🏷️ POAP (Proof of Attendance Protocol) as a social recognition tool
What is POAP. Use cases of POAP. POAP gated community.
During Earth day a couple of weeks ago, I saw a tweet from Carl Cervone, fellow sustainability and web3 blogger who was giving out POAP to people who posted photos of nature.
I posted a beautiful photo of a Wisteria tree, and received a POAP for my participation.
In this article, I will discuss what POAP is, its use cases, and how to create your own POAP or get one from me after reading this article.
What is POAP
POAP stands for proof of attendance protocol. It is a digital badge in the form of NFT, that will be given after someone attended an event or participated in some kind of activities, either digitally or IRL.
The concept is similar to a coffee stamp in a coffee shop or a ribbon that you get after donating to a charity on the street.
The difference is that POAP is created on the blockchain, making it easier to verify and store (e.g., in a crypto wallet).
Use cases of POAP
Here are some use cases of POAP from my personal experiences.
Proof of learning: My first experience with POAP is from the 1729 community. After every lecture from Balaji, we can fill a form and claim a POAP as a proof that we have attended the session. It is similar to the digital certificate from an online learning platform, but decentralized.
Proof of workout: Also from 1729, to receive a POAP, we need to post a proof of workout, which can be a photo of us doing any type of workout or a screenshot of an activity tracking app (e.g., Garmin). This is aligned with the community vision to promote health and transhumanism.
Proof of contribution: POAP can also be used as a proof of contribution in a project or initiative, as in my example from the earth day twitter post. Another example, after completing the 7 days 7 articles challenge with The Tech Progressive, I also received a POAP from my involvement in the community.
(Future) Proof of regenerative action: I hope POAP is also used for other positive use cases such as involvement in climate action events, environmental preservation projects, or social volunteering.
POAP gated community
There is a lot of hype now around the token gated community. Where one needs to buy and hold crypto tokens or NFT to be part of a community. For example, the infamous “Friends with benefits” DAO or the “Proof” NFT community by Kevin rose.
Just like a token, POAP could also be used as a gate entry mechanism. Currently it is already used for a gated zoom session, file sharing, and entry to a discord channel.
The difference with token is that to acquire a POAP, we do not need to spend any money or ethereum. POAP is given away for free as an appreciation for attendance or contribution.
It is a noble way to democratize web3. Anyone who is allocating their time and effort, can get a POAP.
How to make your own POAP or get one from me
To create your own POAP, go to app.poap.xyz, follow the guide, and fill in a form with information such as name of the POAP, purpose, and quantities. It only takes around 5 minutes to do this. After submitting the request, wait for it to be confirmed by the verifier, and voila you will receive the links that you can use to share your POAP.
As a form of appreciation for reading this article, I will give away a limited number of POAP to you 😊. To get it, subscribe to this newsletter (if you haven't subscribed yet) and leave a comment below. You will then receive a link from me in your email, to mint the special edition POAP from “Enjoy the Weather”.
If you already have an ethereum wallet address or ENS name, you can mint it directly to your wallet. If not, you can use your email address to reserve it and mint it once you have a wallet address in the future.
Thanks to Carl Cervone for inspiring me to write this article. If you would like to join Carl’s free 14 days learning on web3, click here.
Source: Collage of Carl’s earth day photo challenge
Thanks for reading this article and enjoy the weather ☀️.
Enjoy the weather is awesome
Is it too late for my POAP? :)