ICONLOOP has announced that its blockchain-based certificate issuance service ‘broof’ will be utilized in the art investment industry.
ICONLOOP has signed a strategic partnership with Yeolmae Company to apply “broof” to Yeolmae’s ArtnGuide, the first online service platform in Korea for co-investment in works of art.
This collaboration aims to protect the ownership of jointly purchased artworks by recording the sales on the blockchain and managing them reliably, including full disclosure of transaction details. This will go a long way toward the prevention of falsification and theft.
‘ARTnGUIDE’ contributes to the popularization of investment in works of art by lowering its biggest entry barrier: high prices. Now, would-be investors can purchase ‘portions’ of high-priced art pieces by investing a fraction of the full cost using the ARTnGUIDE platform.
So far, ARTnGUIDE had an Ethereum-based service, which only allowed them to record ownership of jointly purchased works of art. But from now on, the partnership with ICONLOOP will allow them to record not only the ownership but also images of artworks on the ICON public blockchain.
Through their partnership with Yeolmae Company, ICONLOOP aims to create a more reliable and secure certification system. Ultimately, it’s planning to expand the implementation of broof to various fields in our society. This partnership is remarkable because it is the first case of applying broof to the art market.
Jonghyup Kim, CEO of ICONLOOP, stated, “Blockchain technology can enhance the transparency and efficiency of art trading, effectively revitalizing the art purchasing market.” He added, “Through the cooperation with Yeolmae Company, which aims to popularize the art culture and vitalize the market, ICONLOOP will work together to protect intellectual property rights and prevent counterfeiting.”
We featured ICONLOOP’s broof technology on The Iconist not too long ago. It is similar to MIT Lab’s Blockcerts technology, which allows users to own an officially recognized digital version of their degree with just a single certification from their school. Korean organizations are now seeing the value in this too, as seen by the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s employment of broof to authenticate graduation certificates, as well as decentralized ID services being developed in Korea by a number of companies, including SK Telecom, LG UPlus and ICONLOOP.
