Paras
Is Paras.id the highest-quality NFT market on the web?
A quick glance at Paras reveals an NFT marketplace that doesn’t look like others of its kind. Most markets, especially the larger ones on Ethereum, allow users to upload just about anything. It’s a constantly-churning flow of media, with an array of artistic styles and formats. While vibrant, these markets are a clutter of low-effort work, weak community experiences, and little sense of curation.
Paras, built on the NEAR blockchain, takes a far more curated approach to the NFT experience and community.
NFT Curation on NEAR is fast, simple, and low-cost
Just as art galleries and trading card publishers exhibit and publish select works, Paras takes a curatorial approach to its artists’ output. This selection process ensures consistent quality and elevates creators.
Artists must apply to create new cards on Paras. Space is limited, with only 30 new artists approved each week, and all artworks must conform to Paras’s 64:89 aspect ratio, and contain a set of standardized information. On NEAR, Paras is bringing their curated NFT experience to artists struggling to mint artworks on other blockchains.
NEAR’s transactions are fast (1 to 2 seconds) and budget-friendly at just a few cents or less. Artists can get minting quickly, while novice NFT buyers or experienced collectors can buy and sell NFTs in a near frictionless way. Paras was also drawn to NEAR because of Rainbow Bridge, a NEAR-Ethereum collaboration that allows the transfer of ETH to NEAR and back for the buying and selling of NFTs.
Collection-based releases
“The low gas fee enables us to pull the concept of building a collection. As it costs less than a penny, developing a collection is feasible in Paras & NEAR.”
Riqi, Co-Founder Paras
Each artist releases NFTs in themed or related collections, giving buyers an overview of the artist’s skill as well as several related pieces worth considering. Perhaps more importantly, these curated collections give artists a chance to tell a story or present multiple viewpoints on a topic.
Artists have shown fantasy and mythological figures, surrealist tableaus, manuscript illustrations, and nature scenes. Every collection gives each individual NFT artwork more context and meaning. For those who enjoy browsing, they can read about each artwork to better grasp the artist’s process and technique, just like in an art gallery.
Curation breeds creativity and community
Far from inhibiting artists, Paras’s curatorial approach unleashes creativity. A wide array of subjects and styles are encouraged, with artists creating still images, GIF-style motion graphics, and other supported media.
The formats also foster something most NFT marketplaces on other blockchains struggle with: dedicated spaces for artists to tell their stories and connect with their communities. Art is about more than the image. On Paras, artists can take collectors behind the scenes and put individual pieces in the context of their body of work, all while building community to encourage discussion and appreciation.
“The value of each card in Paras is not determined only by the visual, more importantly, the story and the lore behind it are equally prominent. We believe the story sells.”
Afiq, Co-Founder Paras
A place for world-builders
Narrative, characters, and worldbuilding are highly regarded on Paras. The curation allows collectors to see background text and other information on the back of cards, and see how characters relate to each other within and across collections. If desired, works can even be tied into novels, music, and other traditional media.
Consistent quality and features
Paras’s curation also makes it easier to organize and enjoy the cards. Modeled on a physical trading card experience, clicking the artwork flips the card, revealing its name, creation date, collection, and other information. Consistent format, function, and organization enhances collector enjoyment, so that if you ever had a binder of trading cards as a kid (or adult), then you’ll appreciate the Paras collecting experience.
If typical permissionless NFT markets are like the jostling busy street vendors on a downtown street, Paras is the clean, well-organized shop known for quality. There’s a place for each to coexist.
Interest in NFTs is growing incredibly fast
NFTs exploded into the public imagination in early 2021 and demand has been overwhelming. For Ethereum-based NFT markets, high demand for network space has driven up costs. Many new NFT creators and traders, especially those who aren’t crypto-natives, have been anxious for solutions.
With NEAR’s fast, simple, and low-cost technology, Paras is opening up the NFT experience to everyone currently struggling to mint their creative work.
NEAR is dedicated to creativity and builders
If you look underneath NEAR’s technology you’ll see another reason why NEAR is such a great fit for NFT markets like Paras. NEAR’s driving philosophy is focused on empowering those who want to create the future, whether through technology, ideas, or being part of a community of creators and supporters. Projects like Paras are a great example of how NEAR can help open up new ways of expressing ideas, connecting communities, and creating value on the web. You’re invited to check out NEAR’s vision and check out Paras if you’d like to learn more.
About NEAR
The NEAR Protocol makes building and deploying DApps and protocols easier, faster, and cheaper than any other blockchain.
Native usability is NEAR’s primary concern. Features such as its contract-based account model and NEAR Drops make NEAR significantly more usable for developers and end users. Additionally, NEAR has focused on bringing performance for applications. The dynamic sharding approach called Nightshade works on top of a proof-of-stake BFT consensus mechanism called Doomslug. This allows network throughput to scale as demand grows. It targets 1-second blocks so developers can build performant applications.