Encrypted NFTs on the Bitcoin Blockchain: Providing Robust Power Beyond Simple Gifs
In a bear market, you build.
This year, a new home for NFT projects has emerged.
Have they solved the problems plaguing existing NFTs?
NFTs have a bright future…
…if project developers address the underlying issues.
Misconceptions by the public about what they’re buying when investing in NFTs are a problem. When a collector purchases a painting and hangs on the wall, they know if it’s an original or a limited-edition print.
What can a Bitcoin-powered NFT do?
Let’s look at the solutions to the major issues with current non-Bitcoin NFTs.
Do NFT owners truly know what they’re buying?
Collectors own a unique token that represents the art. That’s the extent of their non-fungible token. They do not own the content, which could be minted elsewhere and sold again. This is a problem, and Catenis, from Blockchain of Things, has a solution.
Problems with current NFT smart contracts:
1. NFT Data and Content aren’t delivered
2. Open Access to the Original Work
3. Copyright doesn’t transfer
4. NFT Metadata on ERC 721 NFTs are not flexible
Improving the Product
Catenis enables developers to create powerful NFT functionality on the Bitcoin Blockchain that lets the project artist deliver the unique token — the only thing that is purchased by a buyer today — and the encrypted contents a buyer controls.
When the NFT is transferred, the artwork, movie, book, song, etc. is decrypted and then re-encrypted with the recipient’s private keys.
This marks a TRUE exchange of the product from creative to customer. It represents an evolution beyond what’s currently available and will give developers and project managers a competitive advantage.
Including such technology provides capabilities beyond simple art. Companies can leverage this function by applying the technology to proprietary design diagrams, engineering specs, and other valuable assets.
Managed Access — A Long Awaited Tech Evolution
The standard in the industry, at present, is to sell a unique token that points to the NFT’s metadata, which then contains an open web address to the art. Both are open to the customer and the rest of the world.
With managed access, the product becomes more valuable because it allows the owner to control when and where it can be seen or displayed.
NFTs can be more than monkeys. What about a CAD design? Medical Data? Or a litany of other uses where the holders want to protect their sensitive data?
Catenis allows for encrypting the NFT when required, such that only the valid owner can decrypt and read the data.
It could even save lives.
In the US, 250,000 deaths per year are the result of medical errors, according to the CDC. If each patient had their personal Medical NFT with their complete history and that of their parents, grandparents, etc., it could travel with them.
Having the patient’s history, current prescriptions, and risk factors available to the attending physician would improve diagnosis and care.
It would eliminate issues like reading the wrong chart before going into surgery and amputating the leg of someone who was supposed to have their tonsils removed.
Copyright Transfer
The current smart contracts on chains like Ethereum and Solana don’t allow the transference of copyright ownership over and over.
If the buyer wants to sell the NFT on the secondary market, the new owner might think they’ve received the copyright, but in actuality, they haven’t.
Catenis allows the creator to extend the metadata through secondary purchases. It can reference any agreement. The metadata travels with the NFT and can be encrypted to hide the details of the contract.
This is a necessary feature for many paper legal documents, but it didn’t exist for NFTs until Catenis came up with a solution.
Can the Metadata be Extended?
Most developers know that NFT metadata on ERC 721 NFTs are rudimentary and don’t provide the flexibility to extend or hide the metadata.
Companies want this feature.
Catenis allows one to extend the metadata (name-value pair fields) to contain as much information as needed. Some or all of the metadata can be encrypted such that the holder of the NFT is the only one with the keys to decrypt it.
In the industry, this protects proprietary machine-readable information that travels from one system to another, causing events to trigger based on a predefined protocol.
Provenance information will allow for improved supply chain management and verification that the product the buyer receives is not counterfeit.
Because the Catenis NFTs allow for all or part of the metadata to be encrypted, then, if needed, the unencrypted information can be viewable.
It’s a level of flexibility that didn’t exist before Catenis.
This is the next evolution of NFTs.
Are you ready to begin? You can easily create a free account.
Here is the documentation you’ll need to start:
