Art seems to be the latest frontier for the continuing blockchain voyage as it attempts to completely revolutionize the world. Historically speaking, the art industry has been beset with a number of issues closely related to the opaque nature of the market and the attendant difficulties of verifying authenticity.

Codex, a startup blockchain company in conjunction with Pantera Capital is looking to change all of that using blockchain technology. Pantera is one of the most notable hedge funds investment firm with a focus on blockchain and cryptocurrency.

Provenance Meets the Blockchain

One of the biggest issues in the art industry is the inadequate provenance framework. Provenance basically means the history of ownership of an artwork like a painting. It is a means of authenticating an artwork to know if it is genuine or the work of a copycat.

Pieces of art aren’t the only items that have an issue with provenance, collectibles like antique objects as well as jewelry also have the same issue. It is for this reason that Codex in partnership with Pantera has developed a blockchain-based solution to solve this problem.

In an announcement by Codex on Tuesday, February 27, 2018, it was revealed that Pantera Capital had invested $5 million in the project. Codex wants to create a decentralized ledger solution that will completely simplify provenance as far as artworks and other collectibles are concerned.

As part of the investment, Joey Krug, co-chief investment officer at Pantera has joined the Codex project in an advisory role. The aim of the project is to introduce transparency into the provenance process.

By digitizing the process, the art industry can do away with the tedious process of verifying paper documents in order to ascertain the authenticity of an item.

A More Simplified and Secure Process

Codex is hoping to leverage the potential benefits of a blockchain framework to the art industry. One of these core benefits is the easy access to information. Both buyer and seller would be able to track the provenance information of an artwork on the blockchain.

This way, it becomes to conclusively track the ownership of an item. However, by virtue of the privacy features of a blockchain, this easy access to information does not compromise the privacy and security of large, wealthy art collectors who are usually protective of their identities.

Speaking on the project, Mark Lurie, the CEO of Codex said that blockchain will enable easy proof of ownership of artworks without compromising privacy. By so doing, artworks and other collectibles can essentially begin to flourish as digital assets.

Speaking for Pantera Capital, Joey Krug said Pantera believes strongly in the project and that the project has the potential to further diversify the cryptocurrency market to include artworks and other collectibles.

Codex is also looking at creating a blockchain-based bidding solution for art auctions called Biddable. The protocol is being designed to simplify the art auction bidding process. It incorporates the blockchain-based provenance architecture as well as a framework for an efficient art bidding/auction process.

Biddable hopes to do away with the extensive financial disclosures required to participate in art auction activities. The platform also wants to eradicate the practice of reneging on auction agreements after winning the bid.

Feature image by Jay