Hey, Folks --

I wanted to give [Suspicious link removed] project is moving forward.  I spent a lot of time on this forum back in the day (under a different username).  I can't believe the Wall Observer is still cranking! Anyway, I know some of you have purchased art pieces over the years.  Thank you for that.

How the art on Cryptoart.com will change:

It should be noted that we are in no way abandoning physical prints/collectibles. We're simply changing how provenance is conveyed, and only if you decide to claim your NFT. NFTs are portable immutable records that prove and transfer ownership of an underlying asset really well. I don't believe an NFT is art, but NFTs help unlock the value of the underlying art by allowing it to be authenticated, enjoyed in different forms, conveyed to others, and sold in marketplaces like Opensea.

Cryptoart.com V1 (The old way):

The physical Cryptoart you own now, along with the certificate of authenticity, represent an authentic art piece.  Selling your art piece requires physical delivery. 

Cryptoart.com V2 (The new way - only if you decide to claim your NFT):
 
The authenticity will shift to the NFT. The NFT allows the owner to enjoy the art in virtual spaces and grants the owner the right to reproduce the image in the physical world for personal use.  If you want to sell the art piece, you simply sell the NFT. 

Physical art pieces created with the NFT are only for personal use.  They can be sold, but only with the NFT and the art will be marked as such. This prevents unauthorized copies from increasing available supply in the market.  Placing provenance exclusively on the NFT will make the aftermarket more transparent, and even allow us to incentivize scarcity.  More on that to come.

When can I claim my NFT?

We're still finishing up the smart contract work.  We expect it to be completed in the next few weeks. *That isn't when the claim will begin.*  Here is the process:

1) Complete this google form for each art piece you have:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdt9FXrbk3EedgsqgcrNVWy2iPNIpUetrwQ3JMZrqyHHHU4IA/viewform?usp=sf_link

Feel free to start this now.  I know this is tedious if you have many pieces, but we need to manually authenticate each art piece.  This process underscores the need for NFTs.  You will need the Ethereum address of your Metamask account that we will whitelist.

2) Mint the NFT.  When the time comes, we will direct you to a page that allows you to mint the NFT. There will be some gas fees associated with the process that are dependent on network congestion. There is no obligation to claim the NFT and there are no plans to expire your claim on the NFT.


Creating Scarcity:

Over the years we released about 25 crypto themed art pieces as limited editions in various sizes.  In total, this translated to almost 7,000 art pieces of which ~2,500 (~1,000 are from a single edition, crypto nouveau) were still available when we paused sales earlier this year. Our plan is to immediately burn 50% of the remaining art pieces.  When we relaunch, we will drop 500 pieces as NFTs.  The remaining NFTs will go to devs, founders, and a foundation that will eventually live at cryptoart.org.  There will be a vesting schedule for devs and founders.

Things are still fluid, and I highly value the insight of those in this form.  This is why I’m posting here first.  I welcome feedback here or directly at Troy at cryptoart.com.