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Arcium is a global supercomputer for a new internet, providing developers, applications and entire industries with a trustless, verifiable, and efficient framework to run encrypted computations.
And today we’re going to talk about their Citadel Activation!
The quest to make cryptography “sexy”
Working in a highly technical space like Decentralized Confidential Computing (DeCC) comes with its own set of challenges — one of which is how to make cryptography and engineering feel accessible and interesting for curious newcomers.
Here’s how Arcium turned thousands of “lurkers” into knowledgeable ambassadors and future contributors in this highly technical, but growing field…
It all start with Education
Building an engaged community begins with helping people understand the protocol’s potential and features. This led to the creation of the Arcium Citadel and Four Fortress Quest — a hands-on learning adventure designed to spark curiosity and teach key concepts about DeCC.
The Citadel Program was created as an exciting entry point for both technical and non-technical participants, making complex topics approachable and inspiring newcomers to join in and explore what Arcium has to offer.
The Citadel Program
The Arcium Citadel is a multi-week journey crafted to deliver essential information about Arcium through immersive medieval lore and “magical powers” (cryptography), enabling participants to explore Arcium’s concepts and use cases in a truly engaging and enjoyable way.
The program began with the Initiation Phase, introducing users to the fundamentals of Arcium and its core operational principles. Following this phase, participants were invited to journey through the Four Fortresses, each representing a key pillar of Arcium’s use cases across DeFi, DePIN, AI, and Gaming.
The program is structured with a time-bound format, motivating participants to stay engaged each week. Additionally, the combination of engaging lore and practical real-world examples from partners, made the experience both educational and enjoyable, adding immense value throughout the entire campaign.
Each completed stage granted a “Proof of Knowledge” token in the form of a soulbound NFT — an enduring token that symbolizes commitment and expertise within Arcium Ecosystem. The initiation phase included the Apprentice NFT — the Core NFT to access successive fortresses and receive priority access to exclusive community initiatives and opportunities in the future.
Why use an NFT?
Arcium needed a “hook” mechanism to reward users and keep them engaged both during and after the campaign. Their requirements for this mechanism included:
Low cost
Easy to implement
Native soulbound functionality
Metaplex’s Core NFT standard checked all of these boxes…
NFTs as a Gateway to Consumer Engagement
Metaplex Core was the perfect solution to meet Arcium’s needs.
Its plugin-based architecture provided the flexibility Arcium needed, with native support for soulbound assets and customizable features that could scale the campaign well beyond just the Citadel Program.
Additionally, its lightweight design kept rent costs low — a critical factor, as these costs needed to be minimal since they wouldn’t be subsidized.
The Metaplex Digital Asset Standard (DAS) API brought even more value to the solution, serving as a unified interface for digital assets that made querying fast and straightforward. This process allowed Arcium to track engagement and assess campaign success with ease, while also supporting a robust Sybil resistance strategy (a mix of IP checks and unique mints check for each wallet)
The aftermath of the campaign
By the end of the first week, it was already clear this campaign was on track to be a massive success. By the end, 396,000 total users became “apprentices” by participating in The Arcium Citadel and Four Fortress Quest, truly exceeding all of Arcium’s expectations.
“We initially expected the campaign to mint around 20,000 NFTs, but we were blown away — in the first 48 hours alone, we had to upgrade our servers due to the overwhelming demand.”
Arihant Bansal — Engineer at Arcium
Of course, these aren’t the only metrics demonstrating the campaign’s success. The campaign itself was just the start to create better engagement across different channels, including Discord and Twitter. Sharing an NFT directly from a wallet was impactful and easy, encouraging participants to proudly display their achievements. This served a double purposed since it reminded to others to collect all available NFTs and show off their own, keeping the momentum alive across social platforms.
In addition, the NFT allowed users to earn a custom role in Discord, signifying that they had completed the journey. By leveraging Matrica, Arcium could extend the citadel journey while laying the foundation for further community engagement with gated initiatives. This approach not only captured a wide audience but gives Arcium levers to develop apprentices into high-value community members that, in time, will be integral to Arcium’s vision of a hyper encrypted internet.
The Next Phase for the Arcium Citadel
The goal of this campaign was to educate users about Arcium and its vision in a fun and engaging way, empowering “Apprentices” to participate in exclusive community activities, transforming them into core members of the Arcium ecosystem. Now, the focus is on deepening engagement, knowledge and contribution through the next phase of Arcium’s Community program titled: Arcium Citadel: Rise of the Apprentice.
In this next phase, Apprentices can contribute directly to building Arcium with monthly quests submitted via a custom Discord bot, earning XP and higher tier roles. If you have not minted the Apprentice NFT, there will be opportunities to join this phase via public activities that will be announced periodically throughout the next months. Stay tuned via their X and Discord!
The Future for Arcium & Soulbound Assets
To further improve the consumer engagement vertical, features like contribution history or points could be added to these Soulbound assets by utilizing on-chain attributes. This would open up the possibility for different teams building in the same ecosystem to create custom rewards through smart contracts for these assets.
But there’s an even more intriguing use case for these Soulbound NFTs: tying sensitive, encrypted data — like credentials or personal records — to NFTs. This could address the long-standing challenge of ensuring data security while keeping it in the hands of its rightful owner.
And that’s exactly why Arcium’s work is so important. They’re not just exploring possibilities — they’re building the tools and infrastructure needed to bring this vision to life in the future.