Hoard Marketplace Launched a DeFi Protocol to Monetize Idle NFTs

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The decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain-powered NFT space has been growing rapidly with many new users now beginning to explore the crypto space. Recently, Tron founder Justin Sun paid over 600,000 USD for an Ether pet rock. In addition to crypto industry participants, famous celebrities and professional athletes with a huge following have started to issue their own NFTs as well.

NFTs or non-fungible tokens are probably scarce, because advanced cryptography is used to mint them and maintain their authenticity. With traditional collectibles like physical baseball cards, it’s relatively easier to create fake ones and it can be hard to determine whether these collectibles are truly authentic.

With NFT technology, however, it’s possible to create digital collectibles that are guaranteed to be authentic because of the power of blockchain technology. NFTs can also be traded in an all-digital environment via online marketplace and exchanges.

Providing Infrastructure for Integrating In-Game Items with Ethereum Blockchain

The Hoard Exchange Platform aims to provide a unique value proposition for NFT holders to monetize their idle NFTs, while also serving as an NFT discovery marketplace.

Hoard’s vision is to close the gap between NFTs and DeFi, while keeping the multi-billion dollar online gaming world in mind. The platform was developed to offer products to support most aspects of the gaming industry. The team provides access to a wide range of virtual goods for both gamers and application developers.

As noted on its website, the Hoard Exchange curates digital items via their marketplace. They also focus on simplifying the developer-user interactions, which has not been an area of focus in the crypto space. User-owned in-game items, real estate, digital art and many other NFTs may be traded, loaned to other users, or even rented on the platform.

Enabling Seamless Trading, Renting of NFTs

The Hoard Marketplace allows investors to easily trade, buy, sell, loan, or rent non-fungible tokens (NFTs), such as domain names, digital art, and in-game items. Hoard is focused on helping software architects by offering the infrastructure to seamlessly integrate game items with the Ethereum blockchain. Platform users can enjoy high-quality developer-player interaction and discover valuable NFTs.

Hoard initially launched its platform back in 2018. One of the initiative’s founders reportedly owns around 95% of the entire project. The company reported owning 10% of Hoard after it was founded. The Hoard team will aim to provide a platform based on the DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) model – which will allow people to truly own their assets and also take ownership of their trading activity.

HRD is the native token of the project. The total supply is fixed at 1 billion, with 48% of the total tokens to be distributed to the project’s community. Token holders can easily transact, stake to receive sizable returns, and cast votes.

On decentralized or non-custodial trading platforms, token holders may act as HRD liquidity providers. A token sale and staking (unless the community chooses not to) are going to serve as the initial revenue sources.

The Hoard professional developer team deployed its NFT marketplace so that users can  trade, rent, and lend assets. The project became the very first platform in Denmark to receive regulatory clearance from the country’s Financial Authority for carrying out the HRD token sale.

Hoard Exchange to Offer Low Fees, Intuitive User Experience (UX)

The HRD token is listed on the Estonian P2PB2B exchange, which is another key milestone for the platform.

Radosław Zagórowicz, Co-founder and Chief Executive, has experience serving as Board member at Imapp, where he focused on IT-related services. He also has prior experience working as a software engineer at Samsung.

Zagórowicz has also been a project leader and application developer at the Institute for Structural Research in Warsaw Poland and earned his Masters in Applied Math from the University of Warsaw. He’s also listed as a co-founder of the main idea that led to the launch of the Golem Network.

Hoard notes that it will differentiate itself from competitors by offering highly competitive fees, as well as unique benefits for token holders.

Hoard’s developers also mentioned that they will offer a better user experience and will be implementing a robust L2 solution. Additionally, they will provide a highly-performant Marketplace.

Hoard mainly offers lending, borrowing and staking solutions. Borrowers can use NFTs as collateral in order to apply for loans. The loans are paid off based on various parameters provided by the lender, who lends assets once they’ve chosen a submission they like.

Those investors who hold stablecoins and want to generate decent returns may choose to become a lender via the Hoard Marketplace. Through the Hoard Exchange, lenders can have their money “work for them” and provide opportunities to acquire an NFT they desire (if there happens to be a foreclosure). The lender will get the NFT used as collateral after a loan isn’t  repaid on time.

Hoard users owning ERC-20 or ERC-721 tokens and wanting to generate substantial returns may leverage their assets as a form of collateral. Borrowers can deposit NFTs into the Marketplace and set a minimum loan value. If a borrower chooses to repay a loan before the specified due date, then any funds increased because of interest go to the lender’s account. The NFT used as collateral gets moved to the borrower.

Users wanting to invest into HRD tokens and interested in taking advantage of the financial returns can engage in staking options. Staking fees are paid out on digital tokens with strong liquidity like stablecoins.

Creating a Viable Ecosystem of Crypto Products

With NFT and DeFi adoption on the rise, it’s become essential for service providers to offer comprehensive solutions. When a platform’s developers can offer a wide range of products and services, they’re more likely to attract a diverse group of users. One of the main strengths of any crypto project is its community members. By catering to the requirements of many types of users, platforms like Hoard Exchange can provide better value to everyone.

The Hoard Marketplace had officially gone live in May of this year with loaning and staking features. As explained in a blog post, Loan is a service where NFTs may be used as a form of collateral to acquire loans in virtual currencies.

Staking capabilities have also been added to incentivize HRD token holders by enabling them to pay affordable platform fees on the Marketplace. Users who stake their tokens will get a portion of their platform fees back in the form of staking rewards. To learn more, check here.