Maecenas: The Decentralised Art Gallery

There's a saying: do one thing, and do it well. So recently I've participated in the Maecenas contribution phase for this main reason alone. Groomed by the team at Cofound.it, I think they've done a great job researching and presenting their business case of coming up with a fine art marketplace through good use of blockchain technology.

The basic concept is to virtually divide art assets into shares, each with their own tamper-proof digital certificate. So in that sense, the Maecenas platform is in a unique market position of opening up art trading, investing, and collateralising opportunities in ways the industry has never seen before. Personally, I've never explored investing in art and collectibles, so this might prove to be a good alternative hedge against market uncertainty.

Alright, so I have another reason for getting some of these coins. The token is named ART - how awesome is that? It's pretty definitive of what they're trying to do. Maybe I'm just a sucker for good memes. Anyway, the token is required for access into the functions of the platform, while serving as both clearing and settlement layers.

The good thing about this project is that it doesn't have any discounts during their presale, just a guaranteed allocation for CFI token holders. I think that's a good decision for the right kind of project. The crowdsale has a hard cap of 60,000 ethers at ~$20 million, most of which is for providing a liquidity pool for their first batch of masterpieces. The works of Picasso, Monet, and Warhol are on the potenial list. From my understanding, they've done their homework and have formed the right connections to have a shot at this project.

Here's their sales pitch on why anyone should be a contributor:-

• If you contribute you will receive ART tokens that will be used to invest into multi million dollars worth pieces of art. You will enrich your investment by selling tokens on the market or by getting percentage when the works of art are sold.
• You will help small galleries to buy until now too expansive works of art bringing the likes of Salvador Dali to all places on earth.
• Taking the greatest work of art from the hands of the rich and giving them back to the public.
• You will help to start a revolution by democratising the USD 65 billion off-line world of art trading.

The crowdsale is still up at the time of writing and still has about 40% to go until it closes. The only thing that I don't feel comfortable about the project is that only 1/3 of the tokens are available as public offering. Also, what's the "decentralised art gallery" part about when custody of those assets are ultimately centralised? As usual, this is not a financial advice. Thanks for reading! Check out their website and whitepaper at https://www.maecenas.co.