It sounds rather strange, but people love collecting things, it’s a natural urge we all get. Some say it’s a trait we’ve inherited which goes all the way back to our early human days as hunters and gatherers. For our ancestors, collecting food during the summer was a necessary practice in order to feel safe and secure during the winter.
Although times have changed, people still love to collect many different objects that are of interest to them. Things such as baseball cards, stamps, bottle caps, toy cars, marbles, shells, magazines, action figures, Pokémon cards, sport memorabilia, to things as extravagant as watches, motorbikes, jewellery, cars, the list goes on and on.
Some would call it a casual hobby while others would say it’s their passion in life. We all enjoy collecting in one way or another, it has a different meaning to each of us. Collecting can be quite a personal thing, it’s something we all enjoy but go about in our own ways and do so for different reasons. Have you ever asked yourself why people collect things?
There are many reasons why people enjoy collect things.
Thrill of the hunt – The quest of locating and acquiring things that are of interest to them.
Nostalgia - it brings people back to the good memories of their past.
Community – it creates a sense of belonging to a community of likeminded people
Status – owning something that others don’t gives some a sense of power and pride.
Whatever it is that motivates people, I’m sure we can all relate and say we’ve gone through phases collecting a variety of different things that were of interest to us.
Personally, as a kid I collected things like marbles, bottle caps, rocks, foreign coins, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Yo cards. Some of my fondest childhood memories were trading my Pokémon cards with my friends at school or finding a bottle cap on the street that I didn’t have yet.
It might be difficult to wrap your head around, as physical things is what most of us remember collecting as a kid, but times are quickly changing.
Although we’ve been living in a digital world for a long time, collectible items have been slow to come to the party because of the lacking technology available. Up until now, it has been impossible to truly authenticate digital commodities and because of this there was never a way to gain true ownership of a digital asset.
Before the blockchain most data transferred over the internet is a copy of the original or in other words fungible. As we’ve seen happen to other digitalised industries, even if you purchase a digital song or movie you become to owner of one of the millions of copies out there. Collectors have no interest in owning something that can be replicated.
Like traditional collectibles, the value of a digital collectible is in its ability to be distinguished, or unique. In order to do so, digital collectibles are created, identified, and transferred, as a unique token. They cannot be divided and represent one unique asset in its entirety. These are called non-fungible tokens or NFT’s. The cool thing about NFT’s is that there can only ever be one owner at one time allowing digital scarcity to now be possible.
The blockchain technology enables the transfer of these NFT’s to be traced, verified and recorded on an immutable ledger. This means that their creation, unique identifiers, and ownership is not only traceable, but also verifiable. This is important as it completely terminates the possibility of counterfeit goods, something that is a huge issue within the collectables industry.
One of the most notable digital collectables to date is Cryptokitties.
Having received an overwhelming amount of positive response, Cryptokitties is one of the first blockchain based digital collectable to achieve mainstream adoption.
Each kitten is made up of a combination of unique qualities (colour, breed, age, features etc.) that distinguish each one from another, meaning no two kitties are the same.
Since launching, users have spent over $25 million (45,000 ETH) acquiring and breeding these virtual kitties, with some of the most unique and rarest kittens already having been sold for over $100,000.
Gamedex is a Steam-like platform for blockchain-powered digital collectibles and digital collectible card games (DCCGs)
DCCGs are a multi-billion-dollar market and rapidly growing. Many of the world’s biggest gaming companies such as Pokémon, Hearthstone, Magic The Gathering, Clash Royale, FIFA Ultimate Team are starting to, if not are already heavily involved into the industry of digital collectable card games (DCCGs)
Gamedex aims to simplify the future of DCCGs for both gamers and collectors by combining all these games along with their digital collectables into an all-in-one platform.
Soon to be available on both desktops and smartphones, the Gamedex platform will operate as a wallet, exchange and game store, all in one.
Exchange - Users will be able to buy and sell digital collectibles against the GDX token on the Gamedex exchange, or trade directly with other collectors.
Virtual trading - The smart contract escrow system enables direct peer-to-peer trading to be 100% risk-free.
Digital wallet - Other digital assets are merely an entry in someone else’s database. The blockchain and digital wallet enable users to gain true ownership of their in-game assets, meaning collectables cannot be lost, regardless of where the cards are stored.
Game browser - lets users find and play a variety of different games (single player, one-on-one, massively multiplayer games) which use their collectibles. Many games will allow, or even require, players to put their cards or tokens on the line for a chance at tokens, prizes, and glory.
Having already raised $800,000 in the private seed funding round led by Invictus Capital. Gamedex is soon to have a public token sale (ICO) and it’s something you can be a part of.
Invictus Capital CEO Daniel Schwartzkopff said digital assets were a $35-billion market last year while the cryptocurrency market neared $1 trillion. He expects the nascent non-currency crypto-collectibles market to reach $100 billion by 2022.
With the future of digital collectables looking so bright this is an opportunity you just simply can’t miss out on.
Pre-register today to be first in line to participate and play!
You can Pre-register for the token sale on their website – All of the information you need to invest, along with their white paper can be found here: GameDex
To stay updated join Gamedex on Telegram
There's five simple ways to participate - you can do one or all five!
The winners will be randomly selected at post payout.
Best of luck everyone!
