Read More: Blockchain’s Latest Purpose: Helping Art Collectors Spot Fakes
Verisart is also drawing investment. It has received funding from Rhodium, an early stage venture capital firm from Israel, Sinai Ventures from San Francisco and also issued convertible notes.
Verisart started in 2015 as a phone app for artists to create their own system of art verification. That approach didn’t take off, said Norton. Then the company built a Web app working with Ahmed Elgammal, a computer science professor at Rutgers University.
Got Feedback
“We were a little bit early, we were figuring out where the market was, getting feedback from artists, and building a platform that people could use,” Norton said. “Now increasingly working with partners, those certificates can be customized.”
Colbert’s certificates, for example, contain small reproductions of the piece itself called “image hashes,” along with all of the relevant information about its creation, ownership and movement, such as whether it was part of an exhibition. He’ll have a show in Tokyo in September and Beijing next February.
Since Verisart uses the unaltered Bitcoin blockchain rather than a customized version, one risk may be that their effort can be easily replicated, since it brings little in the way of new technology. Some collectors, particularly those who buy and sell privately may also be reluctant to share their information in such a public way.
“The blockchain is a more efficient method of verification,” Colbert said. “You’re not worried about the authentic value of your work, because it’s all about locking down the time and place. Then all those fakes aren’t doing you any damage. All those fake Mona Lisas don’t do the Mona Lisa any harm.”
Ultimately, putting art on the blockchain could lead to a decentralized art registry that would cover a significant amount of the world’s art.
“Over time, different registries will be able to share those image hashes and you could consolidate and build effectively a decentralized art registry,” Norton said. “There won’t be just one registry out there for all the art and collectibles’ markets but we do see the basis to build a decentralized title registry on the back of image hashes and cryptographic proofs.”
Fairey’s Portraits
The service may potentially become popular among artists selling limited edition prints, Norton said. Shepard Fairey, a Los Angeles-based artist best known for his portraits of President Obama and pictures of immigrants, was so impressed that he not only started using Verisart, he also invested in the company.