The Stargaze platform is an NFT specific chain for the Cosmos. Launching with a sizeable airdrop, and having quite decent liquidity available on Osmosis, the chain has been running for a couple of months now. However, minting of the first batches of NFT's, the Genesis mints are now live. Being keen to dabble in all things Cosmos, I decided to give it a go.
So $STARS are the native token for the Stargaze network. A staking token, with utility as governance, staking rewards which are currently up around 100% APR, and transaction token for the NFT use-case. STARS can be purchased on Osmosis or Junoswap, and currently trade around $0.43 each.
So, to participate in these Genesis mints, I needed to fund my wallet with enough STARS. My STARS are all staked, so I needed to buy more to have liquid funds. This process was simple, and I just transferred funds to Osmosis, swapped for STARS, and then withdrew them to my native STARS wallet.
So, wallet funded with around 600 STARS, I then went to the Stargaze Launchpad page to get started.
Scrolling down that page, you can see all the collections that are available to mint at this stage. Some of the projects have already Sold Out, many had a whitelist process, but are up to the public mint stage. Prices range from a high of 2250 STARS (around $1000) down to 100 STARS ($43). Needless to say, the high price options are out of my reach at this stage.
First up, every eco-system has its "Punks", so of course I chose to mint one of those. Stargaze Punks Come in at a very affordable 148 STARS each ($64). I hit the mint button, and signed the Keplr transaction. Within seconds, here is what I got:
Is it good? Is it rare? no idea. The marketplace has not yet gone live, and the rarity details of these mints are not yet available. I like the image overall, and am happy with it, but I think it looks a little plain and likely to be a fairly common, low rarity Punk. Still, it looks clean and neat, and the pink hair looks cool. Will find out once the marketplace goes live what the rarity will be.
Next, I took a look at Acre NFT, a project priced similarly to the Punks, which states that all proceeds go to a non-profit to help "recharge groundwater", whatever that means. Anyway, I hit mint and again the process is complete in seconds. This is so much better than the painful (end expensive on gas) dabbles I have had on Openseas. Damn, this feels like how an NFT mint should happen. Just reminds me how much I dislike Ethereum, and how much smoother and easier and cheaper everything works in the Cosmos.
So there is my Acre, again no idea if it is rare or not. Time will tell, but again I highly doubt it is. This mint cost 156 STARS ($67.50).
For my third mint, I selected a Baby-Atom. These little cuties look a bit like a Pokémon character to be honest, and will set you back 140 STARS ($60). So, as you can see, I have selected 3 cheapo options, and spent around $180 worth of STARS to mint 3 brand new NFT's.
Looks Rare? I don't know, but this little cyclops Baby Atom looks a bit like Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. Anyway, I'll take it and wait and see what he is worth.
So overall, you can see my collection of Stargaze NFT's here. The process to mint them was absolutely simple and smooth. Well done to the Stargaze team for a very smooth launch and genesis mint. Can't wait till the marketplace goes live, and I can see myself being much more active in this space than I ever have been on Eth.
Thanks for reading,
JK.
If you liked this post, here is some more of my content you may enjoy:
