From the outside looking in, the concept of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has emerged as a hotbed of technological innovation. From being vehicles for propagating digital art to revamping the idea of ownership (be it physical assets or intellectual property), NFTs have piqued the interest of investors and digital asset enthusiasts globally across various domains. In fact, innumerable studies have noted that by 2027, the sector will expand and reach a total valuation of $125 billion.
When talking about the synergy between Web3 and the ed-tech market, platforms like Open Campus are changing the long-standing status quo between educational institutions and their employees by enabling teachers to monetize their content (including intellectual property) with the touch of a button.
Through the use of Open Campus’ proprietary ‘Publisher NFTs’ (PNFTs), the protocol is striving for a decentralized, community-driven educational curriculum, one that not only empowers educators to maximize their student reach but also improves their revenue accrual possibilities. It bears mentioning that Open Campus is backed by a consortium of well-respected market entities ranging from educational giant TinyTap to software/venture capital behemoth Animoca Brands to the world’s largest private school operator GEMS Education.
The dawn of a new education system is upon us
As noted above, at the very heart of Open Campus’ digital framework lies the idea of ‘Publisher NFTs,’ which, as the name suggests, allows content creators to maintain ownership of their intellectual property (IP) and monetize their content based on its performance. In fact, this unique framework has allowed the protocol to be listed on Binance Launchpad earlier this year as well as accrue a sizable sum of $10 million for its Web3 Educators Fund.
Returning to the topic of PNFTs, these tokens are designed to provide owners the ability to promote, synthesize, and accrue monetary value generated by their marketing efforts. Additionally, creators are allowed to sell a fixed portion of their content’s revenue if they choose to do so while retaining complete control of their IP.
Why Publisher NFTs are game changers!
To expound on the mechanics of how PNFTs function, creators (i.e. educators, publishers, etc) are allowed to release their curriculum only after offering co-publishing rights to their content to eligible supporters.
Co-publishers are vested with the responsibility of showcasing the educational material to a global audience in return for a fixed revenue % (which is in line with the subscriptions that the course material has received). The generated value is also disseminated in varying percentages among creators, co-publishers, and other subsidiary platforms used for external marketing.
Also, while it is not mandatory for individuals to complete a KYC check to buy the rights to a PNFT, it is mandatory for co-publishers to satisfy key security validations before they are eligible to receive any monetary incentives. All KYC processes are fulfilled by the popular reg-tech platform Blockpass.
The growing popularity of PNFTs is highlighted by the fact that the first series of auctions pertaining to the first 12 of these assets alone raised a total of $350k from investors. That said, due to the legality of crypto being unclear in certain jurisdictions, these tokens are still not available to everyone.
Beyond tokenization, Open Campus is striving to help create an ecosystem that is community led and helps promote a wide array of educational content — such as traditional mathematical techniques, holistic sciences, etc — to complement subjects that are already being taught to students as part of their formal training.
Moreover, to help decentralize the balance of power, Open Campus is harnessing the power of a native digital currency called $EDU. The token serves as a potent funding avenue for educators as well as a means for them to participate in key governance votes, devise new curriculums, etc.
The future of ed-tech looks promising
The past couple of decades have seen the burgeoning ed-tech paradigm blossom immensely, with recent studies suggesting that this industry will continue to grow at a respectable 13.6% till the end of the current decade, eventually reaching a cumulative valuation of $0.348 trillion — which is more than the GDP of many developed nations including Finland, Czech Republic, Romania, Portugal, New Zealand, etc.
Therefore looking ahead, it stands to reason that the fusion of NFTs and Web3-based education systems can help unlock new doors — financial and otherwise — for every stakeholder involved in this space. And, with the entry of industry players like TinyTap and Animoca brands into the fray, the marriage of these two seemingly disparate domains seems to be more than a passing fad, rather it promises to be a sustainable movement that can completely redefine the future of learning as we know it.
