Frequently Asked Questions

Could you please briefly describe what PRüF is?
At its core, PRüF is a privacy-first provenance platform that provides instant verification of ownership, authenticity, and item provenance using NFTs. NFT products created with PRüF feature permanent blockchain media and document storage, monetizable business logic, and an authentic, brand focused user experience.
Using the systems and business logic built into the protocol, PRüF assets can be used in escrows, collateralized loans, layaways, private sales, and much, much more, all without requiring the development of any contract code or complex WEB3 programming.

You describe yourselves as ‘platform agnostic’. Could you elaborate?
By defining PRüF as “protocol-first and platform agnostic” we gain the freedom to re-imagine uses and implementations in their optimal forms for every market and chain.
For example, while PRüF will first deploy on Ethereum, Cardano and similar platforms have the potential to bring PRüF’s asset management and monetization tools to a truly global market.
As third-generation platforms such as Cardano reach maturity, they will enable PRüF for inexpensive assets and supply chain provenance with fast, affordable transactions.
As we explore how to we can create new value leveraging ARweave with PRüF, we expect to deploy some or all of the protocol to smartWeave for content- heavy digital applications.
High-resolution art, NFT collectibles, digital assets, software, AR/VR experiences, videos, or anything else with a heavy storage requirement is a natural match for the ARweave permanent storage platform.
Ultimately, we can see ARweave dominating the storage-heavy NFT space, and PRüF will be there.
Specifically for certain collectibles, deployment on the Flow blockchain may prove advantageous as it will give PRüF easy access to certain marketplaces within their ecosystem.
Because the PRüF protocol is designed to be universal and extensible, mobility between chains — where desirable — will be simple.

PRüF is described as privacy-first. What does that mean, and how does PRüF protect user privacy?

The PRüF protocol does not store personally identifiable information on the blockchain. This is important because, by design, the blockchain is a living public document. Anything stored on the blockchain is inherently public. PRüF uses user data to create digital “shadows” of the information it is given, and the original information is discarded. Like a shadow, the data cannot be used to recreate the original scene, but it is a unique imprint that can be used to verify that a scene matches the shadow or does not.
By not storing your information, PRüF data becomes immune to breaches, hackers, or other methods of coercion - the data is simply not there to take.
Privacy and security are almost always a tradeoff with functionality. PRüF meets this challenge in two ways:
PRüF allows a specific user (and only that user) to prove that they are the owner or authorized party to a single specific asset. This limitation is a privacy feature in our case because it prevents “looking up” users' listings on the blockchain.
While privacy is important, sometimes we wish to make things public. PRüF allows for this as well by linking assets to publicly readable (or encrypted) information accessible online. This way, users can publish what they want to make public while retaining control of their privacy.

What do you mean when you say that PRüF is extendable and upgradeable?
The PRüF infrastructure is modular and designed to securely connect to custom contracts to enable any type of business logic imaginable.

Custom contracts might include collateralized loans, layaways, escrows pending delivery, structured sales contracts, or any other type of business logic involving assets, payments, and time or other information oracles.

As for upgradeability, our contracts are designed to be upgraded in place. This means that a new contract can be launched to replace or extend an existing one without an interruption of service or user action required.

Can you please elaborate on the decentralization of PRüF?
PRüF accomplishes decentralization primarily through the use of independent nodes.
Nodes are operated by companies or individuals and act as management portals for different classes of assets. Node operators control the fees and business logic of assets in their class and act as independent portals to the PRüF ecosystem.
In addition to independent Node operators, we will be rolling out fully decentralized nodes that feature crowdsourced provisioning, staking, and crowdsourced governance.
Also, on the roadmap is decentralized governance for the entire ecosystem, and the entire infrastructure is designed to eventually be controlled by decentralized governance contracts.

Will the PRüF platform support token staking?
YES! PRüF governance is powered by stakers. Token holders stake on nodes that earn in the PRüF ecosystem, and receive a share of node earnings. In addition to this, we plan to offer an enhanced staking fund for early adopters that will provide very high rewards for stakers even before the full ecosystem is rolled out.

What is an ACNode, why would I want one, and how can I get one?

ACNodes are the key to PRüF’s decentralization.
Brands, businesses, and creators establish their asset minting authority by obtaining an ACNode. This unique “key” enables the holder to control the node, including setting the payment address and price points for specific actions within the scope of their node.
The ACNode holder also chooses the namespace that describes their node. In one example, the owner of the "trek bicycles" ACNode might have exclusive use of the “Trek Bicycles” keyword and the trek-bicycles.pruf.io domain referrer, as well as the app.pruf.io/trek-bicyles namespace. In another case, an artist may own a node that he mints NFT deeds to his art on, while a curated collection of digital art is released under another ACNode Brand.
By acting as a minting authority, it is easy to authenticate original works from knockoffs or fakes - only the node holder can mint objects in their brand’s namespace. This also ensures that each node holder or brand can give their customers a unique, brand specific presentation of their offerings or collections.
ACNodes are obtained in the PRüF ecosystem through the AC admin dashboard in the PRüF web app. This allows potential node owners to trade PRüF for an ACNode of their choosing. Half of the PRüF used to obtain an ACNode is burned by the ACManager contract. Once a user holds an ACNode token, they can then set the pricing, namespace, and other details of the corresponding asset class (AC), enabling them to fully customize their ACNode portal to provide an optimal user experience.

Many Blockchain projects have a promising start, but fizzle out with time. How can you
guarantee that PRüF is here to stay?
PRüF has carefully aligned incentives to make sure that the project continues to grow. The team’s tokens are unlocked over 4 years to keep development and buildout going strong. Aside from these tokens, the PRüF team and private investors will stake on nodes in the PRüF ecosystem, aligning team and investor incentives for long term viability.

Where do you and the PRüF team see the world of blockchain in the coming years, and what role will PRüF play in changes to the space?
Blockchain is slowly taking over many industries, and cryptocurrency adoption is growing every day. It's only a matter of time before distributed consensus protocols take over the vast majority of financial and provenance markets, simply because they are the best tools for the job. In the NFT artifact space, PRüF is uniquely positioned to provide industry leading features including blockchain based artifact storage, including media, documents, software, and more. Since PRüF can store not only a piece of media but also the way in which it is displayed, PRüF based not’s will be readable far into the future, unlike most offerings which are doomed to become expensive dead internet like when the platform they were built with fades into obscurity. PRüF doesn’t have to still be here for PRüF assets to function correctly!
There is nothing that conventional ledgers can do that blockchain can’t do better. Of course, there are limitations and inefficiencies in current solutions, but those are a result of legacy problems that have already been solved. It will take time, but modern solutions will be integrated into the popular chains, and new projects will be launched that bring low cost, high-speed blockchains to the forefront of the financial world.

Fully realized, PRüF will generate tens of millions of micro-transactions per day. Obviously, this will require a level of performance and economy that does not yet exist - but high capacity applications like PRüF are driving the edge of blockchain performance, and PRüF will either move to a more performant platform or launch our own when the time comes.

Why would I want to choose PRüF instead of one of the many other projects out there right now? What makes PRüF unique, and what is the market potential?

PRüF solves real problems for individuals while addressing significant pain points for international commerce. Most projects are just copying existing innovations in the already crowded DeFi space, and they aren’t bringing in any new value to the crypto ecosystem.
You can only put so many fish in the same bowl before they start eating each other. Real-world projects like PRüF bring in new value to the space, instead of just trying to grab an ever-decreasing share of a limited resource.
Just the anti-counterfeit packaging market, which PRüF is well-positioned to disrupt, is a 100 billion dollar market and is expected to nearly double in size by 2026. The NFT market, another key PRüF strength point where we offer unprecedented features and functionality, is undergoing explosive growth right now. As PRüF helps developers, artists, and creators bring PRüF enabled, curation quality NFTs to markets across the spectrum, even existing NFT markets and platforms will be incentivized to shift their infrastructure to support the PRüF layer 2 protocol.

What will PRüF do to create massive adoption?
That's one of our secret superpowers, so we're glad you asked!
Adoption is a huge issue for most projects in the cryptocurrency space. Most people know little or nothing about blockchain technology. Even fewer people actually hold or use crypto.
PRüF onboards users in bulk without them even knowing that they are using the blockchain. When a major upmarket manufacturer uses PRüF so that their customers know that they aren’t buying fakes, customers scan the tags in the store with their phones to verify their authenticity. All they know is whether a product is authentic or not - the blockchain operations are doing the work in the background.
After purchase, they can register their purchase on the brand’s portal. Without ever touching a crypto wallet, they are now a PRüF user. The brand owner handles all of the blockchain interaction in their back-office infrastructure.
Users in managed asset classes can prove provenance, perform transfers, and most other basic operations. Later, If a user decides to, they can export their asset to an unmanaged node and hold their asset in their wallet.
Whether a user chooses to learn about the full functionality of their PRüF asset or not, millions of users will be onboarded every year by each major manufacturer using PRüF.

Do you have any bounty programs? Who can join? How can I participate and earn PRüF?

We currently have a full bug bounty program, as well as daily meme contests and social media bounties over at t.me/pruftalk. Check t.me/prufevents for announcements and program details. PRüF will be listing on a major DEX soon, with our IDO scheduled for late Q2 2021.

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|PRüF is a Sightglass Foundation project|