Arkive, which launched out of stealth mode on Wednesday, aims to use the power of the internet to build what it calls the first decentralized, physical museum.
Arkive admits people from around the world as members, with about 200 signed up so far and another 800 on a waiting list, and enables them to vote on what historical and artistic artifacts the museum will acquire. The museum intends to keep the items long-term but not to build a single site to host them. Instead, it will display them to the public through loans to other institutions.
Members communicate via Discord and cast their votes using their Ethereum wallets—McLeod says the technology could potentially be opened up to other organizations in the future—and there’s talk of launching NFTs tied to membership. But Arkive seems to have plans to avoid some of the issues that have plagued previous attempts to democratize major art and artifact purchases
