English 
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Deutsch Technically, a POAP is an NFT minted from a smart contract that POAP, Inc. approves before an event, then distributed to attendees as a unique, serial-numbered badge rather than something bought on an open market. The idea began at ETHDenver in 2019, when hackathon participants claimed a commemorative token over the venue's wifi, and grew into a dedicated protocol and company by 2021.
Most POAPs are minted on Gnosis Chain, a low-cost Ethereum-linked sidechain adopted in 2020 specifically to keep minting free for both organizers and collectors, while still letting holders bridge tokens to Ethereum mainnet if they want broader wallet or marketplace compatibility. Claiming works through a QR code, secret link, or code entered on the POAP site; if a collector has no wallet yet, the badge can be reserved against an email address and minted later once one is connected.
- Conference and meetup check-ins, from small local gatherings to major industry events
- Community milestones, governance votes, and protocol launches
- Loyalty and token-gating programs, where holding certain badges unlocks access, polls, or an airdrop eligibility list
Because ownership history is public, collections of POAPs function as a verifiable, hard-to-fake activity trail, an early form of on-chain reputation that communities and organizers increasingly use to identify genuine, long-term participants rather than passive spectators.
