[Nhcoll-l] Updates on the use of NFTs to 3D digitize natural history collections

[Samuel Bolton]

Dear all,



I am reaching out to inform you all about two important updates regarding
the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to generate much needed revenue for
the 3D digitization of museum specimens. This is an idea that I first
pitched on this listserve about a year ago on the back of our publication
in *Megataxa* (https://mapress.com/mt/article/view/megataxa.6.2.2). But at
the time there was one very important obstacle, which was wisely raised as
a potential reason not to pursue this idea. This was that Ethereum, the
main blockchain platform for minting NFTs, was still operating on proof of
work. This meant that minting VEROs (3D model NFTs sourced from actual
museum objects) would have been a very carbon intensive process. At the
time, we pointed out that Ethereum was planning to soon make the switch to
proof of stake, which is far less carbon intensive. But, as you may
remember, there was warranted skepticism about this eventuality based on
how long the transition had been stalled in previous years. We agreed that
VEROs were not a sensible option for natural history museums unless this
switch was made.



Ethereum has now made the switch to proof of stake.



https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/15/23329037/ethereum-pos-pow-merge-miners-environment



The second important update is that we have already deployed a smart
contract on the Ethereum network, which now means that any natural history
museum can mint VEROs should they choose to do so.



Of course, you don't have to use our smart contract to mint your VEROs. You
can use a third party (which may already have deployed a suitable smart
contract) or you can deploy a smart contract yourself if you have the
knowhow to do so. But we urge caution. Third parties will typically charge
a commission or fee above the basic cost of minting the VEROs, whereas Joe
(my VERO collaborator) and I won't make a penny from the smart contract we
have deployed. Moreover, different smart contracts will allow different
standards to be implemented among collections. It also becomes far harder
to avoid potential VERO duplicates if there are multiple smart contracts in
place. A single smart contract will also make the collection experience as
easy as possible for VERO collectors. They can readily observe every VERO
that is on sale or that has been purchased.



In order to avoid a wild west scenario, I strongly recommend that we all
get behind one smart contract. Again, this does not need to be the smart
contract we already deployed. Rather, one of the main purposes of deploying
our smart contract was to show that this can be done without much effort
(there are only two of us working on VEROs and my collaborator set up the
smart contract in his spare time in a matter of weeks). We also wanted to
provide a smart contract for people who are interested in being pioneers in
this area. This is something I would love to do myself (as a curator of
mites and as someone who has generated 3D models of mites) but, alas, I
work for a regulatory agency, which precludes this possibility (at least
for the time being).



In any case, this process should be shaped by the whole museum community.
But in the meantime, there is nothing to stop early birds from giving this
a try if this is something that they are interested in:



https://www.vero-nft.org/how-to-create-a-vero



You may be aware that right now NFTs are going through growing pains, which
can be partly attributed to the general volatility of cryptocurrency (which
is likely to decrease with maturity). But these growing pains are also
because of the low quality and ease of production of many NFTs that have
flooded the cryptomarket. The majority of NFTs represent digital art, which
can be produced very cheaply and quickly using algorithms, etc. Traditional
NFTs therefore appear to be an almost infinite commodity with no connection
to real world scarcity. The same cannot be said for VEROs that are sourced
from museum specimens, especially type specimens. Therefore, VEROs provide
an opportunity to create a type of NFT with value that should hold well as
a potential investment.



If you are interested in minting VEROs from your collection any time soon,
please feel free to reach out to me (samuel.bolton77 at gmail.com) or my
collaborator, Joe Cora (joecora at gmail.com), and we will help guide you
through the process that we have also detailed out on the abovementioned
website. Or please reach out to us if you are interested in being involved
in this process in any way, perhaps because you would like to help ensure
that this process is implemented in the most efficient, ethical and
fool-proof way. There is no doubt in my mind that there are many
discussions to be had as to what exactly should qualify as a VERO and what
should not (this is an evolving process). If VEROs take off in any way,
this is something that we should all be able to have a say in. And there is
no reason why either I or Joe should have any more influence over this
process than you. As we mention on our website, we have no wish to be the
sole overseers of this process in the long run. And if VEROs (or something
like this) do end up being widely used as a source of revenue for 3D
digitization, the natural history museum community may benefit from a board
of commissioners to help regulate this process. In the meantime, VEROs (or
whatever we may end up calling them) have to begin somewhere if they are to
begin at all.



Best wishes to you all,



Samuel Bolton



……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Samuel Bolton, Ph.D.

Curator of Acari

Florida State Collection of Arthropods

Division of Plant Industry/Entomology

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services



Email: samuel.bolton77 at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20220920/49b323fb/attachment.html>