Any traditional artist can tell you the amount of time spent taking their idea from conception to creation to animation can take months or years when working within a centralized animation studio. The process is filled with the frustration of adjusting your vision to align with a corporation’s demands.
Now imagine if this process could be completed in a fraction of the time and the corporate influence was removed. At the same time your Intellectual Property rights were legally protected and clearly recorded, displayed to the world on a blockchain’s ledger using smart contract technology. Guaranteeing that you receive future royalties for any use of your work.
The Monniverse is a decentralized animation studio that leverages blockchain technology and DAO structures to create a more equitable and collaborative animation production environment. It empowers creators, engages communities, and aims to disrupt the traditional animation industry.
The Monniverse is pioneering a platform that does all of the things mentioned and more. But first lets rewind and break down everything and explain it like we’re five years old.
Imagine your class wants to make a big drawing together.
Traditional way (Centralized): The teacher says, "I'll decide what we draw, who draws what, and where it goes." The teacher has all the control.
Decentralized way: Instead, everyone gets to share ideas! You vote on what to draw, and everyone gets to draw a part. Maybe you draw the sun, your friend draws a tree, and someone else draws a funny monster. Everyone equally shares the control.
It's like this:
Many people work together: Instead of just one person in charge, everyone helps.
Everyone gets a say: You get to vote and share your ideas.
Sharing the work: Everyone gets to do a little bit, and everyone gets to enjoy the finished drawing.
So, "decentralized" means everyone works together and shares the power, instead of one person telling everyone what to do.
Okay, you and your friends have a special notebook. This notebook keeps track of who created each artwork.
Everyone Has a Copy: Instead of just one person having the notebook, everyone in your group has an exact copy.
Writing in the Notebook: When someone creates a new artwork, or allows another to use their artwork, you write it down in the notebook. But everyone writes it down at the same time!
No Erasers Allowed: Once something is written in the notebook, you can’t erase it. It’s there forever. This makes it super hard for anyone to cheat or claim credit for others' artworks.
Checking the Work: Because everyone has a copy, you can all check that what’s written is correct. If one person tries to write something different, everyone else will say "no way!"
Sharing knowledge: This notebook helps everyone know who owns what, so you can share and create artworks fairly.
That special notebook is like a blockchain ledger. It keeps track of things, everyone has a copy, and no one can change it, ever! This means your Intellectual Property will always be verifiable and provably yours.
Let’s say you and your friends want to build the best LEGO castle ever! But instead of one person deciding everything, you want everyone to have a say. That’s kind of like a DAO.
Here’s the LEGO castle DAO explained like you’re five:
The LEGOs are like Money:
Everyone puts in some of their own LEGOs (or money) to build the castle together.
The Plan is a Rule Book:
Before you start, you make a rule book (like a smart contract on a computer) that says how you’ll build the castle. It might say things like:
"Everyone gets to vote on what color the towers are."
"If someone adds a cool new part, they get extra LEGOs."
"If we sell the castle, the LEGOs get shared fairly."
Voting is Like Raising Your Hand:
When you need to decide something, like where to put the dragon, everyone raises their hand (or uses a special app) to vote. The rule book makes sure everyone’s vote counts.
No Boss, Just Friends:
There’s no one big boss telling everyone what to do. Everyone gets to help and decide, just like a team.
Everyone Sees Everything:
Because you have a rule book, and use a special computer (the blockchain), everyone can see who put in what lego’s, and how everyone voted. So nobody can cheat, and everything is fair.
The Castle is for Everyone:
Once the castle is built, it belongs to everyone who helped make it. If you sell it, everyone gets a share!
So, a DAO is like a group of friends working together to build something cool, where everyone gets to help and decide, and everything is fair and see-through.
Imagine you and your friend want to trade toys. You each have a toy you want, and you want to make sure the trade is fair.
A smart contract is similar to a super-smart robot referee that makes sure the trade happens exactly as you both agreed.
Here’s how it works:
The Agreement: You and your friend tell the robot referee what you want to trade. "I’ll give my teddy bear if you give me your race car," you say.
The Robot Remembers: The robot remembers your agreement perfectly. It writes it down in a special way that can’t be changed.
The Waiting Game: You and your friend both give your toys to the robot.
The Check: The robot checks if you both gave the right toys.
The Trade: If everything is correct, the robot automatically gives you the race car and your friend the teddy bear.
No Cheating!: Because the robot follows the rules exactly, nobody can cheat or change their mind.
Traditional centralized animation studios go all the way back to 1914 and the formation of Disney began in 1923. Over the last 100 years there have been several advancements in animation yet traditional studios have been reluctant to fully embrace the technological advancements over the last few decades.
These studios are the classic image that we’ve always known: big buildings, hierarchical structures, everyone working under one roof and working under one lead creator/boss. Think Disney, Pixar (historically), Looney Tunes, and DreamWorks in their more traditional forms. This outdated approach to animation studios success comes with more of a financial burden than before. Yesterday’s structure in today’s world faces the following 5 major issues.
High Operational Costs: Maintaining large physical spaces (buildings, studios, offices), utilities, equipment, and a large, fixed staff is incredibly expensive. Rent, property taxes, insurance, equipment upkeep, and salaries all contribute to massive overhead.
Fixed Salaries & Benefits: Centralized studios typically employ staff on fixed salaries with benefits packages. This provides stability for employees but represents a significant, ongoing financial commitment for the studio, regardless of project flow. Even during project lulls or delays, these costs continue.
Location Dependency & Cost of Living: Studios often cluster in expensive cities (LA, Vancouver, London). This means higher salaries to compensate for the high cost of living and limits the talent pool geographically.
Geographic Boundaries: Primarily draws talent from the local area and those willing to relocate. This restricts access to the global talent pool. Brilliant animators in remote locations may be overlooked.
Relocation Barriers: Relocating for a job is a major life decision. Studios may miss out on talented individuals who are unwilling or unable to move to the studio's location due to personal, family, or financial reasons.
Homogeneity of Style/Perspective: A concentrated, localized workforce can sometimes lead to a less diverse range of artistic styles, perspectives, and cultural influences within the studio's output. While studios strive for diversity, geographic concentration can be a limiting factor.
Slow to Scale Up/Down: Hiring and firing full-time staff is a lengthy and complex process. Centralized studios are less agile in adapting to project fluctuations. Scaling up for a large project or scaling down after completion takes time and resources.
Bureaucracy & Hierarchical Structure: Decision-making can be slower in large, hierarchical organizations. Approvals may need to go through multiple layers, potentially hindering creative experimentation and rapid iteration.
Resistance to Change & Technological Inertia: Large, established studios can sometimes be slower to adopt new technologies or workflows. Investment in existing infrastructure and established pipelines can create inertia, making it harder to adapt quickly to industry shifts.
Centralized Vision & Control: While strong creative leadership is essential, overly centralized control can sometimes stifle individual artist creativity and initiative. Ideas might be filtered through too many layers, potentially losing their original spark.
"Studio System" Mentality: A rigid studio system can sometimes prioritize conformity to established studio style over individual artistic expression. While consistency is important for branding, it can also limit creative diversity and innovation.
Single Point of Failure (Physical): A centralized studio is vulnerable to physical disruptions – natural disasters, power outages, security breaches at the physical location can halt production entirely.
IP Security (Physical): While physical security measures exist, there's still a concentration of valuable assets (physical media, equipment) in one location, potentially making it a higher value target for physical theft or breaches.
Now that we’ve cleared up a few key definitions and identified the obstacles to overcome, who or what is the Monniverse and how are these features implemented? How does the Monniverse solve the problem?
Well, the Monniverse is a pioneering example of decentralized animation, leveraging Web3 animation principles to empower creators and build a community owned animation studio. By putting the creators first and expediting the process they endure, the Monniverse ensures that creators can produce quality works in less time than traditional animation studios. Protecting the IP rights of the artists and making sure royalties are paid to the artists strengthens the Monniverse community values. Efficiency, profits, recognition, and creativity are all increased via the Monniverse’s vision.
The Monniverse was founded in 2022 by world renowned artist/fashion designer Carla Monni and intercultural communications/logistics specialist Stanislav Tituško. This complimentary, multi-talented duo led the Monniverse to become the largest creator community on the now defunct Phaver app and remains a key player on the Lens Protocol.
With a following over 80k strong and more than 8k active community members of talented artists, story tellers, musicians, and innovative developers, the Monniverse continues to accomplish new feats at a blazing pace.
Over the last 2 years the Monniverse has achieved several milestones from their successful NFT launch on OpenSea to the Monniverse image generator, the social engagement predicting Oracle, a quirky fish chatbot integrated to navigate you through the Monniverse and collaborations with t2.world, the Gardeners, and several rising artists.
With a high definition video generator soon to be released and rumors of a creator merchandising platform, the Monniverse will truly be the complete package for any type of creator. Supplying tools to enhance production, protecting IP rights and assets, community collaborations, and generating revenue streams for all parties puts the Monniverse at the top of Web3’s most advanced communities to watch.
Once Carla and Stanislav identified the problems that plagued the animation industry, they recruited a few key members to the Monniverse community. A pair of highly skilled and artistic developers Roman and Kiril are building and expanding the Monniverse with precision. Antonella (Carla’s sister) joined the Monniverse operations to ensure their vision stayed true to its course within its marketing, promotions, and community.
From there the Monniverse attracted an army of creators and began producing some of the most captivating stories and digital artworks on-chain. At this point it became clear that the Monniverse offers an inspirational hub for all creators, very much in demand. Today the community continues to grow through every social media platform the Monniverse is a part of.
Recently the Monniverse announced their first official Ambassador, yours truly, giving the Monniverse a voice across the ocean. This year I attended ETHDenver 2025 representing the Monniverse and discussed the future of animation studios, IP rights, creator royalties, and AI’s role with each. During these chats I was questioned about some very key points and the Monniverse road map. Here’s the compiled Q&A from our colleagues:
Is Monniverse using smart contracts for agreements, payments, and rights management?
Yes, smart contracts on Base, zkSync, and Lens automate royalties, ownership tracking, and revenue splits for content creators.
Which blockchain executes these contracts?
Primarily Base for execution, with zkSync for scalability and Lens for identity and engagement tracking.
Will Monniverse use NFTs for ownership of animation assets, characters, and frames?
Yes, ERC-721 and ERC-1155 NFTs represent animation assets, characters, and IPs, enabling fractional ownership and new revenue models.
Will Monniverse have a DAO for community participation in decisions?
Yes, Snapshot integration allows artists, investors, and fans to vote on project selection, funding, and creative direction, with Lens-based reputation weighting.
Will all decisions and transactions be recorded on-chain for transparency?
Yes, Celestia for verification, Base for execution, and Lens for social governance ensure full transparency and auditability.
Will Monniverse use decentralized storage like IPFS?
Yes, IPFS for media assets, Lens Storage for metadata, and Celestia to verify file integrity and prevent data loss.
Will the platform facilitate remote collaboration among creatives?
Yes, smart contracts track contributions, Lens enables decentralized networking, and AI tools enhance remote animation production.
Has Monniverse established clear IP rights managements?
Yes, using Story Protocol and smart contracts to automate royalty payouts, content provenance tracking, and enforce fair compensation.
Has Monniverse developed sustainable revenue models?
Anyone can see that the Monniverse is creating an entirely new way for creators to monetize and expedite their work by using AI responsibly. All while fostering a community of artists and providing resources to the artists so they can maintain their future successes.
Follow the Monniverse on these socials:
https://twitter.com/monniverse
https://warpcast.com/monniverse
https://hey.xyz/u/monniverseofficial
Yes, through NFT and IP licensing for fractional ownership, AI-generated content royalties using on-chain tracking, and a revenue-sharing DAO treasury for creators and token holders.
Is the Monniverse open to VC investors and other field related companies partnerships?
Yes, those looking for partnership opportunities, and avoid any FOMO, can contact the Monniverse to apply here.
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