Interpreting the Mint Blockchain white paper: The ambition and future of NFT-exclusive L2

Mint Blockchain, a Layer 2 infrastructure focused on NFT and RWA, is driving industry development with efficient, low-cost solutions.

Written by: Deep Trend TechFlow

introduction

The narrative cycle of the encrypted world is always full of drama. When the Meme carnival on Solana is suspended, public data shows that funds are quietly returning to the ETH ecosystem.

But what else can I play on Ethereum?

Of course, you can’t escape the two most crowded tracks: Layer2 and NFT. But both seem to have fallen into the dilemma of innovators:

In the L2 battlefield, the performance arms race has turned ZK-Rollup and OP-Rollup’s TPS numbers into footnotes for “invalid connotations”; in the NFT field, the collection narrative of PFP small pictures is gradually declining, and the transaction volume is shrinking by more than 90% compared with the 2021 peak.

While the Ethereum ecosystem takes time to repeat between “faster chains” and “more expensive JPG”, we have observed a project in the recent market that seems to be breaking this situation.

Mint Blockchain, as the first NFT dedicated L2 for Optimism Superchain, does not make invalid internal volumes for TPS, but chooses a more radical path:Let NFT become the key link between the physical world andAI“Value Router”。

When AI starts to hold NFT, what kind of underlying protocol support is needed? In addition to speculating small pictures, what use cases can unblock the non-financial attributes of NFT?

These answers, which have plagued the track for a long time, are hidden in a white paper released recently by Mint Blockchain.

At the same time, Mint’s official website also has a series of marketing activities to accumulate potential energy for the airdrop of the $MINT token, and the white paper also partially discloses the economics of the token, which is also a part that most players are more concerned about.

Therefore, Shenzhen TechFlow takes this opportunity to try to conduct an in-depth interpretation of Mint’s white paper to answer the following questions:

Can this seemingly non-mainstream L2 really get out of its pure TPS worship and shift to scenario-based service capabilities for NFT?

core points

Project positioning:

• Mint Blockchain is an Ethereum-based L2 that focuses on supporting the entire life cycle of NFT, including creation, capitalization, transactions, cross-chain liquidity and data analysis.

• as Optimism Superchain A core member of the company, Mint uses OP Stack technology to provide efficient and low-cost blockchain infrastructure and promotes the widespread application of NFT in areas such as consumer, finance, social and real assets (RWA).

Value points:

• Innovation Agreement Standards: The ERC-7765 agreement seamlessly integrates NFT and real-world assets for the first time, opening up a new track for RWA NFT.

• cross-chainLiquidity integration: Mint Liquid provides multi-chain liquidity aggregation of NFT and tokens to build the world’s largest NFT order routing network.

• Multi-module support: From Mint Studio’s NFT creation tool to RareShop’s RWA NFT market, Mint provides full-stack NFT ecosystem support.

• Efficient economic model: Through $MINT’s Staking Retaking mechanism, users can not only earn up to 15% annualized revenue, but also share network revenue and improve capital efficiency.

• Optimism Superchain members: As an important part of OP Superchain, Mint enjoys strong technical support and community resources.

Information worthy of attention:

• $MINT Airdrop: In addition to participating in Mint Forest and Mint Mainnet activities, MintID pledges, etc., which can get $MINT airdrops, Mint has launched the NFT Legends Season activity to allocate 1% of the total $MINT supply (10 million pieces) to NFT OG users to reward historical contributors.

• Staking benefits:$MINT holders can receive dual rewards through the Staking Retaking mechanism, including a 15% annualized revenue and a share of network revenue.

• Early ecological dividends: As a fast-growing Layer 2 network, Mint has attracted more than 400,000 active users and 100 ecosystem applications. Joining the ecosystem will have the opportunity to enjoy early dividends.

• RWA NFT opportunity: RareShop provides innovative scenarios that transform real-life assets into NFT. Users can participate in the world’s first RWA NFT market through the Mint network.

Why does NFT need a dedicated Layer 2?

Today, when people talk about NFT, they often only associate it with the craze of speculating on small pictures and the ensuing market collapse.

So much so that you may find it a bit inappropriate to talk about NFT now, but in fact hype does not mean the end of value.

In addition to small pictures, NFT can also be seriously used in RWA to become a digital carrier for real assets; it can also be used in broader scenarios such as identity authentication, copyright protection, and game asset management…

However, these potentials have not yet been fully tapped. An important reason may be that the current infrastructure does not provide exclusive support to NFT.

We have seen before that NFTs are more or less facing these problems:

1. High casting and transaction costs: The cost of casting and trading NFT on the Ethereum main network remains high, especially for small creators and ordinary users, the threshold is too high.

2. Lack of uniform standards and tools: The creation, management and cross-chain circulation of NFTs are still complex, and developers and creators need to face compatibility issues on different chains.

3. insufficient liquidity: Although the NFT market continues to expand, its liquidity is much lower than that of the token market, making it difficult for many NFT assets to trade quickly or realize value.

4. Restrictions on data storage and interaction: The NFT ecosystem has an increasing demand for data storage and interaction, but existing infrastructure has limited support in this regard.

This forms a unique narrative direction and infrastructure gap for Mint Blockchain– for NFT Ecosystem provides exclusive Layer 2 solutions.

Positioning is important, especially on the L2 track in the inner circle.

Judging from the positioning disclosed in the white paper,Mint did not try to compete directly with general-purpose L2s, but chose to focus on NFT and RWA areas to create an infrastructure tailored to these assets.

This differentiated positioning not only avoids the dilemma of ineffectiveness performance, but also provides new possibilities for NFT creators, developers and users.

Mint Blockchain: L2 infrastructure in the NFT world

The official information of the white paper shows that Mint Blockchain is an Ethereum Layer2 network jointly sponsored by NFTScan Labs and the MintCore developer team. It started construction in October 2023 and released the main network in May 2024, beginning to enter the ecological development and construction stage.

In traditional Layer 2 networks, NFT is usually only incidental functions and does not receive exclusive technical support.

The goal of Mint Blockchain is to unleash the true potential of NFT through dedicated infrastructure, thereby promoting its transformation from a hype tool to a value tool.

Furthermore, Mint Blockchain’s technical architecture is based on OP Stack, which naturally brings EVM compatibility; but more functional points are still dedicated optimization for NFT.

• focus on NFT and RWA’s full lifecycle support:From casting to trading, from liquidity management to cross-chain circulation, Mint Blockchain provides a complete set of optimized tools and modules specifically designed for the NFT ecosystem.

• Optimization of storage and data layers:Storage, mobility and data management of NFT are specifically optimized. For example, it supports efficient NFT batch casting and transfer operations, solving the problem of inefficiency of NFT transactions in traditional blockchains.

In addition, we also mentioned at the beginning that NFT can also be applied to the RWA field and become a certificate of real assets. However, there is obviously no way to implement this idea with one chain alone. Mint Blockchain also connects a unique ERC-7765 standard, which aims to solve the technical problem of combining NFT with real assets.

Through this standard, NFT can bind real assets and carry specific rights that can be exercised. For example, an NFT ticket can be redeemed for admission to offline events, and an NFT product can be mapped to actual logistics delivery.

We have no intention of discussing more technical details here. Readers who are interested in the agreement can also refer to the original white paper or the agreement documentation.

In addition to these technologies, Mint’s white paper also seems to point to the recent popularity of AI Agents, that is, using NFT to link users and AI Agents, so that every individual (including humans and AI Agents) can freely own NFT assets.

We will discuss this part of the interpretation of AI in detail in the next chapter.

Overall, Mint Blockchain is reshaping the scope of L2’s use by focusing on optimized design for NFT and RWA, combining innovative technical architecture (such as OP Stack and ERC-7765 standards) and intelligent tools (such as AI Agent).

From creators to users, explore Mint Blockchain’s ecological toolbox

The chain is in place, but how should it be implemented for specific application scenarios?

In addition to its own L2, Mint Blockchain has designed five core modules from the casting to circulation of NFT to the exercise of real rights and interests to build a complete NFT infrastructure.

1. Mint Studio: For creatorscross-chain NFT casting tool

Mint Studio is one of the core tools provided by Mint Blockchain. It is specially designed for NFT creators and supports various forms of NFT creation (such as text, pictures, audio, video).

One of the most important benefits of this module is that it provides a wider range of cross-chain options.

Creators can use Mint Studio to cast NFTs (such as Berachain, Base, Optimism, etc.) on multiple blockchain networks to achieve cross-chain deployment of assets.

At the same time, this module also provides a user-friendly interface design, allowing creators without technical background to easily complete the casting of NFT.

Overall, Mint Studio’s goal is to lower the threshold for NFT creation and provide creators with more creative freedom and technical support.

2. IP Layer：NFT intellectual propertyAssets and pricing platform

IP Layer is a module focusing on NFT intellectual property management, helping creators transform their digital assets into legally binding intellectual property and realize revenue distribution through smart contracts.

Creators can register the copyright of NFT online to ensure the uniqueness and legitimacy of their work. Through smart contracts, creators can automatically obtain secondary sales revenue from NFT and avoid copyright disputes in traditional markets.

The core goal of this layer is to protect the rights and interests of creators while introducing more transparency and trust into the NFT market.

3. Mint Liquid: Multi-chain liquidity aggregation protocol

Mint Liquid is Mint Blockchain’s liquidity solution designed to address the problems of fragmentation and illiquidity in the NFT market.

This module supports cross-chain trading of NFT and tokens, allowing users to freely transfer assets between different networks; at the same time, it provides a more efficient trading experience and reduces transaction costs.

Mint Liquid’s goal is to provide an efficient circulation environment for NFT and RWA, improve market activity and transaction efficiency.

4. RareShop: RWA for consumers NFT market

RareShop is an NFT market focused on real-world assets (RWA), allowing users to purchase, trade and exercise real rights through NFT.

Users can obtain corresponding physical goods or services (such as limited edition goods, offline event tickets, etc.) by purchasing NFT.

At the same time, the market supports multiple cryptocurrency payment methods, providing users with more payment options. From the perspective of privacy, the market has also integrated technologies such as zero-knowledge certificates to ensure that the privacy of user transactions is not compromised.

5. NFT-AI Agent: Integration AI and NFT data analysissmart tools that

At a time when AI Agents are booming, Mint Blockchain also provides intelligent tool modules that use AI technology to provide users with comprehensive NFT data analysis and market insights.

For example, AI Agent can analyze NFT market data in real time to help users grasp market trends; at the same time, AI Agent provides users with NFT pricing suggestions through analysis of historical transaction data.

In terms of creativity, AI Agents can also generate NFT creation suggestions or assist users in completing creation based on user preferences.

The goal of this module is to reduce user decision-making costs through intelligent tools and provide creators with more creative inspiration.

We can see from the five modules listed by Mint that these modules have actually covered the entire life cycle of NFT through high integration and correlation:

• Mint Studio Responsible for the creation of NFT;

• IP Layer Ensure copyright protection and revenue distribution of NFT;

• Mint Liquid Provide liquidity support and promote the market circulation of NFT;

• RareShop Open up the connection between NFT and real assets;

• NFT-AI Agent Provide users with intelligent support and optimize NFT management and trading.

Overall, whether it is the casting, circulation, or the exercise of real rights and interests of NFT, the five core modules of Mint Blockchain build a complete NFT infrastructure to meet the above needs.

Current ecological progress

Since its launch on the main network in May last year, how has Mint done? Let’s start with some fundamental data.

• Active wallet address: It reached 590,000, of which 276,000 were active users.

• average daily trading volume: More than 330,000 transactions, mainly concentrated in NFT and RWA (real assets) related transactions.

• Number of ecological applications: More than 100 applications have been launched, including native applications such as MintSwap Finance, Mint Forest, and RareShop.

• global community: Covering 12 languages and having more than 300,000 community members.

At the same time, from a background perspective, in May 2024, the project received US$5 million in seed round financing, with investors including Jsquare, BlockAI Ventures, SNZ, Mask Network, etc.

What’s more worth mentioning is that the project received US$2 million in strategic investment from the Optimism Foundation in October last year and US$1 million in OP-governance voting rights. The intention of OP ecological support is self-evident.

Through these milestones, we can see that Mint Blockchain has not only made technological breakthroughs, but also further consolidated its ecological status through financing and cooperation.

We also found in the Roadmap document in addition to the white paper that this year’s project will do more about token economics and pledge mechanisms.

Among them, the token TGE is believed to be the focus of more players.

$MINT Economics and Airdrop Events

As the core value carrier of ecology,$MINT’s distribution design aims to balance community incentives with long-term development needs. The white paper also mentions the specific allocation plan of $MINT:

• totalsupply: 1 billion $MINTs.

• distribution ratio：

  • 82% is used for community construction：

    • MintDAO: Accounting for 50%, used to support ecological incentives, pledge rewards, infrastructure construction, etc.

    • Launch Contributors: 20%, rewarding early supporters and developers.

    • Community airdrop: accounting for 12%, expanding the community size through activities and incentive mechanisms.

  • 18% allocated to MintCore team, used for team development and long-term operations.

However, there is currently no further explanation on the unlocking conditions, proportion and time, and further updates from the project’s social media may need to be paid attention to.

In terms of the role of tokens,$MINT plays several key roles in the ecosystem:

1. governance rights:$MINT holders can participate in network governance, including proposal voting and ecological decision-making.

2. Ecological incentives: Used to reward developers, creators and users and encourage them to contribute to ecological development.

3. Online transaction assets:$MINT is the main payment asset within the network, used to pay for transaction fees, asset issuance and other on-chain activities.

4. asset pricing:$MINT is used for the pricing and trading of assets such as RWA, NFT, and Token, becoming an important unit of value within the ecosystem.

5. pledgeand re-pledge: Through the pledge and re-pledge mechanism of $MINT, users can receive network revenue share and additional rewards.

Among them, the re-pledge mechanism directly related to income deserves further discussion.

1. pledgemechanism：

   2. After pledging, users need to select a pledge node (divided into super node and basic node):

      • super node: It is operated by infrastructure providers and investment institutions within the ecosystem and requires a large amount of $MINT to be pledged.

      • infrastructure node: Run by the community and developers, with lower barriers and stronger openness.

   3. Pledge reward: Users receive 15% annualized income (APR) through pledge, which is financially supported by MintDAO.

2. againpledgemechanism：

   1. After users pledge $MINT, they can obtain the pledged voucher sMINT (Staked MINT Tokens).

   2. Users who hold sMINT can convert it to BC721 Mint-eNFT (a strategic NFT based on the Bonding Curve).

   3. Users who own the BC721 Mint-eNFT will receive 50% of the Mint Blockchain Sorter’s revenue (after deducting DA and Superchain fees).

Through pledge and re-pledge, users can not only receive token rewards, but also participate in network revenue sharing. This mechanism effectively improves the capital efficiency of $MINT and provides users with long-term benefits.

Airdrop activities:NFT Legends Season

In order to further encourage community participation in the airdrop event that everyone cares about most, Mint Blockchain launched NFT Legends Season。

The total airdrop for the NFT Legends Season event is 1% of the total supply of $MINT (i.e. 10 million tokens) and the event lasts from January 2 to February 15, 2025.

During this period, eligible users can receive the NFT Legend Box. These NFT Legend Boxes are the core of the event. Each box contains different levels of rewards. The reward levels are divided into four categories: A (normal rewards), S (high rewards), SS (rare rewards), and SSS (legendary rewards). Among them, SSS-level rewards are the most anticipated part of the event, containing the highest number of $MINT tokens.

participation conditions：

• OG NFT holders: Users who hold specific NFT collections (such as CryptoPunks, BoredApeYachtClub, etc.) can receive different numbers of NFT Legend Boxes.

• main NFT market users: Users who trade in markets such as OpenSea and Blur will receive Box based on transaction volume.

• NFTFi platform users: Users who pledge NFT on platforms such as Blur Lending and BendDAO are also eligible.

Users who have received the box can now participate in opening the box until February 28, thus locking in this part of the $MINT airdrop.

Infinite possibilities from NFT to real assets

Overall, Mint Blockchain, as a Layer 2 infrastructure focused on NFT and RWA, is driving industry development through efficient, low-cost solutions.

With five core modules and technical support based on Optimism Superchain, Mint not only solves industry pain points such as NFT standardization and liquidity, but also provides a solid foundation for the integration of NFT and real assets.

Through innovative incentives such as the $MINT Airdrop (NFT Legends Season), Mint has successfully attracted the participation of OG users and emerging players, further expanding the community size and ecological influence. In the future, Mint will strive to become the world’s largest NFT application network, and through its support for RWA, break the boundary between on-chain and off-chain assets, opening up new possibilities for the practical application of blockchain technology.

From a crypto player perspective, Mint Blockchain provides users and developers with an excellent opportunity to participate and innovate. Whether it is early ecological dividends or airdrops, they all show the breadth of incentives;

Moderate participation may be a good choice when there are currently a lack of market hot spots and secondary income is difficult to find.

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