At Darkblock, we are creating a decentralized protocol that encrypts, stores, and protects content associated with an NFT that is only revealed to the owner. We understand that in order to make this technology available to the masses, it must be easily accessible. Enter the Darkblock Viewer.

The Darkblock Viewer enables marketplaces and NFT creators to embed Darkblocks into their websites. Similar to embedding a Youtube video, all you need to enable interaction with our content is a simple html tag on a web page. Users create a signature with their wallet to verify ownership of the NFT, and the viewer sends this signature to the network of Darkblock nodes to fetch and decrypt the protected content. The NFT is then revealed to the user within the viewer or in full-screen mode.

We created this technology because our objective at Darkblock is to give creators more control over how their content is distributed and monetized. The Darkblock Viewer allows all users to protect and move their content freely and embed the content within the websites of their choice. This decentralized method of unlocking content enables portability and aligns with the ideals of NFTs.

Decentralize or die!

We want Darkblock’s decentralized content access protocol to be intuitive and easy for marketplaces to implement. That’s why we created the Darkblock API. The web delivery tool provides NFT marketplaces (or any website for that matter!) an easy way for their users to access Darkblock directly on their marketplace, e.g. on an NFTs detail view. The tool is a simple JavaScript widget that can be dropped into any web page. It integrates with the crypto wallet, Metamask (other wallets to come…), to verify ownership of the NFT, unlock, and display NFTs.

We are working hard to ensure the Darkblock protocol is fully decentralized, and the same goes for the Darkblock Viewer. We are exploring how we can leverage Arweave and DAOs to control releases of the viewer, while offering verifiable versions that cannot be interfered with. Arweave is a global, permanent hard drive and a big piece of the puzzle on how to ensure Darkblocks are around forever. In order to make this journey collaborative and transparent, the viewer will be open source.

The Darkblock viewer will facilitate new varieties of NFT collectibles to enter the market. These mediums include decentralized unlockable music, comic books, ebooks, and multiple forms of video content like full length movies! Interactive, generative, and 3D content will also be a big part of our future. Our viewer makes adding these new NFTs to marketplaces quick and simple.

Coupled with the Darkblock API, the Darkblock Viewer enables marketplaces and other partners to easily integrate decentralized unlockable content.

But what if I don’t own the NFT?

This is where the true magic of Darkblock will be. Coming soon, Darkblock will enable rental and pay-per-view access to the content. This will allow owners of NFTs to monetize their holdings, giving them a recurring revenue stream from their NFT collection. We believe this will launch a new wave of business models around NFTs.

Darkblock will initially support Ethereum NFTs using ERC-721 and ERC-1155 standards, but plans to support all major NFT standards (Polygon, Solana, Tezos, Palm and Flow are high on our priority list). Integration of new blockchains is a relatively simple task due to Darkblock’s blockchain agnostic characteristics.

So how does it work?

First, let’s create a Darkblock. You can use Opensea’s lazy minting to create an NFT, then follow the instructions in this video:

After you have minted the Darkblock at app.darkblock.io, just click refresh to reveal the web viewer and follow the simple instructions here:

Easy, right? Darkblock can protect multiple format types such as images, videos, music, and pdfs, markdown, 3D assets (avatars for the metaverse!) and much more coming soon!.

As always, please come join the conversation at chat.darkblock.io or contact us for more information at info@darkblock.io. Or go make a Darkblock at app.darkblock.io!