The Infinite Horizon of Secret NFTs
History will remember 2021 as the year that NFTs came of age. But what comes next?
While we’ve proven that punks, apes, and game-based NFTs are a real store of value on the blockchain, the supply and demand dynamics leave some question marks hanging in the air moving forward.
NFT demand grew by roughly 2000% year over year (2020 to 2021). There are more NFTs and more quality NFT projects than ever. More buyers and more creators. But is the future of NFTs just… more of the same?
What do NFTs want to be when they grow up?
Though we don’t know the future of this space in detail, we can recognize that the next evolution in NFT technology is now in motion. Secret NFTs do something unprecedented: bringing customizable privacy to NFTs. And what can we do with that?… Everything we haven’t seen yet.
The limitations of traditional NFTs
Healthy human development means you understand that the cashier is not your therapist. Nor should you stand outside your favorite restaurant and hand out copies of your house key.
That makes good, intuitive sense. It is not safe to show everyone everything about your life. Wisdom dictates that we, instead, show some people selective things about our life — making those edits with care and caution.
Our technology must reflect this innate human programming. This layered access and privacy is a key safety feature.
If you are a collector of books, movies, or art — would you prefer to publicly broadcast every item in your collection or to keep that private? And even if, theoretically, you preferred to broadcast this data to the world, wouldn’t it be nice to reserve the right to make it private?
Until now, that hasn’t been an option for NFTs. The world’s NFTs right now exist on public-by-default blockchains. Not only is ownership transparent but, more significantly, the data and content of the NFT are on display for all to see.
That’s exactly why the iconic filmmaker, Quentin Tarantino, published his NFT collection on Secret. Tarantino wanted to release scenes from the never-before-seen, handwritten screenplay of Pulp Fiction. Each NFT consists of a single scene, including personalized audio commentary. So why are Tarantino, and grateful swarms of other creators, choosing Secret NFTs?
Exploring secret NFTs
With the current state of NFTs, there is a psychological barrier to entry for many. You’ve heard it before. “Why would someone pay X amount for a jpg when anyone can just do a right click and save?”
These NFT doubters are heckled and chided without mercy by true NFT believers. But what if there is a gem of legitimacy to be mined in their critique?… Essentially, not-yet adopters of NFTs are saying, “If I can see something special/creative/beautiful and it’s free — maybe that’s enough value for me without the cost of ownership. If we can all see the art but you happen to be the owner, that’s ok.”
This isn’t a very compelling narrative for NFT adoption. And these adoption concerns don’t just exist only for consumers. Many creatives — like Tarantino — feel that the traditional NFT infrastructure doesn’t adequately reciprocate the value and scarcity of their intellectual property. Instead of dismissing these concerns, maybe it’s time for NFTs to innovate and adapt. That’s exactly the sort of maturation Secret NFTs bring to the table.
So how does this work? How do Secret NFTs elevate the perception and application of traditional NFTs?
Imagine browsing on Stashh (the go-to NFT marketplace on Secret) and you find a new piece of content by your favorite artist (a musician, painter, film director, writer, or other creative).
Right now you—and the rest of the world—can only see a shell, a placeholder, of what data is actually inside this NFT. Depending on the nature of the contents, this might be expressed as a watermark, a “preview”, or some kind of “trailer” for the metadata without unveiling the full goods of the NFT.
To fully experience the value of this creation — you need to own it. So you make the purchase. And here is where this SNIP-721 token really shines. Customizable privacy is an option. You have a couple of decisions to make and receive corresponding prompts in your interface:
- Set your ownership to public or private? (default is private)
- Set metadata viewability to public or private? (default is private)
This is total, complete control of what you’ve purchased. There’s just one decision left to make: access control. And that’s where viewing keys come in.
First, you generate a viewing key for yourself. And this is the moment… You are now viewing the encrypted data content for your NFT! You and the creator share a special connection here. Because you are the first and only person besides them to see what’s inside here. In fact, as owner of this NFT, you could choose to never share this. You can choose to never reveal what you’ve seen and experienced within the NFT. That privacy is programmable and it’s your right.
On the other hand, a friend comes to mind… if you want to, you can share a viewing key with them and whitelist their address. You can share the private content you’ve just enjoyed with them. The choice is, as it should be, totally up to you.
Problem-solving with Secret NFTs
This kind of experience is a win for creators, a win for consumers, and a win for the growth and adoption of NFTs. But much, much more is possible for NFTs outside of the creative lane.
Here’s why: Secret NFTs can solve vastly more complex problems than transparent only NFTs. Their nuanced, layered approach to privacy and access control is what makes things exciting. Here are just a few areas we hope to see this technology applied:
Real Estate and Property Ownership — Many goods require history of ownership in order to validate their authenticity and/or establish trust between the buyer and seller. Contracts and verification can get quite messy here. And though the smart contracts of transparent blockchains certainly contribute to trustless transactions, they have nothing to add in the way of privacy. However, with programmably private NFTs, ownership can be public while data is stored privately. There is a wide-open path for innovation in this space.
Identity Authentication Solutions — Web3 is in desperate need of a privacy layer for data related to user identity and identity authentication. Secret NFTs can add so much value here… What if you could mint Secret NFTs to use during a KYC process? By providing temporary viewing access to that data (e.g. your SSN, a selfie holding your passport, etc.) your identity is confirmed. Then, after viewing, the NFT is burned.
Blockchain Based Subscription Services — Currently any on-chain subscription service faces a significant limitation: they have to store member data off-chain in a centralized database. They have to. It is not an option to have all your customers’ private data viewable on a public chain! But what if the subscription was delivered as a Secret NFT? Then a private viewing key tied to the smart contract verifies the user. The need for a centralized database is fully eliminated and the entire business and the application of it’s services can run on-chain.
IOT (Internet of Things) and the Spatial Web — This fourth revolution of computing will increasingly integrate our physical and digital lives. The Metaverse is where you might play and socialize digitally. But the IOT and Spatial Web is where we will experience the seamless synthesis of tech into our daily lives.
Baedrick, founder of Stashh, shares one example of what this might look like:
Imagine a fleet of autonomous driving vehicles. A user pulls up their app to request a ride from the fleet and input their desired destination. This transaction mints an NFT that contains a file used for facial recognition and destination information. This metadata is all private. When the empty car arrives, the customer uses the app to scan a QR code sticker on the car. Now the NFT is uploaded to the car’s computer. It unlocks the door after receiving the NFT, verifies you with facial recognition, and now knows where you need to go. After delivering you, it burns the NFT.
With imagination and innovation, we will see Secret NFTs elevate user experience, security, trust and privacy in many spheres that traditional NFTs haven’t touched.
Adding to this utility is the interoperability of Secret NFTs across major blockchains. For example, there will be Secret NFT projects that launch on Open Sea (an Ethereum based NFT marketplace). They would exist and function as an ERC-721 token (though really it is a wrapped SNIP-721). This token could be bridged to Secret Network to unwrap the contents and unlock all the benefits we’ve described.
The vast prospects for builders and creators are just waiting to be discovered and developed.
Keep up with the future of Secret NFTs
NFTs are growing up right in front of our eyes. Programmable private SNIP-721 tokens mark a step change, a critical evolution in what is possible next.
From a retail side, Secret NFTs begin to melt away psychological obstacles to adoption.
And for builders, Secret NFTs open up potential applications that weren’t possible even a year ago.
If you want to stay current on the future of NFTs made possible by Secret Network, you’ll want to follow Stashh. Stashh is the first full-stack platform for NFTs with native privacy, allowing creators, collectors, and consumers to truly benefit from the Web3 digital economy.
This exciting future is already here and yet, still emerging. What comes next is up to us. But one thing is crystal clear: Secret NFTs have fundamentally altered the horizons of what is possible.
