By Anetor E. K | 06 Oct 2019.
Introduction
I have realised that the world has changed immeasurably over the past hundreds of years, in the area of the artworld which has stagnated. Stuffy and stuck in the past, it’s a multibillion dollar industry operating to eighteenth century standards. The way in which art is valued, authenticated, worshipped, auctioned, acquired and increased invalue is virtually the same today as it was few centuries ago. It’s an industry which is cloaked with inefficiencies that put buyers and sellers alike at a disadvantage.
Solution to the problems stated above
This is where ArtPro, a complete ecosystem in which traditional and contemporary art harnesses cryptocurrency, smart contracts and augmented reality to create an open platform that supports everyone from emerging artists to first-time investors, comes into the picture.
Through partnerships with galleries that are working with rising artists, ArtPro’s MVP will launch populated with contemporary works that can be admired and acquired instantly. Buyers have the option to store purchases in a secure facility for investment purposes or to have them shipped to a location of their choice.
For years, I have experienced the situation in which the art market has failed to innovate and persisted with inefficient systems that benefit auction houses and galleries but do little for the creators and collectors of great art. ArtPro is bringing the outmoded art industry into the 21st century while eliminating the fakes that are endemic to the industry through a proprietary three-part provenance solution. The ArtPro ecosystem shall be characterized by transparency and fairness for the benefit of every participant.
The Art Market Overview
From my findings and research as regards the general market overview in the world of Art, sales in the global art market reached $63.7 billion in 2017 , up 12% from the year prior. The US is the largest market, accounting for 42% of sales by value, with China in second place (21%) and the UK the third largest market (20%).
Art and collectibles are a $2 trillion asset class which is expected to grow to $2.7 trillion in the next 10 years, with an estimated $620 billion of annual transactions. The online art market also reached a new high of $5.4 billion in 2017, up 10% year-on-year, and accounting for 8% of the value of global sales. The online art market has grown substantially in size over the last five years (by 72%), and its share of total art sales has also edged up from 5% in 2013.
Also i discovered the the majority of traditional offline dealers surveyed in 2017 recognized online channels as a key area of growth over the next five years.I further buttress my findings above using a pictorial explanation, using the chart image that is shown below :
The Artpro Platform
Using the ArtPro Marketplace, that means users will use a rating system in tandem with blockchain-held reports to deliver a high level of transparency. It will create a benchmark for sellers to aim for and buyers to seek that will be transformative to online sales.
Let me give you a brief example of how the system works:
lets say that i have $20,000 to spend on a work of art but my time is precious and i am unable to trawl auction houses and galleries. Then i search the ArtPro dApp by artist, genre, size and medium. My search returns 100 suitable options, but in my own perspective, a certificate of authentication is imperative as i would like to think that in years to come my children will benefit from the sale of a wise investment. Using the rating system, i can eliminate any works that lack verified provenance (held on the ArtPro blockchain), before settling on a shortlist of artworks that i like from highly rated sellers and galleries.
I know that some of you might be wondering, “what does the term ‘Provenance’ mean?”.
Dont worry i will give an explanation of what the term means in the Art world context.
The word “provenance” is derived from the Latin ‘pro-venire’, meaning ‘to come forth’. In theory, provenance should provide what is known as a ‘chain of title’, a trail of documentation supporting the origins, ownership and authenticity of a piece with verified and traceable information from credible sources.
It is also now relied upon to report the journey of the piece, from the studio through galleries, auction houses and owners. Provenance accounts for almost the entire monetary value of an item because it is the most important indicator of authenticity. So hence the provenance in art.
The ArtPro platform will be comprised of the following components which comprises of the Marketplace(The buyers and the sellers alike), ArtPro dApp which will be the first dApp to be built on the ArtPro platform.
There will also be the option to purchase art in-app, using APT tokens to reserve the piece. The artwork will then be locked via smart contract and the buyer given a fixed amount of time in which to complete the transaction, in-app or on desktop, paying the remaining balance in APT, crypto or fiat currency.
Token, Token Distributions & Allocations
The ArtPro token (APT) is an ERC20 token that will operate on the Ethereum network, chosen due to its strong ecosystem of developers and supported products including compatible wallets and exchanges. The APT token will perform a range of functions such as payment, storage, verification, authenticaion, incentivization, reputation, promotion, membership, augmented reality and resale within the ArtPro platform and various dApps that are built upon its open source protocol, as i will show in the diagram below:
A multi-functional utility token, APT will be used as payment for services including the purchase of artwork, the acquisition of provenance reports, and as a rewards mechanism to incentivize developers, art galleries and artists to join the ArtPro ecosystem. As the platform evolves, the number of use cases for APT will grow.
Tokens Distribution, Funds Distribution and the Tokens allocation are shown in the diagrams below:
Image: Token Distribution.
Conclusion
I hereby conclude that the ArtProplatform has a gap to fill in the cryptocurrency/Art niche. It will be a crucial instrument in the revolution of the Art sector using Blockchain powered technology empowering Art galleries and users to make the right decisions.
ArtPro Website: https://art-pro.io
Link to their White Paper: https://art-pro.io/files/artPro_white_paper.pdf
My Bounty0x username: Delwaziri
Disclaimer: “This is a sponsored article written for a bounty reward.”