I didn't realize until now, but Petal "Season 0" was focused on discovery.

First, Petalcoin was born, conjured into being with help from a friendly robot. The ticker is $petal. I bought $500 USD worth of the supply (1.6+ billion $petal) to get things rolling.

Then I shared my project concept with the Higher community:

• all $petal clanker rewards will be used to purchase $higher
• that $higher will be used to commission artists, who will explore the themes of fragility and resilience using floral imagery and metaphors
• the artwork will be distributed to $petal holders

I sent 100,000 $petal to each of the artists on my wishlist, plus a few supportive friends.

It was time to run some experiments. I did a lot of vibe exploration using AI and collage. A few favorites:

More can be found on my Rodeo profile, or in the /petal channel, including simpatico art by others.

I particularly love these pieces by @serminmin, @gusa, and @tanishq:

Stretch up to the sun

Petal has worked with two artists so far. Aoife O'Dwyer created spring yearnings:

This engagement was structured as a promotion to spread awareness of $petal:

• I paid a commission of 7,000 $higher for Aoife to make something Petal-inspired.

• She got to keep the mint proceeds (0.0047 ETH after subtracting Rodeo fees and the cost to mint 5 copies for herself).

• I sent 10,000 $petal to each of the 69 minters who weren't Aoife or me.

I'm happy with how this went — Aoife's average mint count on Rodeo is ~70 and we exceeded that by 31 mints! Indicating that people were intrigued by $petal... or perhaps just by the prospect of free money, however little it's worth at the moment

Sh-sh-shake the walls

The second artist is musical dynamo Chic Bangs. Petal contributed 7,000 $higher to sponsor the debut of "SHAKE (Custom Model Remix)," which is currently ongoing. Higher legend @lght.eth also helped fund the drop.

One lucky collector will receive a prize of 2,000 $higher, and Chic already rewarded everyone who supported her launch post with 55 $higher each. I think she has other plans up her sleeve as well... which might involve $petal 🌺

I'm taking a risk with this drop.

I know that music has lost a lot of value, but it is the medium I have poured my heart and soul into. This is a way of reclaiming the worth that I believe musicians deserve and I fully trust others feel the same.

— Chic Bangs

Sustainable floristry

Worth noting: trading volume of $petal has been insignificant to the point of nonexistence. This surprised me, since the random memecoin I posted to test ClankPad saw almost $26k USD volume, leading to ~$100 in creator rewards.

I thought, erroneously, that a project I took seriously would attract some actual human wallets in addition to the presumable bots that bought $BUNSRUS 😆 Maybe it was counterproductive, at least in the short term, to grab $500 USD of $petal right after creating it? Who knows.

The reality of crypto is that people are only interested in buying the assets they think other people will want to buy in the future. Petalcoin has not managed to cross that psychological threshold. Which is fine — I am not entitled to anyone's support, financial or otherwise!

However, this does make me question the commercial viability of the project. I'm roughly $650 deep so far. I can afford it, but that's not a trivial amount of money for me. Should I cut my losses? How much more am I comfortable spending to learn whether $petal is worth pursuing? I'm unsure about the final answer, but I'm not ready to quit yet.

The blossom opens

I said "Season 0" was about discovery. "Season 1" will focus on refinement, especially of the aesthetic. I hope to develop a distinctive $petal look — one that can be remixed by artists with varying signature styles, but remain recognizable. A brand identity, I guess.

Frankly, I struggle with this kind of thing. I am a writer, not a designer. That's why I want to commission my artist friends — so they can beautifully depict the ideas that are meaningful to me! Point being, I'm not sure how to approach this challenge... but I'll figure it out in the coming weeks.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. And if you're interested in supporting the process, buy $petal! Or send $higher to petalcoin.eth, I'll accept that too ↑ Best of all, create with your interpretation of the Petal ethos, and tag me (@sonyasupposedly) or post in /petal.