One of web3’s promises is decentralization. From the creator perspective, that means controlling their work and having a direct relationship with their collectors and customers without relying on centralized platforms. That, by the way, is what our decentralized, open-source protocol makes possible.
But to us, decentralization also means ownership of assets without relying on centralized gatekeepers. In other words, NFT buyers and collectors should be able to access their token’s unlockable content from anywhere… not just on a centralized marketplace like OpenSea, a creator’s token-gated website, or even our own dApp. That, by the way, is also what our protocol makes possible.
That will get easier for collectors as the Darkblock Protocol becomes a standard piece of the web3 tech stack, integrated everywhere people access and interact with their NFTs.
Until then, though, we want to make it easy for NFT owners to access their unlockable content in more of the places they hang out. Since OpenSea is far and away the most popular NFT marketplace, we figured it’s a great place to demonstrate how Darkblock enables decentralized content delivery.
Darkblock’s new OpenSea Chrome extension embeds the Darkblock widget into the marketplace, allowing visitors to immediately see whether an NFT contains unlockable content and, if it does, authenticate ownership of that NFT to unlock and consume the content, whether it’s a video, music tracks, PDFs, 3D assets, or any other type of digital good.
The extension is currently available on Google’s Chrome Web Store.
Please try it out and then head to OpenSea. Given how early we are as a protocol, the vast majority of NFTs do not contain decentralized unlockable content. But if you want to see how an NFT with unlockable content shows up on OpenSea, check out this one from well-known artist Matt Griffin, who used Darkblock to attach a time-lapse video of him creating the piece, a hi-res version collectors can use to print, and a PDF with lore about the character. Or this one from musician Songs of Eden, who uses Darkblock to reward his collectors by continually attaching exclusive videos of his live performances to his NFTs.
If you want the full experience of owning an NFT and unlocking its content, we have a free NFT you’re welcome to mint that contains unlocklables (it’s on Polygon, so gas shouldn’t cost much). Once the NFT is in your wallet (and you have the Chrome extension installed), visit its detail page on OpenSea. You should see two pieces of unlockable content, including the first three teaser pages of a comic book that I think we should finish one day. But they won’t be accessible to you until you click on “Authenticate Ownership.” Your wallet will prompt you for your signature, after which the protocol will decrypt and display your content (assuming the NFT is in the wallet you have connected).
Need a visual guide? We published an instructional video on our YouTube channel.Quick note: This Chrome extension is still in beta, so we’d love your feedback! Take it for a test drive, and if you like what Darkblock enables, feel free to build on top of our open-source code (Github). We’re also always available to answer questions on our Discord.