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Data Ownership Redefined:
An Introduction to Itheum

The traditional model of centralized data control comes with many negative outcomes. It’s time to reverse it and give the power back to people – through the power of blockchain and emerging data NFT technology

Think about all the things you do online – posts you like, things you buy, places you visit. Or, if you’re an organization or brand, think about all the original data assets and intellectual property you produce. Whether you are an individual or a company, all that data is collected to create highly personalized ads or to feed AI model training engines.

Is there an alternative way to actually own your data and change this toxic model of data collection,

That’s where Itheum comes in: a data ownership protocol built on blockchain technology, offering an innovative set of modular infrastructure tools to transform the landscape of data ownership. Itheum enables individuals and businesses to claim and tokenize, share, exchange and trade valuable data assets. Itheum can transform any industry where valuable data assets need to be linked to data ownership. Here’s a look at how it works.

Data Brokers

The villains of our story are data brokers, who you may never have come into contact with personally, but who are more involved in our daily lives than you might think. Data brokers collect your data directly through “free” apps or services, or as a third party that obtains your data through other data brokers or public data. They typically sell this data to other organizations in marketing, AI, or other “data hungry” industries.

The personal data that data brokers find highly valuable range from your social media, shopping behavior, content preferences, health history, family and friend graphs, political preferences, and more. Organizations with high-value public data are also easy pickings for data brokers, public data originating from rating and review platforms, supply chains, market research, discussion and forum content, and more. In addition, this valuable data, once harvested by data brokers, gets locked away and turned into “data silos” that are not shared or allowed to reach their full potential.

The centralized Web2 era was a golden environment for opportunistic data brokers. Web3 changes everything: individuals and companies can protect themselves with data ownership tools.

Blockchain-Powered
Data Ownership layer

Itheum is a comprehensive, omni-chain data ownership protocol. At its core, it’s offered as an “infrastructure layer for data ownership” by providing data asset tokenization, portability and transferability features. Its data asset tokenization and data marketplace features are powered by the MultiversX blockchain, as it offers high scalability and low gas costs. Upcoming identity and governance features can be built on Ethereum, Solana or similar chains that offer more decentralization and broader awareness of concepts like security and governance.

Anyone who wants to build hyper-personalized Web3 applications that respect data ownership can build on Itheum. Its intuitive Web2-style interface makes it easy to use not only for developers, but also for individuals and organizations to support their data ownership journey.

Data Brokers

The villains of our story are data brokers, who you may never have come into contact with personally, but who are more involved in our daily lives than you might think. Data brokers collect your data directly through “free” apps or services, or as a third party that obtains your data through other data brokers or public data. They typically sell this data to other organizations in marketing, AI, or other “data hungry” industries.

The personal data that data brokers find highly valuable range from your social media, shopping behavior, content preferences, health history, family and friend graphs, political preferences, and more. Organizations with high-value public data are also easy pickings for data brokers, public data originating from rating and review platforms, supply chains, market research, discussion and forum content, and more. In addition, this valuable data, once harvested by data brokers, gets locked away and turned into “data silos” that are not shared or allowed to reach their full potential.

The centralized Web2 era was a golden environment for opportunistic data brokers. Web3 changes everything: individuals and companies can protect themselves with data ownership tools.

Blockchain-Powered Data Ownership layer

Itheum is a comprehensive, omni-chain data ownership protocol. At its core, it’s offered as an “infrastructure layer for data ownership” by providing data asset tokenization, portability and transferability features. Its data asset tokenization and data marketplace features are powered by the MultiversX blockchain, as it offers high scalability and low gas costs. Upcoming identity and governance features can be built on Ethereum, Solana or similar chains that offer more decentralization and broader awareness of concepts like security and governance.

Anyone who wants to build hyper-personalized Web3 applications that respect data ownership can build on Itheum. Its intuitive Web2-style interface makes it easy to use not only for developers, but also for individuals and organizations to support their data ownership journey.

Data Brokers

The villains of our story are data brokers, who you may never have come into contact with personally, but who are more involved in our daily lives than you might think. Data brokers collect your data directly through “free” apps or services, or as a third party that obtains your data through other data brokers or public data. They typically sell this data to other organizations in marketing, AI, or other “data hungry” industries.

The personal data that data brokers find highly valuable range from your social media, shopping behavior, content preferences, health history, family and friend graphs, political preferences, and more. Organizations with high-value public data are also easy pickings for data brokers, public data originating from rating and review platforms, supply chains, market research, discussion and forum content, and more. In addition, this valuable data, once harvested by data brokers, gets locked away and turned into “data silos” that are not shared or allowed to reach their full potential.

The centralized Web2 era was a golden environment for opportunistic data brokers. Web3 changes everything: individuals and companies can protect themselves with data ownership tools.

Blockchain-Powered Data Ownership layer

Itheum is a comprehensive, omni-chain data ownership protocol. At its core, it’s offered as an “infrastructure layer for data ownership” by providing data asset tokenization, portability and transferability features. Its data asset tokenization and data marketplace features are powered by the MultiversX blockchain, as it offers high scalability and low gas costs. Upcoming identity and governance features can be built on Ethereum, Solana or similar chains that offer more decentralization and broader awareness of concepts like security and governance.

Anyone who wants to build hyper-personalized Web3 applications that respect data ownership can build on Itheum. Its intuitive Web2-style interface makes it easy to use not only for developers, but also for individuals and organizations to support their data ownership journey.

Itheum Data NFT

The core component of the Itheum protocol is Data NFT technology. Data NFT represents the “ownership” of static or dynamic data assets, enabling individuals, organizations, and brands to tokenize and then share or trade data access rights. It serves as a “transferable license” to share or trade original data assets just like any other NFT asset.

Data NFTs are:

Lightning
Dynamic
Dynamic

The content behind Data NFTs can be updated at any time.

Code
Fully programmable
Fully programmable

You can use Itheum's SDKs to build your own Web2 and Web3 applications that empower users with data ownership rights.

nft-feature-composable
Composable
Composable

They can be used as “building blocks,” combining them to create cool new data-driven use cases.

nft-feature-omni-chain
Enterprise friendly
Enterprise friendly

Data NFTs with a fully flexible "Web2" user experience, making them easy to work with and configurable to respect traditional Web2 data sovereignty and regulation needs.

Bidirectional Arrows
Interactive
Interactive

You can modify your Data NFT so that when someone interacts with it in a certain way, it unlocks additional data assets.

nft-feature-enterprise-friendly
Omni-Chain
Omni-Chain

 Data NFTs aim to eventually operate in an omni-chain configuration, allowing them to be easily ported and used on multiple blockchains and tap into various blockchains' vast and diverse NFT ecosystems.

Data NFTs Come in Three Types:

1

Data NFT-FT

Data NFT-FT or fully transferable Data NFT allows users to buy, sell, and trade them. Creators can define rules for how the data can be used through “terms of use” embedded in the NFT. Great for reaching large audiences and sharing music, video, or files in various formats, including dynamic ones like a music playlist. This is a great tool for creators to build a community and to discover organic open market demand for their dynamic content. However, they are not suitable for sensitive personal data.

Use cases: Gaming analysts can publish gated insights on strategic gameplay, or Musicians can allow people to buy and trade their music Data NFTs but only for non-commercial use.

Data NFT-LEASE

Data NFT-LEASE allows for more flexibility by granting creators control over how NFT tokens are transferred between selected parties or Smart Contracts or making them non-transferable. A single creator can own an entire collection of NFT tokens and have a powerful control portal to manage this collection. They could also be suitable for tokenizing sensitive, diverse, and personal data.

Use cases: Gamer CVs or “passports”, loyalty cards, community activation for Web2 brands, data vaults, data sharing tools, and sovereign identity platforms

2

3

Data NFT-PH

Data NFT-PH (Plug-In Hybrid) are for projects that want to launch their own fully controlled NFT collections independently but would like to provide a “plug-in” interface for their regular NFTs to also be used as hybrid Data NFTs. This increases their NFTs’ utility by enabling them to tap into the Itheum ecosystem of tools and incentives, which converts their regular static NFTs into dynamic and composable NFTs.

Use cases: In-game NFTs that “emit” their own data streams that can be used by developers building data-driven apps on Itheum or DeFi NFTs that tie the data insights of the holder to the NFT token and can be unlocked on-demand for personalized DeFi experiences.

Data NFTs Come in Three Types:

Data NFT-FT

Data NFT-FT or fully transferable Data NFT allows users to buy, sell, and trade them. Creators can define rules for how the data can be used through “terms of use” embedded in the NFT. Great for reaching large audiences and sharing music, video, or files in various formats, including dynamic ones like a music playlist. However, they are not suitable for sensitive personal data.

Use case: Musicians can allow people to buy and trade their music Data NFTs but only for non-commercial use. A great tool to build a community around their music and to discover organic open market demand for their music.

Data NFT-LEASE

Data NFT-LEASE. Allows more flexibility by granting creators control over how tokens are transferred between selected parties or smart contracts, or making them non-transferable. A single creator can own an entire collection of tokens.

Use case: loyalty cards, community activation for Web2 brands, data vaults, data sharing tools, and sovereign identity platforms

Data NFT-PH

Data NFT-PH (Plug-In Hybrid) are for projects that want to launch their own fully controlled NFT collections independently but would like to provide a “plug-in” interface for their regular NFTs to also be used as hybrid Data NFTs. This increases their NFTs’ utility by enabling them to tap into the Itheum ecosystem of tools and incentives, which converts their regular static NFTs into dynamic and composable NFTs.

Use cases: In-game NFTs that “emit” their own data streams that can be used by developers building data-driven apps on Itheum or DeFi NFTs that tie the data insights of the holder to the NFT token and can be unlocked on-demand for personalized DeFi experiences.

Your power role: Integrator, Developer or Consumer

Strong demand via data consumption is key to ensuring the economics and self-sufficiency of Itheum’s data asset markets. Each participant in Itheum’s ecosystem plays a vital role, in driving the new Web3 data economy forward:

Data Creators

Data Creators are individuals who create highly original data for tokenization, licensing, and trading, while controlling distribution channels and receiving royalties. Data Creators will integrate directly into the Itheum protocol by using the Data DEX to mint Data NFTs that provide access to dynamic files in PDF, CSV, JSON, SVG, MP3, and many other formats and then share or trade these Data NFTs on the Data NFT marketplace

Examples: A gaming data analyst can publish Data NFTs that unlock gated insights on gameplay strategies, or an “on-chain DeFi data investigator” can publish Data NFTs that contain data on the daily patterns of top token holders, aiding in the analysis of token concentration and holder relationships or an indie musician mints a playlist of original songs as a Data NFT, attaches a royalty and lists it for open market NFT trading, demand and price discovery.

Enterprises

Enterprises can represent multiple individuals, Web2 organizations or brands that want to empower their users with data ownership. They will be able to integrate their own product, application or service with the Itheum protocols via the enterprise features provided by the Data DEX and via the Itheum Software Development Kits (SDKs). 

Examples: A community-driven music app allowing indie musicians to connect directly with their fans or a gaming app enabling gamers to share their gamer history and build a fan following. The creator and the fan communities can own their data assets within these apps.

Developers

Developers are a key part of the Itheum protocol, building Itheum Data Apps with Web3 data provided by the Data Suppliers. These apps deliver hyper-personalized, compliant experiences that do not exploit personal data. Apps can exist as standalone ones, like traditional mobile or browser apps, or be embedded into the Itheum Explorer portal, allowing lightweight “Itheum Data Widgets” to be built directly into Itheum Explorer. Developers can also build pay-to-use Data NFT apps for mainstream users, driving demand for Data NFTs in Web2 applications, and use the SDKs to build private and curated data marketplaces for niche industries.

Examples: The Gamer Passport App enables gamers on platforms like PlayStation and Xbox to securely claim and tokenize their gaming experiences or NF.Tunes Itheum Data Widget, a component of Itheum Explorer, offers an appealing music player designed for Music Data NFTs.

Data Consumers

Data Consumers can discover and purchase Data NFTs from Data Creators and Enterprises directly through Itheum’s peer-to-peer Data NFT Marketplace and secondary marketplaces, or indirectly through developer-built Itheum Data Apps. They may buy Data NFTs for direct use of the data they represent (i.e. listening to exclusive music tracks from the indie musician), or they may be similar to regular NFT “collectors” who collect Data NFTs because they represent a famous author, data creator, or company. Or they may HODL on a limited edition Data NFT collection because of its rarity. 

Example: Gaming studios have the opportunity to identify and engage high-value gamers, extending invitations to their latest gaming experiences. Meanwhile, music enthusiasts can directly acquire Music Data NFTs from their beloved artists. For data consumers, there’s the option to subscribe to a developer-established data platform featuring “bulk” Data NFTs. This subscription service seamlessly integrates traditional Web2 fiat payment methods but employs Data NFTs in the background, ensuring creators receive their rightful share of earnings whenever the data is utilized or traded.

Your power role: Integrator, Developer or Consumer

Strong demand via data consumption is key to ensuring the economics and self-sufficiency of Itheum’s data asset markets. Each participant in Itheum’s ecosystem plays a vital role, in driving the new Web3 data economy forward:

Data Creators

Data Creators are individuals who create highly original data for tokenization, licensing, and trading, while controlling distribution channels and receiving royalties. Data Creators will integrate directly into the Itheum protocol by using the Data DEX to mint Data NFTs that provide access to dynamic files in PDF, CSV, JSON, SVG, MP3, and many other formats and then share or trade these Data NFTs on the Data NFT marketplace

Examples: A gaming data analyst can publish Data NFTs that unlock gated insights on gameplay strategies, or an “on-chain DeFi data investigator” can publish Data NFTs that contain data on the daily patterns of top token holders, aiding in the analysis of token concentration and holder relationships or an indie musician mints a playlist of original songs as a Data NFT, attaches a royalty and lists it for open market NFT trading, demand and price discovery.

Enterprises

Enterprises can represent multiple individuals, Web2 organizations or brands that want to empower their users with data ownership. They will be able to integrate their own product, application or service with the Itheum protocols via the enterprise features provided by the Data DEX and via the Itheum Software Development Kits (SDKs). 

Examples: A community-driven music app allowing indie musicians to connect directly with their fans or a gaming app enabling gamers to share their gamer history and build a fan following. The creator and the fan communities can own their data assets within these apps.

Developers

Developers are a key part of the Itheum protocol, building Itheum Data Apps with Web3 data provided by the Data Suppliers. These apps deliver hyper-personalized, compliant experiences that do not exploit personal data. Apps can exist as standalone ones, like traditional mobile or browser apps, or be embedded into the Itheum Explorer portal, allowing lightweight “Itheum Data Widgets” to be built directly into Itheum Explorer. Developers can also build pay-to-use Data NFT apps for mainstream users, driving demand for Data NFTs in Web2 applications, and use the SDKs to build private and curated data marketplaces for niche industries.

Examples: The Gamer Passport App enables gamers on platforms like PlayStation and Xbox to securely claim and tokenize their gaming experiences or NF.Tunes Itheum Data Widget, a component of Itheum Explorer, offers an appealing music player designed for Music Data NFTs.

Data Consumers

Data Consumers can discover and purchase Data NFTs from Data Creators and Enterprises directly through Itheum’s peer-to-peer Data NFT Marketplace and secondary marketplaces, or indirectly through developer-built Itheum Data Apps. They may buy Data NFTs for direct use of the data they represent (i.e. listening to exclusive music tracks from the indie musician), or they may be similar to regular NFT “collectors” who collect Data NFTs because they represent a famous author, data creator, or company. Or they may HODL on a limited edition Data NFT collection because of its rarity. 

Example: Gaming studios have the opportunity to identify and engage high-value gamers, extending invitations to their latest gaming experiences. Meanwhile, music enthusiasts can directly acquire Music Data NFTs from their beloved artists. For data consumers, there’s the option to subscribe to a developer-established data platform featuring “bulk” Data NFTs. This subscription service seamlessly integrates traditional Web2 fiat payment methods but employs Data NFTs in the background, ensuring creators receive their rightful share of earnings whenever the data is utilized or traded.

Pioneering Tools for Data Ownership

Whether you’re a Data Creator, Enterprise, Developer or Data Consumer, Itheum has decentralized tools adapted to your vision and goals:

Welcome To The Future Of Data Ownership

Itheum is a comprehensive, omni-chain data ownership protocol. At its core, it’s offered as an “infrastructure layer for data ownership” by providing data asset tokenization, portability and transferability features. Its data asset tokenization and data marketplace features are powered by the MultiversX blockchain, as it offers high scalability and low gas costs. Upcoming identity and governance features can be built on Ethereum, Solana or similar chains that offer more decentralization and broader awareness of concepts like security and governance.

Anyone who wants to build hyper-personalized Web3 applications that respect data ownership can build on Itheum. Its intuitive Web2-style interface makes it easy to use not only for developers, but also for individuals and organizations to support their data ownership journey.

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