Whitelists / Mint Lists

What are they and how does one compile one?

So what is a whitelist or mint list for a NFT project?

For most project launches, a whitelist, allow list, or mint list is compiled by the project founders/ team and comprises a list of people / wallet addresses that will be given privileges to mint at launch, often before the general public are given access to mint and sometimes at a discounted mint fee. The purpose of the process is to allow early supporters to secure their NFT(s) without having to risk competing for allocation with the public and also in some cases allow listed wallets to mint at a time that suits them (without having to mint at odd times if mint time does not work for a particular time zone) and when gas is at levels at the purchaser is comfortable with.

How are mint lists compiled?

Lists of eligible addresses are very often determined in a number of ways that could include giveaways (on Twitter and/or Discord) for retweeting or inviting users to the platform, rewarding early members of the Discord, or followers on Twitter, through collaborations with other NFT projects, via bounties whereby potential community members have to complete tasks to promote the project and may be rewarded for doing so, through competitions (such as art contests, predictions, etc) or by being an active or positive participant in the project Discord. There are likely other ways of being given/earning a mint list spot, however I have chosen to exclude them for now as the aforementioned list is a representation of the more common scenarios.

So what are the best ideas for mint listing?

In any project where there is more demand than supply, the inexorable complaints from potential supporters when they do not obtain a spot on the mint list is inevitable. And oftentimes, people have a valid reason for those gripes. The saying “crypto never sleeps” is a valid one, however what is often forgotten is that people do! People do not necessarily have the time to allocate to chase every opportunity to be put on a mint list. There are those who do not have 24 hour access to the internet, others that have to work one or more jobs to make ends meet, some who are carers, parents, shift workers, those with physical disabilities and a plethora of others whom for one reason or the other are unable to qualify to be on a mint list. Here are my thoughts on the various mint list qualifiers listed above and their pros and cons.

1 ) Discord Grind

• PRO: The people in discord all the time probably love your project. The fact they can be there so long means that they are likely heavily interested in the project or just doing a lot of hard work for a quick flip on mint.
• PRO: Grinders can be good if they provide value and are a trusted resource within the server.
• CON: Not everyone has the time to be logged and commenting / conversing all the time. Ask parents how much free time they have between working and child rearing. Similarly, ask someone working three jobs to support their family how long they have to spend having discussions on Discord. It incentivises poor health (mental and physical) outcomes.

2) Early Discord Members

• PRO: Where a project is new and growing organically without fanfare, it may take a while to attract people to the project Discord and thereby reward those who are early and choose to be present.
• CON: However, if a project has been pumped significantly, the release of links to a server may disadvantage those in unfavourable timezones and those who are unable to be on their phones or computers at the drop of a hat. It effectively becomes a lottery. Also… BOTS!

3) Twitter/ Discord Giveaways

• PRO: Is a level playing field for all where winners are randomly selected.
• PRO: Entry is accessible to many if left open for 24–48 hours.
• CON: Is a lottery. Anyone could potentially win a spot, including those who may choose not to mint or someone who is not as heavily invested in seeing the project succeed over the long run.

4) Mintlist for other Established Communities

• PRO: Can encourage strong communities to interact with one another. Often this works well with like-minded communities or where there is already a crossover between the groups.
• CON: This may be at a detriment to members genuinely interested but not involved in the mintlisted community.
• CON: Mintlisted community may not be as invested in the project and use the opportunity to make some quick flips.

5) Bounties

• PRO: Are good when the bounties are clearly spelled out and available to all to access.
• PRO: Rewards members for doing things that support the community being built and raising awareness of the project at the same time (oftentimes).
• CON: May be difficult fo those who are unable to immediately carry out a bounty on large projects. Over time, only the most difficult will remain.

6) Competitions

• PRO: These can be good as they allow all to enter. Where the competition involves some sort of creative challenge, it engages members of the community in a way that immerses them in the project. E.g. art projects.
• CON: Time can be an issue to people. Some people do not have the time to exhaust to enter competitions.
• CON: Some people are not realistically able to partake for lack of skills. (This is sort of a reality but also not as valid a con).

7) Positive / Helpful Discord Participants

• PRO: Rewards good and helpful behaviour which then sets an accepted standard.
• CON: Mods are not always able to see every interaction and there is room for bias in the selection criteria. I.e. how do you measure how helpful someone is?
• CON: Some people just cannot be in Discord all/ any of the time.

Summary

As evident — there is no easy formula to this and it can be especially difficult when there is high demand for mint list spots. While the answer to the question of what is the best way of deciding who is eligible on a mint list is a complicated one, the answer likely is by using a combination of the above. In doing so, where some mint list activities may not suit certain people, others may. In this way, most get an opportunity to participate for a coveted spot on the list.

In my own experience, I have been unsuccessful in obtaining a mint list spot for most projects I have tried to get access to. And definitely any project that was hyped was completely out of the picture. The few where I have been successful were through sheer luck.

• One project was through being in the right place at the right time as a Discord server was opened and I was lucky enough to be one of the first in, thereby rewarded with a mint list spot; and
• One was a Twitter giveaway for a smaller project.

Further, I have lost count of the number of times I have been asleep in my time zone when projects released, public sales have opened or important, time sensitive information has dropped. But this is part of crypto. It truly does not sleep. There is definitely an advantage to being in the northern hemisphere (North America / Europe) or within similar time zones at the moment. It will be interesting to see how this changes over time.

Anyway, that’s it for this post. As usual — there are no answers, but there has to be a better way than rewarding those who spend all their day in Discord (my personal least favourite) or skewing competitions towards those with skills in design/ art (something I have noticed a lot of recently).

Do you agree / disagree with the above? Do you have comments? What would be the best way of making mint lists equitable and fair? I would love to hear from you. I can be reached on Twitter @cryptobear55 or via comment below. Thank you.