Rhythm NEXT | NFT what new possibilities for artistic creation?

律动 BlockBeats NEXT 系列直播第二季已于近日正式启动。首期活动中去中心化 NFT 平台 Pastel 的联合创始人 Anthony Georgiades 以及可编程 NFT 平台 Async Art 的联合创始人 Lisa Liang 作为对话嘉宾出席了本期 NEXT 活动，C&L空间的创始人 Claire Huang作为主持人与两位嘉宾就《NFT 为艺术创作提供了哪些新的可能性？》为话题进行了探讨。

The following is the transcript of this live broadcast:

Claire Huang: Please introduce yourself briefly to the NEXT audience. How did you get into the blockchain field and how are you interested in NFT? And then introduce Pastel platform and Async Art to you.

Lisa Liang:Everybody is good! I'm Lisa Liang, co-founder and CMO of Async Art. I have a previous digital marketing background in the games and tech industry, and what I learned about blockchain and NFT was mostly from Conlan, CEO and founder of Async.

We launched Async Art in February 2020 with our third co-founder Nate. A few months before all this, Conlan was an avid collector of digital encryption art. He believes that art, especially digital native art, will be more compelling if collectors can interact with and see themselves in the art. Async Art was born with the question: If Art can change over time, or depending on its new owner, then what else can Art be?

Anthony Georgiades: I'll start with a brief introduction to Pastel. Pastel is the world's first fully dedicated, decentralized NFT platform that allows users to register, store, and trade "provably rare" assets without the need for trust. The platform offers creators a way to securely connect with fans and sell unique, limited-edition NFT without paying the high fees or storage limitations of other crypto projects. The network, a branch of Z-Cash, runs the proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm Equihash and also supports super nodes, which provide computing resources to the network to support asset registration, allocation, permanent storage and many NFT-specific functions, approximate image detection

. Our mission is to democratize NFT sales and trading on a global scale; We provide people with the ability to display and sell their work without the obstacles of today's market.

My first exposure to blockchain was when I was studying computer science at university. I began to really understand the power of distributed ledger technology built on internal data integrity and began to explore different applications, such as smart contracts for decentralized finance. It soon became clear that blockchain could power a whole new industry of rare digital assets for the first time. When we launched Pastel in 2018, NFT was barely in the mainstream.

CryptoKitties came out a year ago and caused a bit of a stir, but now people outside the crypto community have either lost interest or found other more interesting pop culture phenomena, especially in the late stages when ethereum's fees are skyrocketing and the network is congested. This is also a huge gap we see in the market. We believe that a specially built, application-specific blockchain can solve many of the problems facing the non-financial sector, such as addressing high fees, unreliable stored procedures, and over-centralization. We found it crucial that a customized, local blockchain address these issues through its innovative capabilities.

Claire Huang: Both Pastel and AsyncArt have their own features. For example, Pastel forked the Bitcoin network, while AsyncArt showed the charm of NFT with its unique "programmability". Please describe in detail the characteristics of both platforms and why they are designed this way.

Lisa Liang:Async takes advantage of a unique Masters& The Layers system. Unlike the individual JPEgs or PNGS you usually see tokenized on crypto art platforms, artists tokens are building blocks of an entire work of art. Thus, several different NFT's make up the whole. Each layer is its own ERC721 token, completely separate from Masters and the whole reason for this is that it allows the new owner to actively participate and change something about the artwork itself.

For example, imagine if Leonardo Da Vinci had arranged to publish the Mona Lisa on Async Art. He will most likely make her signature expression his Layers and upload several other possible expressions, such as sad face, shocked face, to give different variations to this Layers. Then, when he sells Layers to a new owner, that person can now decide which expression the Mona Lisa presents to the world.

What has just been outlined is the very basic Async Art functionality when a person changes a layer according to their feelings. Later we also introduced more features, such as allowing public data sources to control Layers, replacing the same Layers & AMP; The Master system applies to music, as well as multiple channels where you can view programmable art as it is and see it change in real time.

Anthony Georgiades:  我们选择了一个在安全性、可靠性和去中心化方面被证明记录最长的基金会：比特币。Pastel 的内在数据完整性很大程度上是基于比特币代码库的，我们项目也在朝着类似的方向发展，即基于 PoW 证明和最大程度的去中心化。

While poW-based projects have recently faced some scrutiny in the media due to the potential impact of carbon emissions on the environment, it remains the most tried and tested, reliable and secure consensus mechanism. We also help offset some of the potential impact by partnering with nonprofit organizations that plant trees -- each time a nonprofit signs up on the platform, we send a portion of the transaction fee to help plant trees.

We designed PSL as a native cryptocurrency on the Pastel network that can be used to transfer and store value just like bitcoin. However, PSL also has a special purpose in the system: allowing participants to securely register and store their assets on the Pastel network.

In this case, PSL essentially acts as a bitcoin version of a core cryptocurrency layer and builds rare asset-related functionality directly on top of it. This is done by encoding the data associated with the collection into a particular transaction using the tokens themselves. The benefit of this unique design is that data written this way inherits all the security attributes of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, providing a solid base layer.

Compared to developing this voucher system directly on Bitcoin, we believe that crypto innovations represented by the ZK-SNARK system introduced by Zcash are beneficial, allowing verifiable "shielded" transactions to be authenticated over the network. Except for blocking transactions, Zcash is basically similar to Bitcoin's code base with a few tweaks, most notably using Equihash as the PoW proof algorithm instead of the SHA-256 algorithm used in Bitcoin.

Because of this local, truly decentralized blockchain, we were able to develop features that address the ecosystem's major problems -- unreliable and centralized storage, lack of certification, high costs, and weak security standards. Another highly unique component of our system is the distributed storage layer. Rather than simply relying on a TokenID and an unreliable external hyperlink or IPFS -- which would leave any creator or owner very vulnerable to asset loss -- The Pastel Network has a distributed storage tier built specifically for NFT data.

Pastel is the first NFT test platform with a fully integrated decentralized storage layer based on advanced technologies such as RaptorQ and Kademlia. Pastel ensures that the underlying digital asset itself is uploaded, verified, and registered on the Pastel blockchain, not just the tokens used to coin it. With a series of smart bills that live on the Pastel network, creators can store their masterpieces in a distributed manner that is tightly coupled and indelible to the NFT itself.

Our customization system also allows for a number of highly customized features, such as our near-repeat detection system, which I'll discuss in more depth later.

Claire Huang: Pastel has the re-check function, and Async Art works need to be reviewed by the project side before being released. How do you think about NFT and copyright protection? Many people say that the emergence of NFT solves the problem of copyright infringement, but there are still many infringing NFT in OpenSea and other open NFT platforms, and both of your platforms rely on other technologies other than NFT to solve the problem of copyright infringement, so do you think NFT is really helpful to copyright protection?

Lisa Liang:This is a good question, and one that the entire NFT field has been grappling with. I don't think we'll have a complex solution in the near future, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying.

While NFT has great potential to solve many Web2 issues such as decentralization, automated royalty and digital scarcity verification, copyright infringement is something we take very seriously here at Async. We will manually review each submission to make sure that the Layers are set up correctly, that the artist's profile is their own and genuine, and that there is no copyright or IP infringement.

As the NFT field gets bigger, as people become more educated in NFT, I think the possibilities are endless. This is a technology designed to help everyday artists, and I'm sure creators will continue to innovate on the foundation we've built today.

Anthony Georgiades:  Copyright infringement -- fraud, fraud, and outright theft -- is real and, unfortunately, commonplace in this market. I don't think NFT alone can solve copyright infringement. People still take other people's work, modify it a little bit, and then label it as their own. Tokenized digital images based on perceptual hashing alone cannot solve this problem. Companies must constantly monitor their markets and, for that matter, other platforms to prevent this. But that's impossible, and frankly, it breaks the decentralized or censoring spirit of blockchain.

That's why they put the blame on the creators and collectors, which is very unfair. We decided to shift that responsibility to ourselves and developed a system that quantifies the assets registered on our platform against other images that have been registered, as well as images on other partner platforms, and even open image databases like Google Images.

We call it near-Duplicate Image Detection System. The system uses seven machine learning algorithms and various statistical methods to perform digital fingerprinting and rarity authentication at the pixel level. The digital fingerprint consists of a fixed list of more than 10,000 digits. All of this means that we actually quantify and measure NFT rarity by numerical fractions: from 0% to 100% -- 0% is completely repetitive and 100% is completely unique and original.

We made this system behave like a person - a person can see that two images "look" the same, but some things (whether noise is added - cropping, distortion, etc.) are different. Our system can detect this and quantify how similar or rare the images are. This is the most innovative feature of our entire project and will protect creators and collectors from fraud and fraud. Even more exciting is that the system is fully open source, so collaborators in the field can take advantage of our advanced tools and development resources.

Claire Huang: Nowadays, THE NFT blind box collection is very popular, but the crypto art sector has been in a very depressed situation since March. Is this in line with your expectations? What makes encryption art so "unappealing"?

Lisa Liang:I think it shows that the field is still in its infancy. There are a fair number of collectors who are more inclined to speculate. Different platforms focus on different aspects of NFT. Some choose to gamify collecting and selling. Some focus on management and offer "rare" NFT. At Async, we will continue to focus on our creators and higher ideals of creating something that has never been seen before.

Programmable art and music can allow creators to express themselves in ways never before possible.   We saw that when they tried Layers the joy was priceless. I believe that once we can share "magic" with a wider audience, it will only be a matter of time before the world sees a whole new way of creating and experiencing art. Sure, there's money to be made, but we want to make sure that these NFT's are worthwhile, practical, and built in a way that makes sense, rather than just copying existing content.

Anthony Georgiades:In fact, I think the crypto art market is rising again. The initial downturn was to be expected - it was very similar to what happened when DeFi was launched a few years ago. It is natural for growth markets to start hot and then slow as they mature. The reason I believe the market will stabilize and then continue to grow is because the technology that supports the market is still being innovated.

User-centric platforms and features make it easier for users and companies to access and store real, raw NFT, which appeals to more people and penetrates a broader market -- not just crypto-savvy hobbyists. At Pastel, we created blockchain so that we can create custom features to help users and companies in the field. We created the Layer 2 marketplace with the user in mind, so that the process of creating an account, registering art, and getting it on the shelf (as well as buying, selling, and trading) was as simple and intuitive as possible.

Claire Huang: What does Pastel's token economy look like?

Anthony Georgiades: PSL tokens (" PSL ") are native cryptocurrencies on the Pastel network that can be used to transfer and store value just like Bitcoin. PSL is the foundation of accessibility by running on a completely dedicated blockchain built specifically for a specific use case of a rare NFT. In essence, PSL provides a permissionless, borderless economy for rare digital assets.

From registering NFT to providing governance, PSL allows any type of user to participate in the ecosystem. PSL can be obtained by network participants and stored, transferred, or transacted with other Pastel users in an unlicensed, peer-to-peer manner.

Token holders can guarantee their PSL by running the supernode and provide operational execution, storage services and network security. Creators can publish rare digital assets and receive a permanent royalty of 10% on all future sales of such NFT. Third-party developers can design applications by seamlessly integrating PSL into their applications and, in turn, can charge users for services or design reward systems without having to worry about billing specifications.

PSL is a native utility token used for:

Actions: PastelID creation, NFT product registration and transaction

Pledge: Supernodes pledge collateral and receive awards for computing and verification services

Governance: Can stakeholders vote on how network resources are allocated

Deflationary mechanism and certificate of Destruction: Pastel has also developed a certificate of destruction scheme to provide a deflationary mechanism in the system. For every activity on the network, the user "spends" a small amount of PSL. Some of these functions cause the PSL to therefore be assigned to an encrypted and unusable address, resulting in the overall supply of PSL being reduced (or PSL being "destroyed"). As time goes on and the network matures, there will be more PSL use cases.

Claire Huang: Some NFT projects such as Bored Ape have generated a strong community consensus and prices have gone up, but more NFT projects have collapsed or are on the way to collapse. What do you think about the current influx of speculators into the NFT market? Will this have a positive impact on the growth of NFT?

Lisa Liang:I think there is a natural synergy and cyclicality between DeFi originating collectors and crypto art /NFT financial markets. There will be ups and downs, they are the first to enter the NFT field and we are very grateful for their enthusiasm and support. It is only because of some top speculative collectors that NFT has become such a hot topic.

As the space matures and more mainstream users join in, I expect the market to become less volatile, which is good news for artists/creators. Platforms and programs that create real value and foster strong communities are more likely to survive and continue to shape the space.

Anthony Georgiades: I think there is speculation in the NFT as there is in any market where commodities are bought and sold or traded, and there are always people pushing the prices of certain commodities up in a certain direction for a variety of reasons. When it comes to NFT, I do believe that people hold traditional art to the same high standard. If you build a community around an artist or a group of artists and tell their stories in a compelling way, their work will gain influence and thus reputation.

These communities have the power to raise or lower the value of different works. As for speculators, I do believe that they can make or break projects because they have achieved (or won) some form of community consensus. Tim Kang, for example, a well-known digital art collector who goes by the Twitter handle "Illestrater," discovered the NFT work before the public knew about Beeple. Now, Tim has the ability to basically control the market. He posts an artist's work on Twitter, and the price of that artist's work immediately goes up. On the other hand, these types of influencers/speculators have the power to destroy a project.

I don't think it's entirely fair, but I believe it's the game. The presence of speculators is a sign that the market is maturing. As the market matures, community consensus about certain works of art increases and so does the number of speculators. Let's also not forget that we are coming out of a period of increased fiscal and monetary policy, which undoubtedly stimulated overall market activity, leading to cheaper access to capital and subsequent speculation.

Claire Huang: Moving on to the community. Both NFT projects and crypto artists need to run their communities carefully, or it will be difficult to sell their NFT. Outside the crypto world, where artists often just need to finish their work, why is community so important in the crypto world, in the NFT world?

Lisa Liang:This is a topic related to Async in general. If you think about it, NFT buying is actually very similar to how the traditional art industry works. Art gallery collectors are more likely to buy his work once they know more about the artist, his creative process and the history behind his work.

Mini-communities have been created in some Async artworks :Tenement, Form Farm, The Tribe. Collectors buy Layers because they buy an experience, a story, a world where they can interact with their neighbors or the original artists. When they change Layers, they are writing the history of art (because those are the transactions forever etched on the blockchain).

As you can see on Async, NFT specifically allows artists to tell richer stories. Not just a work of art, but a whole world for the collector. This is a true Web3 experience that the traditional art industry cannot replicate.

Anthony Georgiades: The crypto world itself is a collaborative ecosystem -- bitcoin, Ethereum, and others were developed with a decentralized, human-centered vision. So why should the NFT be any different? Crypto enthusiasts have a strong interest in digital art because of the medium itself and the stories told by the different works -- like the artists, sculptors and so on on a canvas. In addition, all art forms -- not just digital art -- have large followings and communities of different artists.

Patrons or "followers" of artists have been part of the world for centuries. Kings and queens commissioned paintings because they loved their work. The same is true of digital art, but in a different medium. Now, there are some media or applications that are more tangible to the consumer user. , given that the art market is fragmented across different types of art, geography, demographics, digital art and display platforms, offers a unique opportunity to address these challenges and now use them to bring together all the creativity and culture of our world.

Claire Huang: What's going to happen to Pastel and AsyncArt in the near future? What are the plans for the future? How big do you think the NFT market will be in the future?

Lisa Liang:We are currently exploring other blockchains as we aim to be blockchain agnostic. The proof will allow huge artwork to be cast with over hundreds of Layers, so stay tuned for an announcement later this year

The NFT financial market will be huge. It will become a part of our everyday lives, and for the average creator and consumer, the benefits of technology are too great to ignore. Async is excited to see what the future holds for those of us who really push the field forward.

Anthony Georgiades: We will be launching the Layer 2 market on the Pastel network in the next few weeks. On top of our truly breakthrough blockchain technology, we have developed a market that is actually user-friendly. We built it with a user first mentality, because most people have little experience with encryption or blockchain. We believe in NFT's mission to democratize, so why create a counterintuitive platform and require Google search to be open all the time? Our platform is simple, intuitive, clean and convenient. In addition, we do not require users to own or know how to use an encrypted wallet. Our system is as simple as pulling out a credit card.

The size of the NFT market in the future may reach unknown heights, and much depends on reaching the vast majority of people who know nothing about NFT, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain. If we can reach a wider audience through new and creative FORMS of NFT, then this market will truly eclipse the contemporary art, music and entertainment industries combined. Looking at the data, the numbers for the first half of 2021 are staggering -- the NFT market grew by $2.47 billion in sales, well above the $13.7 million in the first half of 2020.

These numbers will only continue to grow, showing the true potential and scale that can be achieved. The market will only get hotter as these new NFT's enter the market, such as the emergence of NBA TopShot, catalyze tremendous sales growth in 2021. These new NFT's are no longer just digital still images. They are experiences (VIP backstage life, recipes from world famous chefs), luxury goods, music, video, streaming, and even traditional applications such as finance, real estate and insurance. In addition, metaverse will be a huge opportunity. Perhaps one of the most important trends we have naturally seen, and further catalyzed in the recent pandemic, is that people are spending more and more time online. The metauniverse represents the logical conclusion of this trend.

Welcome to join the official BlockBeats community:

Telegram Subscription Group: https://t.me/theblockbeats

Telegram Discussion Group: https://t.me/BlockBeats_App

Official Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/BlockBeatsAsia