The REGTECH Book

ArtTech: How Blockchain Can Improve Provenance

By Javier Tamashiro

Head of Technology Risk and Compliance, Maecenas and Founder, Ospree Pte. Ltd.

Art provenance provides a critical foundation for assessing the authenticity and ownership of an artwork. A good provenance increases legitimate ownership and should leave no doubts that it is a genuine object. The capacity to successfully perform a good provenance is highly dependent on the existence of solid, documented evidence that proves its ownership and the owner’s identity and helps to establish that the artwork has not been altered and is not a forgery or a stolen object. This complex and expensive authentication process significantly increases the transaction cost and is considered one of the biggest threats to trust in the art industry, as not being able to prove the provenance impacts the value of an art piece that could be suspected of having been previously stolen or faked. With the art market moving from a small niche market towards a global industry, the need for improved art provenance solutions has become imperative. This chapter evaluates the benefits of blockchain technology in the registration and authentication processes of artworks and analyses the advantages of a collaborative framework that includes multiple participants. The art market is still considered an immature industry, while blockchain is starting to disrupt many of the existing ways of doing business. To unlock their mutual benefits, it is essential ...