Announcing NewsFT - a decentralized platform for subscribing to and publishing newsletters on the blockchain!

Built for the thirdweb x Hashnode hackathon in Jan. 2022 by xiv.eth & kylee.eth

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2 min read

๐Ÿ“ฐ What is NewsFT?

NewsFT is a NFT-driven newsletter subscription service that enables subscribers to truly own their favorite newsletters on the blockchain. Creators publish non-fungible newsletters and airdrop their issues to subscribers for them to collect. Get your newsletters, minted. ๐Ÿš€ Decentralize your newsletters with NewsFT.

GitHub | Live Demo

NewsFT was created using thirdweb for the thirdweb x Hashnode hackathon in January 2022.

https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1643698583756/3JgVwaRsR.png

How it works:

Become a subscriber by simply signing in with your MetaMask wallet. Then subscribe to your favorite creators to be whitelisted for their airdropped newsletters! Subscribers collectively own each newsletter publication, do not need to pay a fee to receive airdrops, and are welcome to sell their newsletters on secondary markets. Collect all your favorite nonfungible newsletters from creators, and view them all in one place.

https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1643695413582/35aW-_BgL.png

To become a creator, simply sign up and mint your own Creator NFT! The Creator NFT is an non-transferable ERC-721 smart contract that stores the subscriber list and features the creator's identifying profile image. Newsletter creators have the ability to create and distribute newsletters to their subscriber list. Newsletters are ERC-1155 smart contracts created upon publication with metadata stored on IPFS.

๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ The tech stack:

  • Website: Nextjs / Vercel / TailwindCSS
  • Language: Typescript
  • Storage: MongoDB / NFT.Storage / IPFS
  • Smart Contracts: thirdweb

thirdweb tools used

NewsFT uses a variety of thirdweb tools, such as their typescript-sdk and hooks. Most notably, the Bundle Drop module for creating Creator contracts.

Bundle drops allow you to create a collection (ERC-1155) of NFTs. Each token minted has its own ID and set of claim conditions. This enables Creators to be the only wallet permissible to mint their own Bundle Drop with their own conditions, such as price, maximum claimable supply, whitelist status, and more.

https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1643697902139/qIiEoDN7A.png

Additionally, the Splits module handles royalties. With the splits module, royalties can go to the creator and not the NewsFT creators.

https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1643697914903/YxtaDlE0E.png

Moving beyond MVP

NewsFT was created in a few days with a lot of potential for more. Here are ways we've thought of moving NewsFT to the next level:

๐Ÿš€ Markdown editor for publishing non-fungible newsletters.

๐Ÿš€ Addition of a $NEWFT token in which subscribers can earn to become creators.

๐Ÿš€ Paid subscription services for creators to have exclusive features, such as multiple newsletter collections.

Shout out to the builders

Lead Engineer, Concept

Frontend, UI/UX, Concept

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