LooksRare

LooksRare (LOOKS) is a community-first NFT marketplace that focuses on rewarding traders, collectors, and creators. The platform was launched by two unidentified founders, Zodd and Guts, who have kept their identities hidden behind pseudonymous accounts. This approach is reminiscent of other successful projects like SushiSwap, which was also founded by a pseudonymous account called "Chef Nomi".

LooksRare gained significant attention with its launch, particularly due to its "vampire attack" strategy, where it airdropped free tokens to attract liquidity from its competition, OpenSea. This move allowed over 110,000 wallets to claim LOOKS, amounting to 60% of all eligible wallets.

The platform's governance token, LOOKS, has a total supply of 1 billion tokens, distributed across various categories, including community rewards, ecosystem development, team allocation, strategic sales, and liquidity management. The token emission schedule is designed to reach the total supply within two years.

LooksRare operates on the Ethereum blockchain, utilizing a proof-of-work consensus mechanism and decentralized nodes to validate transactions and ensure security. The protocol is designed for scalability, speed, and security, and it retains compatibility for deploying on scaling solutions on Ethereum.

The platform's community-first approach is defined by three key pillars: rewarding users with LOOKS for buying or selling NFTs, redistributing platform fees to stakers, and providing instant creator payouts. LooksRare also employs modular smart contracts, allowing it to roll out new features over time, such as bidding for all NFTs in a selected collection or canceling multiple orders in one transaction.

In terms of tokenomics, LOOKS is designed to encourage ecosystem participation, with users needing to participate to enjoy rewards in the form of LOOKS and other digital assets. The token does not represent any shareholding or participation in the protocol or its affiliates and is not intended to constitute a security in any relevant jurisdiction.

Looking ahead, LooksRare aims to introduce decentralized community governance, allowing LOOKS holders to propose and vote on governance proposals to determine future features and upgrades of the protocol.

LooksRare (LOOKS) is a cryptocurrency token that powers a decentralized NFT marketplace built on the Ethereum blockchain. Here's an overview of how it works:

• Token Type: LOOKS is an ERC-20 token, which means it operates on the Ethereum blockchain.
• Total Supply: The total supply of LOOKS tokens is capped at 1 billion.

• Community Allocation: 75% of the total supply is reserved for the community, with 44.1% for trading rewards, 18.9% for staking rewards, and 12% for an airdrop program.
• Ecosystem Development: 10% is allocated for treasury funds.
• Team and Strategic Sale: 10% is allocated to the team, and 3.3% is for strategic sales.
• Liquidity Management and Airdrops: 1.3% is for liquidity management, and 5% is for airdrops.

• Staking Options: LOOKS stakers can earn rewards through two staking options: Standard Staking and LOOKS Compounder. The Compounder mechanism automatically converts WETH earnings into LOOKS and applies it to staking, increasing the annual percentage yield (APY).
• Reward Distribution: Trading fees and rewards are paid in LOOKS and Wrapped Ethereum (WETH). LOOKS stakers are eligible to accrue rewards on a daily basis.
• Fee Sharing: The platform collects a 2% transaction fee in WETH on all NFT sales. These fees are redistributed to LOOKS stakers over time.

• Trading: Users can trade NFTs directly from their wallets like MetaMask. NFTs can be listed at fixed prices or auctioned.
• Fees: LooksRare charges a flat 2% fee on all trades, which is lower than OpenSea's 2.5% commission.
• Rewards: Traders receive rewards in the native LOOKS token, which can be traded on secondary markets like Uniswap.

• Blockchain: LooksRare operates on the Ethereum blockchain, which is secured by a proof-of-work consensus mechanism.
• Decentralized Nodes: A set of decentralized nodes validates transactions and secures the Ethereum blockchain.

• Community-Oriented: LooksRare differentiates itself from other marketplaces by offering a more democratic and user-oriented culture, with a significant portion of tokens reserved for the community.
• Professional Platform: The platform is designed to be user-friendly, allowing users to customize their profiles and trade NFTs easily.

Overall, LooksRare aims to create a community-first NFT marketplace that rewards traders, collectors, and creators with its native token, LOOKS.

The token LooksRare (LOOKS) has several strengths that make it attractive to users and investors:

1. Reward System: LooksRare offers a robust reward system that incentivizes users to participate in the platform. Both buyers and sellers can earn LOOKS tokens for their transactions, which can then be staked to earn a yield from protocol fees. This creates a strong incentive for users to engage with the platform, fostering a vibrant community.

2. Staking and Yield: The LOOKS token allows users to stake their tokens and earn significant yields, currently around 20%. This yield is paid in both LOOKS and WETH, providing users with a tangible benefit for their participation.

3. Decentralized and Community-Driven: LooksRare is a decentralized, community-driven NFT marketplace that rewards traders, token holders, creators, and collectors. This decentralized nature ensures that the platform is governed by its users, rather than a central authority.

4. NFT Marketplace: LooksRare is positioned as a competitor to OpenSea, offering a robust NFT marketplace where users can buy, sell, and trade NFTs. The platform's features, such as NFT collection analytics and bulk listings, make it an attractive option for NFT enthusiasts.

5. Tokenomics: The LOOKS token has a well-defined tokenomics structure, with a total supply cap of 1 billion tokens. The token allocation is transparent, with clear distributions for airdrops, strategic sales, liquidity management, volume rewards, staking rewards, founding team, and treasury.

6. ERC-20 Token: LOOKS is an ERC-20 token, which means it operates on the Ethereum blockchain. This provides a high level of security and interoperability with other Ethereum-based assets.

7. Utility Token: LOOKS is designed as a utility token, enabling users to participate in the LooksRare ecosystem and earn rewards. This utility-focused design ensures that the token has a clear purpose and value within the platform.

These strengths collectively contribute to the token's appeal and potential for growth within the NFT and DeFi spaces.

LooksRare (LOOKS) carries several financial risks that investors should be aware of. One of the primary risks is the potential for wash trading, which can lead to fraudulent activity and manipulate the price of assets on the platform. This practice can result in a disproportionate increase in the value and popularity of NFTs, making the market vulnerable to manipulation.

Another risk is the volatility of the LOOKS token itself. Despite offering attractive staking rewards, the token's value has fluctuated significantly, falling from a high of nearly $6 to under $0.06. This volatility can make it challenging for investors to cash in on the yield without holding a token that is subject to significant price swings.

Additionally, the platform's reliance on a single blockchain, Ethereum, can result in higher gas fees compared to platforms that support multiple blockchains. Although LooksRare V2 aims to reduce gas fees by up to 30%, this limitation can still impact the overall cost of transactions.

Finally, the anonymity of the platform's founders may raise concerns about transparency and accountability, which can affect investor confidence.

• Zodd: Co-founder of LooksRare, known for his pseudonymous identity and commitment to the Web3 ethos of decentralization and privacy.
• Guts: Co-founder of LooksRare, also known for his pseudonymous identity and focus on creating a community-driven platform.
• Slug: Product Design Lead, responsible for the user experience and design of the platform.
• Ermac: Graphic Design Lead, in charge of the visual identity and branding of LooksRare.
• Crilly: Content Lead, oversees the creation and dissemination of content related to the platform.
• MeanFace: UI Design Lead, responsible for the user interface and user experience of the platform.
• Hiroshi: Solidity Lead, focuses on the development and maintenance of the platform's smart contracts.
• Bunta: Frontend Engineer, works on the frontend development of the platform.
• Nirato: Frontend Engineer, contributes to the frontend development of the platform.
• Cloud: Frontend Lead, leads the frontend development team.
• Maus: Frontend Engineer, part of the frontend development team.
• Brooce: Frontend Engineer, works on the frontend development of the platform.
• Chim: Indexer Lead, responsible for indexing and organizing NFT collections on the platform.
• Seph: DBA Lead, oversees the database management and administration of the platform.
• Isha: DBA, assists in database management and administration.
• Perry: Backend Engineer, works on the backend development of the platform.
• Ken: Backend Engineer, contributes to the backend development of the platform.
• Bodhi: Tech Lead, oversees the technical direction and development of the platform.
• Rob: Indexer Engineer, assists in indexing and organizing NFT collections.
• George: Backend Engineer, part of the backend development team.
• Gimli: Manual QA, responsible for manual quality assurance and testing of the platform.
• Crumb: Site Reliability Engineer, ensures the reliability and uptime of the platform.
• Stonehenge: Data Analyst, analyzes data and provides insights to improve the platform.
• Astuce: Localization, focuses on localizing the platform for different regions and languages.
• Jody: HR, handles human resources and team management.
• Leeroy: Business Development, works on business development and partnerships for the platform.
• FreshPrince: Community Manager, manages and engages with the community of users and creators on the platform.