Materializing Physical Objects from Blockchain-Based Digital Assets
A blockchain collectible that can take on a physical form is in some ways similar to the rarest of paintings.
Without a doubt, the digitization of our world has impacted just about every person on the planet. The utilization of ones and zeros in our daily lives is accepted as a requirement for productivity, education, socialization, and entertainment. From the software we use to write articles and the search engines we find information on, to social media sites and the music we listen to, it’s been normalized for us to consume these new digital delights without ever owning them or even owning our own personal data.
The issue of digital asset ownership has been exacerbated with the rise of streaming services like Netflix, Spotify, and others. Consumers rarely own the lines of code they pay for — they don’t actually own those songs, movies, video game items or any other non-blockchain digital assets, they simply have the rights to use them.
Anyone involved in the blockchain industry understands that the current model of digital consumerism is not geared toward protecting the footprint of the consumer. But, blockchain is uniquely positioned to provide digital ownership to the masses.
People are already diving into digitizing our world in an empowering way — whether it’s owning something that only exists as a digital asset (like Bitcoin and Crypto Kitties), or digitally owning a piece of a real world object like a blockchain representation of gold. It’s changing the way individuals can digitally control their world and giving them things they can truly own.
These two major ways of utilizing blockchain, creating new digital assets and digitizing existing real world assets for digital ownership, are the main focus of most blockchain advocates and developers. However, something I mentioned in my last article was the idea of taking digitally-created blockchain assets and bringing them into the real world. Manifesting something a person has mined or purchased in a digital space and then bringing that asset into the real world is not something being explored by many.
One thing for sure is we’re not even close to being able to create objects using reconstituted matter and pure energy like Star Trek’s replicators. We are, however, advancing our 3D printing technology by leaps and bounds every day. There are a ton of different materials that can be used to 3D print objects, everything from a multitude of different plastics and nylons, to metals, sandstones and even wood. As time marches on, these printing technologies will only get better. Even the good old paper printers are getting better and cheaper every day.
Every printer, 3D or traditional, needs files to print from and yep, those files are digital. With blockchain, consumers can actually assign digital ownership to these individual files. Every printable object can be completely unique and verifiably-owned by an individual.
One issue is once someone owns the digital asset there is nothing stopping them from printing as many copies as they want. This could be a good thing, or a bad thing. The Volition card game sees it as a good thing. Volition is creating the first digital-to-physical blockchain asset. Players will be able to digitally own game cards and then print them out to play with their friends face to face.
Initially, it may be seen that the ability to print an infinite amount of even the rarest cards undermines the entire idea of a collectible card game. However, the Volition project is using this as an advantage by allowing players to print duplicates of their cards and play with friends who don’t own a deck. All this being said, Volition does plan on requiring digital ownership of cards to play in events and utilize the digital aspects of the game. This provides a low barrier to entry and helps grow the player base, which in turn grows the number of collectors vying to own the most valuable cards.
The key to collectability isn’t the starting price of an asset, it’s people’s desire to own and collect rare things.
One of the most expensive paintings ever sold (Interchange, by Willem de Kooning) is less than 65 years old, yet it fetched a hefty $300M. The collectability of the painting hinges on the fact that there is only one copy in existence, and the buyer wants to be its owner. The interesting thing is this object can be reproduced and recreated a ton of different ways. From digital copies and prints, to full on scanning and repainting, the visual object isn’t what’s valuable, the idea is.
Another interesting idea is digital assets can be digitally upgraded or modified in some way and then a new copy can be physically produced. Provenance and history play a huge part in the rarity and collectibility of objects.
For example, famously-anonymous artist, Banksy, recently caused a ruckus among collectors by shredding a $1.04M, record-matching painting the moment the auction hammer slammed down. Some are claiming this single act may have actually increased the art’s value.
A blockchain collectible that can take on a physical form is in some ways similar to the rarest of paintings. Sure, it can be reproduced over and over, but that unique line of code or hash only exists once and is owned by a single person. Scott Teal discusses some very interesting points on this topic in his article, “The Curious Case for Crypto Collectibles.”
Blockchain offers many other benefits to digital objects that are designed to be used or consumed in the real world. No longer does one party need to send a physical object across the globe (or universe) to a person who wants to purchase an asset — they can simply transfer the blockchain asset as easily as sending an email. The purchaser and seller can be as far apart as the internet allows.
In a world where some of our most prized possessions are digital assets (photos, videos and music), it will be no surprise that in the future we’ll want to enjoy those things (as well as other digitally-based assets) in the physical world once again. Whether the assets are media, collectibles, games, art or all of the above, digital ownership with physical manifestations are something that we should all appreciate and will be seeing a lot more of.
