Access NFTs: Why They’re The Future of Online Communities

We get asked all the time what NFTs we’re watching or where we’re focusing our attention. And by far, the category of NFTs we feel is the most underdeveloped are Access NFTs.

What Are Access NFTs?

As the name suggests, Access NFTs are a type of token that grants owners access to gated communities, experiences, or goods that can be in the physical or digital world. They’re a little different than Unlockable content that comes with most NFTs, in the sense that Access NFTs give ongoing access, rather than a one-time thing.

Unlike avatar or art NFTs, there aren’t many impressive Access NFT examples to point to.

However, to name a few notable Access tokens, there are:

• VeeFriends
• The Metakey
• Metaverse HQ

Examples of Access NFTs

VeeFriends, for example, uses Access NFTs to sell access to Gary Vaynerchuk’s time. That could be a one-on-one brainstorming session, a breakfast with him, a group call, or simply admission to VeeCon.

The Metakey (which I find the premiere example in this space) grants owners access to 100s of curated experiences in the metaverse. They’re taking an interesting approach in the sense that they’re partnering with other big NFT projects (such as The Sandbox, Decentraland, CyberKongz, etc.).

In episode 3 of the NFT QT Show, we go into detail about what VeeFriends and The Metakey are doing with their Access NFTs and why we think they’re two of the most impressive projects in NFTs. Toward the end of the episode, we do an Access NFT Ideastorm, where we discuss Access projects we think will emerge in the next couple of years.

You can listen to our episode on Access NFTs below:

And then there’s Metaverse HQ, which grants you access to a private Discord channel with over a thousand avid NFT collectors. There’s insight into daily movement in the NFT industry, previews of upcoming projects, and free NFT raffles.

What Makes Access NFTs Special?

In essence, the most special part of an Access NFT is the community of owners. These are people who paid to be a part of something bigger than them. And with this community, quite a bit can be done:

1. Access NFTs are a marketing vessel. The organizers of these communities now have hundreds or thousands of active collectors. This makes it easy to promote new projects, drop free NFTs, and just generally create buzz.
2. Access NFTs can give you exposure in a low-effort way. Whether through communication or through NFT AirDrops, often by owning an Access token you also get exposure to other projects out there.
3. Access NFTs aren’t like traditional subscriptions. Whether you grow tired of the Access, grow out of it, or see that the value has appreciated – instead of eating the cost of the subscription – you can sell or gift your Access to someone else.

Once again, there are many other benefits / specialties about Access NFTs we discuss in episode 3 of the NFT QT Show.

It’s easy to be inspired by this type of NFT.

For instance, I saw a newsletter a while back that was distributed via an Access NFT. There were only 100 spots available, which I thought was a really superb idea. This made it more exciting and special.

I think that eCommerce stores could implement Access NFTs as membership tiers. Owning the Access NFT would grant you the ability to get first-look status at new items or access to exclusive items that general consumers don’t get (a concept we talk about in the article Shopify NFT Marketplace: Is this the watershed moment for NFTs?).

There’s so much that can be done with Access NFTs. We’ll be keeping our eyes open for fascinating use cases and will distill those insights here on NFTQT.com.