Ripple Announces $250 Million Creator Fund to Evolve NFT Utility

Mintable, mintNFT and VSA Partners join to support creators building NFT projects on the XRP Ledger

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Ripple, the leading provider of enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions that are faster, more transparent and more cost-effective, today announced a $250 million fund to provide creators with the financial, creative and technical support needed to explore and craft premium non-fungible token (NFT) and other tokenization projects on the XRP Ledger.

The heightened interest and boom in NFTs globally has introduced new revenue streams and business models while deepening the mainstream�s relationships with the communities, people and things they care about. However, when it comes to creating state-of-the-art NFTs, many creators face barriers to entry–including the fear their NFTs won’t sell and a lack of understanding when it comes to navigating NFT concepts. Developers, meanwhile, are often burdened with high transaction fees and clunky user experiences on marketplaces or platforms.

While digital art and collectibles have quickly captured public interest and popularity, the utility of NFTs goes far beyond these use cases. By providing creative and technical support to a diverse array of marketplaces, creators, artists and brands, Ripple’s Creator Fund seeks to enable longtail use cases for tokenization—for example, interactive experiences and fractional ownership.

Ripple is teaming up with innovative NFT marketplaces and creative agencies who recognize the potential of these unique tokenized assets and, as part of the launch, will have first access to the fund. Together, Ripple’s Creator Fund and its partners are accelerating the evolution of NFTs while eliminating the pain points associated with crafting compelling projects:

• Mintable – “Everything we do at Mintable centers around accessibility, and it’s time that we look at that holistically — creators of all disciplines and backgrounds need to have access to equal opportunities in the space,” said Zach Burks, CEO of Mintable. “There are so many untapped opportunities within the constantly evolving NFT ecosystem, and we’re excited to be deepening our partnership with Ripple to support their Creator Fund in order to encourage greater growth in the industry.”
• VSA Partners – “NFTs have been a source of huge excitement for creators, enabling new ways to build communities and meaningful brand equity,” said Sarah Lent, CMO of VSA Partners. “It’s clear that when creators and brands are deliberate with their NFT campaigns, it will have a long-lasting impact on their customers, partners, and the larger community. As a premier partner of the creator fund, VSA can help brands and artists think through the entire ecosystem of brand-building experiences, the community of fans to engage and deploy the strategic guidance and storytelling needed around NFTs to generate brand value.”
• mintNFT – “mintNFT is honored to be selected as a key partner to build the next-generation NFT 2.0 experience leveraging the XRP Ledger to connect fans with premium brands, content owners, and talent around the world,” said James Sun, founder and CEO of mintNFT.

“While NFTs have opened the door for a tokenized future, actually navigating these concepts is a different ball game for many,” said Monica Long, GM of RippleX at Ripple. “By starting with marketplaces and creators, our fund seeks to take the guesswork out of NFT projects to unlock unexplored tokenization use cases on the XRP Ledger.”

Minting NFTs on the XRP Ledger will enrich the experience for creators seeking new ways of monetizing their works. For developers, the XRP Ledger’s innate performance advantages—speed, low cost and built-in royalties—make it ideally suited to drive NFT utility at scale, and without the need for Layer-2 protocols. Library support is also available to simplify NFT integrations and bypass direct XRPL development. The XRP Ledger is a decentralized, open-source blockchain. Its built-in decentralized exchange (DEX) provides fast settlement for tokenized assets of all types–including NFTs—while its Federated Consensus mechanism eliminates gas fees and is 120,000x more efficient than blockchains that rely on proof-of-work validation.

For more information on Ripple’s Creator Fund, visit www.ripple.com/creatorfund.

Ripple

Ripple is doing for value what the internet did for information: enabling its instant and seamless flow around the world. We call this the Internet of Value (IoV). Using blockchain and cryptocurrency technology, Ripple is dedicated to creating powerful gains in financial efficiency, equity and inclusion. In addition, Ripple is developing and enabling the future use cases that will catalyze the new digital economy for governments, businesses and consumers.

Ripple has offices in San Francisco (HQ), New York, London, Mumbai, Singapore, São Paulo, Reykjavík, Washington D.C. and Dubai.

Mintable

Mintable is a next-generation non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace built on the blockchain. Launched in 2018, Mintable has pushed the NFT industry forward by being the first to design gasless minting, batch minting and royalties, empowering artists and creators to monetize their work via NFTs. Mintable’s gas-free minting option allows the everyday person to get involved with NFTs without any prior knowledge in coding or upfront cost of minting an asset — a great way for everyone to get into crypto. In 2021, Mintable announced the backing of a list of high-caliber investors including renowned venture capitalist and television personality, Mark Cuban, Sound Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary, and TIME Ventures, the investment fund for Marc Benioff. To date, Mintable has sold and auctioned works by Grammy Award-winning artists, 20th-century avant garde artists, and various high-profile artists and celebrities.

mintNFT

mintNFT is a premium member-based marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFT) focused on bridging fan experiences with licensed content, brands, and talent. mintNFT integrates social, gamification, and a new patent-pending authentication process for NFTs. mintNFT makes collecting NFTs a fun and engaging experience and converts casual fans into collectors, creators and partners. mintNFT provides an unprecedented social experience for users with unique features such as exclusive digital events, NFT live auctions, and fan-generated campaigns all within a dynamic, interactive, and gamified platform. It also includes an integrated secondary marketplace allowing users to buy, sell, and trade NFTs.

VSA Partners

VSA Partners is a hybrid brand strategy and design agency with a 40-year history of solving complex business problems. We deliver design-driven experiences that perform in market, realizing the future of a brand for some of the world’s most respected and forward-thinking organizations, including Google, Nike, IBM, Robinhood and Affirm. Our approach hinges upon deep collaboration with our clients to identify, prioritize and convert individual interactions into a positive impact on long-term value in a highly transactional and noisy world. Global by trade, but unapologetically midwestern at heart, an intrinsic desire to help fuels our pursuit of solutions of substance. Amplifying brands — not to add to the noise — but to find a voice that rises above it. VSA Partners. Where brands breakthrough.

Contacts

Haley Rodriguez

press@ripple.com