It goes way back, to the days we were hunting down very different valuables like spices, silks, incense, tools and supplies – and ideas (I mean, Socrates wasn’t sitting around talking to himself all day, right?).

99% of human-kind’s time on earth has been spent in the Stone Age. So when findings in the journal Science suggested Stone Age hunter-gatherers traded for wheat since deep antiquity, we weren’t surprised. After all, we’re talking fresh bread. 

Sure, it was practical…but it also spawned one of mankind’s most significant meeting places: the market. It transformed the simple transaction into interaction. When trading, you learned a little bit about another person – and yourself.

While we’ve long surpassed Stone Age technology and economics, trade remains deeply entrenched in the human mind. It might even be primal.

The internet age has ushered in an entirely new way of exchanging our goods, services, currencies and talents. Our world is more connected than ever; physical barriers are eroding. You can literally trade with anyone, anywhere, at any time, through the process of virtual trading.

Virtual trading promises big changes to our world. With the advent of the blockchain and similar technologies, the creation of virtual goods that are as “real” as physical ones is booming. As of today, over 400 million people have traded virtual goods at some point or another.

This, of course, did not happen overnight. For years, the virtual goods industry flourished almost unknown to the public. In 2012, one report estimated the industry’s worth at a healthy $15 million.

Today, according to an article from Wax.io (Medium, 2017), that number has skyrocketed to $50 billion.

 

As the 2017 Medium article explains, virtual goods trading started on the video game circuit. Online trading hubs like Wax.io soon sprang up, facilitating trade and interaction between gamers.

Now virtual goods have evolved into their own industry, where digital collectibles (adorably referred to as “digibles”) exist separately from any gameplay.

Crypto collectible marketplaces like OpenSea deal exclusively with digibles. Digibles are how we’ve carried generations of collectible traditions into the 21st century. Think your grandparents’ major league baseball cards, but in smartphone form (though we kind of miss that stale bubblegum).

 

What separates digibles from other digital content? They are truly unique. They can’t be duplicated by consumers, so they retain their value.

When you forge an item in TapRoots, you’ve created one such digible. With wisdom traits you embed, each artifact is unique – store it for posterity, or trade it on the blockchain: the choice is all yours.

TapRoots isn’t just a journey of virtual trading and self-discovery. It’s an app that’s good for you, your wallet and the planet – which is why a portion of our profits go toward reforestation. That translates to real, live trees in the physical world, thanks to your help in the digital one.

The magic behind the screen that allows people to buy and trade Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is a technology known as blockchain.

“Next big thing” pundit Don Tapscott has “never seen a technology that he thought had greater potential for humanity.” It may be a bit hyperbolic, but illustrates the power of blockchain technology, nonetheless.

Others predict blockchain will catalyze growth of the global economy by reinventing stock exchanges, asset management – and even the way fine art is bought and sold.

What if they’re right?

And what is blockchain, anyway?

Transparent tech

Even in blockchain’s simplest form, it is still pretty technical – so bear with us.

Blockchain is a time-stamped series of immutable records of data. These records are managed by a cluster of computers, which aren’t owned by any single entity. Each block of data is secured and chained to each other using cryptographic principles.

In short, blockchain is beloved by its users because there is no central authority. The shared ledger is open for anyone to see, which makes the entire process very transparent.

It also carries low transaction costs, which makes it highly accessible.

Digibles: your new word of the day.

“#Blockchain is a revolution for good, not for money. It’s about changing the world.” – Joseph Lubin

We agree with Mr. Lubin. That’s why TapRoots grants users the ability to earn, amplify and trade virtual ancient artifacts that carry age-old wisdom applicable in the modern age.

Digital Collectibles – or “digibles” – are part of the weird and wonderful future made possible by the blockchain.

A fun, unique test of this concept that caught on fire is CryptoKitties, a game that launched in late 2017 which allows users to breed and trade virtual cats. One even sold for over $100,000!

No, the apocalypse is not upon us: the CryptoKitties folks use their viral power to support numerous charitable endeavors, including protecting sea turtle breeding grounds (real ones, not digital).

When you have physical collectibles like baseball cards, they can be verified by a baseball card expert. In the digital space, blockchains can verify the traceable ownership of digital collectibles. The blockchain traces where the digital asset came from, who currently owns it, and approximately how much it is worth. A crypto-collectible cannot be easily stolen because it’s unique to a certain blockchain, and it’s cryptographically secure.

That security is one of blockchain tech’s biggest selling points. There are so many stolen ideas on the internet (seriously: just look at the front page of Reddit for repeats ), so a traceable and protected collectible is highly valuable, in more ways than one.

Digital Collectibles Are Changing the Crypto-Landscape

Digital collectibles intrigue so many because of their rarity.

As humans, we crave some sense of uniqueness. That’s why websites like eBay thrive. Since 1997, the website has been a hot-spot for collectibles – we all remember when Beanie Babies hurtled eBay into the public sphere!

Whether it’s winning an auction on that rare bobblehead, unearthing shells along a seashore or discovering digital goodies on our tablets, the thrill of collecting, curating and hunting down new finds continues to enthrall us.

At 500 BC Foundry, we want you to have fun using our app. Taproots offers blockchain-powered rewards, in the form of digital collectible artifacts.

TapRoots will allow you to easily trade, purchase and sell the artifacts you forge within the app, using Coinbase Wallet to access OpenSea .

All virtual artifacts you earn will be stored in your personal Trove on TapRoots but – since you’re descended from a long line of explorers – we know you’ll soon want to dip your toes in something much bigger: rarifying and trading your artifacts through OpenSea.

TapRoots is a game to help you know and grow yourself. Soon, with blockchain-powered rewards, we hope to make investing in yourself even more fun.

Sign up to receive updates and enter our pre-launch contest today!