Dear Bankless Nation,

There’s a new NFT platform coming to town, and it’s going to offer users a compelling suite of tools.

Interestingly, too, is how the platform’s being developed by the minds behind one of DeFi’s most popular exchange protocols. The soon-to-be released NFT platform is dubbed Shoyu, and the people building it are none other than the core developers of Sushi.

Why Shoyu, you ask?

Because in Japanese “Shōyu” means soy sauce, which we all know pairs well with sushi. Alas, the Sushi team is creating its new NFT platform to similarly go well with its growing ecosystem of decentralized services. For today’s Metaversal, let’s piece together what we know about rising project so far 🍣

-WMP

Sushi Moves Into NFTs

We’re in the first inning of the NFT ecosystem, so it goes without saying that many more NFT marketplace plays are going to pop up in the years ahead. As with all things in crypto, these plays will arrive and exist along a spectrum.

For instance, there will be more centralized and proprietary efforts like NFT Genius, a startup that’s building out an NFT marketplace on the Flow blockchain and that just raised $4 million from major investors like Mark Cuban and Anthony Pompliano to do so.

On the flip side, we’ll also see more decentralized and open-source efforts created atop Ethereum by crypto-native heavyweights. One example of such a project that’s coming to fruition and that you’ll want to have on your radar is Shoyu, an “NFT exchange and launchpad” being built out by the Sushi team.

The Shoyu NFT Suite

Formerly known as SushiSwap, Sushi’s risen the ranks to become one of DeFi’s most popular decentralized exchanges. The DEX’s developers have recently focused on rolling out new offerings, like the BentoBox vault system and Kashi lending and margin trading platform, so Shoyu marks the latest release on the slate for the high-profile DeFi project.

Work on Shoyu began in earnest back in March after Sushi core dev LevX proposed that Sushi create NATTO, a platform offering “NFT artists and collectors […] a franchised store and personal gallery launchpad, in addition to providing Uniswap V3 NFT LP token holders a seamless selling solution.”

The Sushi community warmly welcomed the idea, and the platform’s name quickly shifted to Shoyu upon the suggestion of a community member.

So how will Shoyu actually work? Not only is the project being built as a “gas-optimized NFT trading platform” for ERC721 and ERC1155 tokens, but it’s also going to offer a slew of other features. These features will include social token support, multi-ownership sales for collaborations, customizable royalty payouts, and more.

Revenue for xSUSHI Holders

Users who stake SUSHI tokens receive xSUSHI tokens, which represent the underlying staked positions + revenues accrued by fees.

For example, the aforementioned BentoBox and Kashi systems divert cuts of all their earnings to xSUSHI holders, and now Shoyu will soon join these offerings’ ranks as another Sushi ecosystem revenue source. As LevX noted in an April “Inside the Chef’s Jacket” post:

“Shoyu is a really collaborative effort with artists from around the world and from various artistic mediums. I think a lot of people will be surprised when more information comes out. What I can say is that 2.5% of every transaction will go to our xSUSHI holders, so really the value of xSUSHI is only getting started when we see all these innovative products being rolled out.”

What Comes Next

There’s no word yet on a firm release date for Shoyu, but presumably we’ll see the project’s inaugural form launch at some point this summer.

The NFT ecosystem is still quite young and needs all sorts more infrastructure, so it’ll be interesting to see what a DeFi giant like Sushi can come in and do with a project like Shoyu. For now, it appears set up to become a clear win-win: NFT artists and collectors can leverage a useful new suite of tools, while xSUSHI holders can earn a small portion of the ensuing proceeds on an ongoing basis. How’s that for a DeFi x NFT meld?

In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled on Sushi’s official comms channels to stay updated on any Shoyu news, which we may receive more of any day now. That’s because the Sushi team is seemingly making the final preparations ahead of the platform’s launch!

Action steps

• 👀 Check out Sushi’s Shoyu repository on GitHub!