Vault.io, Inc., a New York-based startup headed by former Facebook veterans, has announced the launch of Editional, an Ethereum-based social platform that allows users to create, claim, and trade unique collectibles online. The startup has secured US$1.5 million in seed funding from notable investors, including ConsenSys Ventures, Digital Currency Group, and CoinFund, it said on Tuesday.
The Editional app, now live on the App Store for iOS
devices, allows creators and curators to tokenize, collect and monetize digital
works of art using blockchain technology. According
to the company, Editional makes creating collectibles “as easily as you create
any other kind of content: with your phone’s camera or phone album.”
“I’ve been really excited to see the growing interest in digital
collectibles and the power this new medium grants to creators – the barriers to
entry have historically been too high for most people to get involved,” said John
Egan, CEO at Editional and former product manager at Facebook.
“With Editional, anyone can discover and create next-generation art and creative digital content right on their phone, without having to learn about blockchain technology. Editional has a different value proposition to the giant social platforms we are all used to. We think it’s time to give power back to creators.”
On Editional, content creators upload imageries or any other
type of digital art, assign a set number of editions to be released, and then
present their work to the community. In parallel, collectors can acquire editions
which they can later resell, as well as interact with creators. Editional provides
each user with a personal Ethereum wallet address to store all of their
collectibles at no cost.
The platform leverages blockchain technology to allow each
piece of work to be truly unique, with embedded provable ownership and
transaction history, and prevent fraud and the unfair reproduction and
reselling of unique work.
“Editional allows for relationships to be built around the
content on the platform, so we are incredibly excited to watch the community
take shape. It has an exclusive feel mixed with the rush of competition to
claim the best collectibles before they’re gone or to create the next thing
that everyone wants,” said Egan. “Creators and collectors can retain the
element of prestige and bragging rights with the content they own, and either
hold their best pieces, or trade them at later dates when the demand merits, or
the right offer comes along.”
The Editional platform is integrated with other blockchain
decentralized applications (DApps) including OpenSea, a digital marketplace
for non-fungible crypto collectibles, enabling owners on Editional to easily resell
their collectibles.
Blockchain-powered crypto collectibles
and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) rose to fame in 2017 when CryptoKitties, an Ethereum-based
virtual game that lets users buy, sell, collect, breed and exchange unique cats, went
vital with some rare kitties going for well
over US$100,000 each.
NFT is a special type of token which represents something unique. These tokens are used to create verifiable digital scarcity and in specific applications that require unique digital items like crypto collectibles and crypto gaming.