‘Like-to-Earn’ NFT Platform RARA Looks to Monetize the Future of Online Engagement

What if social interactions online – like bidding on non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or hosting an online auction – could earn you money? How do you make expressing yourself on the internet valuable?

Those are the questions the RARA.social app for is trying to answer.

RARA’s so-called “like-to-earn” model aims to reward active community members and participants with RARA’s native tokens in exchange for contributing to the platform, either through bidding on or curating NFT auctions. It comes as “play-to-earn” video games like "Axie Infinity" surge in popularity and decentralized projects experiment with ways to get people coming back for more.

For Lawson Baker, RARA’s founder, NFT auctions offer a way to build online crypto communities. 

“If you watch a hot NFT auction, you’ll see crypto influencers bidding early solely for the purpose of being seen bidding,” Baker told CoinDesk.

RARA is looking to add a decentralized curation element to the NFT sector that has so far been missing from marketplaces like OpenSea, Rarible and SuperRare.

“RA! tokens will be the initial tokens earned for being a high-quality curator,” Baker told CoinDesk in a Telegram message. “Do it well and you’ll earn more RA! tokens to have more influence tomorrow.”

The idea is then to create a landing page that takes the pulse of what’s trending in the NFT market without relying on centralized approval.

RARA’s landing page will feature an infinite scroll of current and past auctions, sorted by the number of RA! tokens that were given by fans. Baker compared the resulting product to a Rotten Tomatoes – a movie review platform that aggregates critic and audience reviews – for NFTs. 

More than 40 online communities involving about 40,000 members now have access to RARA’s auction platform, including such groups as DAOrecords, MAiworld, TokenSmart and Skybravo.

Baker told CoinDesk that RARA expects to launch a protocol later this year.