Blockchain, Privacy, and Artwork Registries: Consensus between Constraints

Abstract

Blockchain is claimed to be a liberating technology that can upend current social structures through its decentralized, immutable ledger. In reality, however, blockchain is not absolutely decentralized, trustless, or transparent. Rather, blockchain is a general technology with a wide variety of applications, many of which are sustaining and incorporative of existing models. Blockchain artwork title registry is one of the use cases that can improve market transparency and efficiency without disrupting current market structure or eliminating intermediaries. Moreover, privacy and transparency are not incompatible. As a tamper-proof ledger that does not disclose a record’s content, blockchain can actually increase protections for privacy. The adoption of such a blockchain-based registry is the foundation for the long-term development of other blockchain applications in the art market, such as artist resale royalties and fractional ownership. Therefore, the registry is a conservative use case of this novel technology, with the potential to promote wider blockchain adoption in, and interoperability across, the art world. Through literature review and interviews, this essay explores blockchain’s implication for the art market, examines blockchain’s potentials and constraints, and proposes a starting point for the art world to reach consensus.