Major Swiss Telecoms Firm Swisscom to Distribute Tokenized Artwork

Major Swiss telecommunications company Swisscom announced its plans to distribute tokenized artwork through its Swisscom TV television network. The news was reported by Cointelegraph auf Deutsch on May 24.

Per the company’s press release, limited artworks — initially 100 works by 30 artists — from selected artists are exclusively available on the Swisscom TV box through the NOOW app. The app was developed by Swiss tokenization startup Dloop. The works have been chosen by Stefanie Marlene Wenger, who commented in the press release on the development:

“This is about more than creating a virtual gallery; the next step will be to include curated exhibitions on the platform and a close collaboration with galleries.”

Since its launch, NOOW app reportedly allows users to select pieces and buy certified copies, which will be issued in limited numbers. The press release claims that digitization has eroded the value of original art by allowing it to be copied without any quality loss.

As the announcement claims, in the Swisscom system “the owner receives a certificate of authenticity and knows how many copies of a work exist.”  Basel artist Jonas Baumann is also quoted, praising the distribution advantages of digitization:

“NOOW helps me to bring art to the screen. It also offers new creative opportunities to experiment with animated images and offer them to a wider audience.”

As Cointelegraph reported in March, the blockchain-based art registry startup Artory has acquired auction house database Auction Club.

Also, in May last year news broke that American online art auctioneer Paddle8 and The Native, a Swiss tech company, were launching a blockchain-based art authentication service.