Month: January 2021

We are excited to introduce to you Pastel Network — a new platform for creators and lovers of digital arts. We unlock the full potential of monetizing and owning provably rare digital arts by utilizing a fully decentralized blockchain technology. This unique Bitcoin-like protocol, built upon the core attributes of Z-Cash and Dash, enables a safe environment for digital arts exchange, while also allowing art collectors to purchase these artworks and “trustlessly” trade them among themselves without reliance on a central authority.

Background: What is wrong with the market for digital art today?
The future of digital art is a topic that has come up in recent media and the broader art world. As more and more artists make the switch to digital creation with the ever improving software available, so comes the need to monetize upon this art. Historically, however, digital art has been almost impossible to monetize. How can digital art be valued in a way similar to traditional art that is tangible when copies can be made or forged so easily? Indeed, with all of these copies, the digital artist cannot prove to collectors that they first created or uploaded the digital masterpiece. Collectors, conversely, would find little value in “owning” the original.

Addressing this dilemma is vital for digital artists and collectors alike. One just has to look at the physical art market in order to grasp the market potential of digital art. About $50 billion was spent on physical art in 2016. Even the contemporary art industry, a comparatively small niche market, is up to $2 billion a year. That being said, there are far more straightforward frames of reference when estimating the demand potential for digital art. Online art auctions are now smashing record numbers. A piece of digital art called “Picasso’s Bull” sold for a record breaking $55,555. Shortly after, “Right Place & Right Time,” a digital art piece based on Bitcoin’s fluctuating price action, sold for over $100,000. These are indeed very promising numbers.

Clearly, there is a real potential for the digital art market. It is also obvious, however, that in order to promote this market, one must ensure the value of digital art, so that artists can appropriately value their work, and buyers can prove their original ownership. The digital arts market needs a reliable platform where digital artists and collectors can exchange their works in a secure way.

The solution: Pastel Network
Pastel Network has created a decentralized system that allows for artists to upload provably rare artworks, while providing assurance to collectors that artworks cannot be copied and resold on the network.

So how does it work? Artists can keep their intellectual property secure, and buyers too are ensured that the artwork is original via a Pastel ID. Each user is required to create this Pastel ID to access the network. The ID is made of a private key and a public ID that can be connected to the public accounts of the artist, such as Instagram and a portfolio website, to further prove authenticity. The artist stipulates the number of copies available when artworks are uploaded to the network, and the system generates a unique “ticket” and data file which records their specifications, including the hash file in the actual image of the artwork. This file is “signed” with the artist’s private key, using the QR code. When the artwork is approved by the network, collectors are free to buy and sell! The native PSL token is at the heart of the registration and trading mechanism of art on the Pastel blockchain network. In doing so, Pastel resolves the issues of legitimacy and ownership previously faced by the digital art industry.

The platform essentially eliminates the need for intermediaries, such as appraisers, while producing a highly liquid market. Pastel.Network can help the digital artist and collector hold a lot more of the value of the art by minimizing the inefficiencies that occur in the physical artwork industry. This presents a unique opportunity In the case of conventional artists, who reside in expensive cities such as New York and Paris and network with the right people, digital artists from all over the world can now exhibit their arts on a single platform.

That’s Pastel Network in a nutshell. In our follow-up Medium article, we will go more in-depth about why we are confident that Pastel Network is the best blockchain solution for digital arts. As the works of Picasso and Bitcoin proved, the use of a blockchain or distributed ledger as a digital art register has already been tried and tested, and now, it will be revolutionized.

We are also the first to show some special characteristics never before seen:

• True decentralization and trustlessness
• Our innovative file storage system
• Our revolutionizing near-duplicate image detection software!

We believe these features will provide the digital arts world the platform it has been waiting for for so long!

About Pastel Network
Pastel is an open-source, decentralized system allowing artists to register “provably rare” assets on a Bitcoin-like blockchain, while also allowing art collectors to purchase these artworks and “trustlessly” trade them among themselves without reliance on a central authority. The mission of the team is to develop the underlying infrastructure for a fully decentralized digital art platform, to better democratize the digital art world. The team behind Pastel Network is made up of an entrepreneurial team of developers, marketers and fund managers. With 2 years of development, Pastel has built a secure system, attributes of Z-Cash and Dash, that is able to identify network participants — artists, collectors, and Masternode operators — across all interactions. This attribute is essential for having a functional reputation tracking system and for detecting and mitigating hostile behavior by malicious users.

If you have comments or suggestions, feel free to contact the team.

Want to learn more about Pastel Network? Join the community via the channels below!

Pastel is designed to be the premier blockchain for digital artists and collectors. Just as a museum or gallery has no relevance without a substantial showcase of quality work for patrons and students to browse, we believe in the principles of freedom and permanence through the digital realm. Pastel has formulated a winning design for our proprietary network by focusing on ways to onboard collaborators, freelancers, and everybody else who believes in claiming their stake as a 21st century artist. We are targeting individuals who we can sponsor and incentivize to start building their reputation on the blockchain for long term storage and secure transfer of digital works. Are you an artist, illustrator, or freelance creative looking for a home that will outlast the buzz and speculation of the current cryptocurrency market? If so, we might have something for you.

Commissioned digital artwork has become both a more mainstream and practical market in many ways. From private illustrations of pop-culture and anime characters to the burgeoning scene for collectible non-fungible tokens on Ethereum, it’s quite clear that the preferences of the next generation are skewed towards a digital and infinitely reproducible format. Visual, audio, and other file types are hosted on either cloud or completely decentralized systems enabling what is called a “trustless” architecture. This means that there is no central authority who can decide whether your submission is approved for display and sale. In the case of Pastel, this also involves a commitment to file hosting that is more than just a monthly AWS subscription or private server. In other words, your work will be seen, heard and experienced as intended for the indefinite future.

In the coming months, we will be reaching out to artists on multiple platforms including leading digital collectible venues and more traditional showcase or marketplace platforms such as Etsy. Pastel will be sponsoring artists in a few exciting ways by deploying a fund specifically for artist onboarding. Those who are open to collaboration and commissioning works or who want to grow our community can be compensated with payment for providing us with exclusive content! In addition to this, we will be providing a digital artist scholarship. We want to incentivize the individuals with either the greatest curiosity or the widest reach. Popular digital non-fungible token (NFT) artists have already shown there is a huge economy for these collectibles and we wish to offer the sweetest nectar to the earliest participants on Pastel.

Many art forums and platforms don’t have the funding to attract creative talent but Pastel is ready to start building our community! We will be offering up to $1,000 for commissioned pieces exclusive to the Pastel blockchain. In addition to this, there will be smaller commissions for .GIFs to help promote our service along with a targeted campaign to encourage Etsy shops to begin listing on a digital marketplace using our NFT creation suite. We understand that marketing is a huge undertaking and we want to build our network of artists! There will be some very special perks for popular artists who want to work with us as Pastel Ambassadors and spread the word.

Not to mention, the longer-term objective of these incentives are here to stay. Intrinsic to the underlying network is the Pastel Growth Fund, which receives 5% of every block reward produced. These rewards are in turn used to enhance the promotion of the network and its participants. Notably, this includes the enlistment of digital artists who could register their original works on the system or even the purchase of select rare artworks that are available on the network as a means of introducing liquidity and as an incentive for worthy submissions. In other words, our system was built with the long-term vision to support artists.

Pastel believes there are significant advantages to using a blockchain-based platform for artwork and other digital media sales. Pastel will begin our talent search in January. There is a world of illustrators, painters, visual storytellers and more who are ready to start selling their work on a digital platform, and we will be here to build the museum of the 21st century and beyond. If you’re interested in working with us, please visit our website and contact us through our form. Our onboarding program will run through the month of January and we will be assessing each candidate on the quality of their work as well as the reach of their social accounts. Questions? Comments? Join the community via the channels below!