Upland Community Approves Governance Vote to Make Utility Token ‘Spark’ Tradable on Ethereum

PALO ALTO, California | October 13, 2023 02:42 AM Eastern Daylight Time

 Upland, the leading web3 Metaverse Super App, announces its plans to make its in-game utility token Spark tradable on Ethereum following an overwhelming majority (87.25%) approval in a recent community governance vote. This initiative allows Upland to accelerate on its mission to build the world’s largest digital open economy in the metaverse through its dynamic ecosystem of players, entrepreneurs, creators, and developers by allowing its utility token, Spark, to be traded outside of Upland’s boundaries.

Upland presented the Sparklet White Paper to the community to review in late September, which outlined the initiative to bridge the in-app token Spark to Ethereum where it will be mirrored and minted as the Sparklet token, equivalent to one-thousandth of Spark. The Sparklet White Paper details the need for Spark to support value creation in the metaverse. It is the resource required for world-building, joint community projects, no-code NFT minting, and “manufacturing” of 3D map assets, such as cars, decor, and more. Current and future utility details along with tokenomics, Sparklet vesting schedules, implementation, and token distribution were also presented to the Upland community in the White Paper for comment ahead of the governance vote.

With the community approval of the Sparklet White Paper, Upland is now preparing the next steps to make Spark tradable outside of Upland via a Token Tradability Event (“TTE”), where Spark, a utility token on the EOS blockchain, will be mirrored by the Sparklet token on the Ethereum blockchain.

By executing the Spark TTE, Upland advances its path toward progressive decentralization, where Spark holders will now be able to trade Sparklet in liquid markets. Additionally, it aims to enhance its presence within the broader Web3 industry through listing on external exchanges, attracting a larger user base to the platform, and enhancing the platform’s network effects.

“Adhering to our mission to build the largest digital open economy, Sparklet allows us to take the next step towards progressive decentralization in a responsible way by offering tradability to our users while having mechanisms in place that can shield and protect Upland’s economy from unwanted externalities,” says Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Upland, Dirk Lueth. “The upside of Sparklet traded on an external exchange means of course higher visibility and more credibility for Upland, which contributes to a positive ripple effect in the web3 community, and also improved liquidity for current Spark holders.”

Spark holders in Upland will have different reasons why they want to increase or decrease their holdings. For instance, some players might want to accelerate building structures on their virtual properties which requires more Spark while others are done with most of their world-building plans and have a reduced need for Spark which they can now liquidate via Sparklet. Creators, Entrepreneurs and Brands might need different amounts of Spark because they want to increase or decrease their manufacturing capabilities. And finally Developers might create additional demand because they introduced a new utility for Spark.

“We’ve been able to study the Spark economy since we launched it two years ago, which gives us the confidence to provide the right model for it to be sustainable for decades to come in Upland,” says Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Upland, Idan Zuckerman. “With Sparklet, we are excited that players will be able to truly own Spark and trade it in liquid markets.”

Currently, Spark needs to be staked in Upland in order to build or manufacture items. The white paper states that there are over 130,000 players in Upland who hold Spark, with 93.6% of those who purchased Spark using it to build in Upland.

Sparklet equals one-thousandth (1/1,000) of one Spark and will exist on Ethereum as an ERC-20 token. Sparklet tokens will be able to be uploaded from Ethereum to Upland, where they will be converted into Spark at x/1,000 factor, while Spark tokens can be reclaimed from Upland to Ethereum using the reverse calculation.

As part of the TTE, a total of 1,000,000,000 Sparklet tokens as finite supply will be issued on Ethereum. These tokens will be mirrored by 1,000,000 Spark that will be minted in Upland on the EOS blockchain. The community-approved Sparklet White Paper highlights that the amount of Spark that is under ownership in Upland will always be exactly equal to the amount of Sparklet that is present in an escrow on the Ethereum bridge.

Upland, a US based company headquartered in Silicon Valley, CA, has not issued a tradable token given regulatory uncertainties in the US crypto space. Recent developments such as the groundbreaking SEC v. Ripple ruling the United States Southern District Court of New York opened the door for token tradability. Upland has never sold its internal utility token to investors.

To read the Sparklet White Paper and follow the announcements of Upland’s utility token, refer to the Sparklet pages on the Upland website www.upland.me/sparklet and follow Upland on X (formerly Twitter) and Discord.

About Upland

Upland, the Metaverse Super App, is a web3 metaverse platform mapped to the real world on a mission to build the largest digital open economy. Our ecosystem is a diverse community of players, entrepreneurs, creators, developers, and brands, all benefiting from true ownership and guaranteed intellectual property rights powered by blockchain technology. Currently, Upland is one of the most widely-used web3 platforms with over 3 million registered accounts, nearly 300,000 landowners, and have sold more than 6 million NFTs. Our platform offers various activities for players and creators, including virtual property trading, world-building, collecting, and fun competitions like car racing. Metaverse entrepreneurs can also operate their own shops, contributing to our thriving economy powered by UPX, our native currency which serves as a medium of exchange, and Spark, a utility token that fuels the value creation by the highly-engaged community. We're headquartered in Silicon Valley, with additional offices in Las Vegas, Ukraine, and Brazil. Upland was founded by serial entrepreneurs in July 2018 and launched in June 2019. Upland is accessible on the web, the App Store, and Google Play, allowing users from around the world to experience the metaverse.

Contact Details

Upland

Lindsay Anne Aamodt

lindsay.a@upland.me