Thread by @DelucaDougie

1 - @StargazeZone the #IBC connected interchain NFT marketplace takes a robust approach in bringing the #NFT space, which has grown by 25,000% in the last year, to @cosmos. Aiming to solve the issues currently surrounding NFT marketplaces, my thread🧵on $STARS starts here👇

2 - Utilizing the Cosmos SDK, @StargazeZone intends to create a dedicated zone for NFTs that doesn't suffer from scalability issues while also being more secure, decentralized, transparent and flexible than existing marketplaces built on $ETH, $SOL, and other competing chains.

3 - @publicawesome_, the core dev team behind Stargaze, is led by @shan3v, @JakeHartnell, & @jhernandezb_. All three are heavily involved w/ @cosmos, however, prior to Stargaze, Shane built several top apps in the App Store and Jake has been involved w/ @JunoNetwork & @DA0_DA0

4 - Together they’re creating @StargazeZone to address the following issues present in NFTs:
- Centralized Curation
- Bad Security
- Limited flexibility
- Intransparency of marketplace contracts and royalty restrictions
- Difficult upload workflows
- High gas fees
- Scams

5 - To promote decentralized curation, its CurationDAO's responsible for selecting the artwork in the marketplace. The DAO is membership-based & governance-driven which better ensures that an open and transparent system is in place for the selection of artwork in the marketplace

6 - This DAO brings better due diligence of projects + reduces the likelihood of scams. It'll also mitigate malpractice like OpenSea’s Head of Product using insider info to buy NFTs before they were featured on the homepage and ‘flipping’ them once featured for a profit

7 - Via the Cosmos SDK, which capitalizes on least authority to minimize possible exploits at the execution layer, Stargaze boasts an unparalleled level of security + customization. CosmWasm also is more secure than EVM bc EVM attack vectors like re-entrancy aren’t possible

8 - Stargaze also benefits from being its own sovereign chain. Having 100 validators solely dedicated to the zone securing it, it is able to react quickly to upgrading the network to enhance the performance and/or security of it. $ETH / $SOL-based competitors lack such access.

9 - Being a sovereign chain enables maximum flexibility by letting governance exercise customization on protocol parameters. Stargaze's more adaptive than existing NFT marketplaces because governance can vote on introducing changes at the network level vs at the application level

10 - Native staking is another perk. From liquid staking to requiring users to stake $STARS to be eligible for the CurationDAO to using users’ balances to boost the likelihood of getting chosen to participate in a lottery-based launch, the utility of the STARS token is expanded

11 - Also, once an NFT project has been vetted by the CurationDAO, it might be eligible to earn x% of staking rewards reserved for creators. Unlocking another revenue stream for creators on top of the trading of their NFTs on the marketplace it brilliantly incentivizes adoption

12 - The distribution of the $STARS token's designed to front-load inflation to bootstrap the network. Issuance will be cut by 1/3 each yr (by multiplying current issuance by a reduction factor of 2/3). This “thirding” token release schedule was first implemented by @osmosiszone

13 - Stargaze has an initial supply of 1 billion $STARS and will reach 2 billion at the end of year one. Starting off decentralized, STARS will largely be distributed to community members. The Foundation will also maintain a strategic reserve for network growth & adoption

14 - After 5 yrs, initial distribution will comprise 27.6% of total supply. This allows for ownership to be distributed to new creators, curators, validators, & delegators. Tokens for seed investors, founders, & advisors have a 1 yr lockup & linearly vest after for 6 months-1 yr

15 - Reward distribution is able to be modified by governance, furthering showing the adaptability of Stargaze. As mentioned earlier, this is not achievable on existing marketplaces. Block rewards will be spread across NFT Incentives, Staking, Dev Rewards, & the Community Pool.

16 - NFT Incentives make up 45% of block rewards initially. Stargaze will enable $STARS holders to earn yield by bidding & staking on NFTs for periods of time. Stargaze has promised more detail on this mechanic in the near future, however, this reward will largely go towards this

17 - Staking Rewards will make up 35% of block rewards initially. These will go to validators for securing the network due to Stargaze being a proof-of-stake network. Nearly 100 validators were selected to join mainnet after 3 testnets, 2 of which were incentivized.

18 - Developer Rewards will make up 15% of block rewards initially. Funding the team that's building Stargaze, each account gets a specific weight set by governance. If/when a developer is no longer contributing, governance reserves the power to reduce or remove their allocation.

19 - The Community Pool is the smallest distribution, initially set at 5%. For the DAO that operates the network, its responsibilities include voting on parameter changes, software upgrades, & community matters. This allocation is designed to encourage participation in the DAO

20 - The last major thing to cover is Stargaze’s development & their progress along their roadmap. To recap what has so far been accomplished, see the image below. Note: Almost all of the items listed were initiated via governance proposals from the community. Pretty cool!

21 - Looking ahead, Stargaze is entering its NFT Market Launch Phase. The Genesis Mint will take place on March 2nd. Collectors will then be able to mint their first NFTs. With this, Stargaze will enable the first NFT tooling available anywhere in the Cosmos ecosystem.

22 - After the Genesis Mint, the marketplace launch will take place 2-3 weeks afterwards. Trading will officially open at that time. For more information on this, join the Stargaze Discord. If you're a creator, join the #creators channel as tooling will be made available there.

23 - Some of the projects confirmed to be launching upon go-live are:
- @Andromaverse (play to earn game)
- Army of Ra
- Baby Atom (PFP)
- @ColonialCatsNFT
- @CosmicCats_
- Cosmonauts (3D PFP)
- Deep Gems
- Kinetic (generative)
- @stargazetrooprs (PFP)
- @stargazepunks

24 - Like with many nascent chains/protocols, network effects will be crucial to Stargaze’s success. Assuming everything on chain works as intended, the advantages which it has over existing NFT marketplaces like OpenSea are significant. Still, that does not guarantee success

25 - The quality of what’s featured on the marketplace will inevitably fuel the network’s growth. As we’ve seen with $ETH, despite its scalability issues, liquidity and the perceived value of/on the network can be enough to retain dominance. OpenSea sits in a similar position.

26 - It's for this reason that Stargaze’s is heavily focused on incentivization. The execution of this is critical as new creator/user acquisition and retention will drive the liquidity and content base necessary for success. Adoption within IBC should initially spark this.

27 - However, it was created with the intent to solve existing marketplaces problems so that they can acquire their users/creators. The more this occurs, the more $STARS benefits. Whether or not it usurps OpenSea, @StargazeZone is poised to gain market share in the NFT space.

@StargazeZone Q&A 1 - I know many of you have questions about the $STARS airdrop so I will utilize this section to review it. The goal of the Stargaze airdrop is to reach the most active participants in the Cosmos ecosystem. It will be distributed to a variety of staking + LP participants

@StargazeZone Q&A 1B - The following network participants will be issued 2,453 $STARS:
$ATOM stakers (min 5 staked)
$OSMO stakers or LPs (min 50 staked)
Stargaze validator stakers on @cosmoshub
Stargaze validator stakers on @osmosiszone
Stargaze validator stakers on @regen_network

@StargazeZone @cosmoshub @osmosiszone @regen_network Q&A 1C - To claim your airdrop, you’ll need to complete 4-5 actions once Stargaze launches. This is similar to the $OSMO airdrop. Airdrop claimable amounts start decaying 4 months post- launch. The decaying process linearly decreases the claimable amount for another 4 months.