📜What is BitBadges?
BitBadges is a project aiming to drive the adoption of Cosmos with one mission: build the best tokenization standard ever seen and make it exclusively available as a Cosmos module.
Cosmos sells software-as-a-service, but it is incomplete without offering a state-of-the-art solution for the main primitive of all of crypto (tokenization). The next 5 years are about advanced tokenization (e.g. Project Crypto) and tokenizing everything. What better way to onboard developers and institutions to Cosmos than offer a 1000x tokenization experience that is Cosmos exclusive? This is what BitBadges has built.
Problems With Existing Token Standards
Existing tokenization standards (ERC/CW/ICS-20/721) are good for plenty of use cases, but the whole system is flawed from the ground up.
Existing standards are:
Simple: They lack the flexibility and feature set needed for 90% of real-world applications. Simple mint, transfer, and burn functionality is nowhere near enough. The industry has been stuck with these simple standards and no innovation for 10+ years due to technical debt. It is a mess.
Vulnerable: They are vulnerable by default due to the smart contract approach. Each token contract introduces a new attack vector and chance of vulnerability. We frankly find it crazy how much is spent on smart contract audits and security. The whole smart contract approach is flawed and not sustainable. It is broken from the foundation, and it has been that way for 10+ years with little done to fix it.
Complex: A simple contract requires extensive technical knowledge to implement.
Expensive: Contracts are expensive to deploy and maintain.
Low Interoperability: Interoperability of tokens has improved recently, and IBC is the leading example of this. However, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Ecosystem-agnostic companies do not want to split their userbase or handle tokens on multiple chains. They want an all-in-one solution that is compatible with any user from any ecosystem out of the box.
Many Competing Standards: There are many competing standards and products for tokenization. Each tokenization product adds its own little twists that are not compatible with other products. This creates fragmentation and confusion. We believe that there should be one universal standard that is the best solution for all use cases.
And Much More: I could go on and on, but the point stands: the whole tokenization approach is broken from the foundation and NEEDS a complete overhaul.
The BitBadges Token Standard
To solve all of these problems, BitBadges has taken a ground-up approach to build a new universal token standard supported by our own Cosmos SDK blockchain. Our mission is to build the only token standard anyone will ever need with every possible use case supported natively. No smart contracts. No code. 1000x functionality. Exclusive to Cosmos.
Below, we outline a high-level overview of what BitBadges has built and how it compares to existing tokenization standards. We aim to not go into too low-level details and will do our best to explain all concepts; however, the protocol is incredibly feature-rich, and we may not explain everything as thoroughly as we would like. For the full details, please refer to the BitBadges site or documentation. We actually think the best way of learning all that we offer is our landing page and exploring the site, so we encourage you to check it out before reading below. We are also happy to answer any questions you have.
Universality
Our token standard is universal and feature-rich enough for any use case. It can not only be used for NFTs and fungible tokens, but also for subscriptions, quests, credentials, real-world assets, complex regulatory compliance, or anything you can think of. The problem with existing standards is they are too limited for 95% of real-world applications. One standard to rule them all.
No-Code / Module Approach
The BitBadges standard is no-code by default. It uses a Cosmos module approach to offer a seamless, developer-friendly API-like experience rather than complex smart contracts. As a result, you actually don't even need any technical knowledge to use our standard. Simply go to our site and start building! The native support is feature-rich enough that we envision that 99% of users will NEVER need to write any code, no matter how complex the use case. As it should be.
This promotes reusability and battle-testing the code, rather than potential vulnerabilities introduced per token contract. We strongly believe that over time, this approach will be proven to be the right approach.
Ever-Evolving
BitBadges is an ever-evolving standard. We are not making the same mistakes as ERC-20/721/etc. We are not stuck in the past. We are always on the bleeding edge of technology and will never be behind a trend. New feature idea? We will add it. It is purpose-built for the next-generation of tokenization.
Same Token, Any User, Any Chain
Through address mapping and signature compatibility, the BitBadges blockchain supports any wallet from any ecosystem. This enables seamless compatibility with any user from any ecosystem directly on the same chain with one module. One interface for any user. This, for example, enables an Ethereum user to own and transfer tokens to Solana users to a Cosmos user and so on.
This is how it should be and is a great tool onboarding ecosystem-agnostic companies who want an all-in-one solution out of the box. No need to split their userbase or launch on multiple chains to support all their users.
Note: This does not include minting or burning on destination chains. All token state and balances live in our own custom module on our own chain. For interoperability, we support IBC (see below).
IBC Compatibility
We are Cosmos through and through. Our plan is to be the tokenization launchpad for all of Cosmos with IBC at the core of everything.
Any token created is wrappable to ICS-20/721 format for use on any other IBC-enabled chain.
We can support payments via any IBC denomination (e.g. payments, subscriptions, etc). For example, an NFT / fungible token marketplace or subscription service with payments accepted via any IBC-enabled token.
Our module is IBC-enabled and core Msgs can be executed via IBC
For example, you could theoretically:
Create a token via our module
Wrap 20% of the supply to ICS-20 format
Send 10% to Osmosis
Send 10% to an EVM chain with IBC Eureka
Keep the remaining with time-dependent unlocks in our native module
Or any combination you can think of. That is the beauty of it.
Think of BitBadges as a layer above IBC. Tokens are launched on BitBadges for all the features that we offer, and then, they can be wrapped to IBC for interoperability and use with any IBC-enabled service.
Value-Add Mindset
BitBadges prioritizes unique value-add to Cosmos over everything else. We are not trying to reinvent the wheel or compete with existing ecosystem projects in Cosmos. We focus on bringing utility and enabling use cases not already out there. For features or services already available, we actually promote using them instead of us by wrapping them and sending them via IBC.
For example, while we could focus on building out a decentralized exchange with our standard, that is incredibly low value-add to Cosmos considering there are plenty of options already available via IBC.
Time-Dependent Accounting
We are the first and only token standard to support time-dependent accounting. This is a huge primitive needed to be able to support subscriptions, unlocks, or any other time-dependent functionality at scale. All token balances can be fractionalized down to the millisecond. Think of them like "ownership rights".
This enables use cases like:
Auto-expiring / renewing subscription tokens
Token unlocks
Token vesting
All without needing future transactions to update the balances.
Ex: Bob owns this token ID until next July when the subscription token auto-expires. At that point, the token is no longer owned by Bob.
Featured Use Case: Subscriptions:
BitBadges has an in-built standard using our tokenization protocol that leverages time-dependent accounting to implement no-code, recurring tokenized subscriptions. We use a bot-tipping system to handle the recurring payments and time-dependent ownership rights to handle the expiration of the subscription.
This could make Cosmos the premier subscription layer for all of crypto. Anyone can go to our site and in a few clicks create a no-code, auto-recurring, decentralized, peer-to-peer subscription paid using any IBC-enabled token.
Transferability Revamped
Probably the biggest innovation of the BitBadges standard is our revamped transferability and approvals system.
Three Transferability Levels:
Collection-Level Transferability: The issuer / manager defines overall rules for the collection. Can forcefully override user-level approvals if needed.
Sender Approvals: Each user can set rules for outgoing transfers (e.g. listings, etc).
Recipient Approvals: Each recipient can set rules for incoming transfers (e.g. bids, etc).
This allows for a lot of flexibility and control over the transferability of a token. Each transfer must 1) have sufficient balances from the sender, 2) satisfy the collection transferability, and 3) satisfy the user-level approvals (if not forcefuly overridden by the collection).
This is especially valuable for many real-world use cases that need that issuer control, such as KYC regulatory compliance, freezability, royalties, revokability, etc. Our standard allows you full control to configure whatever you need.
Revamped On-Chain Approvals:
Approvals are no longer a simple incremented counter that cannot exceed a threshold. Our approvals are incredibly flexible and powerful while being standardized.
Seamlessly define all the following on-chain for EVERY approval. Define the exact rules and stipulations, enabling complex and powerful transferability rules on the three levels (collection, sender, recipient). All in a standardized manner.
Who Can Transfer?
Who Can Receive?
Who Can Initiate?
Transfer Times?
Predetermined or Tallied Amounts?
How Many Transfers?
Revokable?
Freezable?
BADGE or other IBC transfers?
Royalties?
Ownership Times?
Recurring?
Non-Transferable?
Incrementing Badge IDs?
Owns Other Badges?
And plenty more...
Off-Chain Approval Criteria: 7000+ Web2 Integrations:
Additionally, BitBadges has an oracle-like system that allows letting a centralized service approve users dynamically by checking off-chain criteria and giving them signed codes to redeem on-chain. BitBadges runs its own criteria checking service that connects to 7000+ Web2 integrations in no-code through in-site plugins. This enables powerful use cases like:
Gating mints by Discord membership
Gating mints by X followers
Gating mints by email
Gating mints by checking your private off-chain data
Gating mints through claim codes or passwords
Gating approvals by AI agents
Building your own custom endpoints to check your own criteria
And anything else you can think of. We make it easy for anyone to add their own integration, custom plugin, or build their own criteria checking service. All the heavy on-chain hybrid work is done for you. You focus on your application-specific logic.
This is a huge tool for Web2 adoption and onboarding users to on-chain tokenization.
While BitBadges runs its own criteria checking service, anyone can spin up their own oracle-like service to check their own criteria and reduce this trust assumption on BitBadges. It is decentralized in nature.
Fine-Grained Permissions
Each token collection can have a manager that can execute administrative actions for full control over whatever is needed. This is a great tool to allow for more complex use cases where centralized control is needed with predefined checks and balances enforced on-chain, like regulatory compliance.
Updating the token metadata
Updating transferability
Archiving the collection
Deleting the collection
Adding more tokens to the collection
Pausing transfers
Volume throttling
And more...
Smart Contract Extendibility
While our approach is no-code by default, we do support CosmWASM for any custom applications or advanced logic. We also plan to support x/evm once it is ready. Our goal is to make it so that 100% of use cases are supported natively without ever needing to extend it. If something is missing, we will add it.
Featured Use Cases
At the end of the day, we are a tokenization standard, so we can be used for absolutely anything you want to tokenize. Our goal is to be the IBC-compatible tokenization launchpad for all of Cosmos.
As seen above, we are incredibly feature-rich and can be used for any use case you can think of. We especially excel at the more complex use cases beyond simple mint, transfer, sell.
Some examples:
NFTs: Traditional NFT marketplace with custom transferability and purchasable via any IBC denomination
Fungible Tokens: Traditional fungible tokens with custom transferability and approvals purchasable and tradable via any IBC denomination
Quests: IBC-denomination backed quests that payout users in any IBC-enabled denomination for completing any sort of task or challenge from 7000+ integrations or any on/off-chain criteria you can think of.
Subscriptions: No-code, recurring subscriptions that are paid with any IBC denomination. We use a bot-tipping system to handle the recurring payments automatically for you.
Stocks: Tokenized stocks with custom vesting periods, dividends, and more.
Real-World Assets: Tokenized real-world assets with custom transferability and approvals purchasable and tradable via any IBC denomination
Regulatory Compliance: Seamlessly compliant with any complex regulatory compliance requirements without any additional work.
Or any use case you can think of.
Uniquely Positioned For The Future
BitBadges is a unique project that is well-positioned to help Cosmos succeed for everything to come in the next 5 years and beyond.
Tokenization: Tokenization is the most powerful primitive that crypto offers, and the roadmaps of all major teams in crypto involve tokenization in one form or another: tokenizing real-world assets, stocks, subscriptions, etc. With our universal approach and innovation, we are able to support all of these and more to help Cosmos succeed no matter the requirements or use cases or current trends.
Cosmos and Beyond: By being a Cosmos module with IBC compatibility, we are not only well-positioned to be the tokenization standard for all of Cosmos but also any ecosystem.
AI-Friendly Standard: AI agents do best with standardization. Existing standards are way too simple. Generic smart contracts are not standardized. Enter the BitBadges token standard. Complex enough for any use case but standardized enough for AI agents to understand at scale.
Benefits to Cosmos
Exclusivity and Value-Add: A 1000x tokenization standard that is exclusive to Cosmos and 100x better than anything offered on EVM or other ecosystems is a huge value-add for Cosmos. The harsh reality is that Cosmos products need to go above and beyond to compete. If you offer true innovation not found elsewhere (for example, IBC), this attracts teams, institutions, and developers, and Cosmos will be successful. If you offer no innovation beyond what is available on EVM, developers will just launch on EVM.
Cosmos-Native: BitBadges is Cosmos through and through. It is a native Cosmos project (native modules, full IBC compatibility, CosmWASM, etc). A win for BitBadges is a win for all of Cosmos.
Missing Parts of the Stack: BitBadges believes it completes a lot of the missing parts of the Cosmos stack:
IBC-compatible tokenization launchpad
Subscription layer
Quests / points layer
7000+ seamless Web2 x Cosmos integrations
Core Cosmos tokenization module as a primitive for chains to use (the official x/nft experiment is now deprecated)
Onboard the 95% middle of the line tokenization use cases with complex requirements beyond mint, transfer, and burn
A full ready-made tokenization suite with our feature set can really accelerate teams building in Cosmos
"Kill multiple birds with one stone" - We envision that many use cases can actually be abstracted as tokens behind the scenes even if not directly a tokenization use case. For example, simple payments from a store can be abstracted as an NFT purchase + use the NFT as a tokenized, verifiable receipt.
ATOM Utility: ATOM is to be featured as a primary currency in the BitBadges app. This will help drive the adoption of ATOM, including with utility not currently available to ATOM like ATOM subscriptions, ATOM quests, and more.
Cosmos Hub Routing: The Cosmos Hub itself also experiences a lot of second-hand usage from BitBadges succeeding. If BitBadges can carry out its vision of being the universal tokenization standard for Cosmos and beyond with IBC, the Hub (as the primary router for IBC) will get plenty of usage via BitBadges.
Ahead of the Curve: Tokenization is a huge part of the upcoming 5 years, especially for institutional adoption. BitBadges is uniquely positioned for what is to come. We have "skated to where the puck is going to be".
First-Mover Advantage: One of the biggest value-adds BitBadges can offer to Cosmos is the first-mover advantage. We spent the last 2 years and plenty of time building this out. Other ecosystems will have to start from scratch. Cosmos now has a ready-made solution and can capitalize on the market opportunities while other ecosystems are catching up. Not to mention, everything we built is very difficult to replicate with a smart contract-based approach.
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