The sudden birth of HeritageDAO, HDAO, was the response of the crypto industry to the unfortunate news that two (2) national treasures in South Korea are coming to an auction as the desperate measure of one art museum to survive this pandemic. A practice that is highly controversial anywhere in the world, this is the first and potentially only time in South Korea’s history that national treasures will be put out in an auction.

National Treasure #72 Gilt-bronze Standing Buddha Triad with Inscription of “Gyemi Year”

National Treasure #72 Gilt-bronze Standing Buddha Triad with Inscription of “Gyemi Year”) and #73 Portable Shrine of Gilt-bronze Buddha Triad) are Buddhist artworks from the Year 563 and 11th century, respectively. HeritageDAO aims to buy these national treasures and have the seller custody the originals in Korea while HDAO (1) fractionalizes and sells 49% of ownership in the form of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and (2) keeps 51% to HDAO.

National Treasure #73 Portable Shrine of Gilt-bronze Buddha Triad

HDAO as a collective whole, is to protect, collect, share and enjoy the essence of cultural heritage, covering both monetary and non-monetary aspects in all ages throughout the world. In collaboration with Crayon.Finance, an Animoca Brands and Brinc-backed company, HDAO was initiated by an anonymous expert in Ancient and Modern art over a cup of tea on a Sunday afternoon just four days before the K-auction of the national treasures will take place. Community members began donating to the treasury on January 26 and intend to continue the raise into early February to either win the auction directly or win back the treasures from the winner of the auction.

National treasures are hard to sell due to the reporting duties imposed by the government on the buyer to keep the treasures in mint condition. Often, it is illegal to export national treasures out of the country and this is the case of South Korea. With limitations, HDAO believes that these national treasures are heavily undervalued due to the limited number of past transactions in their provenance. However, the transfer of value is borderless once the ownership is minted in the form of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and fractional ownership allows more retail collectors to engage with the buying and selling of treasures.

The Ancient and Modern Art industry is the ideal target for DAO governance because the transfer of value is not limited to the location of the original asset once the NFT is minted over the ownership and/or intellectual properties. The DAO governance structure means HDAO is uniquely positioned as a partner for museums across the globe to tap into the potential of the crypto and NFT space. With most museums having only a very limited understanding of how blockchain works, HDAO provides a novel opportunity for those organizations to gain access to the crypto space and its audience quickly as well as benefit from global liquidity. 

“With nonfungible tokens unlocking a new dimension of possibilities to assets such as national treasures and DAOs are consistently growing and engaging the communities around the assets of interest, the future of the Art industry, both ancient and modern, could very well be powered by NFTs and run by DAOs”, said Leon of Crayon.Finance.

About HeritageDAO

HeritageDAO as a collective whole, is to protect, collect, share and enjoy the essence of cultural heritage, covering both monetary and non-monetary aspects in all ages throughout the world via the power of blockchain and nonfungible tokens.