There is no shortage of innovative blockchain projects these days. Maecenas is by far one of the more interesting ones out there, as it is trying to build a decentralized art gallery. Bringing the fine arts to blockchain technology is not necessarily all that convenient, yet the project seems to have made some good progress already.

The Concept of Maecenas

On paper, it sounds virtually impossible to combine fine arts with blockchain technology. In the real world, however, things tend to work out quite differently from how one would expect. The main purpose of this new platform is to provide an online marketplace where art lovers can buy shares in famous paintings. All of this is done through a decentralized blockchain-based platform.

How Does it all Work?

Maecenas has quite a few interesting features to take note of. This ecosystem works as follows: individuals and museums will be able to invest in art without relying on intermediaries. It will also become possible to raise funds from a syndicate of investors using an art collection as collateral. All of this will be done in a transparent and efficient way which removes all risks for users.

With the artwork remaining in the custody of trusted institutions, this new ecosystem works in similar ways to existing solutions. All of the investments are protected by insurance and a legal framework to settle any disputes that may arise. Furthermore, the provenance documentation is protected by cryptographic measures, which means there can be no falsification of information.

All of this is done through a transparent and curated market. Maecenas is an online platform where users can browse vetted works of art, compare prices, and more. In a nutshell, the platform provides a liquid portfolio-building application for art-backed instruments by eliminating the cost of investing in physical art. Whether or not this business model will be appealing to the masses is a different matter altogether, though.

The ART Token Explained

Any blockchain-based project needs its own native token. In the case of Maecenas, it is known as the ART token, and it has a few different use cases. In fact, this token will be required for all Maecenas functions on the blockchain. This ecosystem’s  smart contracts will require ART to operate. Furthermore, funds invested through these smart contracts are converted to ART first before the investment is processed. It’s an interesting approach to revolutionizing the art industry as a whole.

The Road Ahead

As one would expect, there is a lot of work to be done where Maecenas is concerned. For now, the team is focusing on marketing, communications, conferences, and events. On the technical side of things, there is still work to do to improve upon the released alpha version of this platform. Security has been beefed up, onboarding compliance is being revamped, and smart contracts have been refined accordingly. Tokenization of artwork is still ongoing, as the first projects have yet to be tokenized.