MetaJuice (www.metajuice.com), the company unlocking the metaverse by building blockchain-driven economies, today announced the pending launch of an NFT Marketplace in the IMVU metaverse – home to more than one million daily active users. MetaJuice has collaborated with IMVU creators for its inaugural collection of wearable in-world apparel NFTs, harnessing the power of the existing IMVU community. To purchase NFTs, eligible users can use VCOIN or, soon, its sister token VCORE, which will soon be available outside the U.S. and Canada.
Unique to this launch, the first phase of which is expected this fall, will be the ability for IMVU users to immediately wear and showcase their NFTs in the metaverse. And, if users choose, when wearing an NFT in a room or experience, users will have a special “badge” and name color in the room and in the chat. Other users will be able to see that and click on the avatar and find the information and metadata about the NFT that is making them appear special.
In addition, IMVU users will have ownership of purchased NFTs on the marketplace, allowing them to collect, display and resell items. For the first time, the new marketplace will enable resell, gifting and inventory management on the IMVU platform. And in partnership with Immutable X, all NFTs created and traded on the IMVU platform will incur zero gas fees, enabling seamless transactions at launch.
“The NFT marketplace will unlock new functionality our users are excited about, providing our 200,000 creators even more ways to earn. Introducing scarcity, proof of ownership, and ancillary benefits to virtual goods will supercharge the IMVU economy,” said Daren Tsui, CEO of Together Labs, the parent company of IMVU.
This immense effort builds upon IMVU’s thriving economy with more than 21.4 million unit sales per month and a marketplace that has more than 50 million virtual goods. The NFTs will be directly integrated into the existing shop making it seamless for users to find and purchase.
“IMVU users have long purchased millions of dollars a month of digital goods,” said John Burris, President of MetaJuice. “With the increased benefits brought by exclusives, limited runs and resell, we believe NFTs will be additive to our already vibrant virtual economy.”
IMVU will launch with virtual clothing and accessories, with more to come in the future. Also coming soon, more than 200,000 active IMVU creators will be able to easily create, sell and buy NFTS directly within the current IMVU Studio creator tools. Users who purchase NFTs can choose to update their avatar to indicate that they are NFT owners, whether they are wearing an NFT item or not.
“As someone that owns multiple NFTs outside of IMVU, I am very excited to partake in IMVU’s first NFT Marketplace. I think it’s a great opportunity for content creators and owners of the exclusive items,” said IMVU creator, DuttyDesigns. “I also love that IMVU is embracing all aspects of the metaverse and I am very happy to learn and contribute.”
To kick off the NFT Marketplace, IMVU is collaborating with metaverse-native luxury fashion house Auroboros to host a design challenge. The challenge is to create a couture digital design using iconic symbols and textures inspired by nature, created by Auroboros. The collections will be judged by the co-founders of Auroboros, Paula Sello and Alissa Aulbekova. Designs will be converted into digital wearables and NFTs to be featured and sold on the IMVU NFT Marketplace in the months to come. Once launched, creators will receive a portion of the sales as part of the prizing package. The design challenge and other partnership events will kick-off this summer.
MetaJuice and IMVU previously collaborated with designers and brands – such as Shoes 53045 – and others to mint, sell and showcase NFTs on the platform. This launch will be new and different as the NFTs will be fully integrated into the IMVU metaverse and eventually the creator studio tools, making NFTs an integral part of the community and economy.
