Slice was born out of an experiment to create a NFT with an objective value. The idea was that such a token would theoretically be able to represent a new class of digital assets, including most real world assets.
Usually assets are valued based on the revenue they generate, so I figured that the value of a NFT could be related to the amount of ETH it "receives". Smart contracts make this possible.
Sometime later I started thinking about the value of community ownership and asset fractionalization, getting excited at all the application these concepts combined would enable — most notably NFT-based payment splitting and transferable royalties.
That's where the term slicer comes from (the being who splits payments into slices) and how slices (ERC1155 Semi-Fungible Tokens, representing the slice of ownership over a slicer) came to be.
And then the damned thought — what if slicers could actually sell stuff? Why not turn them into independent, fully decentralized stores? I mean is that even possible?
Imagine if you could sell anything directly from the blockchain, with everything that comes with it (such as composability, censorship resistance and immutability). Imagine if you could not only sell digital files, but services, subscriptions, and even physical goods — anything. Wouldn't that be slick (and arduous, in retrospect).
The DAO transition
Fast forward months of developments, countless iterations, a few eureka moments and way too many unexpected technical challenges — Slice gradually took the shape it has today.
All these features compound and exponentially increase the protocol flexibility.
So far everything was done to satisfy my own curiosity, but now that the contracts are in place it's time to take it to the next stage. Slice should now take a path that allows it to stand on its own, gradually decentralizing itself and becoming a DAO. This process will take time but it is undoubtedly the most suitable way for Slice to fulfill its purpose.
Slice mission is to build an open-source, composable, decentralised payments infrastructure for teams, projects and communities.
I strongly believe in a future where DAOs become the norm for decentralized projects, especially due to the game-changing governance and contribution mechanics. Juicebox is a testament to this, both with their first-class DAO management and with how they enable other DAOs to fundraise and manage their treasury.
What the future holds
Slice will soon tackle challenges such as:
- introduce new slicer features (such as accept ERC20 as payments or allow them to own NFTs)
- evolve product stores to also allow for services and physical goods (through Slice API)
- create a dedicated marketplace for slices
- enhance composability with other smart contracts and protocols
- explore viable L2 solutions
In the long term, the plan is for Slice to build new products upon the existing protocol, constantly pushing the limits of the metaverse while building its own ecosystem.
If you want to be part of this journey, consider joining our Discord and take part in the conversations. There's lots of stuff to do so everyone is welcome to contribute and give feedback.
And to support the project, head to the Slice DAO treasury on Juicebox ✨ — you'll find the nitty-gritty details on the JB treasury in this blog post.
Let's go.
