Flare, an interoperable blockchain network, has collaborated with the ed-tech startup Uppercent to develop an educational marketplace.
The new marketplace will be powered by NFTs which will function as access passes to online courses. The Flare network will issue the NFTs, and the Uppercent platform will offer the courses. Students will be able to sell NFT access passes to other students in the secondary marketplace. As such, the new marketplace will be the first of its kind.
Exploration of new NFT utilities is critical in empowering startups to add Web3 functionalities to their services and products.
The co-founder and CEO of Flare, Hugo Philion, emphasized in a statement, “We’re excited Uppercent has chosen Flare as the blockchain to power web3 functionality for the next generation of edtech products. As firm believers in the potential for NFTs and the importance of high quality user-generated content, we look forward to enabling the Uppercent team to use Flare to push the boundaries of UX and utility in the online education market.”
Reimagining the e-learning ecosystem
The partners’ shared goal is to rebuild the e-learning ecosystem by leveraging blockchain technology. For instance, a thorny problem in conventional learning is the high costs of learning materials, such as textbooks.
In the case of Web2, when students enroll in online courses, they can’t sell them to other students even after they complete the material. In other words, the course content is for one student only. The new Uppercent education marketplace will offer courses in limited editions. If a course sells out, other students will have to bid on and win its NFT access pass in the secondary marketplace to join that particular course.
Following the partnership, Jake Lee – the founder and CEO of Uppercent – commented, “We’re delighted that Flare has joined our journey towards bridging E-learning from web2 to web3 with the ambition to rebuild the e-learning ecosystem and provide more value to all stakeholders. Flare’s interoperability protocols, and particularly the State Connector will be a huge help in enabling us to build the first secondary market for E-learning.”
How will Flare power the new NFT marketplace?
As students will buy, sell, and trade NFT passes in the secondary marketplace of Uppercent, teaming up with a reliable, interoperable blockchain provider is crucial. Flare is an EVM-based layer-1 blockchain with a native oracle called “Flare Time Series Oracle (FTSO).” It enables acquiring external data like cryptocurrency prices from independent data providers to bring it on-chain without relying on central entities.
The other protocol of Flare – State Connector – allows for using data from other chains on the Flare blockchain in a secure and trustless way. State Connector can be integrated with any blockchain. Consequently, it opens up new possibilities for developing interoperable solutions.
These two fundamental Flare protocols equip developers with the toolkit to build decentralized and robust interoperability applications. You can stay updated on Flare by following the official Telegram and Discord channels.
Uppercent courses and the membership
The e-learning startup Uppercent joins forces with the top 1% of achievers in a variety of industries to create cinema-quality courses in which course creators share their experience with the Uppercent community of learners. The instructors include social media influencers, Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneurs, and leading mindset trainers.
The e-learning platform will launch in phases. The first courses are expected to be released in late March. In the first phase, the platform will allow students to register for upcoming courses. The official launch will take place later in 2023 when NFT access passes, and the secondary marketplace for NFT trading will be available.
When the platform kicks off officially, buying and selling exclusive access passes will require membership, which is free of charge, provided you join the official Uppercent Discord channel before the official launch.
