Filecoin and Polygon Studios Deepen Collaboration in NFTs, Games, and the Metaverse

The Filecoin ecosystem and Polygon Studios are delighted to announce a collaboration to drive growth in the non-fungible token (NFT), games, and metaverse space. To kickstart the collaboration, the two ecosystems have developed tutorials, integration grants, and hackathons aimed at helping developers and NFT projects in the Polygon network to integrate with InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) and Filecoin.

Originally conceived as a secure Layer 2 solution to address pain points like high gas fees and slow block validation times on popular blockchains like Ethereum, Polygon has gained traction with blockchain game developers and NFT projects. To cater to this growing segment, Polygon Studios was launched with the goal of incubating and supporting Web 3.0-powered game developers, and NFT projects.

Similarly, a growing number of projects in the play-to-earn (P2E) and NFT space have also chosen to use IPFS for content addressing and Filecoin for provable and decentralized storage to store metadata with rich media such as videos.

Combining Filecoin’s durability and Polygon’s scalability opens new use cases for developers

In August 2021, we announced that Polygon would offer free storage costs for projects looking to build on the Filecoin-Polygon bridge developed by the Textile team. The bridge enables developers and Polygon application users to easily store data from any Polygon address on the IPFS network without any new signups, secrets, or API keys.

Filecoin and Polygon also jointly-organized the Mars Hackathon, which ran from August to November 2021. The virtual hackathon saw more than 1,500 developers coming together to build new applications using the Filecoin-Polygon bridge, including use cases like storage, the metaverse, entertainment, digital art, and more.

Notable projects from the hackathon included Blockspace, a decentralized file storage and sharing platform built on top of IPFS that mirrors traditional cloud providers like Google Drive, and Slick, a decentralized alternative to Patreon.

Use NFT.Storage to rapidly mint Filecoin-backed NFTs

Use Filecoin-Polygon-Bridge to store data using existing polygon infrastructure

Use Web3.Storage to easily store game assets on Filecoin

Use Estuary to store assets at metaverse scale on Filecoin

NFT minting and storage tutorial for Polygon developers

We have published a tutorial for Polygon developers on how to mint NFTs using the Polygon blockchain and store them on IPFS andFilecoin via NFT.Storage (a storage service on Filecoin).

The tutorial will walk you through the creation and deployment of a standardized smart contract, storing metadata and assets on IPFS and Filecoin via the NFT.Storage API, and minting the NFT to your own wallet on Polygon.

$5,000 grants for eligible Polygon projects integrating IPFS and Filecoin

Projects in the Polygon ecosystem that are integrating with IPFS andFilecoin (and services like NFT.storage, Estuary, Web3.storage, Filecoin-Polygon Bridge) are eligible for a $5,000 grant.

Eligible projects can apply here! Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so early submissions are encouraged.

Grant-funded projects will also have the opportunity to join future acceleration programs, and connect to technical, product, and other potential resources of support from both ecosystems.

Upcoming NFT Hackathons

In addition, here are some upcoming NFT hackathons related to this exciting collaboration to code away:

ETHDenver
- The biggest ETH conference is happening IRL in Denver and virtually with participants from across the globe. Submissions to all tracks qualify for Filecoin and IPFS bounties worth $25k (among several other prizes)!
- Dates:
  - IRL: 11 - 20 Feb, 2022
  - Virtual: 11 Feb - 21 Mar, 2022
ETHernals by Devfolio:
- Participants to this Ethereum-based hackathon can win prizes by building around DAOs, NFTs, DeFi, etc., using their buidl powers. Bounties worth $50k are up for grabs at this event.
- Dates: 25 Feb - 27 Mar, 2022
Kenlabs Metaverse Hackathon:
- An 8-week hackathon focused on the metaverse! Build projects on IPFS to answer challenges and compete for the $50k prize pool.
- Dates: 1 - 20 Apr, 2022

Stay up to date with https://hackathons.filecoin.io/ for more information and to explore the endless opportunities to build on the IPFS and Filecoin stack. To learn more about Polygon Studios, visit https://polygonstudios.com/.