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New ConsenSys Mesh NFT marketplace pays royalties to creators and collectors

ETHDenver conference attendees will get an exclusive presentation about the TreeTrunk marketplace introducing a new token standard.

As the ETHDenver developer conference gets underway, the incubator ConsenSys Mesh told Cointelegraph that it's planning a Friday announcement regarding a new addition to its portfolio.

Joseph Lubin, Ethereum co-founder, will debut details about TreeTrunk, a nonfungible token, or NFT, platform that aims to eliminate the risk of centralized platforms failing to pay royalty payments from secondary sales correctly or on time. TreeTrunk is launching a beta release on the Polygon Mumbai testnet.

According to the company, TreeTrunk has introduced a pioneering smart contract that collects and distributes royalty payments from the secondary sales of NFTs immediately and securely on the blockchain. Current NFT standards may not enforce instant collection or distribution of royalties on a chain to the creator, and less so to both creators and distributors.

Cointelegraph spoke to John Wolpert, co-founder of TreeTrunk and head of R&D at ConsenSys Mesh, to learn more about this new contribution to the Ethereum ecosystem.

"Supplying an important new ERC to the community as a standard and open-source reference implementation is serving the long term vision of expanding what NFTs can do on the blockchain."

Part of that vision to onboarding newcomers into the blockchain space also includes building long-term financial empowerment for artists and creators where "perpetual distribution and royalty networks move their work and expand their paying audience," added Wolpert. 

He points out that NFT artists, just like traditional artists, may need to reach a certain level of popularity to see a sustainable profit. For this reason, TreeTrunk smart contracts distribute royalty payments to collectors who make and sell authorized digital prints. This approach, according to Wolpert, offers influencers the opportunity to construct an "NFT family tree" of first- or second-generation NFT and syndicate prints holders who can buy into a "community of inclusion" that generates passive income.

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The technique that TreeTrunk uses to create and exchange authorized copies that can prove their relationship to an original NFT is called crypto-lithography. Similar to the lithographic printing process, zero-knowledge cryptography technology "shields the original NFT while letting people see, enjoy and sell unique, verifiable prints," said Wolpert.

On the ETHDenver stage, conference goers can expect a group of NFT artists to herald the launch of the TreeTrunk marketplace. Each of them submitted one special artwork to the platform for early collectors to begin testing before opening up to more artists. 

Ira P. Rothken, attorney and TreeTrunk co-founder, also emphasized that it was important to the company to improve on the way NFTs handle legal rights and artists control their intellectual property.  

"It’s no longer a game of guessing what the license agreement terms are, especially on secondary market transactions. Unlike the previous NFT standard, with TreeTrunk the license agreement is embedded in the NFT metadata itself."

Related: ConsenSys acquires MyCrypto to 'improve the security' of its products

ConsenSys Mesh acts as both an accelerator and incubator under the ConsenSys ecosystem that invests in Web3 projects. Its portfolio of companies includes MetaMask, Infura, Gitcoin and Decrypt.

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Samsung announces NFT platform for smart TVs

Upcoming Samsung smart TVs will have a built-in platform where users can browse, buy and sell NFTs.

South Korean tech giant Samsung revealed a new smart TV lineup with an integrated NFT platform. Samsung’s 2022 smart TVs such as Micro LED, Neo QLED and The Frame will have an NFT Platform app that can be used “for discovering, purchasing and trading digital artwork,” according to the announcement on Monday.

“With demand for NFTs on the rise, the need for a solution to today’s fragmented viewing and purchasing landscape has never been greater,” the company noted.

In 2022, the company aims to introduce the first smart TV NFT explorer and marketplace aggregator. The upcoming platform would enable viewers to browse and also trade NFTs without leaving the couch. While it's unclear exactly which NFT platforms or marketplaces would be included for aggregation, Samsung promised its smart TVs will not tamper with the image quality, keeping the NFT creator's preset values.

Other than integrating NFTs in their products, the South Korean multinational conglomerate has been actively investing in NFT and metaverse projects through its venture capital arm, Samsung Next. Last Wednesday, the firm participated in the investment round for a metaverse gaming platform.

Aside from Samsung, other big companies have also boarded the NFT train. Back in July 2021, Coca-Cola got into NFTs for charitable purposes. A month later, Visa purchased a CryptoPunk NFT for $150,000.

Related: NFTs to help brewers and farmers preserve UNESCO Belgian beer heritage

Meanwhile, digital art collections and digital collectibles NFT sales dominated last year comprising 91% of total NFT sales. As the sales rise, more and more NFT and metaverse-based companies are raising significant amounts to fund their projects. Blockchain gaming companies also raised more than a billion in investments last year.

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