While working on debugging a signature issue in the UDT contract, we identified a critical vulnerability. This vulnerability was introduced in a UDT contract upgrade on August 2nd 2021 and discovered on October 14th around 1045AM ET. A patch was successfully deployed on <a href="https://etherscan.io/tx/0x615f52d89673d41e7c5d3940beb50d586331f4664bae69556ef70b877175896c">the same day at about 1PM ET</a>. The vulnerability was <em>not</em> exploited.</p>
<h1>The vulnerability</h1>
<p>In a nutshell, the vulnerability <em>allowed anyone to burn tokens from any other address.</em> Even though this could not have resulted in funds being transferred, and we could have recovered any "burned" tokens through a contract upgrade, we believe it could have impacted the price and behavior of the protocol in ways that would have been hard to recover from.</p>
<p>The UDT contract did not originally included a <code>burn</code> function. However, in order to support <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/unlock-dao">governance</a> functions, we had to perform an upgrade to our contract on August 2nd 2021. Even though we only used <a href="https://openzeppelin.com/contracts/">OpenZeppelin</a>'s library for the UDT contract (and did not write any logic ourselves), the upgrade required some very specific work to support changes in the contract storage between the version we deployed in November 2020 and the ERC20 version used for governance. Specifically, we had to flatten the OpenZeppelin library in order to apply some patches to avoid storage slot conflicts.</p>
<p>While doing, so we overlooked that we had to remove the <code>burn</code> function from the flattened contract file.</p>
<h1>The patch</h1>
<p>Fixing the vulnerability was trivial: we just rendered the <code>burn</code> function non operating by removing the internal call to <code>_burn</code>. In a subsequent deployment, we completely removed the <code>burn</code> function so that calling it will result in errors.</p>
<h1>Signatures</h1>
<p>We identified the vulnerability as we were debugging some signature issues. We had previously found that a lot of the delegations performed using the <code>delegateBySig</code> function did not effectively perform delegation as we expected. We found that the contract was <em>recovering</em> a signer address that did not match the actual signer on the front-end. The team at OpenZeppelin kindly helped us identify the issue, where we realized that when we performed that August 2nd update, we failed to call some required initializers (namely, <code>EIP712_init</code>, <code>ERC20Permit_init</code> and <code>ERC20Votes_init</code>). Not calling these lead to the signatures being computed in an unexpected way.</p>
<p>Our patch was thoroughly tested, but it was never tested <em>as an upgrade</em>, but rather as a whole new implementation/deployment. This is the root cause of the issues we were seeing.</p>
<h1>Moving forward</h1>
<p>Even though the vulnerability was <strong>not</strong> exploited, we have put ourselves and all of the people who are governing the protocol <em>at risk</em>. This is not something we take lightly and we will have to perform a few important changes.</p>
<ul>
<li>We will add a new testing framework to test our changes <em>as upgrades</em> (on top of unit tests). We already leverage hardhat's amazing "local fork" feature and we will increase our use of this. We will additionally perform these tests as part of our CI cycle.</li>
<li>We will perform an audit for the UDT contract. We have always considered, and this is still the case, that the funds at risk on the Unlock and PublicLock contracts (the core protocol) were in fact smaller than the cost of auditing (especially as the protocol still evolves quickly). However, this is not the case for the UDT contract. We have contacted a few firms and we will share results once we have them.</li>
<li>Even though no funds were stolen, the signature issue we identified means that a lot of people who have claimed tokens for the airdrop did not actually delegate their votes. We have identified the list of all accounts that have been affected. We are pondering a way to cover the gas cost of them issuing a 2nd delegation and we'll have something to offer soon.</li>
</ul>
<p>In closing, I want to offer a very special thank you to Hadrien and Francisco at OpenZeppelin who have been extremely helpful along the way.</p>



We’re so excited to announce the third cohort of grantees for the Unlock Protocol grant program! Our grant selection committee met at the beginning of September and selected a fabulous range of projects. From Notion integrations, creator portals, DAO support tools, lending protocols and more! The scope of these projects shows us all what’s possible with a little creativity and ingenuity.

![Cohort 3](/images/blog/cohort-3/grant-program-sept-2021.png)

Here’s a quick introduction to each grantee, their project and how to find them on the Twitters so you can follow their progress. If reading about these projects sparks your creation engine, simply click the link at the bottom of the article and submit your proposal!

## Matt Mankins - Notion

[https://www.twitter.com/mankins](https://www.twitter.com/mankins)

Matt will be working on an Unlock integration for Notion pages. We love us some Notion and are excited to see this come to life!

## Yuriy Dybskiy - Puma Browser

[https://twitter.com/pumabrowser](https://twitter.com/pumabrowser)

Puma is a mobile browser and wallet for the Web3 ecosystem and is focusing on creating support for lock detection and the ability to unlock/get a key natively in the app. The Puma team started this project as part of the HackFS Hackathon and is continuing this project with our grant program.

## Patrick Murphy - Aloy

[https://twitter.com/aloy_club](https://twitter.com/aloy_club)

Aloy’s working to create better loyalty programs through digital assets. They are building a SaaS solution that allows brands in the travel, hospitality, and leisure sector to create NFT-enabled membership programs that tie real-world benefits to the ownership of digital assets (NFTs).

## Josh - The Blockchain Socialist

[https://twitter.com/TBSocialist](https://twitter.com/TBSocialist)

The Blockchain Socialist is a blog and podcast that explores the intersection of blockchain and left politics. Josh will be exploring deeper ways of integrating Unlock to try and create a true web3 version of Patreon.

## Victor Feng - Nama Protocol

[https://twitter.com/nama_finance](https://twitter.com/nama_finance)

Nama Protocol is a multi-chain enabled lending protocol that empowers borrowers to use their NFTs as collateral to get loans and lenders to stake their stablecoins to the lending pools to get high yield farming and gain attractive interest while lending to borrowers. Nama Protocol will be using Unlock in various aspect of their protocol.

## Jess Sloss - Seed Club

[www.twitter.com/seedclubhq](http://www.twitter.com/seedclubhq)

Seed Club is a DAO that builds and invests in communities with tokens. They're actively working with the Unlock protocol to better define the use cases we see emerging with the hope that Unlock can be a core tool to power the Seed Club.

## Pedro Alves - Creator Portal

[https://twitter.com/devprtcl](https://twitter.com/devprtcl)

Dev Protocol is building a Creators Portal using Unlock to help support patrons using their robust platform. Dev Protocol is working to build a Decentralized Creator Economy and creator DAOs to support the web3 movement.

# Are you ready to join our Grantees?

We’re excited to have such insightful projects in our grant program and are wishing our grantees all the best as they bring their visions to life. If you’d like to join our Discord to connect with our grantees about their projects or explore some ideas of your own, please [join us here](https://discord.gg/Ah6ZEJyTDp).

AND if you already have an idea for an integration using Unlock, please submit your project [proposal here](https://share.hsforms.com/1gAdLgNOESNCWJ9bJxCUAMwbvg22).

Unlock Protocol is driven by and for our community. We’re here to help YOU build the future path of blockchain technology and together we’ll explore all that’s possible with community and decentralization as our core foundations. [Join the conversation](https://unlock.community/).


We're so excited to announce our third cohort of Unlock grantees! Please check out their projects and follow their progress!

More brilliant minds are bringing some amazing Unlock integrations to life!

A big welcome to our cohort 3 grantees

<p>We’re so excited to announce the third cohort of grantees for the Unlock Protocol grant program! Our grant selection committee met at the beginning of September and selected a fabulous range of projects. From Notion integrations, creator portals, DAO support tools, lending protocols and more! The scope of these projects shows us all what’s possible with a little creativity and ingenuity.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/cohort-3/grant-program-sept-2021.png" alt="Cohort 3"></p>
<p>Here’s a quick introduction to each grantee, their project and how to find them on the Twitters so you can follow their progress. If reading about these projects sparks your creation engine, simply click the link at the bottom of the article and submit your proposal!</p>
<h2>Matt Mankins - Notion</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.twitter.com/mankins">https://www.twitter.com/mankins</a></p>
<p>Matt will be working on an Unlock integration for Notion pages. We love us some Notion and are excited to see this come to life!</p>
<h2>Yuriy Dybskiy - Puma Browser</h2>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/pumabrowser">https://twitter.com/pumabrowser</a></p>
<p>Puma is a mobile browser and wallet for the Web3 ecosystem and is focusing on creating support for lock detection and the ability to unlock/get a key natively in the app. The Puma team started this project as part of the HackFS Hackathon and is continuing this project with our grant program.</p>
<h2>Patrick Murphy - Aloy</h2>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/aloy_club">https://twitter.com/aloy_club</a></p>
<p>Aloy’s working to create better loyalty programs through digital assets. They are building a SaaS solution that allows brands in the travel, hospitality, and leisure sector to create NFT-enabled membership programs that tie real-world benefits to the ownership of digital assets (NFTs).</p>
<h2>Josh - The Blockchain Socialist</h2>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/TBSocialist">https://twitter.com/TBSocialist</a></p>
<p>The Blockchain Socialist is a blog and podcast that explores the intersection of blockchain and left politics. Josh will be exploring deeper ways of integrating Unlock to try and create a true web3 version of Patreon.</p>
<h2>Victor Feng - Nama Protocol</h2>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/nama_finance">https://twitter.com/nama_finance</a></p>
<p>Nama Protocol is a multi-chain enabled lending protocol that empowers borrowers to use their NFTs as collateral to get loans and lenders to stake their stablecoins to the lending pools to get high yield farming and gain attractive interest while lending to borrowers. Nama Protocol will be using Unlock in various aspect of their protocol.</p>
<h2>Jess Sloss - Seed Club</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.twitter.com/seedclubhq">www.twitter.com/seedclubhq</a></p>
<p>Seed Club is a DAO that builds and invests in communities with tokens. They're actively working with the Unlock protocol to better define the use cases we see emerging with the hope that Unlock can be a core tool to power the Seed Club.</p>
<h2>Pedro Alves - Creator Portal</h2>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/devprtcl">https://twitter.com/devprtcl</a></p>
<p>Dev Protocol is building a Creators Portal using Unlock to help support patrons using their robust platform. Dev Protocol is working to build a Decentralized Creator Economy and creator DAOs to support the web3 movement.</p>
<h1>Are you ready to join our Grantees?</h1>
<p>We’re excited to have such insightful projects in our grant program and are wishing our grantees all the best as they bring their visions to life. If you’d like to join our Discord to connect with our grantees about their projects or explore some ideas of your own, please <a href="https://discord.gg/Ah6ZEJyTDp">join us here</a>.</p>
<p>AND if you already have an idea for an integration using Unlock, please submit your project <a href="https://share.hsforms.com/1gAdLgNOESNCWJ9bJxCUAMwbvg22">proposal here</a>.</p>
<p>Unlock Protocol is driven by and for our community. We’re here to help YOU build the future path of blockchain technology and together we’ll explore all that’s possible with community and decentralization as our core foundations. <a href="https://unlock.community/">Join the conversation</a>.</p>



Last week, we introduced the [Unlock DAO](/blog/unlock-dao) where anyone can contribute proposals and vote on these in order to collectively govern the protocol and its treasury. Today, we're excited to announce that we're going one step further by doing a **retro-active airdrop**: anyone who has contributed to Unlock before September 1st 2021 is eligible to receive some ɄDT.

We expect to distribute **up to 7,314 ɄDT**! Claim your tokens now at [https://airdrop.unlock-protocol.com/](https://airdrop.unlock-protocol.com/)

<p style="
    text-align: center;
"><img src="/images/blog/airdrop/coin.png" alt="Unlock DAO"></p>

# Rewarding past contributions

The protocol already [mints and distributes](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/governance/the-unlock-token) new tokens for every eligible key purchase. This very important mechanims lets us make sure that developers, creators and members who participate in the network's growth get a say in its governance.

However, we introduced the tokens after months of having the protocol functional because we focused on building utility first. Today, we want to acknowledge these early contributions by allowing all of these users to claim some tokens to join our governance.

We applied the following rules:

- **3 ɄDT per lock deployed**, on any of the production networks that we currently support (Ethereum, xDAI and Polygon).

- **1 ɄDT per key** purchased on any supported production network.

- **1 ɄDT for any ɄDT holder** with a balance of 3 ɄDT or more, as of September 1st 2021 at midnight (including liquidity providers on the Uniswap v2 pool)

We capped the amount of ɄDT that any address can claim to 10 ɄDT!

# Claiming... and delegating

**One of the most critical aspect of a successful DAO is participation**. For this reason, we have decided to alter [Uniswap's merkle-distributor contract](https://github.com/unlock-protocol/merkle-distributor), to require eligible addresses to delegate their tokens in order to claim them.

Our goal here is to make sure that all new tokens claimed are accounted for when it comes to governance. Additionally, since delegation applies to all of the tokens owned by an address, we expect that a large portion of the existing token holders will achieve delegation in order to claim additional tokens!

In order to ease the process, we identified a few members of our community who are willing to be delegates:

- Andreu: _Cybersecurity expert, Investor, lover of challenges and everything related to blockchain and technology._

- Aseem: _Currently building products at Uniswap Labs; Previously, cofounder at Open Collective and a PM at Dropbox, Google._

- Megan: _Decrypting crypto accounting._

- Elefterios: _Eleftherios is the founder of Radicle, a web-3 network for code collaboration._

Of course, you can very well pick any other address, but please, remember that it's very important for that delegate you chose to vote on proposals made by the community!

# Time limit

Finally, in order to make sure that tokens available for the airdrop are not wasted, we added a clean-up mechanism. This mechanism can be triggered by anyone after 1,000,000 blocks have been mined [from the moment](https://etherscan.io/block/13367076) the [airdrop contract](https://etherscan.io/address/0xFC6ed78d048Fdf1a22Bee990eA34995F9C029ad6) has been deployed. We expect this to be around 150 days, or around March 4th 2022!

At that point, all of the remaining tokens that have not been claimed will be transfered to the DAO, through the timelock contract, for the community to use as they want, along with the rest of the treasury.

What's next? [Delegate and claim your tokens now](https://airdrop.unlock-protocol.com/)!


Today, we're announcing a retro-active airdrop where anyone who contributed to Unlock's network can claim some ɄDT to join our governance

Everyone who used Unlock before September 1st can join our DAO!

Airdrop!

<p>Last week, we introduced the <a href="/blog/unlock-dao">Unlock DAO</a> where anyone can contribute proposals and vote on these in order to collectively govern the protocol and its treasury. Today, we're excited to announce that we're going one step further by doing a <strong>retro-active airdrop</strong>: anyone who has contributed to Unlock before September 1st 2021 is eligible to receive some ɄDT.</p>
<p>We expect to distribute <strong>up to 7,314 ɄDT</strong>! Claim your tokens now at <a href="https://airdrop.unlock-protocol.com/">https://airdrop.unlock-protocol.com/</a></p>
<p style="
    text-align: center;
"><img src="/images/blog/airdrop/coin.png" alt="Unlock DAO"></p>
<h1>Rewarding past contributions</h1>
<p>The protocol already <a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/governance/the-unlock-token">mints and distributes</a> new tokens for every eligible key purchase. This very important mechanims lets us make sure that developers, creators and members who participate in the network's growth get a say in its governance.</p>
<p>However, we introduced the tokens after months of having the protocol functional because we focused on building utility first. Today, we want to acknowledge these early contributions by allowing all of these users to claim some tokens to join our governance.</p>
<p>We applied the following rules:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><strong>3 ɄDT per lock deployed</strong>, on any of the production networks that we currently support (Ethereum, xDAI and Polygon).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>1 ɄDT per key</strong> purchased on any supported production network.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>1 ɄDT for any ɄDT holder</strong> with a balance of 3 ɄDT or more, as of September 1st 2021 at midnight (including liquidity providers on the Uniswap v2 pool)</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>We capped the amount of ɄDT that any address can claim to 10 ɄDT!</p>
<h1>Claiming... and delegating</h1>
<p><strong>One of the most critical aspect of a successful DAO is participation</strong>. For this reason, we have decided to alter <a href="https://github.com/unlock-protocol/merkle-distributor">Uniswap's merkle-distributor contract</a>, to require eligible addresses to delegate their tokens in order to claim them.</p>
<p>Our goal here is to make sure that all new tokens claimed are accounted for when it comes to governance. Additionally, since delegation applies to all of the tokens owned by an address, we expect that a large portion of the existing token holders will achieve delegation in order to claim additional tokens!</p>
<p>In order to ease the process, we identified a few members of our community who are willing to be delegates:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Andreu: <em>Cybersecurity expert, Investor, lover of challenges and everything related to blockchain and technology.</em></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Aseem: <em>Currently building products at Uniswap Labs; Previously, cofounder at Open Collective and a PM at Dropbox, Google.</em></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Megan: <em>Decrypting crypto accounting.</em></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Elefterios: <em>Eleftherios is the founder of Radicle, a web-3 network for code collaboration.</em></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Of course, you can very well pick any other address, but please, remember that it's very important for that delegate you chose to vote on proposals made by the community!</p>
<h1>Time limit</h1>
<p>Finally, in order to make sure that tokens available for the airdrop are not wasted, we added a clean-up mechanism. This mechanism can be triggered by anyone after 1,000,000 blocks have been mined <a href="https://etherscan.io/block/13367076">from the moment</a> the <a href="https://etherscan.io/address/0xFC6ed78d048Fdf1a22Bee990eA34995F9C029ad6">airdrop contract</a> has been deployed. We expect this to be around 150 days, or around March 4th 2022!</p>
<p>At that point, all of the remaining tokens that have not been claimed will be transfered to the DAO, through the timelock contract, for the community to use as they want, along with the rest of the treasury.</p>
<p>What's next? <a href="https://airdrop.unlock-protocol.com/">Delegate and claim your tokens now</a>!</p>



We've got big news here at Unlock! We raised $4 million in venture funding from a handful of VC firms and DAOs along with angel investors from the crypto and media industries. Guess what are main focus for these funds are— **supporting the rapid growth of the protocol**!

![new funding](/images/blog/digital-cash/digitalcash.jpg)

Bringing our ultimate vision for Unlock to life requires community support, participate and ultimately— funding. That's why today's announcement means so much to us and we are so grateful.

> “At Unlock, we envision a fairer, more humane Internet in which every creator can monetize their work on their own terms through membership benefits of their choice,” said Unlock CEO Julien Genestoux. “With the funding we have raised to date, Unlock will continue growing to become the most complete, open source platform to achieve this goal. We’re grateful to the investors who support our vision, and to our developer and creator communities who continue to build amazing new applications of our protocol.”

The $4 million round was led by VC firms including [Betaworks](https://www.betaworks.com/), [Cygni Labs](https://twitter.com/totofrance), [GMG Ventures](https://www.gmgventures.co/) (parent company of [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/us)), and [Metacartel Ventures China](https://metacartel.xyz/), along with participation from early investors

[Techcrunch wrote about us](https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/28/guardian-owner-invests-in-unlock-an-nft-protocol-designed-for-subscriptions-and-memberships/):

> Monetization for the creator economy continues to be a huge issue and opportunity, but creators mostly have to lock themselves into platforms like Patreon to realize their value. A better method would be to have a membership system for creators which sat across several platforms.

Stay tuned to this blog or [join the community in our Discord](https://discord.unlock-protocol.com/) to participate in building or supporting the protocol. We have some big announcements coming very soon — so don't wait to join us!

Also, [we are hiring](https://www.notion.so/unlockprotocol/Unlock-Jobs-907811d15c4d490091eb298f71b0954c), please, make sure you check our jobs page!

More press coverage:

- [VentureBeat](https://venturebeat.com/2021/09/28/unlock-raises-4m-for-blockchain-subscriptions-for-creators-devs-and-online-communities/): "Unlock raises $4M for blockchain subscriptions for creators, devs, and online communities"


We've got big news here at Unlock! We raised $4 million in venture funding from a handful of VC firms and DAOs along with angel investors from the crypto and media industries. Guess what are main focus for these funds are — supporting the rapid growth of the protocol!

We're accelerating as the protocol with a fresh cash infusion!

We raised $4M!

<p>We've got big news here at Unlock! We raised $4 million in venture funding from a handful of VC firms and DAOs along with angel investors from the crypto and media industries. Guess what are main focus for these funds are— <strong>supporting the rapid growth of the protocol</strong>!</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/digital-cash/digitalcash.jpg" alt="new funding"></p>
<p>Bringing our ultimate vision for Unlock to life requires community support, participate and ultimately— funding. That's why today's announcement means so much to us and we are so grateful.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“At Unlock, we envision a fairer, more humane Internet in which every creator can monetize their work on their own terms through membership benefits of their choice,” said Unlock CEO Julien Genestoux. “With the funding we have raised to date, Unlock will continue growing to become the most complete, open source platform to achieve this goal. We’re grateful to the investors who support our vision, and to our developer and creator communities who continue to build amazing new applications of our protocol.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The $4 million round was led by VC firms including <a href="https://www.betaworks.com/">Betaworks</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/totofrance">Cygni Labs</a>, <a href="https://www.gmgventures.co/">GMG Ventures</a> (parent company of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us">The Guardian</a>), and <a href="https://metacartel.xyz/">Metacartel Ventures China</a>, along with participation from early investors</p>
<p><a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/28/guardian-owner-invests-in-unlock-an-nft-protocol-designed-for-subscriptions-and-memberships/">Techcrunch wrote about us</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Monetization for the creator economy continues to be a huge issue and opportunity, but creators mostly have to lock themselves into platforms like Patreon to realize their value. A better method would be to have a membership system for creators which sat across several platforms.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Stay tuned to this blog or <a href="https://discord.unlock-protocol.com/">join the community in our Discord</a> to participate in building or supporting the protocol. We have some big announcements coming very soon — so don't wait to join us!</p>
<p>Also, <a href="https://www.notion.so/unlockprotocol/Unlock-Jobs-907811d15c4d490091eb298f71b0954c">we are hiring</a>, please, make sure you check our jobs page!</p>
<p>More press coverage:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://venturebeat.com/2021/09/28/unlock-raises-4m-for-blockchain-subscriptions-for-creators-devs-and-online-communities/">VentureBeat</a>: "Unlock raises $4M for blockchain subscriptions for creators, devs, and online communities"</li>
</ul>



From the beginning, our goal has been to build a **shared infrastructure**. The protocol itself should belong to its users and implementers, not to Unlock Inc. A few months ago, we released our governance token, [the Unlock Tokens](/blog/unlock-tokens-launched).

In the same way that new airline miles are created for every flight, new UDT are minted for every Unlock transaction (but contrary to airline miles, fewer and fewer are created). ([read more about the tokenomics there](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/governance/the-unlock-token))

The purpose of these tokens is to **give control and power to the developers, creators and users** of the protocol. Today, we're announcing that we launched the Unlock DAO.

![kale nixon](/images/blog/launching-unlock-discount-tokens/decentralized-unlock.jpg)

## What is the Unlock DAO?

There are many ways to think about Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. One way to think of it is as a system are working together toward a shared goal, by leveraging the internet and its networks as their main collaboration tool.

For the Unlock DAO, the participants are anyone who owns our governance token (or, as anyone who uses the protocol can earn some, anyone who used the protocol, even only once)

Similarly, the goal is the development of the protocol. This includes the technical aspects (writing new features in the core contracts), but also the marketing aspects (promoting the protocol), or even operational ones around the DAO itself.

The tools we use are the UDT tokens to get started, as the way to establish voting, but also a [brand new Governance contract](https://etherscan.io/address/0x440d9D4E66d39bb28FB58729Cb4D3ead2A595591). The Governance Contract uses OpenZeppelin's libraries ([see our code](https://github.com/unlock-protocol/unlock/blob/master/smart-contracts/contracts/UnlockProtocolGovernor.sol)) and sets the process through which the DAO makes decision. To get started, we set a few defaults for these rules, but they can be altered by the community.

## Making decisions

The Governance process includes 4 steps.

### 1. Delegating tokens

This is the first step and maybe the most important one. For many reasons, we don't expect all the UDT holders to vote on all propositions. For this, token holders can delegate their votes to anyone, and letting that address vote "on their behalf" for all proposals. Delegation can be changed at any point.

I want to insist on the fact that this is a crucial point as it ensures that voting is done a representative way: the more people delegate, the more "legit" a decision is! If you own any UDT, [you should delegate NOW](https://unlock.community/t/start-delegating-now/125/2).

### 2. Making a proposal

We decided that any token holder can make proposals. A proposal is basically a decision that gets executed "on chain". An example of proposal may be "send X Ether to Address Y", or "Swap X UDT to Ether", or "Deploy this contract which pays out delegates who have voted in the last 5 votes"... etc.

It's important to realize that Unlock Inc. has no way to force a decision to be executed or one to NOT be executed, and no way of limiting what users will submit as proposals.

### 3. Voting

Once a proposal has been submitted, it becomes available for voting in the next block (almost instantly). All delegates are invited to vote for 8 days. They can vote for (yes) or against (no) any proposal and the weight of their vote is based on the number of tokens that is collectively owned by all of the addresses who have delegated to them, at the time of the proposal. (it is useless to buy votes once a proposal has been submitted).

At the end of the period, the smart contract looks at the number of votes (quorum) and the proportion of approvals. We picked a quorum of _15,000 votes_. If quorum is not reached, the proposal has failed and nothing happens. Similarly, if the majority has not approved, the proposal has failed and nothing happens.

### 4. Execution

However, if the proposal is approved (majority of votes in favor), then the proposal gets sent to a time-lock contract. This contract is where the transaction will sit for 1 week, before being finally executed!

## Collaborating

The pre-requisite to any proposal is that all (or at least a majority of) token holders have delegated their votes. It is a critical step because _without it, no proposal can ever reach quorum_.

Additionally, we believe that it is critical for the community to discuss ideas prior to their submissions as proposals, as this helps delegates make informed decisions about their votes and helps prepare for consensus.

A few months ago, we launched the Unlock [Community forums](https://unlock.community/). We believe they are a good place for discussions to happen and we welcome them there! Of course, discussions can also happen anywhere online if the community adopts it.

Finally, we collaborated with the Tally team to make sure their front-end for DAOs was working well for our Governance contracts. It provides a [good interface](https://www.withtally.com/governance/unlock) for people to delegate their votes as well as submit proposals.

## Token Allocation

As part of the DAO launch, the Unlock Inc. team has allocated 10% of the pre-mine to the DAO. This first allocation provides a budget to the community who can already start to use the funds as they want. The allocation has been done through 2 mechanisms:

- 5,000 UDT immediately available. [first 'test' transaction](https://etherscan.io/tx/0x8d726c90d70817d8b865c13a38b85689f22fc9ab030db3a1742bdb5eefee3a92) and [second transaction](https://etherscan.io/tx/0xb220c3a5adfb633635ab056a65f83083847f0dc5c94eba26c84207270106807d),
- 95,000 UDT [distributed through a Sablier stream for 1 year](https://app.sablier.finance/stream/100400).

It is important for us to make sure that the DAO gets funding with vesting to ensure that not all tokens are spent immediately.

Additionally, we are transferring ownership of the LP tokens for the Uniswap V2 pool ([tx1](https://etherscan.io/tx/0x91d19da260fae927a2eb28fa6655838e1a32e226da6d82144753af2517042b9c) and [tx2](https://etherscan.io/tx/0x3733c7f6bdd42f3aa1e3478b661c32a214180be10d24e188f857d8f4ef3a2a88)) which was created at launch time in order to have a public price (as it is used to determine how many UDT are minted for the referrer on key purchases).

This is a _first_ allocation. We hope the community uses these funds to foster adoption of the protocol and we're excited to see the first few proposals!

## What is next?

Unlock Inc. has a few more important announcements to make in the next few weeks, especially around rewarding our early users and adopters, as well as around delegation. Our goal is to eventually fully decentralize the protocol by giving full control of the protocol to its community of users and developers. Please stay tuned!


As of today, our community can submit and vote on proposals, as well as spend some of the UDT treasury!

Marching toward full decentralization

Unlock DAO

<p>From the beginning, our goal has been to build a <strong>shared infrastructure</strong>. The protocol itself should belong to its users and implementers, not to Unlock Inc. A few months ago, we released our governance token, <a href="/blog/unlock-tokens-launched">the Unlock Tokens</a>.</p>
<p>In the same way that new airline miles are created for every flight, new UDT are minted for every Unlock transaction (but contrary to airline miles, fewer and fewer are created). (<a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/governance/the-unlock-token">read more about the tokenomics there</a>)</p>
<p>The purpose of these tokens is to <strong>give control and power to the developers, creators and users</strong> of the protocol. Today, we're announcing that we launched the Unlock DAO.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/launching-unlock-discount-tokens/decentralized-unlock.jpg" alt="kale nixon"></p>
<h2>What is the Unlock DAO?</h2>
<p>There are many ways to think about Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. One way to think of it is as a system are working together toward a shared goal, by leveraging the internet and its networks as their main collaboration tool.</p>
<p>For the Unlock DAO, the participants are anyone who owns our governance token (or, as anyone who uses the protocol can earn some, anyone who used the protocol, even only once)</p>
<p>Similarly, the goal is the development of the protocol. This includes the technical aspects (writing new features in the core contracts), but also the marketing aspects (promoting the protocol), or even operational ones around the DAO itself.</p>
<p>The tools we use are the UDT tokens to get started, as the way to establish voting, but also a <a href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x440d9D4E66d39bb28FB58729Cb4D3ead2A595591">brand new Governance contract</a>. The Governance Contract uses OpenZeppelin's libraries (<a href="https://github.com/unlock-protocol/unlock/blob/master/smart-contracts/contracts/UnlockProtocolGovernor.sol">see our code</a>) and sets the process through which the DAO makes decision. To get started, we set a few defaults for these rules, but they can be altered by the community.</p>
<h2>Making decisions</h2>
<p>The Governance process includes 4 steps.</p>
<h3>1. Delegating tokens</h3>
<p>This is the first step and maybe the most important one. For many reasons, we don't expect all the UDT holders to vote on all propositions. For this, token holders can delegate their votes to anyone, and letting that address vote "on their behalf" for all proposals. Delegation can be changed at any point.</p>
<p>I want to insist on the fact that this is a crucial point as it ensures that voting is done a representative way: the more people delegate, the more "legit" a decision is! If you own any UDT, <a href="https://unlock.community/t/start-delegating-now/125/2">you should delegate NOW</a>.</p>
<h3>2. Making a proposal</h3>
<p>We decided that any token holder can make proposals. A proposal is basically a decision that gets executed "on chain". An example of proposal may be "send X Ether to Address Y", or "Swap X UDT to Ether", or "Deploy this contract which pays out delegates who have voted in the last 5 votes"... etc.</p>
<p>It's important to realize that Unlock Inc. has no way to force a decision to be executed or one to NOT be executed, and no way of limiting what users will submit as proposals.</p>
<h3>3. Voting</h3>
<p>Once a proposal has been submitted, it becomes available for voting in the next block (almost instantly). All delegates are invited to vote for 8 days. They can vote for (yes) or against (no) any proposal and the weight of their vote is based on the number of tokens that is collectively owned by all of the addresses who have delegated to them, at the time of the proposal. (it is useless to buy votes once a proposal has been submitted).</p>
<p>At the end of the period, the smart contract looks at the number of votes (quorum) and the proportion of approvals. We picked a quorum of <em>15,000 votes</em>. If quorum is not reached, the proposal has failed and nothing happens. Similarly, if the majority has not approved, the proposal has failed and nothing happens.</p>
<h3>4. Execution</h3>
<p>However, if the proposal is approved (majority of votes in favor), then the proposal gets sent to a time-lock contract. This contract is where the transaction will sit for 1 week, before being finally executed!</p>
<h2>Collaborating</h2>
<p>The pre-requisite to any proposal is that all (or at least a majority of) token holders have delegated their votes. It is a critical step because <em>without it, no proposal can ever reach quorum</em>.</p>
<p>Additionally, we believe that it is critical for the community to discuss ideas prior to their submissions as proposals, as this helps delegates make informed decisions about their votes and helps prepare for consensus.</p>
<p>A few months ago, we launched the Unlock <a href="https://unlock.community/">Community forums</a>. We believe they are a good place for discussions to happen and we welcome them there! Of course, discussions can also happen anywhere online if the community adopts it.</p>
<p>Finally, we collaborated with the Tally team to make sure their front-end for DAOs was working well for our Governance contracts. It provides a <a href="https://www.withtally.com/governance/unlock">good interface</a> for people to delegate their votes as well as submit proposals.</p>
<h2>Token Allocation</h2>
<p>As part of the DAO launch, the Unlock Inc. team has allocated 10% of the pre-mine to the DAO. This first allocation provides a budget to the community who can already start to use the funds as they want. The allocation has been done through 2 mechanisms:</p>
<ul>
<li>5,000 UDT immediately available. <a href="https://etherscan.io/tx/0x8d726c90d70817d8b865c13a38b85689f22fc9ab030db3a1742bdb5eefee3a92">first 'test' transaction</a> and <a href="https://etherscan.io/tx/0xb220c3a5adfb633635ab056a65f83083847f0dc5c94eba26c84207270106807d">second transaction</a>,</li>
<li>95,000 UDT <a href="https://app.sablier.finance/stream/100400">distributed through a Sablier stream for 1 year</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>It is important for us to make sure that the DAO gets funding with vesting to ensure that not all tokens are spent immediately.</p>
<p>Additionally, we are transferring ownership of the LP tokens for the Uniswap V2 pool (<a href="https://etherscan.io/tx/0x91d19da260fae927a2eb28fa6655838e1a32e226da6d82144753af2517042b9c">tx1</a> and <a href="https://etherscan.io/tx/0x3733c7f6bdd42f3aa1e3478b661c32a214180be10d24e188f857d8f4ef3a2a88">tx2</a>) which was created at launch time in order to have a public price (as it is used to determine how many UDT are minted for the referrer on key purchases).</p>
<p>This is a <em>first</em> allocation. We hope the community uses these funds to foster adoption of the protocol and we're excited to see the first few proposals!</p>
<h2>What is next?</h2>
<p>Unlock Inc. has a few more important announcements to make in the next few weeks, especially around rewarding our early users and adopters, as well as around delegation. Our goal is to eventually fully decentralize the protocol by giving full control of the protocol to its community of users and developers. Please stay tuned!</p>



![reddit-ama](/images/blog/reddit-ama/reddit-ama.png)

Thanks to everyone who joined [the recent r/Cryptocurrency AMA](https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/pu1xyc/im_the_founder_of_unlock_a_membership_protocol/) with our CEO Julien ([u/julien51](https://www.reddit.com/user/julien51/)) and adviser Amber ([u/Consistent\_\_Patience](https://www.reddit.com/user/Consistent__Patience)), and to the excellent hosts for helping make it happen. Here’s some highlights, starting with the most high level questions, then getting into the weeds on various use cases, and technical/company questions.

## **What’s Unlock Protocol & Why Do We Need It?**

### _Can you explain in layman’s terms here on Reddit what [Unlock] does? (u/who_loves_laksa)_

Unlock lets creators deploy a membership contract so that they can easily limit access to their content, work and community to people who have a valid membership!

You can think of Unlock as a decentralized version of Patreon but also not with a single platform. Imagine that if supporting a creator on Patreon would give them access to some secret/members-only content on their subreddit for example. Or to a private channel on their Discord, etc.

As an open web fan, I really want the core web protocols to include a monetization protocol so that the answer is not always "I'll sell my visitors attention". Generally, it looks like the web is moving toward more and more memberships. I don't want Apple and Google and Amazon to own that and we need an easy way to do that across the web, using the same patterns!

### _Why use Blockchain for your product? (u/KucingRumahan)_

Because we want memberships to be permissionless and decentralized. We don't want to build yet another middleman or gatekeeper.

### _Unlock seems like a good idea for people who already use ETH, but is it really a better or easier solution for people who just use fiat to buy tickets/subscriptions/etc.? If so, how? (u/geekteam6)_

I think it is also better for them! First, we support credit cards, which makes things much easier for them, but then we actually build a protocol, a standard way of handling all of their memberships, across many websites, applications or spaces.

Right now, each of my membership is on a different website, has different "terms" (can cancel only at certain times, etc.) and they are really hard to manage. I also can't transfer them to someone else.

Using a crypto wallet is an investment that I believe everyone will eventually make. Each year it's getting easier and soon people won't think too much about it. The hard part only happens once, and after that you're all set for all of your memberships, rather than creating new accounts on every web/app each time I want to get a membership!

### _Please explain more about how Unlock, Inc. monetizes the protocol? How do you make money?(u/ForeignShooter)_

That's a very good question! Unlock Inc. has built a credit card integration that lets users who do not have a wallet or those who have one but don't want to pay with their cryptocurrency purchase one with their credit card. When that happens, Unlock Inc. will take a small fee. (I should note that anyone else could build their own credit card integration on top of the protocol, we don't get “special access" or anything!).

We also believe there is value in holding governance tokens for a protocol that is widely used and we want to eventually keep about 20% of these governance tokens (the rest will be distributed to users of the protocol, thru grants and to the DAO).

### _Do you have a token? if so what are the tokenomics? (u/Greedy-Visit-1905)_

We have a governance token because we think every protocol should be governed by its community of users and developers. You can find more details about [it in our docs](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/governance/the-unlock-token).

It's already started to get distributed. You can find the current breakdown on etherscan. As you can see [there] the company still owns about 78% of the supply but our goal is to eventually go down to about 20%. We have distributed a large amount of tokens to the DAO contract, and through grants.

## **Use Cases for Unlock**

### _Could Unlock be used as a payment system for creators in non-blockchain virtual worlds like VRChat or Second Life? If so, how? (u/slhamlet)_

Yes! Absolutely! First, as long as there is a way to display some kind of web-view or redirect the user to one, it is possible to get the user to authenticate (sign a message) and purchase a membership, using either crypto or their credit cards!

There's actually an integration with Decentraland right now, as well as Discord and other networks. In Decentraland, some users have locked access to a saloon! [More details here](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/decentraland).

### _Do you think this could be used for something like a decentralized OnlyFans? (u/roymustang261)_

Absolutely! We even submitted a Request For Grants and two teams applied and have been building for the last few weeks! Combined with other technologies and protocols, we believe a fully decentralized UnlockFans is possible!

And also, we have [a wishlist of integrations we'd love to see built](https://www.notion.so/Request-for-Grants-9aac49be49124e70a88543bc79748555).  If you have ideas for building on any of these, [check out the grant program](https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/token-grant-program)!

## **Technical/Roadmap/Company Questions for Unlock**

### _Are there any automated workflows to assign NFT's in bulk? Is Unlock able to facilitate sets that contain thousands of item both in capacity as well as in the tools required to manage them? (u/Thefriendlyfaceplant)_

Yes! The lock contract has a grantKeys function that can be called by any lock manager (creator of the lock by default) to "air-drop" memberships to many users! We don't provide a UI for this, but it will come soon!

This is on the roadmap! Expect some updates on this by the end of the year. It's one of the most frequent requests! If you'd like to discuss more about what you're looking for in particular, please join the Discord and say hello!

### _How would [MOON] integration work? Is there any way to deploy a lock to a custom network?  If I create a lock on XDAI can I require users to pay in tokens on another network?  (u/nanooverbtc)_

No, you would need to deploy the lock on the same network as the currency you chose.

We are actually working on making it really easy to get deployed on any network [and] are working on releasing on Arbitrum in the next few days/weeks.

### _Can you tell me about the Unlock token (UDT)? What is the max supply? How is it minted? What's the distribution schedule? Benefits to holders etc? (u/Wargizmo)_

UDT does not currently have a max supply. It is actually built to be inflationary using a log curve (always more, but fewer and fewer more). The goal here is to reward all usage, but with a disproportionate amount to earlier users, who are contributing to the economies of scale.

This is a governance token, its main goal is to let protocol users and developers collectively decide on what they want the protocol to achieve, and how it should work in the long term.

[Here is some information](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/governance/the-unlock-token) about UDT's tokenomics.

### _When is UDT going to list on bigger exchanges (u/Available-Ad-3713)_

Unlock has always been meant to be decentralized. Recently we deployed a governance contract which lets the community of token holders vote on proposals that they come up with! Unlock has always been meant to be decentralized. Recently we deployed a governance contract that lets the community of token holders vote on proposals that they come up with!

You can [join the governance channels here](https://unlock.community/).

### _I see that you are on [Coinbase Ventures](https://ventures.coinbase.com/). Can you explain how they are involved with Unlock? (u/ForeignShooter)_

Yes, they are an investor in Unlock Inc.! They participated in our first round of funding in the summer of 2018 and they own a small piece of equity in the company. (More info [can be found here](https://medium.com/unlock-protocol/unlocking-some-exciting-news-5ad0f3889375).)

### _What is the biggest barrier to entry for your project? (u/surrender_the_juice)_

Crypto adoption! Too few people have wallets, or even understand how to use one. It's coming, and I believe we're giving reasons to use wallet to people who are not into DeFi, but sometimes I wish it was faster!

[Read the whole thread here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/pu1xyc/im_the_founder_of_unlock_a_membership_protocol/), especially if you’re already a member of r/Cryptocurrency and are interested in using Unlock with MOON, the community’s official token, because we go into much more MOON-y details there!


Unlock's CEO Julien Genestoux and adviser Amber Case answer Reddit's questions about Unlock

Julien Genestoux and Amber Case answer Reddit's questions about Unlock

Highlights from Unlock's Reddit AMA on r/Cryptocurrency!

<p><img src="/images/blog/reddit-ama/reddit-ama.png" alt="reddit-ama"></p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who joined <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/pu1xyc/im_the_founder_of_unlock_a_membership_protocol/">the recent r/Cryptocurrency AMA</a> with our CEO Julien (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/julien51/">u/julien51</a>) and adviser Amber (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Consistent__Patience">u/Consistent__Patience</a>), and to the excellent hosts for helping make it happen. Here’s some highlights, starting with the most high level questions, then getting into the weeds on various use cases, and technical/company questions.</p>
<h2><strong>What’s Unlock Protocol &#x26; Why Do We Need It?</strong></h2>
<h3><em>Can you explain in layman’s terms here on Reddit what [Unlock] does? (u/who_loves_laksa)</em></h3>
<p>Unlock lets creators deploy a membership contract so that they can easily limit access to their content, work and community to people who have a valid membership!</p>
<p>You can think of Unlock as a decentralized version of Patreon but also not with a single platform. Imagine that if supporting a creator on Patreon would give them access to some secret/members-only content on their subreddit for example. Or to a private channel on their Discord, etc.</p>
<p>As an open web fan, I really want the core web protocols to include a monetization protocol so that the answer is not always "I'll sell my visitors attention". Generally, it looks like the web is moving toward more and more memberships. I don't want Apple and Google and Amazon to own that and we need an easy way to do that across the web, using the same patterns!</p>
<h3><em>Why use Blockchain for your product? (u/KucingRumahan)</em></h3>
<p>Because we want memberships to be permissionless and decentralized. We don't want to build yet another middleman or gatekeeper.</p>
<h3><em>Unlock seems like a good idea for people who already use ETH, but is it really a better or easier solution for people who just use fiat to buy tickets/subscriptions/etc.? If so, how? (u/geekteam6)</em></h3>
<p>I think it is also better for them! First, we support credit cards, which makes things much easier for them, but then we actually build a protocol, a standard way of handling all of their memberships, across many websites, applications or spaces.</p>
<p>Right now, each of my membership is on a different website, has different "terms" (can cancel only at certain times, etc.) and they are really hard to manage. I also can't transfer them to someone else.</p>
<p>Using a crypto wallet is an investment that I believe everyone will eventually make. Each year it's getting easier and soon people won't think too much about it. The hard part only happens once, and after that you're all set for all of your memberships, rather than creating new accounts on every web/app each time I want to get a membership!</p>
<h3><em>Please explain more about how Unlock, Inc. monetizes the protocol? How do you make money?(u/ForeignShooter)</em></h3>
<p>That's a very good question! Unlock Inc. has built a credit card integration that lets users who do not have a wallet or those who have one but don't want to pay with their cryptocurrency purchase one with their credit card. When that happens, Unlock Inc. will take a small fee. (I should note that anyone else could build their own credit card integration on top of the protocol, we don't get “special access" or anything!).</p>
<p>We also believe there is value in holding governance tokens for a protocol that is widely used and we want to eventually keep about 20% of these governance tokens (the rest will be distributed to users of the protocol, thru grants and to the DAO).</p>
<h3><em>Do you have a token? if so what are the tokenomics? (u/Greedy-Visit-1905)</em></h3>
<p>We have a governance token because we think every protocol should be governed by its community of users and developers. You can find more details about <a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/governance/the-unlock-token">it in our docs</a>.</p>
<p>It's already started to get distributed. You can find the current breakdown on etherscan. As you can see [there] the company still owns about 78% of the supply but our goal is to eventually go down to about 20%. We have distributed a large amount of tokens to the DAO contract, and through grants.</p>
<h2><strong>Use Cases for Unlock</strong></h2>
<h3><em>Could Unlock be used as a payment system for creators in non-blockchain virtual worlds like VRChat or Second Life? If so, how? (u/slhamlet)</em></h3>
<p>Yes! Absolutely! First, as long as there is a way to display some kind of web-view or redirect the user to one, it is possible to get the user to authenticate (sign a message) and purchase a membership, using either crypto or their credit cards!</p>
<p>There's actually an integration with Decentraland right now, as well as Discord and other networks. In Decentraland, some users have locked access to a saloon! <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/decentraland">More details here</a>.</p>
<h3><em>Do you think this could be used for something like a decentralized OnlyFans? (u/roymustang261)</em></h3>
<p>Absolutely! We even submitted a Request For Grants and two teams applied and have been building for the last few weeks! Combined with other technologies and protocols, we believe a fully decentralized UnlockFans is possible!</p>
<p>And also, we have <a href="https://www.notion.so/Request-for-Grants-9aac49be49124e70a88543bc79748555">a wishlist of integrations we'd love to see built</a>.  If you have ideas for building on any of these, <a href="https://unlock-protocol.com/blog/token-grant-program">check out the grant program</a>!</p>
<h2><strong>Technical/Roadmap/Company Questions for Unlock</strong></h2>
<h3><em>Are there any automated workflows to assign NFT's in bulk? Is Unlock able to facilitate sets that contain thousands of item both in capacity as well as in the tools required to manage them? (u/Thefriendlyfaceplant)</em></h3>
<p>Yes! The lock contract has a grantKeys function that can be called by any lock manager (creator of the lock by default) to "air-drop" memberships to many users! We don't provide a UI for this, but it will come soon!</p>
<p>This is on the roadmap! Expect some updates on this by the end of the year. It's one of the most frequent requests! If you'd like to discuss more about what you're looking for in particular, please join the Discord and say hello!</p>
<h3><em>How would [MOON] integration work? Is there any way to deploy a lock to a custom network?  If I create a lock on XDAI can I require users to pay in tokens on another network?  (u/nanooverbtc)</em></h3>
<p>No, you would need to deploy the lock on the same network as the currency you chose.</p>
<p>We are actually working on making it really easy to get deployed on any network [and] are working on releasing on Arbitrum in the next few days/weeks.</p>
<h3><em>Can you tell me about the Unlock token (UDT)? What is the max supply? How is it minted? What's the distribution schedule? Benefits to holders etc? (u/Wargizmo)</em></h3>
<p>UDT does not currently have a max supply. It is actually built to be inflationary using a log curve (always more, but fewer and fewer more). The goal here is to reward all usage, but with a disproportionate amount to earlier users, who are contributing to the economies of scale.</p>
<p>This is a governance token, its main goal is to let protocol users and developers collectively decide on what they want the protocol to achieve, and how it should work in the long term.</p>
<p><a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/governance/the-unlock-token">Here is some information</a> about UDT's tokenomics.</p>
<h3><em>When is UDT going to list on bigger exchanges (u/Available-Ad-3713)</em></h3>
<p>Unlock has always been meant to be decentralized. Recently we deployed a governance contract which lets the community of token holders vote on proposals that they come up with! Unlock has always been meant to be decentralized. Recently we deployed a governance contract that lets the community of token holders vote on proposals that they come up with!</p>
<p>You can <a href="https://unlock.community/">join the governance channels here</a>.</p>
<h3><em>I see that you are on <a href="https://ventures.coinbase.com/">Coinbase Ventures</a>. Can you explain how they are involved with Unlock? (u/ForeignShooter)</em></h3>
<p>Yes, they are an investor in Unlock Inc.! They participated in our first round of funding in the summer of 2018 and they own a small piece of equity in the company. (More info <a href="https://medium.com/unlock-protocol/unlocking-some-exciting-news-5ad0f3889375">can be found here</a>.)</p>
<h3><em>What is the biggest barrier to entry for your project? (u/surrender_the_juice)</em></h3>
<p>Crypto adoption! Too few people have wallets, or even understand how to use one. It's coming, and I believe we're giving reasons to use wallet to people who are not into DeFi, but sometimes I wish it was faster!</p>
<p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/pu1xyc/im_the_founder_of_unlock_a_membership_protocol/">Read the whole thread here</a>, especially if you’re already a member of r/Cryptocurrency and are interested in using Unlock with MOON, the community’s official token, because we go into much more MOON-y details there!</p>



Last month, Unlock Protocol participated in ETH Global’s [HackFS Hackathon](https://fs.ethglobal.com/) as a sponsor. The hackathon’s theme was to help build the web3 foundation, so of course, we were all over that mission!

![HackFS](/images/blog/hackfs/hackfs.png)

We’re so pleased that eight teams won a little $UDT for deploying our protocol in their projects. Seeing what’s possible with Unlock by such amazingly creative and brilliant dev teams is a pure delight for the Unlock team and we’re so excited we could support this hackathon.

The diversity of projects that each team who deployed our protocol in some aspect of their work really shows the depth of what's possible with Unlock. From gaming vaults with locked content, checkout components in e-commerce to collector cards; each of the following teams integrated Unlock in a way that shows the scope of what's possible with our protocol.

Here’s a quick look at all of the projects who deployed our protocol. Be sure to click through to the projects that interest you and follow these teams as some are continuing to build out the projects that began during HackFS.

### Projects Using Unlock

- [**Certificate Maker**](https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/certificate-maker-nft) is a dApp where users can use a certificate template to generate a certificate and upload it to IPFS. [Source Code](https://github.com/ysongh/Certificate-Maker) | [Demo Link](https://certificatemarkernft.netlify.app/)

- [**Game Vault**](https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/games-vault) is a decentralized game distribution eco-system including a game NFT marketplace, game libraries, and a developer portal with profile and game upload functionality. [Source Code](https://github.com/afk-mario/gamesvault) | [Demo Link](https://gamesvault.on.fleek.co/)

- [**Metamark**](https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/metamark) creates a trusted note manager to make data secure, encrypted and easier to access. [Source Code](https://github.com/arifDannyHermawan/metamark)

- [\*\*Metacards](https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/metacards-v2)\*\* is a platform their where people can mint their own Trading Card Set as NFTs and enable fans to access exclusive content through their NFT. [Source Code](https://github.com/kliyer-ai/metacards-hackfs) | [Demo Link](https://trymetacards.com/)

- [**Puma iOS**](https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/puma-ios-eth-unlock-web3-storage-preview) is a mobile ETH wallet powered by Unlock and [Web3.storage](http://web3.storage/).

- [**Upld**](https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/upld) is a video-sharing website built on IPFS and uses Unlock to help content creators monetize their work without ads. [Source Code](https://github.com/sergioneo/upld-webapp) | [Demo Link](https://red-forest-8795.on.fleek.co/#/v/QmNnJUUFG6J2afeCqofGKCfpEcUJ5uB3yvsdFyxGpv7Yq8)

- [**Googli.eth**](https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/googli-eth) is striving to create a blockchain-based notary service where the final document is minted as an NFT. [Source Code](https://github.com/jefedeoro/googli.eth | [Demo Link](https://googli.eth.link)

- [**CheckoutFS**](https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/checkoutfs) allows people to create instant checkout pages for your business or service hosted on IPFS. [Source Code](https://github.com/cbonoz/hackfs21) | [Demo Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPREubF3XpY&feature=youtu.be)

We also deployed our [Unlock integration with Snapshot](https://snapshot.org/#/unlock-community.eth/proposal/QmNUshHjfXfopBaMdrQiwk2eVZB1ow2ULM6ZfCXZhzYa61) and asked our community to vote on their favorite projects. Every community member holding an active Unlock membership was able to vote and the following projects made the top of the list:

1. Certificate Maker
2. Games Vault
3. Metamark
4. Metacards

Supporting hackathons and the hackers who are helping build the foundational technology of web3 is a great pleasure and honor for our team. We're so delighted to see all the hard work, ingenuity, and creativity that went into each project (especially those who deployed Unlock). We look forward to seeing these projects take on a new life outside of the hackathon setting and are here to help everyone using Unlock to build a better internet!

Hop into [our Discord](https://discord.gg/Ah6ZEJyTDp) chat with our community and devs, bounce your ideas on integrations, and when you touch on an idea you'd like to breathe life into-- [apply for our grant program!](https://share.hsforms.com/1gAdLgNOESNCWJ9bJxCUAMwbvg22) We're community-driven and we want to support YOUR vision of web3!


We’re so pleased that eight teams won a little $UDT for deploying our protocol in their projects. Seeing what’s possible with Unlock by such amazingly creative and brilliant dev teams is a pure delight for the Unlock team.

HackFS Winning Projects Using Unlock Protocol

<p>Last month, Unlock Protocol participated in ETH Global’s <a href="https://fs.ethglobal.com/">HackFS Hackathon</a> as a sponsor. The hackathon’s theme was to help build the web3 foundation, so of course, we were all over that mission!</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/hackfs/hackfs.png" alt="HackFS"></p>
<p>We’re so pleased that eight teams won a little $UDT for deploying our protocol in their projects. Seeing what’s possible with Unlock by such amazingly creative and brilliant dev teams is a pure delight for the Unlock team and we’re so excited we could support this hackathon.</p>
<p>The diversity of projects that each team who deployed our protocol in some aspect of their work really shows the depth of what's possible with Unlock. From gaming vaults with locked content, checkout components in e-commerce to collector cards; each of the following teams integrated Unlock in a way that shows the scope of what's possible with our protocol.</p>
<p>Here’s a quick look at all of the projects who deployed our protocol. Be sure to click through to the projects that interest you and follow these teams as some are continuing to build out the projects that began during HackFS.</p>
<h3>Projects Using Unlock</h3>
<ul>
<li>
<p><a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/certificate-maker-nft"><strong>Certificate Maker</strong></a> is a dApp where users can use a certificate template to generate a certificate and upload it to IPFS. <a href="https://github.com/ysongh/Certificate-Maker">Source Code</a> | <a href="https://certificatemarkernft.netlify.app/">Demo Link</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/games-vault"><strong>Game Vault</strong></a> is a decentralized game distribution eco-system including a game NFT marketplace, game libraries, and a developer portal with profile and game upload functionality. <a href="https://github.com/afk-mario/gamesvault">Source Code</a> | <a href="https://gamesvault.on.fleek.co/">Demo Link</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/metamark"><strong>Metamark</strong></a> creates a trusted note manager to make data secure, encrypted and easier to access. <a href="https://github.com/arifDannyHermawan/metamark">Source Code</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/metacards-v2">**Metacards</a>** is a platform their where people can mint their own Trading Card Set as NFTs and enable fans to access exclusive content through their NFT. <a href="https://github.com/kliyer-ai/metacards-hackfs">Source Code</a> | <a href="https://trymetacards.com/">Demo Link</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/puma-ios-eth-unlock-web3-storage-preview"><strong>Puma iOS</strong></a> is a mobile ETH wallet powered by Unlock and <a href="http://web3.storage/">Web3.storage</a>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/upld"><strong>Upld</strong></a> is a video-sharing website built on IPFS and uses Unlock to help content creators monetize their work without ads. <a href="https://github.com/sergioneo/upld-webapp">Source Code</a> | <a href="https://red-forest-8795.on.fleek.co/#/v/QmNnJUUFG6J2afeCqofGKCfpEcUJ5uB3yvsdFyxGpv7Yq8">Demo Link</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/googli-eth"><strong>Googli.eth</strong></a> is striving to create a blockchain-based notary service where the final document is minted as an NFT. [Source Code](https://github.com/jefedeoro/googli.eth | <a href="https://googli.eth.link">Demo Link</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://showcase.ethglobal.co/hackfs2021/checkoutfs"><strong>CheckoutFS</strong></a> allows people to create instant checkout pages for your business or service hosted on IPFS. <a href="https://github.com/cbonoz/hackfs21">Source Code</a> | <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPREubF3XpY&#x26;feature=youtu.be">Demo Link</a></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>We also deployed our <a href="https://snapshot.org/#/unlock-community.eth/proposal/QmNUshHjfXfopBaMdrQiwk2eVZB1ow2ULM6ZfCXZhzYa61">Unlock integration with Snapshot</a> and asked our community to vote on their favorite projects. Every community member holding an active Unlock membership was able to vote and the following projects made the top of the list:</p>
<ol>
<li>Certificate Maker</li>
<li>Games Vault</li>
<li>Metamark</li>
<li>Metacards</li>
</ol>
<p>Supporting hackathons and the hackers who are helping build the foundational technology of web3 is a great pleasure and honor for our team. We're so delighted to see all the hard work, ingenuity, and creativity that went into each project (especially those who deployed Unlock). We look forward to seeing these projects take on a new life outside of the hackathon setting and are here to help everyone using Unlock to build a better internet!</p>
<p>Hop into <a href="https://discord.gg/Ah6ZEJyTDp">our Discord</a> chat with our community and devs, bounce your ideas on integrations, and when you touch on an idea you'd like to breathe life into-- <a href="https://share.hsforms.com/1gAdLgNOESNCWJ9bJxCUAMwbvg22">apply for our grant program!</a> We're community-driven and we want to support YOUR vision of web3!</p>



![kale nixon](/images/blog/kale-nixon/unlockgrant-kalenixon.jpg)

Supporting creators and artists is one of our core objectives at Unlock. We strongly believe in empowering artists to control and monetize their content in a manner that allows the artist to create a thriving income from their art and never sacrifice the connection to their fans and community.

We’re thrilled to have musician, producer, and performer Kale Nixon on board as a grantee! Kale will be integrating Unlock with the various aspects of their online presence and creating examples of how Unlock can support creators, musicians, and more.

> Kale is specifically exploring “using Unlock on my site, as well as building a static site on Neocities with links to download Max patches, Ableton tools, and albums. In addition to using Unlock on my site, I'm interested in helping document, write about and create online workshops about the experience of using Unlock so that other creators have more tools for direct monetization as independent creators online.”

This project supports further Unlock integrations for the creator economy but also focuses on educating the creator community. As noted in Kale’s proposal, many of their community members might not have developer skills but are actively seeking solutions for decentralizing their creations.

**Why This Project?**

We’re excited about supporting creators that are interested in building demos, educating the wider community about Unlock, and are interested in experimenting with all of the different ways creators can use Unlock for their projects.

**Looking Forward**

We’re excited to have such an insightful project in our grant program and are wishing Kale all the best as they build this powerful integration for the creators, artists and musicians entering this new Web3 world.

If you’d like to join our Discord to connect with Kale about the project or explore some ideas of your own, please [join us here](https://discord.gg/Ah6ZEJyTDp).

AND if you already have an idea for an integration using Unlock, please submit your project [proposal here](https://share.hsforms.com/1gAdLgNOESNCWJ9bJxCUAMwbvg22).

Unlock Protocol is driven by and for our community. We’re here to help YOU build the future path of blockchain technology and together we’ll explore all that’s possible with community and decentralization as our core foundations. [Join the conversation.](https://unlock.community/)


We’re thrilled to have musician, producer, and performer Kale Nixon on board as a grantee! Kale will be integrating Unlock with the various aspects of their online presence and creating examples of how Unlock can support creators, musicians, and more

Grantee Kale Nixon Explores Unlock Integrations for Musicians

Integration & Education for Musicians, Creators & Artists

<p><img src="/images/blog/kale-nixon/unlockgrant-kalenixon.jpg" alt="kale nixon"></p>
<p>Supporting creators and artists is one of our core objectives at Unlock. We strongly believe in empowering artists to control and monetize their content in a manner that allows the artist to create a thriving income from their art and never sacrifice the connection to their fans and community.</p>
<p>We’re thrilled to have musician, producer, and performer Kale Nixon on board as a grantee! Kale will be integrating Unlock with the various aspects of their online presence and creating examples of how Unlock can support creators, musicians, and more.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Kale is specifically exploring “using Unlock on my site, as well as building a static site on Neocities with links to download Max patches, Ableton tools, and albums. In addition to using Unlock on my site, I'm interested in helping document, write about and create online workshops about the experience of using Unlock so that other creators have more tools for direct monetization as independent creators online.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This project supports further Unlock integrations for the creator economy but also focuses on educating the creator community. As noted in Kale’s proposal, many of their community members might not have developer skills but are actively seeking solutions for decentralizing their creations.</p>
<p><strong>Why This Project?</strong></p>
<p>We’re excited about supporting creators that are interested in building demos, educating the wider community about Unlock, and are interested in experimenting with all of the different ways creators can use Unlock for their projects.</p>
<p><strong>Looking Forward</strong></p>
<p>We’re excited to have such an insightful project in our grant program and are wishing Kale all the best as they build this powerful integration for the creators, artists and musicians entering this new Web3 world.</p>
<p>If you’d like to join our Discord to connect with Kale about the project or explore some ideas of your own, please <a href="https://discord.gg/Ah6ZEJyTDp">join us here</a>.</p>
<p>AND if you already have an idea for an integration using Unlock, please submit your project <a href="https://share.hsforms.com/1gAdLgNOESNCWJ9bJxCUAMwbvg22">proposal here</a>.</p>
<p>Unlock Protocol is driven by and for our community. We’re here to help YOU build the future path of blockchain technology and together we’ll explore all that’s possible with community and decentralization as our core foundations. <a href="https://unlock.community/">Join the conversation.</a></p>



# How musicians can use Unlock

For musicians, [Unlock Protocol](http://unlock-protocol.com/) (and other Web 3.0 tooling) enables many new ways to be supported by their community. By selling “keys” (NFTs) to "locks" and integrating them with different services, musicians can do a number of unique things -- from allowing paywalled blog posts, to private Discord servers, to members-only access to docs and services **across the web**.

It’s part of a web 3.0 future where creators are empowered to fully own the connection with their audience, independent of particular platforms. For musicians, Unlock allows artists to be directly supported by their community and create a unique membership experience.

Jack Spallone recently wrote a blog post about [31 Ideas For Music + Crypto](https://jack.mirror.xyz/CLVl8maTxlphqKP6eZ1oQ1CJJKT1mvQk7cSflu8g_Lg) which contains many ideas that could be achieved with Unlock Protocol. Here are some of them.

![Musician](/images/blog/musicians-use-unlock/musician.jpg)

### NFTs as patronage

Similar to a platform like Patreon, you could represent tiers of membership or access with different NFTs created through Unlock. As an example, think of this like 3 levels of access you may provide on a platform like Patreon, except each tier is a different NFT for purchase -- allowing for patronage perks to be _independent of any one platform_.

### Tokens as access

Locks through Unlock can allow fans and listeners to get access to songs, merch discounts, or even Google Docs. Is there a specific piece of content, knowledge, or media that your community would like to access? You can create NFTs as access passes without creating a full membership program.

Check [this example by Zplit](https://zplit.online/xdai/)!

### Retroactive airdrops

Musicians could airdrop Unlock NFT passes to their audience which can enable access to things like a library of material (samples, archives, stems), merch discounts, or early access.

### Scarce music releases

Limit access to new or unreleased material for members that hold an Unlock NFT. Because Unlock allows you to specify a maximum number of a particular NFT that can be purchased, you can make a release as scarce or as available as you'd like.

### NFTs + social tokens

If you are an artist that uses a social token, Unlock locks could be used in coordination with them. For instance, you could reward the most loyal holders of your social token with a special Unlock NFT. Or, you could gift your social token to people that purchase memberships through Unlock.

### Create a virtual venue

Through a [Decentraland](/blog/decentraland) integration, you can create a virtual venue that allows members to join -- and even buy access at the door!

Learn more here and see an example [using Unlock here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3kPUXdDr80).

### Other Integration Ideas

- Gate blog content on your website [(webflow, wordpress)](https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/move-to-guides/plugins-and-integrations/wordpress-plugin)
- Gate access to soundcloud or audius links and tracks
- Added perks (zoom meetings, guest list spots, etc)

<small>Photo credit by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@gabrielgurrola">Gabriel</a></small>


For musicians, Unlock Protocol (and other Web 3.0 tooling) enables many new ways to be supported by their community.

For musicians, Unlock Protocol enables many new ways to be supported by their community.

How musicians can use Unlock

<h1>How musicians can use Unlock</h1>
<p>For musicians, <a href="http://unlock-protocol.com/">Unlock Protocol</a> (and other Web 3.0 tooling) enables many new ways to be supported by their community. By selling “keys” (NFTs) to "locks" and integrating them with different services, musicians can do a number of unique things -- from allowing paywalled blog posts, to private Discord servers, to members-only access to docs and services <strong>across the web</strong>.</p>
<p>It’s part of a web 3.0 future where creators are empowered to fully own the connection with their audience, independent of particular platforms. For musicians, Unlock allows artists to be directly supported by their community and create a unique membership experience.</p>
<p>Jack Spallone recently wrote a blog post about <a href="https://jack.mirror.xyz/CLVl8maTxlphqKP6eZ1oQ1CJJKT1mvQk7cSflu8g_Lg">31 Ideas For Music + Crypto</a> which contains many ideas that could be achieved with Unlock Protocol. Here are some of them.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/musicians-use-unlock/musician.jpg" alt="Musician"></p>
<h3>NFTs as patronage</h3>
<p>Similar to a platform like Patreon, you could represent tiers of membership or access with different NFTs created through Unlock. As an example, think of this like 3 levels of access you may provide on a platform like Patreon, except each tier is a different NFT for purchase -- allowing for patronage perks to be <em>independent of any one platform</em>.</p>
<h3>Tokens as access</h3>
<p>Locks through Unlock can allow fans and listeners to get access to songs, merch discounts, or even Google Docs. Is there a specific piece of content, knowledge, or media that your community would like to access? You can create NFTs as access passes without creating a full membership program.</p>
<p>Check <a href="https://zplit.online/xdai/">this example by Zplit</a>!</p>
<h3>Retroactive airdrops</h3>
<p>Musicians could airdrop Unlock NFT passes to their audience which can enable access to things like a library of material (samples, archives, stems), merch discounts, or early access.</p>
<h3>Scarce music releases</h3>
<p>Limit access to new or unreleased material for members that hold an Unlock NFT. Because Unlock allows you to specify a maximum number of a particular NFT that can be purchased, you can make a release as scarce or as available as you'd like.</p>
<h3>NFTs + social tokens</h3>
<p>If you are an artist that uses a social token, Unlock locks could be used in coordination with them. For instance, you could reward the most loyal holders of your social token with a special Unlock NFT. Or, you could gift your social token to people that purchase memberships through Unlock.</p>
<h3>Create a virtual venue</h3>
<p>Through a <a href="/blog/decentraland">Decentraland</a> integration, you can create a virtual venue that allows members to join -- and even buy access at the door!</p>
<p>Learn more here and see an example <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3kPUXdDr80">using Unlock here</a>.</p>
<h3>Other Integration Ideas</h3>
<ul>
<li>Gate blog content on your website <a href="https://docs.unlock-protocol.com/move-to-guides/plugins-and-integrations/wordpress-plugin">(webflow, wordpress)</a></li>
<li>Gate access to soundcloud or audius links and tracks</li>
<li>Added perks (zoom meetings, guest list spots, etc)</li>
</ul>
<p><small>Photo credit by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@gabrielgurrola">Gabriel</a></small></p>
