Photochain has a great site, easy-to-understand video and a ‘beta’ version where you can upload photos and start earning PHT tokens.

Solutions

• P2P Marketplace: Buyers and sellers determine their own terms of sale, and can trade directly with one another.
• Easy Onboarding: Unlike with traditional photostocks which require lots of prerequisites, a user can be actively selling work in minutes.
• Digital Copyright Chain: The decentralized database ensures each uploaded photo is hashed into the blockchain and permanently linked to its owner.
• Crypto Economy: Photochain helps to build a crypto economy, with more control over our data.

Decentralised platform and marketplace for artists and photographers

So you can upload some photos, categorise them quickly (the AI aspect may improve this), and then see if anyone buys one with crypto, ETH or PHT (Photons).

What else could a token be used for? Tipping other photographers, collaborating on creative projects, swapping image-editing skills and services… Just like with music projects such as Choon.co. And yes, the whole copyright and ownership aspects should be improved for greater transparency and validation.

But this isn’t the burning issue for users. The real problem that needs solving lies in the hopes for a fast, decentralised file-sharing and storage solution. Companies come and go, and centralised systems are just a pain. We’ll be forever migrating our photos from one server to another. Or they’ll be a security breach or a meteor that hits a data center and they’ll just be gone. Entire memories or hours of creative work – wiped away.

The alternative are protocols like IPFS

But IPFS is still maturing… Maybe soon everybody will be partitioning their spare computer storage and earning or spending crypto – for the service of renting it out or uploading content. But not quite yet.

Such content will be broken up and distributed and we may even get to control the keys to wallets where they’ll be stored. We won’t have to pay subscriptions to companies who may breach our privacy, adjust their payment plans, or sell our data.

More details about this (major) solution are attempting to arrive, and when they do they will bring killer dapps for blockchain, (or Digital Ledger Technology), and may form a part of a wider ecosystem.

Photochain and Textile.photos are a couple of Ethereum/IPFS-based projects to watch closely, even if they may not have implemented this kind of decentralised storage yet.

Notes

Yes, the Beta works fine, but things have been quiet on the development front. In any case, you’re encouraged to sign up at the site, and get notified of updates. (I will update this post when things seem to be moving forward). In the meantime, I’ve uploaded some photos and content now available on the beta.

Photochain.io
Medium information
Telegram updates and discussion
Reddit discussion
Twitter updates

Jan 2019

Note: This entry forms part of my personal adventures in crypto-space. Comments, ideas and corrections really appreciated to enhance my site and help me educate/be educated. I may even request your (best) crypto address so I can send a tip in response.