PRüF x Satoshi Club AMA Recap from 14th of March
Hello, Satoshi clubbers Another AMA took place in Satoshi Club and we would like to introduce to you the AMA session with our friends from PRüF and our guest was Clifford Smyth — CEO and a lead dev at pruf.io. The AMA took place on 14 March.
The total reward pool was 500$ and has been split into 3 parts.
In this AMA Recap, we will try to summarise the most interesting points for you.
Part 1 — introduction and questions from the Website
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Hello Satoshi Club! We are happy to announce our AMA session with PRüF! Welcome to Satoshi Club
D. | Satoshi Club:
@exosequitur welcome to Satoshi Club! good to have you here!
Clifford Smyth:
Hello, Satoshi club community!
Good to be here!
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Hello, Clifford! Happy to see you here!
How’s going?
Clifford Smyth:
Things are great, working hard on the project, and lots of exciting progress. I’m really excited to be able to share some of the cool stuff we’ve been working on!
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Fantastic! Let’s start
Clifford Smyth:
Sounds good!
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Could you please introduce yourself and tell us more about PRüF
Clifford Smyth:
My name is Clifford Smyth: and I am CEO and a lead dev at pruf.io. I’ve been building software for most of my life, and my work at PRüF is what I’m here to talk about today, obviously!
I’ve followed blockchain technology since bitcoin was still theoretical — the idea of Merkle tree ledgers is actually pretty old, but it was “Satoshi Nakomoto” that brought the incentives into line to make it happen.
Watching that develop changed my thinking on distributed systems because it showed that the alignment of incentives is the key to making it work.
Since then, I have incorporated that insight into much of my work, and it is a fundamental basis for everything we engineer at PRüF.
At its core, PRüF is a privacy-first provenance platform that provides instant verification of ownership, authenticity, and item provenance.
PRüF is designed to manage both digital and physical assets as NFTs, and we offer manufacturers, artisans, and NFT content creators turnkey white-box solutions for tokenizing their goods without writing any contract code.
Since PRüF is a platform, not a product, we allow NFT creators, brands, and businesses to create secure, authenticatable, branded NFTs to represent and manage both digital and physical artifacts.
In addition to basic tokenization, PRüF delivers a lot of core functionality to objects tokenized in the PRüF ecosystem. PRüF enabled NFTs are manageable with customizable business logic and have built-in monetization functions for creators to utilize. PRüF enabled NFT assets come with built-in functionality for secure sales contracts, escrows, and even secured loans.
Mary | Satoshi Club:
That’s interesting! We definitely need ownership verification!
Clifford Smyth:
I think that’s one of the key uses for blockchain tech, really.
Mary | Satoshi Club:
So, you won’t have your own PRüF NFTs?
Sure, you’re right!
Your platform focuses mostly on businesses now?
Clifford Smyth:
Well, NFT’s created using PRüF are all “PRüF NFTs”, but because we’ve designed PRüF as a solution for creators, companies, and brands, they can be branded by the user while still operating in the system. It’s really a matter of segregating the interface that is presented to the user, to enable brands to present their offerings in their own context.
Our platform is designed to be accessible to users at any scale. Individuals, artisans, manufacturers …. just about anyone that wants to create tokenized assets, digital or physical.
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Got it, it’s definitely different than simply nice pictures! This is the use case that is the most important for the industry.
How much time has passed from the idea of PRüF to its implementation?
Clifford Smyth:
We anticipate that individuals or small issuers will probably use the default interface and that companies will own nodes that direct users to their branded portals.
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Yes, it’s good scenario
Clifford Smyth:
We’ve been working on PRüF platform for about a year. Our main focus has been on making secure, private ownership of physical or digital items on the blockchain, and expanding the utility of tokenized assets so that they continue to provide value throughout product lifecycles. Of course, digital assets like art NFTs also fit perfectly in this framework — but we are far more than an NFT art platform.
I can give a quick rundown of what we provide in different applications….
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Sure, i see that you have much more use cases!
Give it, please
Clifford Smyth:
For physical goods:
In the inventory management and provenance space, we enable manufacturers to tokenize supply chain resources, establishing provenance at each step of manufacture, assembly, and distribution.
Once products reach the customer-facing space, we enable buyers to verify product authenticity, to guard against imitations and counterfeits.
Users of PRüF enabled items can then take advantage of the private-provenance feature, enabling them to establish their ownership with a digital title on the blockchain. Peer to peer or private sellers can prove ownership before the sale, increasing value and security for all involved parties.
Lost or stolen items can be marked as such, so that a stolen item scanned with a cellphone (no app required) will appear as stolen, making theft a less profitable option.
PRüF accomplishes all of these goals while not storing any personally identifiable information making PRüF a truly privacy-first platform.
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Fantastic! You will provide a lot of services!
Clifford Smyth:
In the NFT digital artifact space
PRüF provides a no-code solution for content creators and NFT teams to launch (https://pruf.io/devs.html) their tokens within their own curated blockchain space with our turnkey asset creation and management platform.
We address critical issues in the NFT space by providing simple, authoritative authentication to protect against fake or facsimile NFTs. We provide integral differentiation of token issuing authority, enabling authenticated token issuers to design their own customer experience and branded namespace.
We protect image-sensitive brands from the wild west of unverified issuers and offer their customers the assurance and security with comes with community curated assets.
So that’s a window into our primary use cases.
PRüF helps companies to eliminate counterfeit products, which is a problem that costs trillions in lost revenue, over 3% of global trade; the anti-counterfeiting industry is expected to reach nearly 200 billion dollars by 2026.
PRüF is well-positioned to be a major disruptive player in this fast-growing market, and that’s just one of the many verticals that we will bring into the blockchain space with PRüF.
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Super! Great intro, Clifford! I could ask more questions, but I know, that we have some questions related to all these things from our users
Clifford Smyth:
OK, great!
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Let’s go
Q1 from Telegram user @Gbasdfg
As I know PRüF is relatively new, you’re just getting started. Can you tell us about the progress you have made so far? What has been the most important update of the moment and what are you currently focused on?
Clifford Smyth:
Great question! give me a minute, there’s a lot!
D. | Satoshi Club:
Sure! take your time
Clifford Smyth:
As i mentioned earlier we’ve been working for about a year … we’ve got our MVP contracts audited and operational on the kovan testnet. We have the MVP DAPP up at app.pruf.io
D. | Satoshi Club:
Lots of work been done
Mary | Satoshi Club:
How’s your testing is going?
Clifford Smyth:
Right now we are focused on rolling out additional features in the interface to make onboarding content and companies a turnkey experience
Testing is coming along great in the new contracts
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Super! I think everyone should try your MVP dApp now
Clifford Smyth:
We’re working on a problem in the NFT Space that surprisingly few people are talking about …….. Data persistence.
We are targeting May-June for listing our IDO, and will be rolling out additional key features including staking on ACNodes by that time.
You’ll want your metamask set up for Kovan testnet!
Mary | Satoshi Club:
How this data persistence problem can influence on ordinary users, can you explain, please
I know, i think i even still have some test eth there
Clifford Smyth:
If you are testing the app, feel free to ask questions in the telegram chat at t.me/pruftalk and a community manager can get you pointed in the right direction!
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Satoshiclubbers
join and participate in testing
Clifford Smyth:
A lot of NFT content is actually stored “in the cloud” or as I like to say, on someone elses computer. Its not on chain.
So, eventually, it will disappear.
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Ahaha, you’re right
I feel that mine also
And it scares me
Hope this problem will be in the past with PRüF’s help
Clifford Smyth:
Most solutions use a data warehouse or IPFS. Both require that someone continue to ensure that the content is available. We are working with ARweave to create persistent data for PRüF NFTs. We feel that this is really critical, because otherwise, what do you really get with an NFT?
If its a blockchain title to an asset, you dont want the digital copy of the survey or certification to just disappear one day.
If its digital art, you dont want it becoming just another broken internet link.
D. | Satoshi Club:
That’s true
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Very true!
Clifford Smyth:
Don’t get me wrong, IPFS is a great solution if you don’t need absolute permanence….but it still requires someone to keep a server spinning. It’s not a blockchain.
Mary | Satoshi Club:
I think i understand what you’re talking about, me and @Cool_as_Ice were talking about similar things lately!
Thank you for your great explanations, Clifford! Ready to proceed?
Clifford Smyth:
Ready!
Q2 from Telegram user @Highpee
You have described PRüF as the privacy-first provenance platform that provides instant verification of ownership and authenticity. However, the services you offer is similar to VeChain which allow business users to verify ownership and authenticity of materials and goods as they move through the supply chain. Why do you think you are the first and what set you apart in this regard? What fresh Innovations will you be using to provide verifiable and efficient private asset management which validates a product lifecycle and can warn users of potentially counterfeit products before purchase?
Clifford Smyth:
Great question !
There are some superficial similarities to VEchain, so we get this question quite a bit.
First, because the PRüF platform is designed to accommodate most business cases, it can be used for supply chain and materials management, in a very similar way to VEchain.
But the similarity ends at that point.
First, pruf is privacy-focused , instead of transparency-focused.
VeChain is primarily a supply chain solution, with its own blockchain, and for that, its RFID tag functionality is a pretty good fit. VEChain allows business users to publicly verify the history of materials and goods as they move through the supply chain.
VEChain relies upon these materials and products running through official channels where they will be checked, which is a good fit for many industrial applications, and ultimately can protect consumers in many important cases
PRüF on the other hand, is a privacy focused asset tokenization and management platform. Provenance is just a part of a much bigger picture.
PRüF-Verified and PRüF-Private-Provenance are customer-focused solutions designed to assure authenticity and secure private ownership and commerce after the sale.
This is a key differentiating factor, because PRüF is designed to have strong utility for end users.
PRüF continues to offer value to users through verifiable-but-private asset management and protection throughout the product lifecycle, and alerts consumers to potentially counterfeit products before purchase.
In addition to supply chain tracking, we use a crowdsourced method for point of sale counterfeit detection.
As an open source ecosystem, PRüF is extensible by the community by adding ACNodes and custom business logic, so it is possible that the most important uses of PRüF haven’t even been developed yet.
Here’s a link to my full article on the subject:
https://prufio.medium.com/pr%C3%BCf-and-vechain-can-both-be-used-to-monitor-supply-chain-logistics-but-the-similarity-ends-there-31a91b8f16d1
….And thats just for the physical asset side
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Ohhhh
Can you explain for our members why does private asset management is important for users?
Clifford Smyth:
One interesting case would be that, for instance, a major online auction house could tokenize all items flowing through its system with PRüF, adding value for asset protection and management for users, while bringing customers back to the platform each time they interact with the item — even if they were selling it privately in person. Because pruf allows owners to prove that an item is legitamately theirs, it makes private commerce more secure.
PRüF was developed after finding a need to be able to prove ownership of things without giving up the privacy and control of your assets. Conventional solutions either rely on cumbersome bureaucracy or data-harvesting dot-com entities. We wanted a way for people to be able to prove the provenance and ownership of their possessions without being at the mercy of third parties that often have incentives that conflict with the property holder.
Mary | Satoshi Club:
How this system will work, can you give detailed example?
Clifford Smyth:
Ok, sure!
For retail items, or items that pass through a reseller, we enable buyers to verify product authenticity, to guard against imitations and counterfeits.
Users of PRüF enabled items can then take advantage of the private- provenance feature, enabling them to establish their ownership with a digital title on the blockchain.
Peer to peer or private sellers can prove ownership before the sale, increasing value and security for all involved parties.
Lost or stolen items can be marked as such, so that a stolen item scanned with a cellphone (no app required) will appear as stolen, making theft a less profitable option.
PRüF even incentives reuse, by allowing discarded items to pay their prior owners a small bonus if someone registers them. Trashing still-usable things now makes less sense.
Pruf also enables things like escrows, layaways, secured loans backed by physical assets….just about any business logic you might want to create.
A little bit about privacy: Because i think it is really important for this!
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Really impressive!
Sure!
Clifford Smyth:
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.
Here is an easy to read short-story written to represent a fully functional PRüF enabled future.
https://pruf.io/assets/files/An%20afternoon%20with%20pruf.pdf
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Thanks for sharing! A lot of really important info to read!
Clifford Smyth:
https://pruf.io/whitepaper.html#header16-u
D. | Satoshi Club:
Thank you!
Clifford Smyth:
Lots more info here ^^^^
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Clifford, thanks for your answers
privacy is that what i am looking for, so i will definitely dive deeper in this articles!
Ready to jump to the next question?
Clifford Smyth:
Ready!
Q3 from Telegram user @h1drX
PRüF is a really useful platform, but a negative point of PRüF is the adaptation to the Ethereum blockchain, due to its high fees and its traffic on the network, do you think in the future to incorporate another blockchain to PRüF?
Clifford Smyth:
Absolutely!
We’ve always known that the ETH network would never handle the transaction volume and economy that PRüF needs to reach its full potential.
We launched on ETH because A: it is the only mature dev ecosystem, and B: it had the strongest community to showcase our capabilities.
We did this knowing that there are other, higher-performing EVM’s that can directly support the PRüF codebase, and we are fully prepared (and planning to) port our contracts to a true 3rd generation platform.
Ridiculous ETH gas costs have just made our giveaways and bounties a bit more expensive, but other than that there is operationally no effect because we never planned to fully launch on the ethereum blockchain.
Mary | Satoshi Club:
That’s what most of the projects doing now
Ethereum kills with fees
Which blockchains are your priorities now?
Clifford Smyth:
For us, it was never really a question. We were hopeful about eth2, but it doesn’t look like that will help that much. There are lots of options though. We are getting ready to make a selection at this point, and we are looking at a few. We need a really high capacity chain with low fees…so that means just deploying on a cheaper eth clone won’t work in the long run.
Mary | Satoshi Club:
I got it
you really care about quality
Thank you, Clifford! Do you want to add something or we can go to the next question?
Clifford Smyth:
We are looking carefully at Cardano, BSC, FLOW, HPB, and others. Cardano is looking strong right now because it is a true 3rd gen platform, and it can handle our TX volume. It would be great to be one of the first IDO’s on Cardano too!
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Nice choices! I am happy I heard HPB name, they were here and i really like this project
Clifford Smyth:
From a tech perspective, HPB is great!
Mary | Satoshi Club:
And of course, you’re right, Cardano is strong!
D. | Satoshi Club:
Thank you for the detailed answers!
let’s go to the next question
Q4 from Telegram user @garrinepotter
I tried to understand the classification of assets in the PRüF ecosystem. The question is about ACNode (asset class node). ACNode holders receive a percentage of network fees. While having ACNodeKeys they can change the transaction value. Explain to me why ACNode holders have such rights and who can become an ACNode holder?
Clifford Smyth:
Great question!
At first, the distribution of ACNodes will be strictly through our grant program, but eventually, anyone will be able to mint an ACNode.
D. | Satoshi Club:
What will be the requirements to do this?
Clifford Smyth:
ACNodes would typically be either some kind of brand or commercial entity, including artisans, manufacturers, or resellers — or someone that wants to provide asset management services to a class of assets, either completely on-platform or with additional services in the physical world.
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Thank you, it’s clear! Do you want to add something or we can go to the next question?
Clifford Smyth:
Grant recipients will be teams that present with ideas and the ability to execute in a class that we feel will enrich the ecosystem and provide useful services or products to users.
…almost
Other than that, eventually, ACNodes will be minted by burning PRüF tokens.
The ability for ACNode holders to set prices only applies to the items that they tokenize. If a competing node is better for users, they can migrate their assets to a more competitive node, or one that offers a better user experience.
It’s all about the users.
Mary | Satoshi Club:
So, you will have burns!
Clifford Smyth:
Yes, definitely. Tokens are burned as the network grows. This is designed to lower the barrier to entry at first, and to build value for early adopters!
Q5 from Telegram User @NataliyaKil
Previously, in order to participate in airdrops from PRüF, we had to get into the Whitelist and join the airdrop using our key base account. How is it now? Do you conduct airdrops for your users and what are the conditions for participation in them?
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Wise system!
Clifford Smyth:
Right now we have no airdrops scheduled, but I would not rule it out once we move to our new platform! Right now we do have bounties and contests in the telegram channel where you can earn PRüF, so check it out at t.me/pruftalk
D. | Satoshi Club:
Don’t miss the chance Satoshi clubbers! to earn some PRüF
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Yes! It’s attractive
And just one 6th question left for this part! Ready for it?
Clifford Smyth:
Yup!
Q6 from Telegram user @Giniwhite
What are the advantages of a PRüF-enabled NFT? Why should developers launch their NFT project with PRüF?
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Clifford Smyth:
That’s a great question!
Pruf tokens come with a host of built in features, since when you launch on PRüF you get all of the functionality of the PRüF contract infrastructure!
Unlike legacy NFT marketplaces and creation platforms, PRüF was designed from the ground up to handle both digital and physical items.
With PRuF, you get extensive support different files, multimedia, or even software attached to your token.
All PRüF enabled NFT assets are fundamentally interoperable, though they may vary widely in associated content and functionality. This means that they can be viewed and interacted with within a common infrastructure, enabling a diversity of markets, trading platforms, and galleries that work with all PRüF enabled NFT’s. This commonality has the added benefit of ensuring absolute uniqueness and exclusivity of each NFT, a very important feature in many NFT based business models.
One of the really important advantages to tokenization on the PRüF platform is that assets can be created in verified asset classes, establishing authenticity and value by tying the token directly to a studio, brand, or a respected agent, like a major auction house or broker. These curated asset classes establish a verifiable pedigree for NFT’s minted using PRüF.
Developers can deploy NFT dApps by incorporating our libraries into their websites or adapting our sample react template. Using the tooling that we provide, developers can specify the features, look, and feel that is desired for their project with complete freedom.
PRüF Native NFT’s are standards-compliant tokens deployed within a recognized universal NFT network on the blockchain so that all tokens will have a contract-origin pedigree making them instantly recognizable, trade-able, and interoperable with other major platforms.
And very soon, truly persistent blockchain storage for your attached content!
Mary | Satoshi Club:
Did you already find some developers which will use PRüF? Or maybe they find you?
Clifford Smyth:
we are working with a couple of promising projects….
Mary | Satoshi Club:
We will follow your updates
Sure a lot of news ahead
Part 2 — live questions from the Telegram community
Q1 from Telegram user @rockmorti
Will PruF TOKEN have a profit in the DAo and governance aspect so that the community can get 100% involved in the project, adding value?
Clifford Smyth:
https://esatoshi.club/wp-content/uploads/1-1.mp4
Q2 from Telegram user @BJosefina61
Regarding Ruf, is this project ONLY related to ART-based NFTs or are you also promoting aspects of NFT dedicated to finance?
Clifford Smyth:
https://esatoshi.club/wp-content/uploads/2-1.mp4
Q3 from Telegram user @nadee5
Will PRuF be available as a mobile app in the future?
Clifford Smyth:
https://esatoshi.club/wp-content/uploads/3-1.mp4
Q4 from Telegram user @shihadk9074
Many Projects vanished after their presale. How to ensure investors PRuF will not scam? Are PRuF smart contracts audited and how safe it from hackers?
Clifford Smyth:
https://esatoshi.club/37c8dd9c-c661-47a4-ad66-253dfb499863
Q5 from Telegram user @Beterror203
You say that PruF is also open source and we can use its technology to “create”, so how can we do it with this system? ACNodes is it possible to adapt to web3 and asset tokenization since it is not possible to share with a centralized system, so what? how we achieve greater adoption with this code since they say that we can launch their exclusive NFT offers on the PRüF platform in minutes without writing a single code, what is the problem you solve with this code, how are the contracts that we create under this code is truly audited, backed and insured by Pruf how?
Clifford Smyth:
https://esatoshi.club/e9db26c0-fa69-4c62-8110-bcb9f31365db
Q6 from Telegram user @tumni
I am an EXPERIENCED DEVELOPER AND ETHICAL HACKER, do you have plans for HACKATHON so as to check the security of your ecosystem periodically and also invite developers to build?
Clifford Smyth:
https://esatoshi.club/wp-content/uploads/6.mp4
Q7 from Telegram user @woah_admin
Is there an NFT project that you see as a competitor to your NFT project?
Clifford Smyth:
https://esatoshi.club/9a29f0d4-df2d-483e-87da-be2fabb5c36c
Q8 from Telegram user @AmirJosh
Does PRüF Platform have a capacity to build NFT card-based gaming projects? They are becoming popular and easy to find market products today so can you support such kind of project?
Clifford Smyth:
https://esatoshi.club/e47caa65-fca6-41f4-82c3-0c2a7dce46a5
Q9 from Telegram user @Tony253210
I just got very curious about your name, it is very similar to “Prüfen” which means ” check or verify” so it is the meaning of your name or is it just a coincidence?
Clifford Smyth:
https://esatoshi.club/wp-content/uploads/9.mp4
Q10 from Telegram user @K2ice
Counterfeit products are one of the problems that cost trillions in lost revenue. How can PRüF help in the elimination of counterfeit products?
Clifford Smyth:
https://esatoshi.club/wp-content/uploads/10.mp4
Part 3 — Quiz Results
In the final part, we tested your knowledge in terms of Boson. They’ve prepared 4 questions for this part. The total reward pool for the quiz was 300$.
For more information and future AMAs, join our Social Media channels:
English Telegram group: https://t.me/Satoshi_club
Russian Telegram group: https://t.me/satoshi_club_ru
Spanish Telegram group: https://t.me/satoshi_club_spanish
Telegram Channel: https://t.me/satoshi_club_channel
Twitter: https://twitter.com/realsatoshiclub
Website: https://esatoshi.club/
Our partners:
PRüF Telegram community: https://t.me/pruftalk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/prufteam
