Cryptolith is an art project, which aims to bridge the gap between the digital representation of a collectible and its physical materialisation.
Blockchain technologies enabled the creation of digital collectibles that cannot be replicated, nonetheless most projects failed to account for the physical materialisation of these pieces. Indeed, how do you prevent the owner of an NFT from printing it ? Projects like Hashmasks for example, allow any owner of a mask to print it in high-res. The question then arises as to what happens when one of these masks has been printed and ownership is transferred ? In our opinion, there is an inherent loss of value through time.
Cryptolith explores this abstract frontier between the physical and digital representations of a collectible, by creating a global monument made of a series of Megaliths (stones of various shapes which originated Celtic culture). This monument is also an ode to decentralisation, as Megaliths are often part of a group.
Having both spent childhood holidays in Celtic places - Brittany, which hosts many "Menhirs" and "Dolmens" - we feel attached to these stones which have no particular purpose or intrinsic value. These stones used to act as boundary markers of territory, reminders of past events, or were part of a society's religion. Nowadays, they are just stones. Their value was lost and forgotten over time, while their shape eroded. We found this absence of meaning coupled to their sheer physical size and weight fascinating. Megaliths symbolise nothing and yet have physical presence and gravity. They stood as anchor points for many civilisations and will likely remain there for centuries shielding any person no matter their beliefs, or colour.
The Cryptolith website displays various digital shapes. Users can contribute to any shape they like or want to have realised by bidding $LITH on it. Whenever they do so, their $LITH is partially locked into the $LITH program account and they receive the stone's unique token - a proof of share ownership in the stone. This stone token is locked-up until the stone is physically built, or until the user cancels its contribution.
Once the materialisation threshold of a particular cryptolith is reached, the $LITH is locked and sold in order to have the stone built. The stone token then becomes tradeable, so that stone acquirers can resell their share if they are willing to.
The location of the stone will be chosen based on a couple parameters: The chosen location of the largest shareholder of each stone, the physical decentralisation of the Cryptoliths and the feasibility of planting a 40 ton stone somewhere.
Stone tokens are not NFTs as several users can possess a share in a given stone. This mechanism enforces accessibility and shared ownership in stones, while increasing the probability of a stone being actually built.
The way each Cryptolith work is halfway between an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC).
Cryptolith is built on the Solana blockchain, the amazing Anchor framework and the SPL token standard.
Solana allows a fairer and easier access to the blockchain. There is no memory pool, no collusion of miners and traders, and transactions are fast and efficient. It is the ideal technology to build apps that are accessible to the layman.