Powering a Digital Renaissance: LUKSO

While you are strolling down a street with a parade of shops — oftentimes you will notice that the fashion and the art stores have a distinct charm. Each store abides by a certain aesthetic they want to convey to customers. When we look online, we see a similar trend, creative websites have the best visuals — selling not just a product, but an experience. For the most artsy of the lot, breaking into new trends is a part of their livelihood. And with what’s going on with Web3 technology it is no surprise that creatives are most eager to try and create a better economy for themselves.

In the traditional space, creatives often face challenges related to ownership, funding, intermediaries, royalty issues and lack of exposure. For creatives to truly shine at their craft, these are some issues they have to spend their resources on. The Web3 future plans to change that. Future isn’t even the correct word to use here, as the NFTs have already taken the world by storm. Without even looking into your playlist one can confidently assume that your favourite artiste has an NFT series lined up. Whilst NFTs have received their fair share of bouquets and brickbats — it clearly shows that the creative economy will be a pioneer in adopting Web3.

Now that we have looked at the background of how the creative economy and blockchain technologies are converging, there is an important question that needs to be answered. How do we ensure that creatives can fully leverage the power of blockchains without getting into the technical nitty-gritty? This is the problem that LUKSO’s Co-Founders, Marjorie Hernandez and Fabian Vogelstellar are addressing by bringing blockchain technology to its next frontier.

#EmbraceTheChain pic.twitter.com/FsxaSVdJKI

— LUKSO (@lukso_io) July 18, 2023

LUKSO is an ecosystem which anticipates a creative community future. The gap between the physical and digital realities is blurring every day with the advent of VR technologies, social media and video games. Creators and their customers are well connected via communities. So the way people consume creative content and products is changing — therefore the need for infrastructure to enable such a huge deluge of data.

LUKSO, thus, aims to provide a tailor-made digital solution for creative brands. And so, LUKSO brands itself as a provider for the “modern lifestyle industry”, acting as a “digital base layer for the modern creative economies.” The Web3 world has its tenets of decentralisation and community participation which matches very well with the needs of the industry.

There is also a trinity of principles which guide LUKSO and consolidate its vision for the future. To mould the future of creative economies, LUKSO relies on these pillars:

Identification

To build a creative economy that involves constant links between the users, the creators and the product, there needs to be in place an identification mechanism. A digital identity which is under full control of the individual and is platform agnostic. The three entities mentioned earlier must have their own identification -

• Creators — Public validation and transparency increases trust in the creator. This helps them mould their image in the creative spectrum.
• Users — A digital identity is built by the user which accrues trust over time and increases their reputation while building their own journey across the creative world.
• Products — For digital collectables as well as “phygital” collectables having a unique identity is essential. “Phygital” refers to the physical items with a digital existence via tagging. It creates a sense of ownership and belonging to a certain artistic project and also ensures authenticity.

Tokenisation

The creative world and commerce are fusing — and everything is based on communities. While LUKSO provides a digital base layer for these communities — there also needs to be a token to fuel these economies. Tokenisation can show ownership, provide voting rights and create engagement between participants. Tokens are a form of currency within the ecosystem but can take up multiple functions.

Virtualisation

Since we are moving to mixed reality, virtualisation must be integrated into every facet of the creative industry. VR spaces are getting more common, and so are virtual models and influencers. Moreover, even real-world models can take up multiple gigs by means of virtualization. Another use case involves virtually dressing up a customer — adding the clothes they buy to their VR persona as well. And not to mention the in-game skins, like say in Fortnite — can have fashion labels attached to them!

LUKSO is a Layer-1 EVM blockchain, making it fully compatible with all the Ethereum tools and hence making it easier for developers familiar with the Ethereum toolchain. LUKSO enables DApps for a whole new audience while adding more security and lowering the entry barrier into the world of blockchain. On the tech side of things — it brings some interesting innovations to the table in the form of Universal Profiles, NFT 2.0, and Tokens which they like to call “Cultural Currencies.”

Universal Profiles enable interoperable blockchain-based identities, this ensures authentication for individuals and products in the ecosystem and improves security and collaboration.

NFT 2.0 — On a quest to better the existing standards by adding safety features and unlimited metadata while making it compatible with Universal Profiles.

Cultural Currencies — These fungible tokens enable the creation of economies within communities and empower creatives to become a business force.

LUKSO has a plan of action to bring about these revolutions. They use a set of proposals which act as the building blocks on which the whole system is built — let’s take a look!

LSPs are an evolution of the current blockchain experience. LSPs are what introduce concepts of Universal Profiles, Digital assets and NFT 2.0. There are ten such proposals which are the foundation of the LUKSO Ecosystem and create the roadmap for LUKSO.

For example, the LSP0 proposes the ERC725 contract which is an improvement on ERC721, the token which introduced NFTs.

Similarly, Tokens and NFT 2.0 are implemented using the LSP7 and LSP8 standards — replacing ERC20 and ERC721. So to put it in simpler terms, LSPs are LUKSO’s order-independent method to introduce innovations in the underlying technology.

Creating an identity solely based on cryptographic keys can be challenging as such keys are susceptible to being lost or compromised. This poses significant risks when it comes to holding assets and establishing a reputation. A more effective approach to representing identity would be through blockchain-based accounts.

LUKSO Universal Profiles (UPs) are one of the key components of the LUKSO platform. They are digital identities that represent individuals, brands, and products within the LUKSO ecosystem. UPs serve as a unified and standardized way to manage and authenticate information related to fashion and lifestyle.

• Identity Management: UPs enable individuals and brands to create and manage their digital identities on the LUKSO blockchain. These identities can include personal information, social media profiles, professional credentials, and more.
• Authentication and Verification: UPs provide a means to verify the authenticity of brands and products. This helps to combat counterfeiting and provides transparency for consumers.
• Interoperability: UPs are designed to be interoperable, meaning they can be connected and utilized across various applications and services within the LUKSO ecosystem. This allows for seamless sharing of information and data between different participants.
• Smart Contracts and Licensing: UPs can be associated with smart contracts that govern licensing and royalty agreements. This allows designers and creators to protect their intellectual property and receive fair compensation for their work.
• Social Features: UPs incorporate social elements, enabling individuals and brands to connect, collaborate, and engage with each other within the LUKSO ecosystem. This fosters a sense of community and facilitates networking opportunities.

Fast forward to the future and back to the shopping street, you may fancy a particular jacket. This jacket is in fact a one-off designer piece which is a phygital collectible. An RFID on this jacket links it to its digital identity, and your ownership is recorded on a smart contract. Over time maybe you pass it on to someone else — that too is recorded. And soon this is a rare piece with its entire history recorded on the LUKSO chain. You are a part of the product, the community and the history of that creative vision. This is the creative economy of the future.

About Luganodes

Luganodes is a world-class, Swiss-operated, non-custodial blockchain infrastructure provider that has rapidly gained recognition in the industry for offering institutional-grade services. It was born out of the Lugano Plan B Program, an initiative driven by Tether and the City of Lugano. Luganodes maintains an exceptional 99.9% uptime with round-the-clock monitoring by SRE experts. With support for 40+ PoS networks, it ranks among the top validators on Polygon, Polkadot, Sui, and Tron. Luganodes prioritizes security and compliance, holding the distinction of being one of the first staking providers to adhere to all SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and ISO 27001 standards as well as offering Chainproof insurance to institutional clients.