0xcert, a European tech start-up will begin its public pre-sale event on June 26th. The ICO aims to raise funds by selling tokens (called ZXC) to buyers and developers, which will be used for various utilities within the protocol ecosystem. 0xcert is not simply a transfer of ‘money’, like other blockchain technologies, but actually creates unique non-fungible tokens, each token carrying an imprint of a real-world asset.

Adoption of this innovation has the potential to revolutionize the way we store, manage and verify assets such as a house or other real estate, artworks, academic credentials and ID documents. New technology will provide a framework for developers to build powerful ‘dapps’, enabling everyone to easily authenticate and manage their digital or real-world assets (such as IDs, degrees, art or real estate) on the blockchain.

0xcert has developed an open-source protocol for the management of these non-fungible tokens through blockchain. The protocol provides a foundation that enables developers to build on this technology. 0xcert provides a framework for developers, which can build dapps (decentralized apps). These dapps will, in turn, be able to digitally represent and verify ownership of assets such as land titles, artworks as well as collectibles.

Jure Zih, Co-Founder and 0xcert CEO explains their mission is: “To equip application developers with a secure blockchain agnostic platform, powerful tools and community embraced conventions for managing non-fungible tokens.”

0xcert provides conventions for the developer community to standardize the way digital assets can be converted into non-fungible tokens on the blockchain. These conventions are currently under development for various assets such as certificates, academic credentials, and identities.

Kristijan Sedlak, Co-Founder and CTO added: “Since 0xcert is an open source project that strives to be community driven, a decentralized governance model could be introduced as well.” They plan to expand these conventions to include collectibles, warranties, loyalty programmes, real estate, in-gaming items and more.”

To provide a real-world example of this technology, imagine having all your academic certificates, land title, ID documents and artwork certificates online, each asset represented by a unique token. These are all stored in a ‘digital wallet’, which you control using a private digital key (akin to a password). If someone, for example, wanted to authenticate artwork or validate a degree, they could easily do that through a simple decentralized application. By enabling this verification process, 0xcert will help resolve numerous problems associated with proving provenance and authenticity.

William Entriken, the main author of the ERC721 standard for non-fungible tokens is a 0xcert key advisor. William commented: “I get approached by many companies to become their Advisor but the tech and the team at 0xcert were a big standout. The solution and support they offer is revolutionary. The next wave of blockchain’s explosive growth is here (with 0xcert) and will make it possible to put real-world assets on the blockchain”.

Furthermore, several distinguished academic institutions have recognized the potential of 0xcert’s new protocol, they are joining an Erasmus and project introducing micro-credentialing in higher education, led by a consortium of organizations and institutions including Knowledge 4 All Foundation and Jozef Stefan Institute.