5 ms·

Where does this 'hashed-and-signed artwork' terminology come from, ive seen it mentioned in online articles? That is not what NFT's are. NFT's are typically ERC

Where does this 'hashed-and-signed artwork' terminology come from, ive seen it mentioned in online articles? That is not what NFT's are. NFT's are typically ERC721 contract (https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-721 https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-721) that contains an attribute containing a hyperlink to an ERC721MetaData JSON document, and a attribute of a map of 'id' to 'address' for the ownership. Images are not stored on the blockchain, and they are not 'signed-and-hashed'. This ERC721MetaData json document could disappear/be swapped out, unless it is an ipfs URL, in which case it could could disappear, but not be swapped out. Ipfs URLs are a commitment to the file contents, eg: hash. IPFS thus allows commitment to a given image in the json that may no longer actually be hosted. There is no guarantee that an IPFS NFT's referenced content will exist in future, let alone the ones on personal domains or s3, etc. A signature exists to authorize contract calls to the 'transfer()' function, allowing the mapping of id to owner to be updated. There are hashes, there are signatures, but to say 'artwork is hashed-and-signed' is a big stretch!

kencausey 6y ago
So, while scanning some of this earlier today I caught at least once the word 'deed.' A deed, traditionally, includes a clear statement of the rights being transferred. Do NFTs not include any contract-like statements?
- rfd4sgmk8u 6y ago
  Not generally, no. The metadata may contain some legal wording in a free-text description field, but it's up to the contract publisher. The big expensive beeple NFT metadata reads like a stream of consciousness. Folk's are having trouble understanding the idea of owning 'nothing' and 'digitally enforced scarcity', so using the concept of a house deed is probably a good analogy. It's just an electronic record at the bank, but it lets you 'own' a house. Deeds of course have a long history of standardized legal definition and regulations. NFT's... do not. Regarding contractual language vs code -- Ricardian contracts were invented for this purpose. As yet, we are not seeing Ricardian clauses appearing in smart contracts. Personally, I think that folks buying NFT's are crazy. (and I am a bitcoin advocate). This doesn't stop me from wanting to sell them (for bitcoin) ;-)

kencausey 6y ago

So, while scanning some of this earlier today I caught at least once the word 'deed.' A deed, traditionally, includes a clear statement of the rights being transferred. Do NFTs not include any contract-like statements?

rfd4sgmk8u 6y ago
Not generally, no. The metadata may contain some legal wording in a free-text description field, but it's up to the contract publisher. The big expensive beeple NFT metadata reads like a stream of consciousness. Folk's are having trouble understanding the idea of owning 'nothing' and 'digitally enforced scarcity', so using the concept of a house deed is probably a good analogy. It's just an electronic record at the bank, but it lets you 'own' a house. Deeds of course have a long history of standardized legal definition and regulations. NFT's... do not. Regarding contractual language vs code -- Ricardian contracts were invented for this purpose. As yet, we are not seeing Ricardian clauses appearing in smart contracts. Personally, I think that folks buying NFT's are crazy. (and I am a bitcoin advocate). This doesn't stop me from wanting to sell them (for bitcoin) ;-)