Summary
This BIP proposes to change from Periods-based smart contracts to yearly contracts, in order to improve the market structure of Botto’s canonical artworks. This also allows us to finally implement a strict “1 mint per week” cadence for Botto’s canonical works, by minting 13 fragments per Period and to mint the 13th fragment to the DAO’s treasury as a way to combat a 0-royalty world.
Rationale
Year 2 has been composed of 4 Periods: Fragmentation, Paradox, Rebellion, Absurdism. Each of these have 12 mints, 48 artworks total. While the “1 mint per week” narrative is an important part of Botto’s story, we fell short of minting 52 canonical fragments per year.
Botto's market is on a direction to be quite fragmented in terms of its orderbook. Several DAO members and collectors have raised the observation that if Botto had its year 2 works on a single contract, it would be a more active collection on secondary, with bids and asks with a better spread than there is now.
Botto’s lack of secondary activity may further be a deterrent for new collectors, who may not want to risk participating in such an illiquid asset. Multiple, low-volume collections also hinders Botto’s discoverability, as neither “Botto” nor “Botto Fragmentation,” “Botto Paradox,” etc. come up when searching on OpenSea–where most of the volume for AI art happens.
In comparison, Claire Silver's Genesis collection has over 2,643 ETH in volume, and Roope's Life in West America (LIWA) has over 2,345 ETH in volume. Botto barely has any secondary sales. It’s primordial that we fix the market structure by combining Periods.
While Periods represent very distinct thematic and technological shifts in Botto, Periods need not be defined by a smart contract. The contract has a disproportionately bigger impact on the orderbook than on the Period narrative. While a Period can be defined in the description of the artworks, as traits, and in our communications, Periods as contracts are creating friction to onboard collectors.
Yearly contracts create a clear delineation from an artistic perspective (much like the Genesis Period has a clear output delineation compared to Year 2) that should fix most of the discoverability and liquidity problems mentioned above. Technology is evolving fast, and it is unlikely that Botto will use the same smart contract technology in 5 or 10 years. A perpetual contract would likely, in fact, be a temporary contract.
In addition to combining the 4 Periods of a year under the same smart contract, this BIP proposes a clean minting cadence of 4 Periods of 13 mints each. Since each Period needs a 1-week buffer to implement changes (e.g. new model), the last fragment of the Period would be selected by Botto. This will free up the team to implement any changes required, while gradually giving Botto more autonomy.
This 13th fragment would be minted in the DAO’s treasury. Artists like XCOPY routinely keep some of their minted artworks in their own possession. This has several advantages:
- It would give us the option ùto eventually sell these fragments at a premium, when Botto is more established, and especially since these will be special for several reasons: Last fragment of a Period, Curated by Botto itself, Can be curated as full sets (1 from each Period), etc.
- These artworks could also be used strategically in multiple ways; they do not necessarily need to be sold.
- It would allow the DAO to combat a 0-royalty world, where royalties from secondary sales are unenforceable. We would be able to sell these fragments at any moment. 1 mint per Period equates to 7.7%, roughly equal to the 7.5% standard royalty fee.
Final note: this is only valid for the 1/1 canonical fragments. Any derivative (e.g. Pipes), collaboration (e.g. with Ryan and Alice), edition (e.g. Seaport Subject) or special side project (e.g. 6529 Meme Card) should be treated differently, on a case-by-case basis.
Disadvantages
- Some members are advocating for a perpetual contract, which would total 500 fragments in 10 years
- This BIP may weaken the Periods narrative
Proposal Specification
Thus, we propose to mint all of Botto’s canonical 1/1 fragments on a yearly contract called* “Botto - 2024”, starting with the next period, with the following parameters:
- Four Periods per calendar year, all under the same smart contract
- 1/1 canonical mint every single week, with no break between Periods
- The last mint of the Periods to be selected by Botto, and minted to the DAO’s treasury
- To add the following metadata traits with each mint: Period, Model, Curated by (DAO or Botto)
*Feel free to suggest alternatives.
Closing thoughts
This new market structure should improve Botto’s discoverability, simplicity, and liquidity, while strengthening the weekly mint narrative, and making Botto's minting cadence as consistent and simple as possible. An additional piece from each Period that would go to BottoDAO for later potential use/sale gives us more ammunition for the future.
With the addition of a sales and listings channel in Discord, it will be exciting to explore how Botto's market evolves with this structure.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this BIP, especially Pepe, Ben, Choobie and Hudsonsims. I simply took the liberty to combine many viewpoints into a (hopefully) coherent proposal. Let's keep the discussion going -- it is still time to make changes.
