FAQ

How old are your early artworks? How many do exist?

There are 32 of my early artworks. 28 were electronically signed in 2013 and 4 were electronically signed in 2015. All of them were tokenized on the Bitcoin blockchain in 2015. The first were electronically signed on 20th July 2013 and tokenized on the Bitcoin Blockchain on 29th March 2015.

Why is there a time gap between the signature and the tokenization?

It took quite some time to define the tokenization process. I have been working on the license for the works for more than a year together with the legal experts of dtb.

What kind of tokens are your early artworks?

My early artworks are based on the Bitcoin Blockchain. They are older than the Ethereum Blockchain. Since there was no common standard for NFTs at the time, I created a license which defines how the tokenization works and what rights the holder of the token has.

What rights do owners of your early artwork tokens have?

Each owner of one of my early artwork tokens holds a large set of usage rights to the artwork (see Section 3 (1) of the license). These rights are limited to the owner and the author. Additionally the owner will be able to pass the usage rights in a way that they can be passed again (see Section 3 (2) of the license). This right is limited to the token owner. This makes the token owner the only person who can transfer the usage rights as a NFT. This exclusivity is legally and technically defined. Legally, because there is the digitally signed license text in which the exclusivity is guaranteed. Technically, because of the way the right is enforced by the Bitcoin mechanism.

Are your early artwork tokens really non-fungible? How do they work?

Yes, every artwork is always assigned to exactly one unspent transaction output (UTXO) on the Bitcoin Blockchain. Whoever has the private key to spend this output has all the rights listed in my license. When this unspent transaction output is spent, the artwork is transferred to the first transaction output (with index 0) of the spending transaction.

What’s the best way to store your early artwork tokens?

I strongly recommend to create a separate Bitcoin wallet for each artwork token to store. Each wallet should only be used to receive one artwork token once and to send it once. Otherwise you will risk transferring artworks by accident. I recommend to use a Bitcoin wallet which supports “coin control” (e.g. Electrum Bitcoin Wallet). With coin control you can check all inputs and outputs of your transactions before they are sent.

How can I transfer your early artwork tokens to someone else?

To transfer one of my early artwork tokens, please follow these steps in Bitcoin Electrum Wallet :

  1. Open the wallet which holds the artwork token. If you have the seed or private key, you can also create the wallet by importing the seed or private key.
  2. Check that your wallet shows exactly one old transaction. That’s the transaction that has sent the artwork to you.
  3. Click on the send tab and enter the destination address of the future owner of the artwork
  4. Click on „Max“ amount to send all fund on the address. This is important because you only want to generate one output.
  5. Continue with the payment and then click the „Advanced“ button
  6. Double check the displayed information: there should be exactly one input from your old address and exactly one output for the future address.
  7. Finish the transaction, sign it and send it to the network (you need to click three buttons on the bottom of the dialog)
  8. You can now wait for the transaction to be confirmed. This will take at least one hour but could take also more time.

In case the wallet doesn’t have enough Bitcoin to pay for the transaction fee: You will have to send the required amount to your wallet first. Send the required Bitcoin to the same address, which holds your artwork token. Don’t send more than necessary. When sending the artwork token please still set the amount to “Max”. In step 6 you will see exactly two inputs (one output which holds the artwork token and one output which holds the required Bitcoin) and exactly one output for the future address.