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Web 3.0 Tech

The evolution of NFT and Blockchain Use Cases

Written by Sallyann Della Casa on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

Nfts have advanced significantly since 2021, when we first learned about them. Most people now consider the functionality of NFTs in addition to the artwork when thinking about them.  

The following utility benefits provided by the still widely used Bored Apes to their customers are what has maintained their price so high:

    1. Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) membership: Each Bored Ape NFT acts as a membership card for the BAYC, a group of NFT collectors who are all enthusiastic about the project. Members of the BAYC get special access to events, products, and other benefits.

    1. Commercial licensing: The Bored Ape NFT owners have the right to monetize their digital assets, which includes using the characters’ visuals to make and sell items and to provide licenses for their use in other projects.

    1. Members of the BAYC are eligible to vote on matters of governance that will have an impact on the project’s future. This implies that Bored Ape NFT owners can influence how the neighborhood develops and expands.

    1. Royalties: The owner of a Bored Ape NFT gets paid a portion of the sale price when the NFT is sold or exchanged on a secondary market. For the owners, this offers a steady stream of income.

    1. Social standing: Among NFT collectors, Bored Ape NFTs have come to represent rank and distinction. Each NFT’s rarity and distinctiveness can raise its value and desirability among collectors, elevating its social standing in the community.

How you describe NFTs matters greatly for those of you who are still unfamiliar with the NFT notion. An NFT is just code that connects anything to blockchain, such as Javascript or C++. You could conceivably save your documents to the blockchain with a “dot NFT” just like you would when saving them in Word or Excel. 

With that reasoning, the logical question is: Why use blockchain, and what money do you hope to save? 

Definition is crucial here once more. Blockchain is the ideal notebook. Once something is printed on a page, it cannot be changed or removed. 

Blockchain is now incredibly safe, unchangeable, and verifiable thanks to this. 

Now combine the two, and let’s talk about a few recent, highly intriguing use cases of Blockchain and NFT technology: 

Transforming the legal patent filing system

 In the field of protecting intellectual property (IP), IBM has explicitly filed patents relevant to patent filing on blockchain. These patents seek to improve the speed, security, and transparency of the patent application process using blockchain technology. Details are as follows:

    1. Streamlining the application process for patents: Inventors might submit their patent applications directly to the blockchain using IBM’s blockchain-based patent filing system, without the need for the usual intermediaries like patent attorneys and patent offices. This might speed up and reduce the cost of the application procedure.

    1. Increasing transparency: When a patent application is added to the blockchain, it becomes an unalterable record that is available to the public. Due to the complete transparency and ease of verification of the application’s history and its prosecution, this could assist in preventing conflicts and issues over the validity of patents.

    1. Increasing security: IBM’s blockchain-based patent filing system may offer more defense against the infringement and theft of intellectual property. In order to avoid illegal revisions and tampering, the system would be made to ensure that only authorized parties could access and amend the records of patent applications.

    1. Automating the administrative processes involved in managing patents, such as keeping track of licenses, renewals, and ownership, could likewise be done using IBM’s technology. For patent owners and inventors, this might save time and money.

The overall goal of IBM’s blockchain-based patent filing system is to improve the efficiency, security, and transparency of the patent application and administration process. It may lessen conflicts over patent ownership, safeguard intellectual property rights, and streamline the administrative tasks involved in administering patents.

Helping us reach net zero 

Imagine your refrigerator and washing machine conversing with one another about which one is turning on and off to ensure controlled energy use. How NFTs and blockchain can assist us in reaching net zero is as follows:

    • NFTs can be utilized to create distinctive digital assets that serve as verifiable carbon offsets. These offsets can be purchased and traded on marketplaces built on the blockchain, enabling businesses and people to offset their carbon emissions and support green initiatives. Utilizing NFTs can improve the market for carbon offsets’ transparency and traceability, ensuring that offset projects are authentic and that emissions reductions are properly recorded.

    • Financial sustainability: Blockchain-based systems can be used to establish digital tokens that reflect sustainable assets, such as green bonds, sustainable agriculture, or renewable energy projects. Investors can promote and fund sustainable projects by trading these tokens on exchanges built on the blockchain. This might quicken the shift to a low-carbon economy.

    • Transparency in the supply chain: Blockchain technology can offer traceability and transparency in supply chains, allowing businesses to monitor and confirm the sustainability of their goods and raw materials. This can verify that items fulfill sustainability requirements and help reduce their carbon footprint.

    • Energy management: Blockchain technology can be used to establish decentralized energy markets, enabling people and companies to conduct direct exchanges of renewable energy. This can hasten the transition to a low-carbon energy system and improve the efficiency and dependability of renewable energy systems.

The application of NFTs with blockchain technology can open up new possibilities for carbon accounting, offsetting, and trading, as well as boost supply chain transparency and traceability and support sustainable finance. 

The objective of producing net zero emissions and reducing the effects of climate change may be achieved with the help of these developments.

Preserving Human Identity 

Life before and after ChatGPT vividly defines the era in which we currently live. 

If you haven’t been paying attention, new artificial intelligence capabilities are being produced every day at breakneck speeds. And if you aren’t already, you need to start questioning human identity and the purpose of humanity right away. 

In a time of automation, how do we capture and maintain human individuality and ingenuity? 

Your degree or birth certificate do not define your human identity or cleverness. We’re referring to the distinctive ways you reason and behave, frequently utilizing human abilities like imagination, discretion, and initiative. 

A psychometric, static profile or resume cannot adequately capture this dynamic reality. NFTs can capture all of this in a very simple way, allowing us to control our information and also use it to signal, like SEO, those we want to pay attention to. 

It is shaped by the interactions we have with others, the way we handle situations, the people we surround ourselves with, and the projects and ideas we take on.

This is part of the NFT technology-related work I’ve been looking forward to at my startup, Gleac with our tokenization of time on blockchain of the world’s leading experts in a project we call Lovely Humans. 

Tokenizing human time and wisdom is the process of developing one-of-a-kind digital assets that represent the labor and knowledge of certain people, such as consultants, coaches, or mentors. 

On the blockchain-based market place powered by our lovely humans, these assets can be traded, enabling people to monetise their knowledge and talents in the following ways: 

    1. Making original digital assets NFTs can be used to produce one-of-a-kind digital assets that symbolize people’s labor and knowledge. These assets can be sold in markets built on the blockchain, enabling people to monetize their knowledge and talents.

    1. Increasing transparency and trust: Blockchain technology can give transparency and traceability in the exchange of knowledge, ensuring that the knowledge being offered is reliable and authentic.

    1. Cutting out intermediaries People may be able to directly trade their expertise with others via blockchain-based markets, eliminating the need for middlemen and improving the efficiency of the transaction.

    1. presenting fresh possibilities In an era of AI and automation where traditional jobs are being disrupted, tokenizing human time and insight can offer people new chances to monetize their skills and expertise. 

By giving access to knowledge that would not have been previously available, it can also generate new chances for learning and personal development.

Tokenizing human time and wisdom is essential in an era of AI and automation because it can allow individuals to not only profit from their unique skills and knowledge but also time capsule it, which AI cannot easily replicate. 

Additionally, it can easily track the source of new inventions and intellectual property (IP) from experts, particularly as we move toward a blockchain-based patent filing system which is one of the core utilities of the lovely human NFT collections. 

Additionally, it can offer up new avenues for learning and personal growth, particularly in disciplines where knowledge availability may be limited. 

With the aid of blockchain technology and NFTs, human labor and knowledge can be tokenized efficiently and openly, assuring the validity and legality of knowledge transfer.

In conclusion, NFT and blockchain technology have the potential to transform the way we interact with digital assets and create a more transparent and decentralized world. Ultimately, these technologies have the potential to create a more equitable and inclusive world, where individuals have greater control over their digital assets and access to new forms of value creation.

I released the world’s first NFT collection tokenizing time and wisdom.

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Categories
Law Tech

Law (Taxes and Trade) – The future is tech and trust

Written by Parul Vivek on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

The cross-border trade and tax landscape globally has been undergoing exponential changes. With dynamic geopolitical situation, ever evolving regulations and introduction of new compliance requirements, increasing levels of enforcement is needed to achieve the multiple objectives of legitimate revenue collection, ease of doing business, trade facilitation, while ensuring hassle-free compliances. And technology is playing an enabling role to move from a more control-based tax and trade regime to a trust-based future.

Stewart Brand [i]once said “Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you are part of the road”. Hence, government authorities are proactively embracing advanced analytical technologies such as big data, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning as they see clear benefits with regard to increased transparency, risk management, fraud detection, trade facilitation, mutual co-operation and greater compliance. These trends are expected to increase as countries around the world continue to implement the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) [ii]and its requirements for more transparency in corporate tax reporting. Further, there is an increased collaboration between various multilateral agencies/ governments across the globe in exchanging of information via IT equipped databases, automated tools, etc.

In India, the technology led regulatory reforms have played a positive role in the field of both direct and indirect taxes, including customs, as well as policy making. Implementation of the landmark Goods and Service Tax (GST) in 2017 is one of the biggest examples of such reform. The direct tax arena has also seen an early adoption of technology. Additionally, introduction of faceless assessments of import and export entries under customs, integration of courier and cargo systems under one national customs portal ICEGATE[iii] and may other such initiatives in the pipeline clearly demonstrate government’s efforts and push towards digitization.

Even post the roll-out of GST, several forward-looking measures such as e-returns, e-registrations, e-way bills, e-invoicing, and QR codes, have been implemented by the government, which mark important milestones in India’s digitalization journey. As an outcome, India has witnessed an all-time high GST revenue collection from October 2020 onwards. In the recently released collection figures, the Finance Ministry revealed that the provisional net indirect tax collections [iv]for financial year FY2020–21 recorded a growth of 12.3%; 108.2% of revised estimates of indirect taxes for FY2020–21 has been achieved. This is a big win and testimony to the fact on how embracing technical tools can help achieve more legal compliance and revenue targets.

Another notable tech-based initiative by India Finance Ministry as part of its strategic commitment to improve global trade has been the conducting of national Time Release Study (TRS) [v]started in Aug 2019 and institutionalized on an annual basis.  It helps to diagnose existing and potential bottlenecks which act as barriers to the free flow of trade and take remedial actions for reducing the cargo release time at various Indian ports (sea ports, air cargo completes, inland container depots, etc.).

There is no doubt that technology and law have a complicated interrelationship. As a matter of fact, advancement in technology is almost always expected to outpace law making as seen recently with introduction of crypto currencies, electric vehicles, digital payment platforms, social media platforms, wherein the regulators worldwide are still struggling to define legal boundaries. But on the other hand, technology is helping in better implementation of law by giving more feedback to legislature. In addition, technology is redefining the legal field. Online research databases have replaced law books, digital contracts have replaced physical copies, and numerous other advancements are helping to simplify complex legal world. New technologies hold significant potential to support policymakers in law making, legal analysis and enforcement.  As Andy Grove [vi]once said Technology will always win. You can delay technology by legal interference, but technology will flow around legal barriers”.

And as government authorities embrace digitalization, it’s never been more important for individuals and companies to understand every detail of their online stories, both personal and professional (including those on Instagram too) 😊.


[i] Stewart Brand is an American writer, best known as editor of the Whole Earth Catalog.

[ii] Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) refers to tax planning strategies used by multinational enterprises that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to avoid paying taxes

[iii] Indian Customs EDI Gateway

[iv] Source: Published by Ministry of Finance April 2021

[v] The TRS is an internationally recognized tool advocated by World Customs Organization (WCO) to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of international trade flows. Read the latest at https://www.cbic.gov.in/resources/htdocs-cbec/implmntin-trade-facilitation/national-time-release-study-2022.pdf

[vi] Andrew Stephen Grove was a Hungarian-American businessman, engineer, and CEO of Intel Corporation.