Decentralized Proof of Creation via Smart Contracts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing decentralized NFT marketplaces lack control for creators over their digital artifacts and derivatives, and buyers have limited access to proof of creation, leading to marketplace lock-in and lack of visibility into the sources used by creators.
Innovation Solution
A proof of creation facilitator service maintains a blockchain with social decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and creator contracts, allowing creators to mint decentralized proof of creation NFTs independently of marketplaces, enabling them to control monetization and ownership, and providing buyers with direct access to creator identities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If creators use centralized NFT marketplaces to mint and sell digital artifacts, then they can access a large audience and monetize their work, but they lose control over their digital artifacts and derivatives, and are locked into the marketplace's ecosystem
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the NFT marketplace functionality into independent creator contracts and a facilitator service. Each creator has their own contract that independently manages their digital artifacts, allowing them to maintain control while still accessing the marketplace for monetization. This segmentation prevents marketplace lock-in by making the creator's control independent of the marketplace platform.
Solution Approach 2:
The facilitator service acts as an intermediary between creators and buyers, managing the blockchain infrastructure and smart contracts without requiring creators to cede control. The facilitator provides technical infrastructure while creators retain ownership and control through their independent contracts, resolving the contradiction between accessibility and autonomy.
2Reliability
If buyers rely on marketplace-issued proofs of creation, then they can verify ownership through the marketplace, but they have limited access to creator identities and cannot independently verify creation claims
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts the proof of creation function from the marketplace and embeds it directly in the creator's independent contract on the blockchain. This allows buyers to access creator identities and verification data directly through the blockchain, eliminating reliance on marketplace intermediaries while maintaining proof reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The creator contract provides transparent feedback to buyers about the creator's identity and creation claims through blockchain-verified data. Buyers receive direct information about creators without needing to trust marketplace assertions, as the blockchain provides immutable, accessible verification of creation proofs and creator identities.
3Ease of manufacture
If creators upload their original digital artifacts to third-party marketplace servers, then they can list their work for sale, but they lose control over their creation and the marketplace retains complete control over monetization terms
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments control by implementing independent creator contracts that manage each creator's digital artifacts separately from the marketplace infrastructure. Creators retain control over their artifacts and monetization terms while still being able to list work through the facilitator service, eliminating the need to upload to marketplace servers that would consolidate control.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments described herein are generally directed to decentralized proof of creation. According to one embodiment, a blockchain and smart contracts, including a social decentralized identifier (DID) contract and multiple creator contracts owned and controlled by respective creators, are maintained by a proof of creation facilitator service. A first social DID for a creator of a digital artifact is created on the blockchain via the social DID contract. Based at least in part on the first social DID, decentralized proof of creation (e.g., a non-fungible token (NFT)) for the digital artifact is created on the blockchain via a creator contract of the multiple creator contracts deployed by or on behalf of the creator.