Unique Network launched Nested NFTs — an advanced capability that allows you to build customized NFT relationships and layered access management.
Unique Network is rolling out a new concept of NFTs that allows users to create unique NFT relationships by interconnecting two NFTs in a hierarchical, sequential order. In addition to creating new use-case opportunities, these NFTs, which are appropriately named Nested NFTs, will also encourage the development of mass market-ready digital asset management solutions.
Following the release of Unique's dynamic NFTs — NFTs that can alter and record fundamental records based on environmental cues — Nested NFTs introduce unparalleled functionality that allows people to interact with NFTs in an entirely new way.
Nested NFTs: Brief introduction
A taxonomy is a hierarchy of related concepts where elements are nested. For example, nested sets include a book set, which consists of books arranged hierarchically by title, author, and publisher, or a family tree where parent-child relationships connect a hierarchical arrangement of people, i.e., grandparents are related to descendants.
Nested tokens work in the same way. They represent single NFTs grouped into a bundle root and nested in a tree-like structure. The token closest to the core is considered the parent, and all its other attachments are considered children. Users can create bundles from their NFTs by nesting them. This seemingly straightforward principle allows an NFT to own other NFTs, which can own other NFTs on an ad hoc basis.
Bundled NFTs together!
- Only an NFT can be a parent; however, a child token may exist as a fraction, a coin, or an NFT.
- Nested tokens must have the same owner as the root token.
- The depth of a bundle is limited to 5 generations (or five layers deep).
Nested NFTs Present Increased Customization for Developers
As the competition grows, it's becoming harder for creators to inspire long-term user engagement. These tokens have a significant use-case advantage, especially for developers, because they are unique and versatile.
Developers could use Nested NFTs to create and reward unique experiences for customers by tailoring projects to accommodate various preferences. With these NFT mechanics, developers can offer exclusive or premium content to improve monetization rates.For instance, game developers can connect game characters to their items (skins, weapons, clothes) and make nested connections or become marketplace proprietors, allowing users to sell NFTs in one or separate bundles.
Why the Community Deserves Nested NFTs
Digital art lovers have played a significant role in the NFT boom. However, as prices continue to rise and liquidity is lacking, the wider community is getting priced out—and for them, Nested NFTs are a dream.
Nested NFTs are the prime building blocks for accessibility, especially for average users. An opportunity to own a non-fungible piece of a vital or sentimental asset — which is critical to expanding and diversifying audiences.
These NFTs can apply to everything from celebrity souvenirs, fan memorabilia, trading cards, etc.
Nested NFTs give owners an easy way to collaborate with other community members, anyone can benefit from the token collections or trade them back into the network as desired.
Applications for Nested NFTs
NFTs can create various technological and artistic applications when nested with other tokens. The metadata present in these Nested NFTs makes them especially beneficial to artists and digital creators. Picture individual songs assembled from multiple artists nested inside an album-based NFT — whenever this nested NFT is traded, the singers and artists receive a royalty from the transaction.
These NFTs present as much of an opportunity for the user community as they do for the creator community, so let's highlight a few applications from the Unique Network hackathon, where teams built fully functional demos using nested NFTs for real-world applications.
Better gaming experiences
Nes3D's gaming module lets users organize assets under a "parent NFT," which can be dragged and dropped without generating new smart contracts. In addition, assets don't need to be linked to an external account; they can live within the parent NFT.
Unique Space's demo showed how spaceships could be divided into nested parent and child tokens, representing different mechanical parts and weapons players can use within the game.
NFT Spaceships from Unique Space
New collection organization methods
Through their demo, TerraCore showed how nested NFT could create and attach NFT collections, add properties and attributes, and seamlessly nest them into a nesting tree. Using our infrastructure, they also created a streamlined interface minting process for adding individual tokens to any NFT collection.
Minting Nested NFTs
Nesting is now available for the community through wallet accounts — so if you're a developer, consider creating Nested NFTs to expand your project scope and draw in a new audience.
For Unique Network users, here's your opportunity to participate in the new age of NFTs.
How to Participate?
- Step 1. Create a collection by using a Unique Wallet.
First, you will need to create or connect your wallet. You can do so via the Polkadot extension or by navigating to the 'Manage accounts' section on Unique Wallet.
- Step 2. Mint an NFT.
Minting an NFT first requires the creation of a collection, even when creating a single NFT. First, go to the 'My collections' page and click the "Create collection" button. Then, set the primary information, token attributes, and advanced settings and create a token.
- Step 3. Nest your NFTs.
To nest a token, click on the "Nest this token" button on the token details page, and a modal window will display a list of collections that allow nesting and an opportunity to choose a token to nest. If the token being nested is an NFT, it will automatically become the parent of subsequent nesting operations.
A nested bundle in the Unique wallet interface.
You can also find the bundle section on Unique Scan, our block explorer. There you can:
- Find existing bundles
- View the contents of the created bundles
- View the events inside the bundle
Nested NFTs for ‘tree-like’ layered admin management.
The potential of this technology to open up new usage scenarios for developers and the blockchain community makes Nested NFTs an important and valuable addition to Unique Network.
Whether you’re a developer or community member, get in touch with our team via Telegram or Discord to learn more about nested NFTs integration.
Read more about Nested NFTs on Unique Network, or visit Unique's documentation for a more technical deep-dive on nesting and bundling.