ONETHER.DIGITAL is pleased to introduce ElevSys, a state-of-the-art authentication protocol that helps art galleries serialize, track, and authenticate catalog assets in real-time, while providing art collectors with transparency that matches the originality of genuine artwork.

Authenticating art is a tedious, costly, and time-devouring process, making artwork provenance heavily reliant on scattered sources of information that can be forged, falsified, and, even, deleted. The Independent estimates that almost half of the artwork circulating on the international market is counterfeit. Fakes have been sold even among top-shelf players in the industry, such as Knoedler, New York’s oldest gallery, and Sotheby’s. Provenance is as old as Art itself, yet existing solutions are struggling to fight illicit counterfeits, as they rely on outdated verification practices.

ElevSys is an authentication protocol that helps art dealers to store different provenance certificates of an asset on a tamper-proof ledger from where it is easy to track and manage an asset’s record, and at the same time enhance customer trust and longevity.

The art industry in parallel to the majority of the least digitalized world is often mistaken to think blockchain technology will replace a significant part of their often outdated business models - that is not true. The internet didn’t kill art, it made it easier to exhibit across the globe, verify, and exchange. Blockchain only takes it to the next level. - Ross Peili, Co-founder ONETHER.DIGITAL

With ElevSys, art galleries can reduce costs, time, and counterfeit documents related to catalog items. Certifications subject to the legitimacy of an asset, its components and/or materials, chemical structure, etc. can be uploaded individually to the immutable digital record of the asset. Furthermore, galleries are able to track an asset across its lifetime and get valuable information in regard to its location, ownership history, and more. Newly applied verification media, tests, and certificates can be submitted to the record over time to enhance the item’s integrity, but no one, including the issuer, could tamper with what’s already part of each piece’s on-chain history.

Building trust and loyalty between art dealers and buyers is a never-ending challenge. With ElevSys, collectors can scan a QR code or interact with NFC technology to access a dedicated authentication page related to the asset in question.

One of the biggest problems of the art domain was always, and still is trustless authenticity. Once the artist has detached himself from his artwork, it is impossible to keep track of it without digital means, so it’s natural for copies to surface on the market. Decentralized solutions can undeniably help us face this issue head-to-head in our present and future. - Carmen Ballesta Orta, WeCollect Gallery