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Emblem Vault boasts a legacy that dates all the way back to 2014 — yes, you read that correctly, two thousand and fourteen. Our founder, Shannon Code, has been crafting the vision for Emblem 2.0 for over a decade, predating both Ethereum and smart contracts. In a world where the concepts of bridging were yet to be imagined and atomic swaps were a mere dream, Emblem Vault emerged as a pioneer in blockchain interconnectedness, setting the standard for NFT bridging.
Throughout the shifting landscape of crypto, Shannon stuck with his vision of a transferable wallet that would ultimately carve out its place in the industry. Over four market cycles, users continually found new ways for Emblem Vault to enhance their on-chain experiences. Yet, not even Shannon could have fully foreseen where the protocol stands today.
Emblem Vault in Numbers:
• #1 NFT interoperability protocol
• $160M in trading volume
• $100M in total value vaulted
• 100,000 vaults minted
• 22,000 unique owners
• 500 collections supported
• 100 smart contracts launched
• 17 protocols offered
• 3 blockchain deployments
From its origins as an on-chain experiment, Emblem has evolved into a cornerstone of blockchain infrastructure. Today, it safeguards millions in assets and serves tens of thousands of users. Tomorrow, it will be millions.
The story of Emblem is fundamental to its future vision. Understanding how Emblem has thrived without private funding and why it continues to forge ahead brings that vision into focus. In crypto, it’s not just about dreams — it’s a battle-tested game of survival.
Timeline of Key Events
• 2014: Shannon Code acquires the layer 1 blockchain Ribbit Rewards (RBR) from its former creator.
• 2016: RBR is rebranded as Circuits of Value and relaunched on Counterparty as COVALC.
• 2016: The Circuit Builder is launched as the first dapp powered by COVALC.
• 2016: Emblem Vault is announced to be the second dapp that will be powered by COVALC.
• 2019: COVALC is migrated to Ethereum as COVAL (ERC-20) following its delisting from Bittrex and increasing resistance to builders on Bitcoin.
• 2020: Emblem Vault launches on Ethereum, introducing the industry’s first composite token.
• 2023: Emblem Vault transitions from Emblem 1.0 to Emblem 2.0, migrating 50,000 NFTs from a single smart contract to 60 unique contracts spanning 15 protocols over a 15-month period.
• 2024: Emblem announces the migration of COVAL (ERC-20) to KEYS (Runes) on Bitcoin and the Emblem Expansion Campaign.
This journey has included two fungible token migrations and one major NFT collection migration — each requiring years of planning, coordination, and execution to provide digital assets and on-chain communities with a lasting home. Few projects successfully manage migrations, and even fewer survive long-term. Token migrations demand precision from developers and commitment from the community. Emblem Vault has not only accomplished this feat but turned it into a sustainable business model, pioneering the concept of “chain-hopping.”
In 2025, Emblem Vault will embark on one final migration to unify its community and token legacy into a single token: EMBLEM•VAULT•KEYS
If you take a closer look under the hood, you’ll realize that Emblem Vault has been a Bitcoin-centric company all along.
Approximately 80% of Emblem’s $150M in trading volume has come from vaults associated with Counterparty, Bitcoin Ordinals, and Bitcoin Stamps. Of Emblem’s $100M in total value locked (TVL), nearly 85% represents Bitcoin NFT assets. Emblem’s primary users are Bitcoin enthusiasts leveraging Ethereum’s programmability to access and enhance liquidity. Additionally, COVALC, which launched on Counterparty in 2016, which is one of the first meta-protocols to deploy on Bitcoin. That same Counterparty community identified Emblem’s initial use case in 2021, propelling Emblem to become the home of Rare Pepe, the 3rd largest NFT collection in the industry.
Runes is a fungible token protocol launched on Bitcoin in April 2024 by Casey Rodarmor, the creator of Bitcoin Ordinals. Since its launch, Runes has quickly established itself as the preferred, and arguably the leading, fungible token protocol on Bitcoin. It stands out for its:
• High on-chain volume
• Thriving developer ecosystem
• Decentralized application layer
• Devoted community
• Strong, compelling narrative
Bitcoin remains the largest cryptocurrency in the world and is set to hold this position as it grows toward tens of trillions in value. With the Runes market cap currently around $2 billion, Emblem has a significant opportunity to grow alongside the emerging fungible token ecosystem on the largest digital asset. Emblem can also reconnect its Bitcoin-native community with their roots on Bitcoin. The narrative of “returning home” after six years adds a fitting final touch.
From a technical standpoint, Bitcoin is largely an export-only chain. Fungible tokens originate on Bitcoin and are then bridged to other chains for programmability and liquidity — much like what Emblem does for Bitcoin NFTs. By realigning KEYS on Bitcoin, Emblem gains the ability to bridge KEYS seamlessly to Ethereum and Solana through its native dapp, Televault. Currently, there is no established model to bridge a fungible token from Ethereum or Solana to Bitcoin, and it’s unlikely that one will emerge soon. As Emblem expands across various blockchains, it needs native tokens on Bitcoin, EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine), and SVM (Solana Virtual Machine) to enable genuine interconnectivity with their native ecosystems.
Bitcoin is the ideal starting point to unify, reform, and reinvigorate the Emblem fungible token ecosystem.
We must unify and expand. This is our objective for the next 18 months. If we can consolidate all of Emblem’s token lineage around KEYS and expand Emblem Vault across every blockchain, we will succeed. The narrative, the mission, the community, the history — there’s no project in this industry quite like Emblem. Accomplishing this will allow Emblem 2.0 to usher in a new era of cross-chain programmability for digital assets.
Some may call this “Season 2,” others might see it as the next chapter, or perhaps simply a roadmap. Each crypto project has its unique approach, but it always seems to combine essential elements like:
• Incentives
• Rewards
• Speculation
• Scale
• Tokens
• Community
• Innovation
• Time
Let me be clear: Emblem is a one-of-a-kind project. There’s nothing comparable in the industry. I’ve researched this extensively. With Emblem’s unique attributes come unique opportunities. It may not all make sense at first but one thing remains constant: our commitment to transparency, which we’ve upheld since I joined the team in November 2022.
We’ve dedicated hundreds, if not thousands, of hours to aligning Emblem’s business objectives with COVAL’s purpose, all while navigating an ever-changing crypto landscape and strict regulatory constraints on U.S. companies. But with a more favorable environment emerging, the future for utility tokens looks brighter than ever. The timing of Emblem 2.0’s expansion launch couldn’t be better.
In my two years with Emblem, I’ve delved into its history, performance, community, and countless intricate aspects. It truly is a puzzle — the most complex one I’ve ever encountered. But the potential impact of solving it could transform the on-chain economy forever.
I won’t apologize for promises or actions that took place before my time, but I will assure you that every action we take moving forward is serious and sincere.
Tokenomics coming December 5th.