The Elrond Network Blockchain went live on July 30th, 2020. Its mission was far from simple - the goal was to become a Layer 1 scalable blockchain that could handle the proper throughput requirements of Web 3. The only problem was that the Elrond Team was entering a market with several established powerhouse Layer 1s: Ethereum, Cardano, Polkadot, XRP, Algorand, and Zilliqa, to name a few.
Knowing full well how much competition existed to become the Generation 3 Blockchain of the future, Beniamin Mincu, along with his brother Lucian Mincu, and co-founder Lucian Todea, charged forward, undeterred. They knew they captured lightning in a bottle, having led a development team that was able to crack some of the longest standing bottlenecks in blockchain’s history - including, the Blockchain Trilemma. But when one cracks the code to a long-standing problem, people are slow to believe. Though Elrond’s growth was impressive as it was steady, CEO Beniamin Mincu’s Twitter account could (at the time) not get a “verified blue check”, even after passing 100,000 followers. So he did what visionaries do and gave himself his verified mark: the Lightning Bolt emoji ⚡.
Soon after, the Elrond Community rose to follow the leader who had proven he was genuinely trying to change the world for the better through Blockchain Technology. People from all over the world decided to show their support by adding the Lightning Bolt emoji to their Twitter names as well. Today, even after receiving Twitter’s “blue check”, Beniamin Mincu continues to keep the Lightning Bolt in the same place it’s always been. Maybe it’s to remind himself where he started, or maybe it’s to show the community that he truly appreciated it when we all adopted the emoji as well. Either way, the Lightning Bolt emoji is here to stay ⚡.
This is why Gnogen is thrilled to announce, the second NFT collection launching from the Gnogen DAO Launchpad, is Lightning Bolts NFT. Joining the Maiar Punks in Gnogen’s quest to bring high-quality NFT projects to the mainstream NFT communities of other blockchains, Lightning Bolts is a team comprised of 2 dedicated professionals, who have displayed a high level of passion for NFTs, Elrond, and the Elrond Community. They are committed to excellence, and to ensuring they can bring something of value to an increasingly saturated pixel NFT industry.
Their first collection will consist of 5,000 unique, randomly generated NFTs. Of these, 500 will be donated to the Gnogen DAO treasury, with 450/500 NFTs being locked for 3 years. Gnogen will assist their team with branding, marketing, art collaboration, technical support, and ensuring each Bolt is issued to the community through a Verifiable Random Function via an Elrond Blockchain Smart Contract. The Lightning Bolts team will also receive 1 seat into the Gnogen DAO, for life.
Talks have already started on a v2 project which will see 5,000 additional NFTs, with an entirely new design and feel entering the Elrond Ecosystem, as the user base continues to increase. All Gnogen DAO Launchpad NFT collections that join the Gnogenverse will become compatible with Gnogen’s ecosystem. We have plans to integrate all of these amazing partnerships into innovative, exciting use cases, so stay tuned! ⚡
