A blockchain ecosystem tokenizes undersea exploration while reshaping the ownership of precious underwater artifacts with its new cryptocurrency coin.

When you were a child, did you ever dream about being a fearless treasure hunter sailing the open seas of the world in search for adventures and eternal fame? Perhaps you were carried away with the tales of Blackbeard and Captain Hook where rebellious pirates have attacked merchant ships loaded with gold and jewelry. Maybe the idea of stealing treasure of an enemy nation excited your imagination, however, most of such battles ended with neither glory nor profit but many ships being buried deeply on the ocean’s bed.

The Bahamas is located in a historical cross-center of the major trading routes linking the New World and Europe, and it flows that the waters surrounding the islands are very rich with shipwrecks dating back to the Spanish Galleon treasure ships of the Spanish Empire.

Yet hunting for treasure is not an easy task for everyone willing to discover underwater artifacts, since for the last 18 years the government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas has held a moratorium over its territorial waters preventing underwater expeditions due to corruption and lack of oversight. Utilizing blockchain-technology, PO8 is going to bring full transparency to all stakeholders including the government of The Bahamas.

Until now heavy loads of gold, silver and jewels buried with the sunk ships in Bahamian waters were considered lost forever. However, a Bahamian-based startup, PO8 has found a way to salvage billions-worth of sunken artifacts and give them back to the world via the blockchain technologies.

As part of its plan, PO8 is introducing the Non Fungible Token also known as NFT and PAZAR Marketplace. Being ERC-721 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain, NFTs represent digital ownership of physical assets like the underwater artifacts PO8 will be recovering.

Each distinguishable NFT has a smart contract containing unique asset data cryptographically certified, confirming ownership of the physical asset. NFTs will allow for the majority of PO8 artifacts to live on the blockchain and physically remain in the custody of the PO8 Foundation for continued studies by the archaeology community and to be exhibited in various museums worldwide, while the ownership of the asset can be from anyone around the world.

NFTs will be tradable on the PAZAR marketplace rolling out later in the year. PAZAR users will be able to buy, sell, auction, lease, trade and leverage their NFTs on the marketplace platform.

The main idea underlying the PO8 project has received the wide support of scientific community. Recently David Gallo who is one of the most respected Oceanographers in the world has joined the company. Having a 30-year veteran illustrious experience in Oceanography, Gallo is going to take on the role of Vice President for Exploration at PO8.

Speaking on the idea of using blockchain for ocean exploration Galo said:

“To me PO8 is the most exciting project to come along in decades. It encourages the development of new technologies and techniques for undersea exploration and visualization. In doing so PO8 will accelerate the ability to locate, document, and protect the precious artifacts of Bahamian undersea cultural resources.”

As announced Gallo and the PO8 team has already marked a couple of target sites in the Bahamas suitable for the first exploratory mission, but the details are kept in secret.

PO8 is currently raising funds by selling utility tokens for future expeditions. The ICO is currently in pre-sale phase with minimum buy-in of 50 ETH, but in commemoration of Bahamas Independence Day on July 10, PO8 will be lowering the minimum buy-in to as little as 0.1ETH for 24 hours.