It's been awhile since I posted here - love that this forum is still cranking.

TLDR: If you own a physical Cryptoart piece, you can now claim a paired NFT token. No deadline, completely optional.

Claim Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScIAU_v50fHmSdZNazQSF1BMHDblZIGQ0KT0VIkST9FMkDofg/viewform?usp=header


What's This About?

We've tokenized the Cryptoart collection to solve a real problem in physical art collecting: aftermarket liquidity.

Most of you may know, we've been working on the next phase of Cryptoart - one that uses tokenization to solve a real problem for collectors of physical art.  Over the years, we published 6,564 physical Cryptoart pieces.  2,431 went unsold (most of the unsold are from a single edition).  We also create a few hundred promotional pieces that are not in the supply count and can’t be tokenized.  We're calling all the historically created art pieces legacy physicals.


Inspiration

Before launching the original Cryptoart brand in 2013, I spent over a decade selling physical art prints online.  For those around in the early Bitcoin days, you may remember the communal need to contribute whatever you could.  For me, it was art and a chance to collaborate with artists on a subject matter I was passionate about.  Merging art with cold storage also gave me a sense of helping the cause (teaching others about self-custody). 

As enjoyable as it was, I couldn't help but get discouraged by the lack of liquidity in the aftermarket.  This is nothing new with art prints. The vast majority of limited editions are single purchase only.  This is fine if you are buying what you like and/or supporting the artist, but most people want some value if they need to sell their collection. At the core of this issue is the friction associated with physical conveyance between collectors: shipping coordination, marketing to find buyers, condition disputes, and authentication concerns. These friction points prevent most physical collectibles from ever developing a meaningful aftermarket.

I believe tokenization/NFTs can fix this.  And no, I'm not talking about 10k PFP projects.  I mean using a token to actually solve a real problem for physical collectors. Specifically, collector-to-collector conveyance.


Introducing "Pairable NFTs"

Pairable NFTs eliminate conveyance friction by allowing:

• Redeemable functionality: NFT holders can redeem for physical pieces
• Unredeemable functionality: Physical holders can destroy the validity of their piece to "unpair" it
• Direct issuer fulfillment: New owners receive physical pieces directly from us, ensuring authenticity

This means your NFT has all the portability and provenance benefits while maintaining the option for physical ownership.  IMO, this is a really big deal for collecting limited editions and reproductions, and I hope others copy the model. You can do a deep dive in our docs.


Your Options as a Legacy Physical Holder

1. Do Nothing

• Your physical piece and Certificate of Authenticity remain valid provenance
• Future buyers can claim the NFT if they want
• Zero obligation or deadline
• Future owners of your physical can claim at a later date

2. Claim and Sell the NFT Only

• Participate in any developing NFT market
• Physical piece remains with you
• Your NFT is "already paired" (no new physical can be created)

3. Claim and Keep/Sell Together

• Sell as a complete set with enhanced digital provenance
• Create permanent "stories" timestamped on the blockchain that will travel to new owners of the NFT.
• Buyer receives both authenticated physical piece and paired NFT

4. Claim and Hold

• Maximum flexibility for future decisions
• Potential trading for new NFTs (we plan to offer this)
• Possible future "unpairing" functionality (would require destroying the physical)

An apology for the extreme delay on this.

This is a personal public apology for those that have waited on this.  I've talked with many of you, some by phone.  When the NFT hype cycle hit, I could have simply minted a bunch of NFTs and dumped them with no real utility.  That just felt like a cash grab. There would have been no relation between each NFT and its physical twin.  I actually began working on the pairable functionality in 2021, but the dev shop I initially hired couldn't get it done.  While things were being drawn out, I got diagnosed with CLL. I had to recalibrate.  Anyway, the journey has been long, but this is the beginning of the fun part.  New releases are otw, and having a tokenized collection has a lot of options.


One last point -

Bitcoin is digital gold and always will be, but Ethereum's tooling and smart contract capabilities made this type of tokenization possible. We're watching Bitcoin L2 developments for potential multichain expansion.

As always, feel free to reach out to me directly at troy at cryptoart.com.


Links:

Website: https://cryptoart.com
Claim Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScIAU_v50fHmSdZNazQSF1BMHDblZIGQ0KT0VIkST9FMkDofg/viewform?usp=header
Docs:  https://cryptoart.gitbook.io/cryptoart