Ripple Launches $250M NFT Fund to Support Creators, But There is a Catch

Blockchain payments firm Ripple Labs Inc has announced the launch of Ripple’s Creator Fund, an initiative that will be bankrolled with $250 million to help power the development of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As announced by the firm, the new fund will provide targeted support for creators, brands, and marketplaces to explore new use cases for NFTs.

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While the approach to support the growing NFT metaverse by Ripple is noble, there is a catch, and that is centered on creators building their NFT-backed use cases on the XRP Ledger, leveraging its innate advantages of speed, cost, and sustainability. 

Ripple shared its strong beliefs in the future potentials of tokenization and believes the XRP Ledger has the required infrastructure to help pilot the impending burst of innovation. Through the Creator Fund, users will gain access to “financial, creative, and technical support” that all participating stakeholders will need to unveil new use cases for NFTs.

Extending NFT Reach Beyond Digital Collectibles

With many people fixated on digital collectibles and artworks as the most direct expression of Non-Fungible Tokens, the Ripple Creator Fund is aimed at broadening the scope of what NFTs have to offer.

“The Creator Fund can help accelerate this adoption by attracting a broader community of creators to participate in and benefit from NFTs. Digital art and collectibles are only the tips of the NFT iceberg—with the support of the Creator Fund and the power of the XRP Ledger as a premier platform for minting and managing NFTs, creators and developers can continue to explore utility in NFTs through use cases such as asset ownership and interactive experiences that will help bring about this tokenized future,” Ripple said in the announcement.

Ripple hopes to accelerate this proposed NFT growth by solving the most notable challenges inherent in the NFT metaverse. These challenges include poor user experiences associated with some blockchains, high minting fees, and the challenge of energy utilization associated with a number of NFT-compatible blockchain protocols out there today. The XRPL directly addresses all of these concerns through its scalable infrastructure and low transaction costs. 

For creators who place energy utilization as a major yardstick, the XRP Ledger is also sustainable, coming off as 120,000x more energy efficient than most proof of work blockchains. For the success of the new fund, Ripple has inked a number of partnerships with outfits like Mintable, MintNFT, and VSA Partners respectively.