Parallel Alpha
Parallel Alpha
What is Parallel?
In early August 2021, Parallel released its first set of digital trading cards.
The value of some pieces on the market has quickly increased to $100,000.[12]
In October 2021, the crypto VC firm Paradigm invested $50 million into Parallel.[16]
Overview
Orbital Strike 1/1 Masterpiece
The Parallel game is composed of digital collectible cards which can be used to build a deck of cards and played in an online/mobile game.[8] Within a game, a playable deck of cards is associated with one of the five Parallels - Earthen, Marcolian, Augencore, Kathari, and The Shroud.
A user can create more than 1 deck of cards, and play as any of the Parallels for each match.
Universal cards can be used alongside any of the Parallels.[9]
The purchase on Parallel consists of original 3D art of a character or artifacts rendered by the artist.
Each piece is represented by a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) on the Ethereum network.[8]
Genesis α
The Genesis α release of Parallel will happen progressively, starting with an initial release of 15 cards.
Currently available cards, and their descriptions, for each Parallel can be found on the Cards page of the Parallel official website.[8]
In early August 2021, Parallel dropped its first collection of digital trading cards.
Floor prices have quickly risen, with some pieces trading at the $100,000 mark.
Parallel sold various NFTs in packs through an off-chain reservation system that aimed to circumvent bots and gas bidding wars.
Buyers had to wait until after they had paid to open their packs, each of which contained cards with differing levels of scarcity.
There were three types of packs: Core, Enhanced, and Premium.
The packs were grouped according to the cards available in each, with prices starting at 0.01 ETH for the Core set up to 0.2 ETH for the Premium set.[11]
Chainlink VRF Integration
In October 2021, Parallel integrated Chainlink Verifiable Random Function (VRF) on Ethereum. By integrating the industry-leading decentralized oracle network, the team will have access to a tamper-proof and auditable source of randomness needed to randomly select which users are allocated card packs in upcoming drops. Through Chainlink VRF, Parallel can ensure that all participants have an equal access to the most sought after packs that contain the rarest cards in the drop.[17]
Parallel Masterpieces
Masterpiece Rewards
There will be a reward attached to any Parallel NFT resold via a marketplace.
10% of the resale value will be sent to Parallel.
Half of this reward will be dedicated to funding the project, and the other half will go towards a prize pool for in-game leaderboards and competitions.
Masterpiece holders receive 1% of the 10% fee on all secondary sales of the matching playable card.
The reward applies to the entire edition size of the playable card.[2]
Masterpiece rewards will be rewarded quarterly to the wallet holding the masterpiece on the last day of the month.
The team may institute a minimum payment threshold (to avoid gas costs consuming the payment) if the amount is too small.
They will be sure to communicate this to the community as they arrive closer to an installment date.[2]
The team's target first payment date for Masterpiece holders is August 2021 and will be processed quarterly going forward.
Masterpiece holders will receive the reward payment to the wallet holding the Masterpiece(s).
Additionally, Masterpieces also receive the 1% reward on all Special Edition cards depicting the same art.[2] The edition size of each Special Edition card is limited to the number purchased during the pre-sale.[4]
Prime Keys
Prime Key asset
Prime Keys are non-playable, utility Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) that can perform a range of functions. These functions are subject to change but may include:
Special access to drops and NFTs
Special access to restricted areas of the Parallel.life website
Burned to redeem game ecosystem utility tokens
Ability to create and vote on proposals[4]
The first Prime Keys were issued in May 2021 to everyone who maintained ownership of a Parallel Alpha NFT before a communicated date.
Those NFTs were either purchased during our pre-sale or on the secondary markets.
In total, 1,500 Prime Keys were minted - approximately 1,000 are in circulation as of June 15, 2021.
The remaining Prime Keys are being held for gradual distribution as the team continues to release cards from the Parallel Alpha deck.[4]
Prime Key Voting Access
One function of a Prime Key is as an access pass to enter into the Paradox - the Parallel community voting mechanism.
The Paradox is a channel where Prime Key holders can propose and vote on matters which are then submitted to the Parallel team for review.
When in circulation, $PRIME (ERC-20) will allow Prime Key holders to express extra votes. Those votes will be quadratically more expensive, setting those who have less $PRIME on more equal footing to larger $PRIME holders - bringing a more balanced voting system to Parallel.[4]
Prime Keys Burning
As an additional function, Prime Keys can be burned for $PRIME (ERC-20).
$PRIME tokens will provide in-game utility such as voting power and the ability to purchase cards or other items.
If a user chooses to burn a Prime Key (by sending it to a specific contract that will hold a % of the total supply of $PRIME), they will receive $PRIME tokens along with a burnt Prime Key as an NFT artifact.[4]
With every Prime Key that is burned, each remaining Prime Keys will receive a higher percentage of $PRIME than the last - increasing the redeemable $PRIME for all subsequent unburned keys.
The $PRIME can then be used to increase the number of votes within the Paradox [via quadratic voting] beyond simply “one key = one vote”.[4]
Notable Sales
Funding
Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang said in an email:
“The best crypto games will be the ones that can go beyond first-party content and inspire a community of players and developers to build on the game itself.
We were impressed by Parallel‘s unique approach and fervent early community, and excited to support them for their next stage of growth.”[16]