How Computer Vision Could Help NFT Authenticity

Posted on October 28, 2022October 28, 2022 by Anthony Georgiades

Computer vision is a new field of science that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to teach computers how to interpret visual data.

It’s currently used at the forefront of the autonomous vehicles industry to detect and classify objects like road signs, create 3D maps– and, recently, its technology is being explored to verify NFT authenticity.

The NFT market is worth $4.36 billion but has been criticized throughout 2022 due to faults in the minting process and scams. Since July 2021, over $137.6m of crypto assets have been stolen due to rug pulls and other crypto scams, with most investors losing everything in the process.

Computer vision could help tackle these problems by proving the authenticity of an NFT before a purchase. By proving authenticity, buyers can be confident in their purchases, and NFT scams will be harder to pull off.

This article will cover what computer vision is, common NFT authenticity issues and scams, and how computer vision can be used to solve them.

What Is Computer Vision?

Computer vision is the process of creating a digital system that processes visual data in a similar way to people. The idea behind computer vision is to help computers understand images at a pixel level, picking up visual data that can’t be picked up by the human eye.

The technology is commonly used for:

Object classification: When a computer classifies an object in a video or photo and assigns it to a category. For example, the system can help categorize images with a bird, a specific color, or with people in it.
Object identification: When a computer looks through an image or video to identify a particular object. For example, a specific type of rock, the back of a vehicle, or a specific animal.
Object tracking: when a computer looks through a video to search for certain criteria, which will then have its movement tracked.

Computer vision is currently used in several industries including healthcare, automotive, agriculture, and retail, where it’s used to improve the efficiency of different systems.

Common NFT Authenticity Issues

Double Minting

A current issue within the NFT space is double minting. This is when a seller will double-mint their NFT collection.

Phishing

Phishing usually involves a fake ad, email, or pop-up from a website promising a high ROI NFT. To claim this NFT, users will be asked for their private wallet details. Once the scammers have this information, they can steal all NFTs and cryptocurrency in the wallet.

Airdrop

Airdrop scams are extremely common on social media. They usually advertise a free NFT for sharing a post with friends or signing up for an email list. When a user goes to claim their prize, they’re asked for cryptocurrency wallet information for the NFT, which hackers use to gain access to the account.

Project Impersonations

NFT Iinvestors are sometimes taken advantage of by project impersonators due to the complexity of the industry’s fairly disparate moving parts.

This is when an individual claims to be selling NFTs from a popular project, usually with an incentive such as a discount. They create a similar-looking website to make the project look legit and then sell a fake NFT to buyers.

Unfortunately, even the most experienced crypto investors fall for project impersonations, such as Pranksy, who paid more than $336,000 for a fake Banksy NFT.

How Can Computer Vision Solve NFT Authenticity?

It’s important to note that the result of applying computer vision technology to NFTs is largely speculation. The technology is still in its infancy and we don’t know exactly how it would work, but with that in mind, here’s how computer vision could work if applied to NFTs.

Firstly, computer vision could solve authenticity by embedding verification codes into an NFTs image.

This code would be so small it could only be picked up by software and so wouldn’t impact the image itself. Each time an NFT was sold, its authenticity could be verified by scanning it with computer vision software.

The code would prevent scammers from replicating an NFT as they wouldn’t be able to replicate the code, making it safer for investors to buy NFTs.

As well as authenticating NFTs on an individual level, NFTs could also be authenticated on a project basis. This would work with computer vision object classification, where an NFT would be classified by a certain project.

The process would work much like the individual codes, however, would show that an NFT is actually part of a project. Therefore, if a scam project was created users could quickly verify if it’s legit.

This technology is already being used by the likes of Google Cloud and Mobile Vision APIs, which help developers process images through machine learning models. Through an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) functionality, users can detect text in images that aren’t visible to the human eye.

It’s also being used by Amazon Rekognition, a video analysis service designed to simplify the analysis process. It’s used to identify text, people, activities, and objects in an image. It’s currently used to detect inappropriate content; however, its technology could be applied to authenticate NFTs.

Development platforms such as Althea AI and Fetch.ai are currently testing different ways computer vision can impact NFTs through smart computer vision. They’re looking for ways to incorporate language and speech into NFTs to create a dialog with owners.

If successful, it could be used to authenticate an NFT through unique language exchanges or specific answers to questions that only a real NFT can provide.

Final Thoughts: Could Computer Vision Be The Future of NFTs?

Although computer vision is yet to be applied to NFTs, it has plenty of potential to help overcome many of the scams currently occurring in the market, making it friendlier for new investors.

As both NFTs and computer vision continues to innovate, it’s likely they’ll have additional applications for NFTs and Web 3.

Although few claims are definitive, computer vision is an exciting concept that could play a significant role in adding legitimacy and structure to a rapidly evolving market of digital art.

SmartMint vs. Other NFT Tools

Posted on October 27, 2022January 18, 2023 by Tiffany Behnam

SmartMint — The Leading NFT Minting Platform

There are variety of tools on the market promising ease-of-use, no-code minting, and safe and secure storage. In this article, we share how SmartMint is truly differentiated from other competitors in the market such as NiftyKit and Manifold Studio.

SmartMint empowers creators without needing to know or understand much about NFTs, smart contracts, or blockchain to mint their works.

This is essential because there are various so-called no-code NFT minting platforms that include features that many creators new to the space won’t fully understand. Our objective is to make onboarding to Web3 as painless and seamless as possible. Creators should do what they do best — create — and not worry about ASCII marks, how to create un-lockable NFTs, or understand the underlying coding for NFT properties or collections.

How can we guarantee that? Well, SmartMint was developed by creators for creators and is the world’s first truly no-code NFT minting platform that provides NFT security and truly permanent decentralized storage.

So, what is SmartMint?

SmartMint is an NFT minting platform where users can easily create, manage, and mint NFTs on their own custom smart contracts. The tool also provides creators with additional peace of mind as it leverages Pastel’s infrastructure for near-duplicate NFT detection (Sense) and permanent NFT data storage (Cascade).

SmartMint enables creators to mint NFTs directly on Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Pastel, and more with a simple click of a button. Creators can launch drops on SmartMint as their backend management platform and list NFTs for sale on their own site or marketplaces like OpenSea.

SmartMint makes minting NFT drops and collections easy and more powerful than ever.

Users can seamlessly create custom NFT Drops and Collections via smart contracts deployed on a particular network like Ethereum with the automated no-code tools provided by SmartMint.

Once a creator signs up for the SmartMint membership — which is free — and connects their digital asset wallet, they will have access to tools to create and manage custom NFT drops and collections.

The platform was developed to make minting NFTs and creating drops/collections as seamless and simple as possible. The process is broken down into three straightforward steps:

Create a drop or collection
Create the Custom Smart Contract
Generate NFTs

From there, creators can manage existing drops, add new NFTs to existing collections, and list for sale on marketplaces like OpenSea or Rarible or airdrop to fans.

Why is SmartMint the best option for creators?

Easy.

1) Ease of Use

SmartMint is extremely simple to use. It was made for new and established creators alike. Its purpose is to allow creators to mint NFTs and deploy custom smart contracts that YOU OWN.

When we say no code we mean it — no coding is required to mint your creations. Many existing “no-code” platforms — before you even can begin minting — force you to create or upload ASCII marks. While ASCII marks are cool because they are basically your digital signature for your artwork, it requires serious know-how and technical knowledge to create. Many artists have them but the only reason they do is because they either paid someone or some separate platform / website to do it.

Let’s say you figure that out or pay someone to do it, and you finally get to create your NFTs and mint. The minting process can be complicated — using a variety of jargon without explaining it or requiring a series of steps that are truly intimidating.

SmartMint was designed to be intuitive and user-friendly. All you need to do is upload your file, select a network (like Ethereum, Polygon, or Solana), type your contract name and symbol (aka your personal stock market ticker), add your NFT details, enter your collection description, and you are DONE.

2) Multi-Chain Access

The future of Web3 is multi-chain. For this ecosystem to thrive, interoperability, consolidated access, and easy-to-use platforms working across different blockchains are key. Each blockchain provides variety of different features, attributes, and strengths, so isolating them and forcing you to manually access each one is not sustainable. Moreover, it could even lead to a stagnant, idling ecosystem where networks are cannibalizing each another for share. Interoperability and comprehensive interfaces is truly the only way for Web3 to succeed.

Pastel is a firm believer in this multi-chain future, and has built its network around interoperability and seamless bridging through the development of Pastel’s own Web3 Open APIs.

So, it was only logical to incorporate that vision and technological innovation into SmartMint.

SmartMint allows you to mint NFTs on a variety of networks, including Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, and more, very easily. With one click, you can mint on different chains — offering you versatility and optionality.

In this multi-chain future, having the ability to create custom smart contracts and mint NFTs on any chain AND on one simple platform will be extremely invaluable.

3) Permanent Storage, Data Security, and CopyMint Protection

Never worry about losing or someone copying your NFTs again.

You may ask, how?

Well, SmartMint was built by the developers behind Pastel Network — an app-specific, purpose-built native blockchain who brought the ecosystem Sense & Cascade. These two services are mission-critical for the ecosystem, and the team at Pastel decided to integrate them into the platform on the back end.

Pastel’s Cascade is a decentralized storage layer that brings you true NFT permanence on chain. You should never have to be concerned about pinning to IPFS, navigating the complexities of Arweave, or paying monthly hosting fees for centralized services.

Sense combats fraud and copymint issues through a revolutionary near-duplicate detection system that assesses the relative rareness of NFTs using ML algorithms. What does that mean? Your work is certified as authentic and rare.

So, not only is SmartMint easy to use and super straightforward, but it also provides the highest tier of NFT security, copymint protection, and permanent storage. And, this is all done without any coding or Web3 complexities.

The reason SmartMint has all these amazing features and guarantees ownership and security of your smart contracts and NFTs is because it is built on a native layer-1 blockchain. As mentioned above, the team behind Pastel Network built SmartMint on top of this powerful and robust network. So, all the functionality and capabilities of the network that have led to partnerships with major players in the ecosystem, including Avalanche and Polkadot, are running on SmartMint and supporting creators on every step of your NFT creation journey.

4) Creator Ownership: You created it — it should be yours.

Alright, so once you navigate the complexities of the other “no-code” platforms, you may actually find yourself in a position to mint your NFTs, which is exciting!

However, without ruining the mood too much, there is one question you should really ask yourself: when you create the smart contract for your NFTs do you own it?

With marketplaces, you do not retain ownership of the smart contracts and in the case of these tools you will more often than not have to deal with third-party smart contracts created out of your contract.

What does that mean? You do not actually own the smart contracts and thus the NFTs. It is a little crazy to think that you put all of this effort, time, and passion into creating amazing works and because you are not a developer or technical guru, you lose your right to them.

SmartMint is different. You own the smart contract. Period. AND you will always own it. Even in the very unlikely event that one day you decide to delete your SmartMint account, the smart contracts will always be yours.

5) Oh, and it’s FREE.

SmartMint membership is free. The only fee you pay is network gas to mint your NFTs.

SmartMint is a game-changer for the NFT ecosystem because of its simplicity and versatility. Start creating on SmartMint today!

Link to sign up: https://smartmint.pastel.network/signup

About Pastel Network

Pastel Network is a fully decentralized, developer-friendly layer-1 blockchain serving as the preeminent protocol standard for non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) and Web3 technology.

Pastel allows for the development of third-party decentralized-applications (“DApps”) to sit on top of its Network, enabling developers to enjoy the scalable registration features, storage processes, and security of the broader ecosystem. Lightweight protocols such as Sense — which was built to assess the relative rareness of a given NFT against near-duplicate metadata — and Cascade — which conducts permanent, distributed storage of underlying NFT data — can be integrated cross-chain across various layer-1 blockchains, layer-2 protocols, or other third-party apps.

Pastel is managed by world-class developers, cryptographers, and technologists, supported alongside an experienced and extensive network of marketers, influencers, and third-party agencies. Pastel is backed by key stakeholders including Innovating Capital, a prominent venture fund.

For more information on Pastel Network, visit https://pastel.network/.

Originally Published on Pastel Network’s Medium

Doodles NFTs Explained (Read Before Buying)

Posted on October 19, 2022October 19, 2022 by Andrew Amarosa

Doodles is a collection of 10,000 PFP (profile-picture) NFTs featuring art by Burnt Toast. Burnt Toast is the artist name of Scott Martin, a Canadian–based illustrator, designer, animator, and muralist.

Minted on October 17th, 2021, Doodles come in a wide range of colors, sizes, and traits, with each owner having the right to vote for experiences paid for by the Doodles Community Treasury.

Since its release, Doodles has become one of the most successful NFT collections worldwide, with a sales volume of 150,000 ETH and a current floor price of 7.95 ETH ($10,235.)

Doodle’s vision is to revolutionize media and entertainment through Web 3, impacting industries such as gaming, music, and real-life events through Doodle NFT avatars.

This article will cover what Doodles are, how Doodles work, the founding of the Doodles, and the project’s future.

What are Doodles?

Doodles is a colorful hand-drawn collection of 10,000 NFTs designed by Burnt Toast.

Each NFT represents a playful character showcasing unique animal costumes, hairstyles, and accessories such as sunglasses. The collection includes non-human characters, including apes, skeletons, cats, and pickles.

In total, there are 100 different traits that influence the rarity and price of each NFT.

The rarest traits include devil horns (0.43%), 60’s sunglasses (0.22%), and a Holographic space background which belongs to only one Doodle.

On September 13th, 2022, Doodle raised $54 million at a funding round led by Seven Seven Six, with a valuation of $704 million. Despite being valued amongst projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks, the Doodles NFT price stayed the same.

However, the funding has provided Doodles with the financial leverage they need to expand their project. According to the team, the funds will be used to “acquire a world-class team of engineers, creatives, marketers, and business executives.” It will also be used to promote the project, influence other areas of DeFi, and fund Doodles 2, which we’ll cover later in this article.

How Do Doodles Work?

Doodles is a community-driven project launched to “bring joy to everyone who sees them.” Since its initial release, the project has released additional NFT collections, sold Doodles merchandise (though this is currently only hold), and held live events, all exclusive to Doodle holders.

Holders have power over how the Doodles Community Treasury is used. Known as the Doodlebank, holders can vote on campaigns and experiences for the community. They can also submit proposals that are voted on by the community and implemented by the team. Each holder gets one vote per Doodle they hold.

When a Doodle is sold on OpenSea, half of the 5% royalty fee is deposited into the treasury. This is then used to scale the Doodles development team and grow the brand through marketing efforts and promotions.

On February 28th, 2022, Doodles released a second NFT project, Space Doodles. Space Doodles were designed as free companion NFTs for existing Doodle holders. To claim their NFT, holders could launch their own personal spaceship to claim their Space Doodle.

To avoid diluting the supply, Doodles used wrapped NFTs. A process in which the original NFT would be stored in a digital vault when a smart contract was used to create a Space Doodle. This meant holders could own either a Doodle or Space Doodle and not both at the same time. Space Doodles can be unwrapped at any time to receive their original Doodle NFT.

The dev team has stated that Space Doodles will be used in future Doodles experiences such as NFT gaming, music, and other “universe expansions.”

Who Founded Doodles?

Doodles was founded by Scott Martin and former Dapper Labs employees Evan Keast and Jordan Castro.

Scott Martin, also known as Burnt Toast, is the artist behind the project, with prior experience as a designer, animator, and muralist. Previously, he worked with brands such as Google, Dropbox, and Adobe.

Evan Keast, also known as Tulip, helped develop the project’s branding. Before Doodles, he worked at Dapper Labs, where he helped market the blockchain game CryptoKitties.

Jordan Castro, known as Poopie, works on the product side of Doodles and previously worked with Evan on CryptoKitties.

The team has since expanded, recruiting former Billboard President Julian Holguin as partner and CEO. Julian is helping the team move into the gaming, music, and consumer goods market. They’ve also brought on Pharrell Williams, American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer, as the project’s chief brand officer. His job includes product music projects, animated films, and project launches.

The Future of Doodles

Having already made headlines, the Doodles team has big goals for the project with the release of Doodles 2.

The team plans to attract a greater audience with Doodles 2, allowing more NFT enthusiasts to get involved in the project. Rumors suggest Doodles 2 will be created on a different blockchain and will be released this year; however, there’s no exact date or blockchain in place.

Unlike most NFT projects, Doodles 2 is giving investors the chance to customize their NFTs by choosing traits like hair color and skin tone, then adding different accessories and wearables. Once owned, holders can change their look, swapping between PFP perspectives and full-body options, as well as unlock animated versions of their NFTs with music.

Doodles 2 will also introduce the Doodles Genesis Box. The Doodles Genesis Box will hold a range of first-edition wearables that can be sent to Doodles 2. This collection will feature 24,000 boxes and will launch via what Doodles have called a Bucket Auction.

Final Thoughts: Are Doodles Worth The Investment?

Doodles is considered one of the most exciting NFT projects due to its continuous investment in its team and community. The project has the potential to revolutionize NFTs with a customizable Doodle 2 collection, which is eagerly anticipated throughout the community.

Despite the 2022 NFT market turbulence, Doodles has continued to thrive, building a huge community of loyal fans, releasing merchandise, and expanding on their project.

With the addition of new team members, we’ll likely see more of Doodles in markets across Web 3.

Nonetheless, it’s always important to remember that the NFT market is unpredictable. Always do your research before making an investment to reduce risk and maximize your profits.

Music NFTs: What Musicians and Fans Should Know

Posted on October 19, 2022October 19, 2022 by Anthony Georgiades

Music NFTs are digital assets stored on the blockchain and represent ownership of a piece of music. They’re used to buy, sell and trade music rights and grant owners benefits such as royalties.

Most NFTs are typically associated with digital art and collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club; however, their technology can also impact how we buy and sell music.

The music NFT idea is to give power back to musicians, helping them directly sell and collect royalties through their craft. In the modern music industry, streaming platforms such as Spotify have resulted in 50% fewer album sales since 2010. This has left musicians struggling financially, with groups such as the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers protesting against Spotify for higher payouts.

Music NFTs let musicians sell directly to their audience, increasing the amount they make from each sale. They also let musicians give back to their fans, for example, the blockchain enables artists to “airdrop” each of their NFT holders exclusive new NFTs. These NFTs could include exclusive songs, gig access, and more.

This article will cover what music NFTs are, how music NFTs work, the different types of music NFTs, where you can buy them, and whether or not they’ll change the music industry.

What Are Music NFTs?

A music NFT (non-fungible token) is a unique digital asset representing music ownership. It can be bought and sold like any other NFT and often combines a visual component with a musical one.

Music NFTs can be purchased on digital NFT exchanges such as Royal. These exchanges let artists create tiered NFT purchase options based on fans’ interests. For example, on Royal, fans can choose between “Gold,” “Platinum,” and “Diamond” NFTs. Each tier offers additional benefits, including VIP tickets, signed vinyl records, and exclusive merchandise.

Once a music NFT is owned, it can be listened to like a normal piece of music or sold on NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea.

How Do Music NFTs Work?

Music NFTs work like traditional CDs. A limited number are released, and instead of limited edition CDs, fans can choose from different tiers based on the rewards offered by an artist.

They’ve already been used by celebrities such as The Chainsmokers, Snoop Dogg & Steve Aoki. Snoop Dogg, for example, released 25,000 Stash Box NFTs as part of his B.O.D.R. (Back on Death Row) album, selling each for $5,000. He made $44 million in revenue, which is drastically higher than what he’d earn through streaming.

Once sold, a music NFT can be used to track the use of a song, showing data such as how much it’s played and how often it’s sold, with musicians earning a royalty for each sale.

What Are The Types of NFT Music?

Music NFTs have two different functions.

The first function represents ownership and royalty share of a song. Known as Limited Digital Assets (LDAs), LDAs give fans a percentage of revenue from streaming royalties as long as they hold the NFT. This was first used on Royal by 3LAU, who minted the first LDA for his song Worst Case.

The second function of music NFTs is the right to stream a song. These NFTs give the owner the right to stream a song for an agreed period, but come with no additional benefits.

Artists are also looking for lucrative ways to give back to fans with NFTs. Like Gary Vee’s VeeFriends, artists are giving NFT holders exclusive access to limited edition merchandise, early access to concert tickets, meet and greets, airdrops, giveaways, and exclusive events to interact with the artist themselves. All fans need to do is hold the NFT to earn their rewards.

For example, in November 2021, American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold released an NFT collection known as the “Deathbats Club.” This 10,000-NFT collection gave holders the chance to earn free tickets for life, merchandise, and even the opportunity to hang out with their favorite band members.

Which NFT Exchange Can You Buy Music NFTs From?

If you want to buy a music NFT, you’ll need to use an NFT exchange. Popular exchanges such as OpenSea offer music NFTs; however, they’re somewhat limited compared to dedicated music NFT exchanges.

Music NFT platforms provide musicians and fans with features to create, listen to, buy and sell NFTs. Here are four of the best music NFT exchanges to buy your music NFTs from.

Royalty

Royalty helps music artists mint royalty music NFTs and lets holders share revenue from sales. All NFTs sold on the platform give buyers a royalty on each sale, ranging from 0.002% to over 1% per sale. The artist can choose what % of royalties go towards NFT holders, with artists such as 3LAU dedicating 100% of all royalty sales to his fans.

SoundXYZ

SoundXYZ is a music platform founded in 2021 that lets musicians create and sell music NFTs. It has a built-in wallet where users can hold their NFTs once purchased and a marketplace to buy and sell music. As of October 2022, musicians have earned $3,545,770.76 from sales on the platform.

Opulous

Opulous is a blockchain-based NFT music exchange that also offers DeFi loans. It offers music by artists such as Tyga and Lil Pump as well as music loans for new artists who need a financial boost.

GlassXYZ

GlassXYZ is a music NFT marketplace that specializes in music videos. Still in early development, the platform has ten music creators and 597 sales on the platform as of October 2022. It’s the perfect platform for music fans who love music videos.

Final Thoughts: Can Music NFTs Disrupt The Music Industry?

Music NFTs are still a relatively new concept but have shown a great deal of potential for both fans and artists.

Firstly, they provide musicians with greater control over their music, including how it’s used, how it’s shared, and most importantly, how they can profit from it. With a greater share of the profits, musicians could use NFT purchases to fund additional studio time and boost their overall musical career.

NFTs also allow artists to give back to their fans and build a stronger fan-artist relationship. They can offer a wide range of gifts to NFT holders, giving loyal fans a chance to meet their favorite band members, collect exclusive merchandise, and even earn free concert tickets.

By combining traditional album sales, concert sales, and NFTs, artists could begin to increase their income potential and connect with their fans in ways never possible in the past, creating an exciting new trend in the music industry.

What Are Soulbound Tokens & Why Should You Care?

Posted on October 14, 2022October 14, 2022 by Anthony Georgiades

Soulbound Tokens (SBTs) are permanent, non-transferable NFTs that represent a holder’s identity and reputation.

They contain data such as an individual’s work history, credit score, education, medical history, and personal certifications, all of which are stored on the blockchain. This data is used to verify information during processes such as going for a job interview.

However, SBTs have created a divide amongst crypto enthusiasts; some argue that they’d be a great way to verify information, while others have compared them to an authoritarian social credit system.

This article will cover what Soulbound Tokens are, how they work, the team behind SBTs, and various Soulbound Token applications.

What Are Soulbound Tokens?

Soulbound Tokens are permanent non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that can’t be given away or stolen from a crypto wallet.

The idea behind Soulbound Tokens comes from the video game World of Warcraft (WoW.) In the game, “Soulbound” refers to ownership of an item that cannot be traded or gifted to another player.

Think of Soulbound Tokens like CV’s for everyday life. They display your achievements, such as a professional certification, degree, award, or experience in a particular field. They also include achievements outside work, such as sports teams you’ve played for, events you’ve completed, and medical records for hospital appointments.

SBTs also include personal information such as your name, date of birth, political parties you support, criminal record, religious beliefs, and just about anything else you want to showcase to the world. If there’s a fact you want to share, it can be done through your Soulbound Token.

How Do Soulbound Tokens Work?

Soulbound Tokens work by proving a particular statement to be fact. On social media platforms, anyone can claim just about anything. However, with SBTs, claims must be backed by another wallet.

Each individual has their own “Soul” which is basically a private wallet. Institutions would also have “Souls” (wallets) and would be able to give Soulbound Tokens to prove a particular statement. For example, if you went to Oxford University, the university would have to give you an SBT to prove you have a degree from the institution. In theory, this would make it impossible for someone to make a false statement.

By granting SBTs to individuals, the project team believes they can solve many of the problems associated with decentralized finance. In particular, they believe it could prevent theft and scams, as individuals would be able to verify their identity before any transaction takes place.

It would also let investors check a project’s reputation before buying. From July 2021 to July 2022 over $100m worth of NFTs have been stolen through rug pulls and other cryptocurrency scams. With SBTs, investors can check if the individuals behind a project can be trusted before getting involved. This will help individuals make better-informed decisions and limit scams throughout the community.

However, there’s one big flaw in the current system: once an individual has an SBT, they can’t get rid of it. In theory, this means an organization or individual could potentially sabotage an individual’s “Soul” by sending them unwarranted tokens.

To tackle this, features are being developed that would let individuals hide or destroy an SBT if it doesn’t belong in their wallet. A “social recovery model” has also been proposed, where an individual can appoint “guardians” for their wallet. These guardians can be individuals or institutions who can change the private keys of a user’s wallet. Therefore they could keep a user safe if their wallet is compromised. However, this idea is still in early development.

Who Created Soulbound Tokens?

Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin, Puja Ohlhaver, and Eric Glen Weyl created the Soulbound Tokens in May 2022.

Buterin is a Russian-born Canadian programmer and writer who’s been in the cryptocurrency space since 2011. He co-founded Bitcoin Magazine and is best known as the face of Ethereum.

Puja Ohlhaver is a lawyer in the crypto space who’s worked with Buterin on previous projects.

Eric Glen Weyl is an economist and social technologist. He works as a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research New England and is a Visiting Senior Research Scholar at Yale University, where he teaches an economics-computer science course.

Soulbound Token Applications

Decentralized Banks

SBTs provide banks with financial data that can be used to grant loans, overdrafts, and other financial incentives. They can help verify an individual’s reputation based on their financial history, including loans already taken out, when they were paid, and if they’ve ever missed a payment.

DAO Voting

DAOs play an important part in decentralized governance models, allowing users to vote on the future of a protocol. SBTs could be used to prove an individual’s identity and reduce the risk of Sybil attacks.

CV’s

When applying for a job, everyone needs a CV and cover letter. SBTs could replace these forms by displaying an application’s work experience, qualifications, and employer reviews in one place. They’d work as proof of skill set and prevent individuals from lying on their applications.

Medical Records

Getting your hands on your own medical records is a lengthy process and can often take days for a doctor to send over. Instead of relying on slow governing institutions, SBTs can be used to store medical records, replacing physical paper records. When visiting a doctor or hospital, individuals could use their SBTs to show any prior accidents, surgeries, and general medical information.

Final Thoughts: Could Soulbound Tokens Revolutionize Personal Data?

With Soulbound Tokens planned to be available by the end of 2022, many crypto enthusiasts are asking how they’ll impact how we use and interact with personal data.

For Web3 users, SBTs are a great way to resolve many issues around scams and fraud, verifying a user’s identity. They’re a great way to showcase skill sets and qualifications and have many applications in everyday life.

However, will they be adopted by everyone? With cryptocurrency still being somewhat of a fringe subject, it’s unlikely that the general public will currently adopt Soulbound Tokens. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean SBTs haven’t got potential.

As the widespread adoption of cryptocurrency continues to grow, so does the potential for mass SBT adoption. To keep up with the latest updates, you can join the Soulbound Discord and Telegram channels, where the developers reveal their latest innovations on the project.