Success story #4 — The Moonbeans NFT marketplace stores files on IPFS through custom gateway by…
Aiming to increase file acquisition speed, the team obtained a dedicated cluster of decentralized storage servers to protect the…
Success story #4 — The Moonbeans NFT marketplace stores files on IPFS through custom gateway by Apillon
Aiming to increase file acquisition speed, the team obtained a dedicated cluster of decentralized storage servers to protect the non-fungible essence of the listed collections.
- The bigger picture
- Problem: Cost-ineffective NFT metadata storage provider
- Solution: Custom IPFS gateway
- Web3, but make it custom
👉 Project: Moonbeans, a Moonbeam-based NFT marketplace
👉 Niche: NFTs, Marketplaces
👉 Apillon services and features used: Custom-made IPFS storage gateway
The bigger picture
Let’s spill the beans on the genesis of this collaboration.
It all started when an NFT Meerkat peeked out of the Web3 burrow. A few months ago, Apillon ambassador Bram Willemse created The Genesis Meerkat NFT collection and minted it on the Moonbeam Network using the Apillon platform start to finish.
Once they were ready to be introduced to the public eyes (and wallets), he sought an appropriate NFT platform and started considering Moonbeans.
🔎 Good to know: Bram utilized the NFT service, a complete solution for NFT artists and markets. The free plan allows anyone to launch fully decentralized NFT collections using Web3 Storage for storing NFT media and metadata files, Web3 Hosting for website hosting, and NFT smart contracts on either Moonbeam or Astar network with a few clicks.
At the front end, Moonbeans looked like the (market)place to be, but at the back, particular challenges appeared. Namely, how (effectively) the metadata of the listed NFTs had been stored and managed.
Bram was instructed to utilize NFT metadata storage by a frequently used third-party provider of IPFS gateways, instead of having it readily accessible on the marketplace that brought his furry creations to the NFT community.
After Bram pointed out some issues to the Moonbeans team, they started paying more attention to what the NFT creators and buyers looked for — namely speed and value for the money — and recognized the need for a systemic metadata storage solution.
Apillon rolled up its sleeves.
Problem: Cost ineffective NFT metadata storage provider
Previously, the Moonbeans NFT marketplace had already relied on a cloud-based file storage provider. The decentralized pinning onto IPFS was what Moonbeans got but sought more than that.
After a few calls exchanged between the Moonbeans and Apillon development teams, the blueprint for a systemic solution, built specifically to cater to the marketplace’s needs, was laid out.
Together, the teams took a custom approach to harnessing decentralized storage that would adapt to the platform’s traffic, speed, and transparency specifics. It was also essential to ensure ease of use, affordability, and scalability that would allow the platform to balance expenses with fluctuating traffic.
Solution: Custom IPFS gateway
The Apillon development team planted the beans and devised a plan to solve the issue of Moonbeans’ decentralized storage in a comprehensive fashion.
Apillon set up a cluster of servers as a custom IPFS gateway, allowing the NFT marketplace to access and utilize the IPFS network.
Through the Apillon-built gateway, the Moonbeans platform now has access to the media and metadata files of the NFTs that are located on an IPFS address. (If the files still reside on an HTTP link, the platform acquires them from centralized servers as before.)
Thanks to this standalone cluster of IPFS servers, Moonbeans can transfer files from the IPFS network quickly and securely.
Business in the front, IPFS in the back
The upgrade is also notable in the code behind the non-fungible cuteness.
If you inspect the back end of an IPFS-stored NFT collection, such as The Genesis Meerkats, you can see that the files that compose the furry gang are accessible through the Apillon-based IPFS gateway.
The same goes for another non-fungible species — the Intergalactic Whiskers Brigade has assets and metadata stored on IPFS through the Apillon gateway.
But an updated link in the console was not what Moonbeans was after.
By utilizing a tailor-made cluster of servers as its gateway to IPFS, the platform unlocked higher loading speed, along with greater efficiency and price performance.
🔎 Note: While Moonbeans’ gateway to IPFS is currently public, it will soon be locked and execute the platform’s requests only.
If needed, the same cluster could be repurposed to connect the platform’s sub-products or partners, or Apillon could set up another cluster to onboard other large clients.
Web3, but make it custom
The Moonbeans case shows the lengths the Apillon team is determined to go to deliver an outstanding experience for projects building in Web3.
Of course, the main product remains the Apillon platform, where ready-to-use Web3 services can be accessed and implemented with a turnkey approach.
But sometimes, more needs to be done.
With a tailored solution made specifically for the Moonbeans NFT marketplace, Apillon grew the platform’s beanstalk to the heights of efficient Web3-based operations.
If you can relate to the struggle of finding and implementing the exact solution for your Web3 project, Apillon is here to help. Drop us a line on Discord or X, and let’s assess collaboration possibilities from there.
Or, if you wish to just plug into Web3 services and upgrade your project within hours, start building with Apillon. 👇
⧓ About Apillon
The Apillon platform serves as a unified gateway to the Web3 services provided by linked Polkadot parachains. Following the multi-chain vision, Apillon powers the transition of developers to Web3, simplifying its adoption in the real economy, and expanding its versatility as the ecosystem grows. With Apillon, Web3 services are within reach for every developer, regardless of their background and experience with blockchain technology.
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