Dear Bankless Nation,
Remember my recent post The Future of NFTs?
In it, I noted that we’ll see many more Ethereum rollups arrive and expand beyond the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) for the sake of customization.
One of the earliest examples of this customization wave? Frame.
Frame is a new layer-two (L2) scaling solution that’s modifying the EVM to specifically cater to the needs of NFT users.
Let’s walk through the basics of this upcoming rollup for today’s post!
-WMP
Understanding Frame, the Newest NFT L2
What’s Frame?
Introduced in September 2023, Frame is a new L2 being custom-tailored for NFT creators and collectors.
Developed by NFT specialists cygaar, 0xBeans.eth, and stinkypablo.eth with the vision of making NFTs more accessible, the Frame rollup will rely on an adapted version of the EVM to streamline NFT activities.
“With Frame, we’re adding changes to the EVM to make the NFT experience better for everyone,” cygaar has said. “We're fans of the EVM, but we're looking at ways to make various flows cheaper and easier to use.”
So far the team has trialed testnets via popular rollup tech stacks, namely Arbitrum Nitro and OP Stack to date, but they are still testing here and will announce a final decision later.
How Frame Will Work
Vitalik Buterin just published a new blog post on weighing the potential benefits and challenges of enshrining certain features, like account abstraction and liquid staking, directly into the Ethereum network.
To that point, though, L2s operate “outside” of Ethereum and thus with lower stakes and more freedom they can be quicker and more flexible on what features they adopt and offer.
That said, the Frame team is putting their flexibility here to methodical use as they’re planning to enshrine a series of NFT-friendly features directly into their modified EVM.
For example, Frame is working on Palette, a protocol for NFT royalties, that will be baked in right at the base of the rollup. The system will give every creator that uses the L2 the ability to opt in to enforced royalties on their NFT projects.
“Last year, we saw several centralized marketplaces take control of the NFT market, dictate royalties, and take creators out of power,” cygaar has said. “With Palette, we’re hoping to remove these centralizing forces and re-empower creators.”
Yet Palette isn’t all. Frame will also enshrine a Creator’s Fund, a treasury that will be fueled by sequencer fees from the L2’s transactions, into its network for allocating rewards to creators, developers, and beyond. Delegate, which lets users mint safely from hot wallets, will also be enshrined in the L2.
What to Watch
Since Frame is still in the preliminary stages of development, and there are no public testnets to try yet, the only thing for us NFT adventurers to do for now is keep track of the project as it evolves from here.
Accordingly, keep your eyes peeled on the Frame website, Discord, and Twitter to stay on top of any future announcements.
In time, we’ll learn more about Frame, e.g. when its technical documentation is published, but until then some big questions to keep in mind include:
- ⏳️ Launch timeline: When is Frame's official launch date, and will there be a beta testing phase for early adopters?
- 🪙 Tokenomics: Will Frame introduce its own native token, and if so, will it serve as the basis for a decentralized governance model within the rollup’s ecosystem?
- 🏹 Quests: The current Frame website bears a “Quests” tab; what’s the plan for these activities, and what form will they take?
- 🔮 Future development: Are there plans to expand Frame’s features beyond the current initial roadmap, and what might those features look like?
We’ll have to wait and see what the answers to these questions look like, but even this early on I’m bullish Frame. This is exactly what L2s are for, customization, and Frame’s angling ahead here with a focus on NFTs. The idea’s a good one, and I’m excited to see how they execute. Godspeed for now.