Bellagarda, JAbu-Mahfouz, Adnan MI2023-02-262023-02-262022-10Bellagarda, J. & Abu-Mahfouz, A.M. 2022. Connect2NFT: A web-based, blockchain enabled NFT Application with the Aim of Reducing Fraud and ensuring authenticated social, non-human verified digital identity. <i>Mathematics, 10(21).</i> http://hdl.handle.net/10204/126152227-7390https://doi.org/10.3390/math10213934http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12615As of 2022, non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, the smart contract powered tokens that represent ownership in a specific digital asset, have become a popular investment vehicle. In 2021, NFT trading reached USD 17.6 billion and entered mainstream media with several celebrities and major companies launching tokens within the space. The rapid rise in popularity of NFTs has brought with it a number of risks and concerns, two of which will be discussed and addressed in this technical paper. Data storage of the underlying digital asset connected to an NFT is held off-chain in most cases and is therefore out of the NFT holders’ control. This issue will be discussed and addressed using a theoretical workflow developed and presented for a system that converges NFTs and verifiable credentials with the aim of storing underlying NFT digital assets in a decentralized manner. The second issue focuses on the rise of NFT infringements and fraud within the overall NFT space. This will be discussed and addressed through the development of a practical application, named “Connect2NFT”. The main functionality of this practical application will enable users to connect their Twitter social media accounts to the NFTs they own, thus ensuring that potential buyers or viewers of the NFT can comprehensively conclude who is the authentic owner of a specific NFT. An individual performance analysis of the proposed solution will be conducted in addition to being compared and evaluated against similar applications. Thorough development, implementation, and testing has been performed in order to establish a practical solution that can be tested and applied to current NFT use cases. The theoretical NFT storage solution is a minor but equally important contribution in comparison.FulltextenAim of Reducing FraudDigital identityBlockchain technologyInterPlanetary File SystemIPFSNon-fungible tokensSmart contractSocial mediaTwitterVerifiable credentialsArticleBellagarda, J., & Abu-Mahfouz, A. M. (2022). Connect2NFT: A web-based, blockchain enabled NFT Application with the Aim of Reducing Fraud and ensuring authenticated social, non-human verified digital identity. <i>Mathematics, 10(21)</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12615Bellagarda, J, and Adnan MI Abu-Mahfouz "Connect2NFT: A web-based, blockchain enabled NFT Application with the Aim of Reducing Fraud and ensuring authenticated social, non-human verified digital identity." <i>Mathematics, 10(21)</i> (2022) http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12615Bellagarda J, Abu-Mahfouz AM. Connect2NFT: A web-based, blockchain enabled NFT Application with the Aim of Reducing Fraud and ensuring authenticated social, non-human verified digital identity. Mathematics, 10(21). 2022; http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12615.TY - Article AU - Bellagarda, J AU - Abu-Mahfouz, Adnan MI AB - As of 2022, non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, the smart contract powered tokens that represent ownership in a specific digital asset, have become a popular investment vehicle. In 2021, NFT trading reached USD 17.6 billion and entered mainstream media with several celebrities and major companies launching tokens within the space. The rapid rise in popularity of NFTs has brought with it a number of risks and concerns, two of which will be discussed and addressed in this technical paper. Data storage of the underlying digital asset connected to an NFT is held off-chain in most cases and is therefore out of the NFT holders’ control. This issue will be discussed and addressed using a theoretical workflow developed and presented for a system that converges NFTs and verifiable credentials with the aim of storing underlying NFT digital assets in a decentralized manner. The second issue focuses on the rise of NFT infringements and fraud within the overall NFT space. This will be discussed and addressed through the development of a practical application, named “Connect2NFT”. The main functionality of this practical application will enable users to connect their Twitter social media accounts to the NFTs they own, thus ensuring that potential buyers or viewers of the NFT can comprehensively conclude who is the authentic owner of a specific NFT. An individual performance analysis of the proposed solution will be conducted in addition to being compared and evaluated against similar applications. Thorough development, implementation, and testing has been performed in order to establish a practical solution that can be tested and applied to current NFT use cases. The theoretical NFT storage solution is a minor but equally important contribution in comparison. DA - 2022-10 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR J1 - Mathematics, 10(21) KW - Aim of Reducing Fraud KW - Digital identity KW - Blockchain technology KW - InterPlanetary File System KW - IPFS KW - Non-fungible tokens KW - Smart contract KW - Social media KW - Twitter KW - Verifiable credentials LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2022 SM - 2227-7390 T1 - Connect2NFT: A web-based, blockchain enabled NFT Application with the Aim of Reducing Fraud and ensuring authenticated social, non-human verified digital identity TI - Connect2NFT: A web-based, blockchain enabled NFT Application with the Aim of Reducing Fraud and ensuring authenticated social, non-human verified digital identity UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12615 ER -26511