Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are widely used to distribute and authenticate digital artworks, yet minting practices across Ethereum, Solana, and Tezos sometimes diverge from core blockchain objectives, decentralization, immutability, and verifiable on-chain identity, thereby limiting their suitability as long-term certificates of authenticity. This study examines the technical, structural, and archival sources of these limitations and introduces a framework grounded in immutability, extended metadata and cryptographic signatures. Within this framework, the extended metadata file serves as the primary source of authenticity by self-sufficiently integrating the artistâs identity, artwork identification, edition semantics, token identification, and preservation guidance. The paper further evaluates decentralized storage models relevant to certification-grade use cases. It compares private servers, fully on-chain metadata, Arweave, and IPFS in terms of verifiability, sustainability, and long-horizon stewardship burden. Although Ethereum's ERC-721 serves as a reference implementation to anchor terminology and verification procedures, the proposed requirements are ecosystem-independent as long as the ecosystem meets the principles of decentralization, immutability and adoption. By aligning NFT issuance with established digital-preservation frameworks (OAIS, InterPARES, LOCKSS, PREMIS), this work offers a concrete foundation for future ERC/EIP proposals, preservation policy, and interdisciplinary research on durable, independently verifiable digital-art authenticity.
The integration of blockchain technology within the domain of digital cultural heritage resources (DCHR) has emerged as a pivotal approach over the past decade, offering a secure and transparent platform for documentation, ownership transfer, and verification. This paper investigates the current challenges in managing DCHR and analyzes the corresponding solutions. We discuss outstanding technical implementations such as the âDigital Dunhuang Open Material Libraryâ and âSalsal.â Our study identifies emerging blockchain trends in cultural heritage preservation and proposes future research directions. Through an analytical examination of distributed consensus mechanisms and blockchain deployment scenarios, this study proposes methodological pathways for implementing the DCHR management framework. We call for continued optimization of consensus protocols, expansion of blockchain application scenarios, and establishment of supportive policies to bridge the gap between decentralized innovation and institutional compliance requirements.
The preservation and restoration of cultural heritage has acquired increasing attention in recent years since it has priceless value from both historical and touristic points of view. However, this activity requires considerable funds to be carried out, and frequently, such costs cannot rely entirely on public sources. At the same time, crowdfunding platforms are becoming a widely recognized way to collect funds and finance projects. Indeed, in the literature, some attempts have been made to use crowdfunding platforms to support renovation and restoration projects for cultural heritage items. Even if the benefits of their use in general, particularly for cultural heritage, are widely recognized, skepticism remains regarding transparency, reliability, and trustworthiness. In this regard, the emerging blockchain technology could represent an innovative solution for promoting and guaranteeing such properties through the entire crowdfunding process. However, existing solutions based on the direct use of cryptocurrencies for collecting funds have encountered users' fear and reluctance due to their novelty and the absence of clear and complete regulation by governments. For this reason, in this paper, we propose a solution that is not based on using cryptocurrencies but concentrates on the immutability, traceability, and trustworthiness properties that blockchain offers. To do so, an integrated solution is proposed that combines traditional platforms with a set of smart contracts and a Decentralized Application (dApp), allowing the immutable storage of information inside the blockchain and their subsequent validation by the donors.
The development of digital technology has introduced Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) as a form of digital asset that has its own economic value and uniqueness. This opens up the potential for NFTs as objects of inheritance, however the traditional inheritance law system in Indonesia has not fully accommodated non-physical entities such as NFTs, especially due to unclear regulations regarding the transfer of rights to these assets after the death of the owner. This article discusses legal protection for heirs with NFT inheritance objects. This research uses normative or doctrinaire research methods using secondary data and a comparative legal approach, which involves analysis of relevant laws and regulations and NFT practices in several jurisdictions that have recognized the existence of NFTs. Based on the research results, NFTs can be inherited through a general will made by a notary, olographic, or private. However, the main challenge is access to digital wallets that store NFTs and are at risk of being lost if there is not sufficient technical information regarding access. To overcome this, inheritance planning with a dead's man switch mechanism in smart contracts can enable the automatic transfer of NFTs to heirs. However, legal recognition of this mechanism is still limited. This research highlights the need for clearer regulations and legal updates in Indonesia regarding digital asset inheritance, to provide legal certainty for owners and heirs as technology develops. It is hoped that the results of this research can contribute to the formulation of clearer regulations and provide adequate legal protection for heirs and heirs who own digital assets in Indonesia.
NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and blockchain are revolutionizing the art market by offering advantages in terms of traceability and authenticity of works. Through blockchain, every transaction is recorded transparently and immutably, ensuring provenance and control over the circulation of the artwork. NFTs certify the uniqueness of a digital work, acting as a guarantee of authenticity and tracking each ownership transfer. Additionally, NFTs enable the tokenization of art, breaking ownership into shares, making it accessible to a broader audience and creating new investment and engagement opportunities.
This study investigates the transformative potential of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) in revolutionizing the marketing of artworks by Malaysian visual artists, with a particular focus on promoting cultural heritage. NFTs, as digital assets secured by blockchain technology, offer artists innovative methods to monetize their creations while preserving authenticity and provenance. Despite their growing popularity, Malaysian artists face challenges such as limited knowledge and skepticism regarding the effective use of NFT technology. This research aims to identify strategies and best practices for incorporating NFTs into digital art marketing, particularly in the context of cultural heritage preservation. Through a combination of content analysis and semi-structured interviews with five experts, this study applies the soft laddering technique to explore the perceived benefits and challenges of NFTs. The findings highlight the significant potential of NFTs to enhance Malaysian artists' access to global markets and strengthen the preservation of cultural heritage. The study underscores the need for improved technological literacy and NFT utilization among Malaysian artists to maximize their presence and competitiveness in the evolving digital art marketplace.
Purpose- The primary purpose of this study is to model Bitcoin price volatility and forecast its future price returns using advanced econometric models such as ARCH and GARCH. The study aims to enhance risk management strategies and support informed investment decisions by addressing the time-varying nature of Bitcoinâs volatility. The research explores the persistence of volatility shocks and the clustering of price movements to provide insights into market dynamics. Methodology- This research examines daily Bitcoin closing prices over the period from January 2020 to October 2024. The data was preprocessed to ensure reliability, including applying logarithmic transformations to standardize the data and eliminate trends. Stationarity tests, such as the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF), Phillips-Perron (PP), and KPSS tests, were conducted to confirm the series' stationarity. The ARCH-LM test was utilized to detect volatility clustering which is essential for validating the use of ARCH and GARCH models. Following this, ARIMA models were employed to define mean equations and GARCH models were used to estimate conditional variance and capture volatility dynamics. The dataset was split into training and validation subsets with data from July to October 2024 reserved for validation. Findings- The findings demonstrate that Bitcoinâs price movements exhibit significant volatility clustering and persistence of shocks which are key characteristics effectively captured by ARCH and GARCH models. These models provide valuable insights into the volatility patterns of Bitcoin, supporting their application in cryptocurrency analysis. Despite their robustness, the models face limitations in precise return forecasting during highly volatile periods, suggesting the need for further refinement or integration with advanced approaches. Conclusion- The research concludes that ARCH and GARCH models are effective tools for understanding and forecasting Bitcoinâs volatility. The study underscores the importance of acknowledging volatility persistence and clustering effects when analyzing cryptocurrency price behavior. However, it also highlights areas for improvement in econometric modelling by including the exploration of hybrid models and the integration of macroeconomic factors to enhance forecasting accuracy. Keywords: Bitcoin, ARCH models, GARCH Models, forecasting, ARIMA models JEL Codes: C58, G10, G12
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a type of digital asset based on blockchain that contain unique codes verifying the authenticity and ownership of different assets such as art pieces, music, gaming items, collections, and so on. This phenomenon and its markets have grown significantly since the beginning of 2021. This study, using daily data between November 2017 and November 2022, predicts the volume of NFT sales by utilising Random Forest (RF), GBM, XGBoost, and LightGBM methods from the community machine learning methods. In the predictions, several financial variables, including Gold, Bitcoin/USD, Ethereum/USD, S&P 500 index, Nasdaq 100, Oil/USD, Euro/USD, and CDS data, are treated as independent variables. According to the results, XGBoost is found to be the best prediction method for NFT market volume estimation concerning several statistical criteria, e.g., MAE, MAPE, and RMSE, and the most significant influential feature in determining prices is the Ethereum/USD exchange rate.
Abstract The paper examines the possibilities offered by decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) for supporting audience participation in the museum sector . DAOs, a type of digital infrastructure underpinned by blockchains and smart contracts, have been seen as informing a more autonomous, self-managing, transparent, and more efficient online organization, one capable of shaping how users participate and communicate with one another. At the same time significant questions have been raised over how DAO technologies complicate the human issues of democracy and shared authority. This paper explores and evaluates the impact of DAO structures in the context of museum participation, specifically viewing them through the lens of shared authority and democracy. It argues that these technologies are capable of offering evidence-based participation, but that this is contingent on access and trust.
Digitization marks the initial phase of digital transformation, encompassing a spectrum of socio-technical developments that unfold thereafter. These processes are pivotal components within a broader domain that: 1) encompasses physical inspection methodologies, business models geared towards enhancing inspection efficiency, integrity engineering, and decision-making; and 2) furnishes invaluable data to enrich the design, production, and maintenance over the lifespan of cultural heritage artifacts. Vrana and Sing (2020) advocate for designating this domain as Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) 4.0, underscoring its characterization as "a suite of cyber-physical technologies." These technologies encompass Digital Twin (DT), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Semantic Interoperability and Ontologies, Industry 4.0 Data Processing (Big Data Analysis), Blockchains, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and Artificial Intelligence. The concept of Digital Twin, introduced in 2003 at the University of Michigan during the Executive Course on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), as articulated by Grieves (2014), holds particular significance. Glaessgen and Stargel (2012) subsequently advocated for Digital Twins to support the production of NASA and U.S. Air Force vehicles, envisioning them as enabling "integrated multiphysics, multiscale, probabilistic simulation of an as-built vehicle or system that utilizes the best available physical models, sensor updates, fleet history, etc." Within this framework, a methodology will be elucidated for devising and implementing innovative tools and techniques for digitizing and digitalizing attributes of cultural heritage items.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have recently gained widespread popularity as an alternative investment. However, the lack of assessment criteria has caused intense volatility in NFT marketplaces. Identifying attributes impacting the market performance of NFT collectibles is crucial but challenging due to the massive amount of heterogeneous and multi-modal data in NFT transactions, e.g., social media texts, numerical trading data, and images. To address this challenge, we introduce an interactive dual-centric visual analytics system, NFTeller, to facilitate usersâ analysis. First, we collaborate with five domain experts to distill static and dynamic impact attributes and collect relevant data. Next, we derive six analysis tasks and develop NFTeller to present the evolution of NFT transactions and correlate NFTsâ market performance with impact attributes. Notably, we create an augmented chord diagram with a radial stacked bar chart to explore intersections between NFT collection projects and whale accounts. Finally, we conduct three case studies and interview domain experts to evaluate the effectiveness and usability of this system. As such, we gain in-depth insights into assessing NFT collectibles and detecting opportune moments for investment.
Heritage is a vital resource for storytelling, defining our identity and history, and adding dignity and uniqueness to our legacies for future generations. Therefore, it should be protected, and awareness needs to be created. Today, in the face of climate change challenges and natural disaster, some of our heritages, linked to natural landscapes, is endangered. This paper describes developing an alternative licensing model for NFTs and a mobile-based NFT marketplace created to promote and protect nature as a heritage in the face of climate change-induced dangers. By incorporating evidence about state-of-the-art, leveraging blockchain and NFTs technologies at the service of heritage, here we highlight two essential and unique aspects: i) ensuring the usage of zero-carbon blockchain solutions and the creation of temporary NFTs, and ii) enabling continuous income sources for the asset owners, in our case organisations devoted to the protection of the designated natural landscapes. In this paper, we describe the design process and the validation of the ideas behind the usage and licensing of zero-carbon temporary NFTs. Thus we propose a financially sustainable solution capable of showing the actual state of the lineage (for example, the changing aspect of a landscape over seasons) and promoting a continuous source of donations used to preserve the assets. We validated the concept with users and obtained good usability and design results, proving the chosen approachâs effectiveness.
Andreia Nogueira, CÊlio Gonçalo Marques, António Manso, Paula Almeida
This research contributes to the discussion around the importance of the long-term preservation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and minted digital artworks. The paper is based on a review of the literature on blockchain in art and heritage management and conservation, with particular attention to references related to the production, marketing, maintenance, and distribution of NFT-based digital art. The aims of this paper involve anticipating potential problems in the oversight of NFTs and setting out good long-term management principles and practices as well as specific preservation strategies. Despite the fact that it also discusses issues over authorship, copyright, creative commons, and open access, the paper is particularly devoted to raising concerns about the high energy consumption associated with blockchain technology and its impact on climate change. It also highlights how the preservation of NFTs cannot be neglected, despite the belief that they last forever. Most studies dedicated to analysing the impact of blockchain technology on the cultural heritage sector ignore the most important issue: preserving not only the minted digital artworks themselves but also the respective blockchain networks. Overall, this paper seeks to foster a collective awareness of the need to reflect on blockchain-related art practices and their implications for the long-term protection of cultural property.
Clearly, digital technologies have been developed rapidly, and it affects art form significantly. For instance, visual works, where were displayed and sold in the art galleries have shifted into the blockchain networks nowadays. As a result, it makes NFT (Non-Fungible Token) becoming extremely popular, mainly in Generation-Z. This study aims to discuss how visual communication design students as a part of Gen-Z are introduced to the world of NFT as a visual archiving solution through the art history learning method in Bina Nusantara University. In addition, this study sees to what extent art history could be implied in the NFT art in order to attract Gen-Z to learn history and gaining analytical and critical ability. In order to design a historical NFT art, first, students should be able to understand the cultural concepts that exist in each particular era, from the mindset, characteristics, to the main essence of that period. From the analysis of previous artefacts and any great relics that were exist, students are capable to express their thoughts about the certain culture and providing conclusions from each era they adopt. Through this process, a historical NFT art that emphasize the origin meaning in the past and executed through visuals that tailored to the needs of Gen-Z would be successfully achieved. To sum up, this study found that even digital assets could not be separated from enculturation and history.
The tasks of education renewal, which are related to the revision of its content and pedagogy for sustainable development, are considered. The complexity of these tasks and their historical unprecedentedness are emphasized. The possibilities of digital technology in education in solving these problems are justified. The advantages of artificial intelligence, blockchain and zero-knowledge proof when combined to become education for sustainable development are analyzed. The most promising areas for their use in the renewal of education are listed.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are a type of digital asset that represents a proof of ownership over a particular digital item such as art, music, or real estate. Due to the non-fungible nature of NFTs, duplicate tokens should not possess the same value. However, with the surge of new blockchains and a massive influx of NFTs being created, a wealth of NFT data is being generated without a method of tracking similarity. This enables people to create almost identical NFTs by changing one pixel or one byte of data. Despite the similarity among NFTs, each NFT is assigned a completely different token ID. To address the NFT duplication issue, we developed a modular, easily-extendable, hardware-agnostic, cloud-centered NFT processing system that represents NFTs as vectors. We established a database containing a vector representation of the NFTs in accordance with the Ethereum Request for Comment 721 (ERC-721) token standards to initiate the process of aggregating NFT data from various blockchains. Finally, we developed an NFT visualization dashboard application with a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) to provide non-technical users access to the aggregated NFT data. The Universal NFT Vector Database is an off-chain framework for NFT data aggregation based on similarity, which provides an organized way to query and analyze NFT data that was previously unavailable through on-chain solutions.
Non-fungible token was a buzzword throughout 2021 and continues to thrive. NFTs are uniquely identifiable digital representations of structured metadata referring to physical or digital items. They are predominantly used to transfer certain interests and rights (including intellectual property) over the fandom, profile pictures or born-digital artworks. While NFTs might be primarily used in for-profit settings, with numerous artists and brands reaping the benefits of marketing their creations on NFT platforms, they have profound relevance for organisations active in the field of the digital preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage. This chapter discusses how NFTs might be approached by the GLAM sector. It especially focuses on the possible changes to the financing and the professional role of galleries and museums, the potential of NFTs to revolutionise access to digitised or born-digital artworks from a much wider audience, the fate of ownership of âreal-worldâ artworks, the possible collaborations of cultural organisations and NFT platforms, and whether NFTs can serve as an optimal solution for the preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage hosted by cultural organisations. It also presents the findings of a survey-based empirical analysis of the perceptions of people interested in NFTs related to the relevance of NFTs in the galleries and museums sector.
Abstract Liben Building, constructed in 1822 AD, is located in Xinnan Village, Hukeng Town, Yongding District, Longyan City, Fujian Province, China. This square earthen building covers an area of about 2100 square metres. In 1931 AD, the building was sacked and burned down by bandits during a war, leaving behind only the remnants of the walls of the main building. In the metaâuniverse environment, firstly, this study adopted blockchain DAO technology to conduct a study on the digital collection, storage, processing, display and dissemination of Liben Building, revealing the problems with digital regeneration of cultural heritage. Then, the questionnaire with 20 questions was designed, and 158 valid completed copies of the questionnaire were collected. Combining influence relationship with sample clustering analysis methods, this paper explored the findings of a study of the historical sites under blockchain digital heritage preservation and protection in the metaverse.
Cultural and creative products play an important role in helping local cultural prosperity and economic development. Today, the cultural sector presents itself as an elective field of application for the development of new investments in technologies. These investments are also facilitated by recent development programs promoted nationally with the aim of digitizing the sector using the integration between technology and artistic and cultural heritage. A review of the impact of blockchain technology in this industry is provided in this study. From this analysis, we identified three use cases of blockchain application: provenance and authenticity, tokenization and fractional equity, and rights management and digital protection. In addition, a future research agenda is developed, and new research questions are offered within three research areas: (1) expanding empirical research on the topic, (2) developing a guideline for cultural managers, and (3) analyzing the customer point of view.
The emergence of technological innovations in disciplines such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IOT) has introduced opportunities to enhance the traditional user experience. The potential of these opportunities has yet to be fully explored particularly within the cultural heritage sector where immersive technologies can benefit both the user and the heritage site. A potentially unforgettable user experience can be offered in an immersive environment and these technologies can also be used to rebuild locations under threat to ensure they can be accessed in the future (Garlandini, 2021). The intention of this paper is to critically analyse the emergence of Industry 5.0 and the implementation of personalisation in a machine learning system. It is important to thoroughly evaluate the aspects of AI technologies and the IOT that can be used to support personalisation. An element of blockchain technology known as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) which was developed in the recent past may have the potential to address ongoing challenges in digital curation and this research paper will provide an evaluation of this technology. It is crucial for all the technologies mentioned to work together to produce a system that aligns with the traditional human-centred philosophy and is inclusive to all participants.
NFTs have boomed in the recent past and have implications in several fields of science. In this article, I delve into the implications and potential advantage and challenges in the use of NFTs in the field of conservation science.
At present, there are many information security issues in the digitization of intangible cultural heritage (ICH). The digital information of ICH is vulnerable to malicious tampering, stealing or attacks. The blockchain technology has the characteristics of distribution, un-tamper and traceability, which enhances security in the process of protecting digital information. Therefore, this paper discusses the integrity protection and the encryption protection from the perspective of blockchain encryption technology and provides a reference for the network security research of the ICH digital resources.