XFORGE: Building the most cost-effective and comprehensive minting platform on Cardano

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Eric Tsai

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Not Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

7

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

By integrating more tools and improving the existing features of our remarkable and functional product, we will further build the most cost-effective and comprehensive minting platform possible.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

We have plans to fully open-source the project. However, before doing that, it is important for us to conduct a thorough code audit and ensure its stability by eliminating any potential bugs. As a minting platform, any vulnerabilities could have a huge impact on our users since their development funds rely on the reliability and security of our platform.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

Our proposed solution tackles the lack of a minting platform that is cost-effective and comprehensive. XFORGE is a platform that allows creators the freedom to manage their native tokens and sales page whenever they want without complete dependency from the developers. Not only that, they're able to do this without knowledge of coding and at the lowest cost. We are ensuring that the majority of people can use everything we build with ease, and we believe that's how we onboard people, especially creators, into the Cardano ecosystem.

We are presently in Beta and will launch the full version as soon as additional features, including the milestones proposed here, are integrated. Also essential are months of thorough testing. Thus far, XFORGE has operated without any issues, and users have provided nothing but positive feedback regarding our services.

At present, the following services are already available on the platform:

• Creating and minting of Cardano native assets (NFT/FT)
• Easily create multiple copies of the same NFT
• Creating customizable NFT sales page for project creators
• Easy bulk uploading of files and their metadata
• Policy or project snapshot

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

We are still in the infancy of digital asset ownership adoption; therefore, it is in the best interest of the entire ecosystem to prepare for an industry that has the capability to explode in the coming years. A comprehensive platform, such as XFORGE, prepares us for an influx of users in the event that NFT creations become increasingly prevalent.

A critical element in guaranteeing the success of a Web3 product is onboarding. A primary aim of XFORGE is to support Web2 businesses in their utilization of digital assets, thereby attracting the interest of their customers in the Cardano ecosystem.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Midas and his initial team started off with Unbothered Wolves, a NFT project, where they got the funding to start building XFORGE. And that's when I was hired as the Tech Lead at UW. It's been more than a year since they launched their first collection, which was sold out immediately. Their team, under Midas leadership, has consistently met all of the milestones outlined in their roadmap, despite the current NFT market drought.

I am a skilled full-stack engineer who coded and developed the entire platform. Since two years ago, I have been helping multiple Cardano project teams with their tech and blockchain-related development. Additionally, I've co-founded a media company based in Taiwan that raises awareness of Cardano among Chinese-speaking audiences. I'm also an ambassador for Cardano in Taiwan.

Since its introduction in August of this year, XFORGE has not presented any significant challenges or inconsistencies arising from its functionalities and minting system. Having said all that, it's apparent that we are very capable of delivering all the milestones outlined below.

[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

UI/UX Enhancement and Adding Dark Mode

Ensuring a positive user experience and interface is crucial when it comes to onboarding people. This results in recurrent product usage by the users. While we have already prioritized user friendliness, it is equally vital to ensure continuous improvement. Additionally, some QoL improvement features will be put forward.

Currently, only light mode is offered; adding dark mode would enable us to accommodate a greater number of users, as the majority prefers it. There are also benefits to using dark mode; it can decrease eye strain in dim lighting, reducing the risk of developing symptoms of computer vision syndrome. Dark mode can also be a lifesaver for power-saving.

Promotion

Most Web3 startups often neglect this crucial component of their businesses. We are not an exception, but we've now learned our lesson. Although you may have an excellent product, it is equally essential to raise awareness about it. We intend to strengthen our advertising campaign by hiring qualified individuals, including video editors and content creators with a background in marketing. Furthermore, we'll also explore other types of promotion, such as IRL events like NFTxLV and hosting reward system competitions on our socials.

ADA and Token Airdrop

Users will be able to airdrop Cardano native tokens (ADA/NFT/FT) to a specified list of addresses and determine the amount that will be sent to each asset or wallet. Users will also be able to save lists of addresses if the airdrop is recurring. One instance of a practical implementation would be distributing wages to employees in the form of ADA or other tokens. This feature will be accessible to everyone, costing no fee to our eligible holders and others paying a small fee.

Whitelist Automation with Snapshot

This is a feature that enhances QoL and will be utilized for whitelisting and airdropping. For instance, create a whitelist with a list of addresses from our snapshot feature and determine the number of NFTs the asset or wallet is allowed to mint. This can be applied to token presale as well (next milestone). It's also fetching addresses from our in-app snapshot to do an airdrop and determine how much an asset or wallet will be receiving. All directly on the platform without the need to import addresses manually.

Token Presale

Considering how popular the launch of tokens has been over the past few months, it is clear that this feature is seeing a substantial increase in demand. This is comparable to our Collection Sale feature, with the exception that creators will sell a significant quantity of tokens rather than NFTs. Cardano DeFi is gearing up for the next bull-run and its potential is huge!

Collection Generation

In order to attain our goal of becoming a comprehensive mint platform, the integration of this feature will be essential. This improves QoL for creators; they will only need to upload the traits for their collection and determine their rarity. The collection of images and metadata that is generated can be exported or directly added to your project on our app. Nothing requires coding to function; everything can be performed with just a few clicks on XFORGE. This tool will be available at no cost to all users.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

• Product Manager: Midas https://twitter.com/MidasCNFT

• Full-stack Engineer: Eric Tsai https://twitter.com/eric248550

Doxxing Certificate:

https://docs.unbotheredwolves.com/introduction/team

At NFTxLV 2023, representing XFORGE (very left):

https://twitter.com/eric248550/status/1709417525329727610

Upon securing the necessary funding, we intend to expand our team by hiring highly qualified individuals. A skilled video editor and content creator with knowledge of marketing is required for promotional purposes. Technically speaking, there is a strong possibility that I will require the assistance of additional developers or a team to improve the UI/UX if the workload becomes excessive.

Check out our community on Discord:

https://discord.gg/unbothered-wolves-1001106736909914132

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

The price of ADA wavered around 0.25 USD for several months; however, in recent weeks, it has increased substantially and is now trading above 0.35 USD. Most developers are compensated on an hourly basis and in USD; therefore, we aim to establish ADA at a value of 0.3 USD to safeguard funding in the unlikely event that another significant decline occurs.

I'm a Taiwanese who is currently based in the USA. I work approximately 30 hours per week for this specific platform. The estimated development time stated below includes testing and revisions. Please remember that these features are integrated into the platform and the goal is for users to be able to use them with ease.

• UI/UX Enhancement and Adding Dark Mode

Timeline: 4 weeks

Est. development time: 120 hrs.

Cost: 7200 USD / 24000 ADA

• Promotion

Timeline: Entire funding period (7 months)

Cost: 1500 USD / 5000 ADA per month

Total cost: 10500 USD / 35000 ADA

• ADA and Token Airdrop

Timeline: 7 weeks

Est. development time: 200 hrs.

Cost: 12000 USD / 40000 ADA

• Whitelist Automation with Snapshot

Timeline: 2 weeks

Est. development time: 50 hrs.

Cost: 3000 USD / 10000 ADA

• Token Presale

Timeline: 9 weeks

Est. development time: 250 hrs.

Cost: 15000 USD / 50000 ADA

• Collection Generation

Timeline: 7 weeks

Est. development time: 200 hrs.

Cost: 12000 USD / 40000 ADA

Total Timeline: 7 months, approximately

TOTAL COST: 199,000 ADA

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The mentioned budget and cost contribute significantly to the ecosystem's worth, as the final product, upon reaching all milestones, will undoubtedly be among the finest on Cardano. We also do not charge exorbitant service fees in addition to delivering a comprehensive platform. This will attract the vast majority of businesses and creators to utilize Cardano as their blockchain of choice for the creation and integration of digital assets. Adoption will become evident once these goals are accomplished.

"Software developers in the USA earn an average hourly rate of 46 USD/hr, although this could range anywhere between 30-70 USD/hr." Source: https://flexiple.com/software/hourly-rate

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund Rules and also that data in the submission form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept