Object Token is a kind of non-fungible token on EOS.
The goal of this proposal is to resolve the following drawbacks of ERC721 and the NFT design for EOS (https://github.com/unicoeos/eosio.nft):
-
the NFT token contract assumes that the tokens are countable and are of the same type (all Cryptokitties are served by one contract, all objects of some other kind are served by a different contract), and the user associates the name of the contract with the meaning of the token.
-
The 64-bit identifier of NFT token is not linked with the token contents, except in the contract memory.
Content of an object is understood as an abstract piece of data (most likely in JSON format) tha describes a virtual or physical object in the outside world.
The content data is retrievable via one of P2P networks, such as IPFS or BitTorrent.
The content must contain a cryptographic signature of its origin. This can be done in a form of PGP signed message, or an SSL-signed object, packed together with the certificate chain (feasibility and format yet to be identified).
The Object Token smart contract is serving the following purposes related to the objects:
-
Ownership. Like any other token, every object belongs to one and only one EOS account. Depending on real-world interpretation, this may mean a legal ownership of a real property.
-
Authenticity. The smart contract provides the means for any external party to verify the origin of an object.
-
Uniqueness. The smart contract guarantees that the same object would not be duplicated and assigned to a different owner.
The object identifier is the SHA256 of its content. This provides the benefit of self-reference: you can store the file on your disk or in a database, and there's a way to quickly verify its ownership in the blockchain.
The properties of an object are immutable.
-
id
: a 256bit integer equal to SHA256 of the object content; -
uri
: a link that identifies a way of retrieving the object content (via IPFS or BitTorrent); -
origin
: a string that identifies a type of identity, and the identity itself of the origin. For example,pgp:[email protected]#https://pgp.mit.edu/
identifies that my public key may be found on a specified public key server. origin strings are stored in a separate multi-index table, and objects refer to 64-bit indexes of origins. -
validatedby
: EOS account of a trusted entity that has validated the object contents and properties. -
options
: a 64-bit integer. Bits 0 to 16 indicate flags, bits 32 to 63 supply an optional value.-
Bit 0: indicates if the object is transferable;
-
Bit 1: allows destroying the object by owner;
-
Bit 2: allows destroying the object by origin's owner;
-
Bit 3: sets expiration for an object. Expired object can be eventually erased from RAM. The bits 32-63 contain the expiration point in time in hours since Unix Epoch.
-
Action names are different from those of eosio.token
by intent, as
they have nothing to do with standard token operations.
-
addvalidator(account)
: the contract owner assigns a number of trusted validators for object contents. -
delvalidator(account)
: the contract owner can undelegate the validation rights from an account. This is a disruptive operation, as all objects that are validated will need re-validation by another account. Until that happens, the objects are nontransferable. -
regorigin(owner, origin)
: anyone can register an origin string, and the owner pays for RAM. The origin ID is generated by taking first 48 bits of transaction hash. -
new(owner, id, uri, originid, flags)
: the owner creates a new object, and allocates RAM for it. Until the object is validated, it cannot be transferred. -
validate(validator, id)
: the validator confirms that the object is what it claims to be and its origin and signature are correct. -
move(from, to, id, memo)
: The owner transfers the ownership to another account. This is analogous totransfer
action ineosio.token
. -
destroy(account, id)
: The owner or the origin creator can destroy the object at any time, provided that corresponding flags are set in th options field.
All kinds of right to use can be implemented with the Object Token contract. The rights can be permanent or temporary, and they can span digital and real-life objects. Also PGP signature is something that is already recognized by legacy technology players, so it would simplify the adoption and integration into legal contracts.
Copyright 2019 [email protected]
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.