Previously we created the GradeSynth network to act as a front line service, serving our content at 5 strategically located regions, ensuring that our NFT collectors got the best possible experience. And wouldn’t lose their NFTs.

Let’s talk about that really fast, without naming any names, there have been some large collections of numbered uniques which went dark on RVN, meaning that the content that was sold/awarded with the NFT trade is no longer present in the finished product, or the user’s wallet. This generally happens when there’s no longer an IPFS server pinning and it’s the RVN equivalent of an Opensea server F**K Up, or standard accidental rug pull.

It’s prudent to note here that anyone holding the original file can restore this NFT to perfect health by pinning it within a public IPFS node – so even in cases like this all might not be lost! If you see this on your NFT always let the creator know!

From early on the possiblity of this happening to our NFT’s has been at the front of our minds, and it was the reason for the creation of GradeSynth. We paired this with a few hard backups of every file ever included in our NFTs, a private cold storage solution with periodic updates, cloud backups & third party storage with the Pinata service. We can proudly say that to this day 100% of our NFT content remains available.

The GradeSynth setup was fairly custom and consisted of a gateway based in Europe, along with 4 nodes which would serve content regionally. A bit of a public/private hybrid – the network was very slow for any non-authorized NFTs – and would not pin any non-Synth/Synth-partner content.

We’re now looking to expand this network and the general, to provide more performant and assured permanent content in our NFTs. When you are dealing in digital content which by it’s nature should be permanent, you can’t have too many failovers.

The first stage has come into play with a new private smart-gateway – https://WWW.RVNEDGE.COM – this is a gateway owned and operated by Synth – it will run in tandem with a Raven Node to provide smart functions for our future NFTs!

We’re working also on our own Public gateway, this will be used to load generic content from all creators, as fast as possible in the region you are accessing from. We’re hoping that this can share the load somewhat, by giving people building on RVN more than one service to use in their development. This will be under the domain – WWW.RVNGATE.COM. Both gateways will act as an additional mirror for all Synth NFT content.