Interoperable blockchain network Flare has partnered with edtech startup Uppercent to launch an educational marketplace powered by NFTs. Non-fungible tokens, issued on Flare, will be used as the access passes to unlock access to high quality online courses taught by the top 1% of achievers worldwide.

On the Uppercent platform, members can buy, sell, and trade access passes to exclusive courses produced by Uppercent instructors from a variety of backgrounds. These include social media stars, leading business & mindset trainers & Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneurs. The instructors will explain the lessons they have learned on their journeys to the top, covering vocational skills such as entrepreneurship, social media and mindset.

The platform will launch in phases, with announcement of the first courses and instructors set to commence in late March. In phase one, students will be able to log in to their accounts and register for upcoming courses. This will be followed by the official platform launch later in the year, when people will be able to start buying and selling access passes to the courses on the Uppercent marketplace.

Traditional student learning carries a high cost of access, be it expensive textbooks that aren’t easily resold or single-user online courses. Uppercent democratizes learning and plans to create a thriving secondary market for access passes. In pioneering a secondary market for education, Uppercent is reimagining e-learning to enable students and educators to receive more value.

Flare Co-Founder & CEO, Hugo Philion, said, “We’re excited Uppercent has chosen Flare as the blockchain to power web3 functionality for the next generation of edtech products. As firm believers in the potential for NFTs and the importance of high quality user-generated content, we look forward to enabling the Uppercent team to use Flare to push the boundaries of UX and utility in the online education market.”

Uppercent Founder & CEO, Jake Lee, said “We’re delighted that Flare has joined our journey towards bridging E-learning from web2 to web3 with the ambition of rebuilding the e-learning ecosystem and providing more value to all stakeholders. Flare’s interoperability protocols, and particularly the State Connector will be a huge help in enabling us to build the first secondary market for E-learning.”

The Uppercent platform forms a community of like minded individuals looking to improve themselves and a marketplace where knowledge is shared and access to courses is obtained. Free membership to the Uppercent is available to anyone who joins the project’s Discord community before the official launch.