The ArtCube Protocol

A Standardized Digital Provenance & Ownership Framework for Art

Version 1.0 — Working Draft | February 2026

Status: This protocol is under active development. Field names, event schemas, and protocol rules may change before the first stable release. Feedback and contributions are welcome.

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What is the ArtCube Protocol?

The ArtCube Protocol defines an open standard for anchoring artwork identity, provenance, ownership, and intellectual property rights to Bitcoin using Ordinals inscriptions.

The protocol uses a four-level hierarchical parent/child inscription structure:

Entity Root              → Organization identity
  └─ Collection Parent   → Group of related artworks
       └─ Genesis        → Individual artwork identity + legal anchor
            └─ Events    → Append-only provenance chain

Each level is a Bitcoin inscription containing structured JSON. Parent/child relationships are enforced by Ordinals parent/child provenance — creating a child requires spending the parent's UTXO. No external authentication is required.

Key Features

• Immutable — Inscribed directly on Bitcoin. Cannot be altered, deleted, or censored.
• Hierarchical — Entity → Collection → Artwork → Events provides organizational chain of trust.
• Hybrid Title Transfer — Ownership requires both UTXO transfer and an on-chain Title Event.
• Structured IP Framework — Baseline display rights by default. Expanded rights require explicit IP Events.
• Three-Tier Document Storage — Bitcoin (hashes) + Arweave (documents) + off-chain (operational).
• Open Standard — Any application can implement the ArtCube Protocol.

Whitepaper

Read the full protocol specification: whitepaper.md

JSON Schemas

Machine-readable schemas for all inscription types:

• schemas/entity-root.json
• schemas/collection-parent.json
• schemas/genesis.json
• Events:
  • schemas/events/title-event.json
  • schemas/events/document-event.json
  • schemas/events/condition-event.json
  • schemas/events/custody-event.json
  • schemas/events/ip-event.json
  • schemas/events/metadata-update.json
  • schemas/events/correction-event.json
  • schemas/events/supersession-event.json

Examples

Real-world examples using the Battle of the Centaurs silver sculpture:

• examples/entity-root.json — Trio/BitBasel
• examples/collection-parent.json — Precious Metal Editions
• examples/genesis.json — Silver Battle of the Centaurs
• examples/full-chain.md — Complete provenance chain walkthrough

Reference Implementation

ArtCube by Trio/BitBasel is the first application built on the ArtCube Protocol.

License

This specification is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY-4.0).