Pastel Network: The Basics
The crypto world is an exciting and fast-paced reality that is foreign to most of the globe. The reason being is that it is extremely intimidating. The crypto revolution stemmed from advances in very complex technology that only a small percentage of the world actually fully understands.
The phrases, buzz words, acronyms, and broad “tech speak” have hindered the penetration of this new ecosystem and limited it to a small group of people. Cryptocurrency and blockchain are inherently decentralized — free from the fetters of government and banks. So why not let non-tech people have an opportunity to immerse themselves in a new era of finance, banking, and now art or collectibles?
If you thought the basics of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the 10,000 other alt coins out there weren’t overwhelming enough, how about adding NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, to the mix? The need for a “lay-person’s” primer for each of the various platforms, marketplaces, and chains in the ecosystem is desperately needed. Well, we are here to give you just that for Pastel Network.
Pastel Explained
Pastel Network is an NFT Blockchain startup that has developed the world’s first fully dedicated and purpose-built platform for the creation, validation, and trading of provably rare digital assets (or NFTs). We allow anyone anywhere to store, buy, sell, and trade NFTs globally without the high transaction fees associated with other platforms. We also open our advanced infrastructure to the world through a number of tools and protocols that are easy to use and build upon.
By the way, what I mean by “NFT Blockchain startup” is that we have built our own blockchain specifically for NFTs.
‘That sounds cool, but what does it mean to have a blockchain specifically built for NFTs? (And what even is a blockchain?)’
Well, at the end of the day, a blockchain is a database — it stores information. However, unlike a database, a blockchain stores information or data in blocks that are interconnected — new information equals a new block, which in turn is “chained” to the other blocks chronologically. In the case of bitcoin, it records transactions (bitcoin being bought and sold) permanently and can be viewed by anyone. The information that is recorded cannot be changed or deleted, so it is easy to understand why a blockchain can be seen as an extremely powerful and secure tool and the reason why large enterprises around the world — from JPMorgan to IBM — are exploring it.
For NFTs on the Pastel Network, that means storing the underlying NFT data (or, to take an analogy from traditional art, “storing” the underlying brushstrokes and combinations of color used to paint the Mona Lisa) in the various interconnecting blocks. And this NFT could be a still image, a video file, a meme, or a gif — truly anything.
But, what makes Pastel’s storage solution so innovative and revolutionary is that storing NFTs on a blockchain itself was previously unheard of. The reasons being are that: 1) the data that you would store are much larger than coin transactions and 2) other previously existing blockchains like Ethereum were not built to store such data. That is why NFT marketplaces that are run on Ethereum can only store the actual image or data associated with the NFT on the cloud or by using something like IPFS (InterPlanetary File System), which is just an external distributed storage system that is relatively unreliable, insecure and vulnerable to asset loss. What all this means is that when someone purchases an NFT on a marketplace, they are really not directly buying access to the image or data directly. To drill down deeper, they are buying a token ID with a hyperlink to that digital work on the cloud or IPFS. You can see why that is troublesome, right? What if that link expires? Or the maintenance of a specific server fails? You would lose access to it, and all the money you have spent on it would be in vain.
‘But what if you have massive files, wouldn’t that slow down the network like it would your computer?’
To answer the question, yes it would slow down your network — just like it would on your computer — if you used the traditional approach to storage, which is storing files all in one place. But, Pastel does it much differently. We take that underlying NFT data and break it down into thousands of small chunks (of data). We then randomly distribute those chunks across the network to different servers, or Supernodes, that store those chunks. And, we built in redundancies — through the decentralized nature of these independent servers — across the network, so that if 95% of them went down, you would still be able to access your NFT. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how large the file is or how many NFTs are being stored. Pastel created a solution for impermanence, asset loss, and lack of scalability.
Keep reading for something even cooler…
So, if you understand the above and see the magnitude of it, then you are going to love what is laid out next. But first, I want you to understand the generally accepted approach to NFT authentication. Other marketplaces put the burden of making sure a work is completely authentic on the artists and collectors because until now the only way to label a work as one’s own was through something called perceptual hashing. Perceptual hashing is basically a validation method of ascribing a value (a hash value) to, in this case, an NFT digital image. While this was seen as “enough” to say that a digital work was in fact from a particular artist, it did not account for nefarious actors taking said work and changing it slightly — coloring, warping, or adding noise. Even if the NFT digital image is altered ever so slightly (even with an invisible change), the underlying hash would change and be viewed as an entirely unique NFT. Thus, the door was open for scams and frauds, and these marketplaces lacked a solution. So, at the end of the day, artists and collectors had to be very diligent in searching for fraudulent copies of works; otherwise, they would be hoodwinked — whether that be in the form of artists losing income to these thieves or collectors paying a large sum of money for a fake or copy.
This is a massive problem and is very much in the limelight today. Across the news, there are stories of these scams or thefts, which severely put in jeopardy the success of this market. One in particular is that of a scammer who posed as the famous Banksy artist and sold $900,000 worth of fakes to unwitting collectors. This is the new normal, unfortunately, which doesn’t bode well for widespread adoption because the majority of the world is already skeptical of digital art and collectibles, let alone the NFT space. They don’t need another reason to shy away from an already daunting new market. People need assurances; people need to feel comfortable that they won’t be ripped off.
Well, we are glad to say that Pastel can provide those assurances because we built a solution for the authentication problem. We call it Near-Duplicate NFT Detection.
We created this software to actually prove the authenticity of an NFT on our network, other marketplaces, and across the internet of images as a whole. We have successfully quantified rareness to protect creators and collectors from scams, frauds, and outright thefts. This system actually analyzes the NFT at the pixel level and transforms it into a fixed list of over 10,000 numbers, which we call the NFT Fingerprint. It then assesses the degree of similarity between the given fingerprint and all others and then translates the result into a palatable rareness number score: 0% means it is identical to a previously registered NFT, and 100% means it is completely unique with no degree of similarity to any other NFT. Ultimately, even if somebody changes one, minute aspect of a digital work, Pastel can identify it. This system is revolutionary because it puts the burden of provenance on us, not the creator or collector.
What is most impressive about this system is applying it to a near-duplicate that uses a “contour” or edge detection filter on a registered image; the system gives this an overall average rareness score of just ~15% despite it looking dramatically different versus the original:
Below is the actual rareness score outputted by the Near-Duplicate NFT Detection system.
‘OK, so you look out for creators and collectors who join Pastel — awesome. How will you help the rest who are already in deep with other platforms and the switching costs may be too high?’
That question above has been paraphrased or used verbatim too many times because, at the end of the day, this world of crypto, blockchain, and NFTs was inherently built on the vision of a decentralized economy where no one entity holds the keys to the castle. For this goal of decentralization to work, collaboration across the ecosystem is vital.
While the features described above were developed with creators and collectors in mind, another, equally important, motive was their use and benefit for those we call the builders. Builders are projects just like ours — NFT marketplaces and other blockchains that have NFT platforms built on them — and companies and organizations — such as talent agencies, media and entertainment firms, Esports platforms, and professional sports organizations — that have built or are looking to build their own NFT ecosystems. We truly believe in fostering a collaborative environment for all companies in this space. We built these features in such a way that these builders will be able to integrate them seamlessly and enhance the experiences for their own users. Any project, company, or organization can integrate any feature of our network for their own businesses. Full stop.
But wait, there’s more!
Lastly, on top of these features and the high level of security and reliability that we developed into the network to ensure a stress-free and efficient user experience for our users and our builders’, we have built our own NFT marketplace. This marketplace, while similar to other NFT marketplaces in the sense that we offer a platform to buy, sell, and trade NFTs, is different in that it is powered by our native blockchain. So, everything described above is running in the background for the users.
We created the Pastel Marketplace with a user-first mentality for artists and collectors who have little to no experience with NFTs / crypto / blockchain. So, despite the technical language we use on our website, the platform that you would be using is extremely intuitive — made for non-technical users. And, you don’t need to have your own crypto wallet to join. By the way, unlike other platforms using Ethereum, and having artists suffer those high fees, Pastel has very very low fees due to the deflationary mechanics we built into the network. Additionally, we cater to all creators — it doesn’t matter if you have 1,000,000 followers or 10 followers; everyone should have the opportunity to showcase their work to the world, and everyone should have the ability to buy NFTs with ease. We created Pastel to allow anyone anywhere the ability to create, sell, buy, and trade digital art globally. Lastly, we will help you every step of the way from creating your account and registering your digital art to listing it in the marketplace and promoting it.
Last Words
Pastel was created to be a catalyst for a brighter version of the future that symbiotically connects all people with this high-technology universe of crypto. The nascent NFT space is a perfect vehicle for just that. Not only are NFTs forging a whole new path in art, they are expanding the possibilities for an interconnected physical and digital world.
Pastel has developed a platform that is easy to use and not intimidating. We are here to make NFTs more accessible. We hope that our words above help you all to understand this goal of ours and realize that this brave, new world will only ever be beneficial.
About Pastel
Pastel is the world’s first fully dedicated, decentralized NFT platform allowing users to register, store, and trade ‘provably rare’ assets. The platform gives creators a way to securely connect with fans and sell unique, limited edition digital assets –without the high fees or storage constraints of other crypto projects. Pastel also allows for the development of third-party applications to sit on top of the Network, enabling developers to enjoy the scalable registration features, storage processes, and security of the broader network. By leveraging a purpose-built native blockchain, Pastel deploys a number of key features such as a deep-learning based duplicate detection system to ensure proven authenticity.
Pastel is is an entirely native blockchain supported by SuperNodes, which provide computational resources to the network to support asset registration, distribution, and permanent storage. Pastel is managed by world-class developers, cryptographers, and technologists, supported alongside an experienced and extensive network of marketers, influencers, and third-party agencies. Pastel is backed by key stakeholders including Innovating Capital, a prominent venture fund.
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