How Blockchain and Crypto Advancements are Creating Lucrative Opportunities for Digital Storage and Global Art Industry

PALM BEACH, Florida, May 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to Barron's the global art market topped $63 billion in 2017 and leaders in the digital landscape are aiming to leverage blockchain and crypto technologies to tap into the extremely lucrative market. As with many ideas and items in 2018, art is increasingly going digital and thus is becoming exposed to the possibilities of digital collections powered by crypto-platforms, much like bitcoin and other digital currencies. In fact, a rising trend in the global art market is an uptick in digital art auctions, which could be enhanced by secure crypto and blockchain technologies. Active Companies in the markets this week include: Tapinator, Inc. (OTC:TAPM), Global Blockchain Technologies Corp. (OTC:BLKCF) (TSX-V:BLOC), Sotheby's (NYSE:BID), HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (TSX-V:HIVE) (OTC:HVBTF), Seven Stars Cloud Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SSC).

Tapinator, Inc. (OTCQB: TAPM) BREAKING NEWS: Tapinator, a leading developer and publisher of mobile games and applications on the iOS, Google Play, Amazon, and Ethereum platforms, today announces that it has released the Early Access version of BitPainting, a crypto-collectibles platform for the global art market.  

Collectors interested in owning a piece of art history may sign up to participate in today's historic auction via EarlyAccess.BitPainting.com using a Chrome or Firefox web browser. Today's auction on the Ethereum Network will include 12 iconic artworks from renowned painters including Leonardo da Vinci's Salvatore Mundi.

In 2011, the dramatic public unveiling of Salvator Mundi ('Saviour of the World'), in the exhibition Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan at The National Gallery in London, caused a worldwide media sensation. Painted by one of history's greatest and most renowned artists, whose works are exceedingly rare - fewer than 20 paintings in existence are generally accepted as from the artist's own hand - it was the first discovery of a painting by Leonardo da Vinci since 1909. "It was, without question the greatest artistic rediscovery of the 21st century - a painting of the most iconic figure in the world by the most important artist of all time," according to auction house Christie's where it sold in November 2017 for an astonishing $450.3 million. Six short months later, Salvatore Mundi could again shatter records as it returns to the auction block today as the lead lot in BitPainting's inaugural auction of virtual iconic art on the blockchain.

"After significant development efforts by our team, we are very excited to announce the initial launch of BitPainting, a new digital platform for collecting iconic art on the blockchain," said Ilya Nikolayev, CEO of Tapinator. "BitPainting allows art enthusiasts to collect and interact with rare virtual artwork on the Ethereum network. Art lovers can acquire iconic works, mint editions, sell, gift and explore famous works from world-renowned artists. BitPainting members can assemble unique collections and browse the artwork amassed by our community. Each artwork on BitPainting is a non-fungible (ERC-721) token, which is stored on the Ethereum blockchain. We have built specialized smART™ contracts which guarantee the scarcity, ownership, and provenance of these works. These smART™ contracts allow BitPainting collectors to create limited editions of their artworks, enabling a form of limited, decentralized supply as well as profit opportunities.

We believe the $45 billion art market is ripe for disruption by blockchain technology. We see a future where crypto-collectibles drive art sales via digital scarcity and democratize the collection of physical, digital and virtual fine art. In fact, we have already witnessed significant early market adoption of crypto-collectibles. Recently, CryptoKitties' virtual cat, Celestial Cyber Dimension, sold for $140,000 via LiveAuctioneers and Kevin Abosch's Forever Rose sold for $1 million via GIFTO. We believe Tapinator is well positioned to become a leader in the crypto collectibles market through the BitPainting platform," concluded Nikolayev.Read this and more news for Tapinator at: http://www.marketnewsupdates.com/news/tapm.html

In other industry developments from around the markets:  

Global Blockchain Technologies Corp. (OTC:BLKCF) (TSX-V:BLOC.V) recently announced it has incorporated a Cayman-based subsidiary, named Laser Inc., as part of its recently-announced project, the Laser Network ("Laser"). To date, Laser has received considerable attention from throughout the blockchain sector, as well as from the broader technology industry as a SWIFT-like protocol to interconnect thousands of existing blockchain networks, thus allowing inter-chain transactions, and enabling blockchains to operate without borders. The purpose of this subsidiary is to manage the initial servicenode network that underpins Laser's blockchain network and supports its defining features. The crowdsale will entail an equity sale in the subsidiary Laser Inc., with the network's proprietary Photoncryptocurrency ("Photons") allocated proportionately to equity purchased.

Sotheby's (NYSE:BID) closed Wednesday up 1.73% with over 324,000 shares traded. The company recently announced it concluded a week of worldwide auctions held in New York, Geneva, London, Monaco and online, with 2,182 lots sold over 15 auctions for a grand total of over $1 billion*. In a record week for records at Sotheby's, auction history was made across the globe, from sales of 20th- and 21st-century art to magnificent jewels, African and Oceanic Art, watches, cars, rare wines and books. Sotheby's reported that technology, data and analytics are playing a major role in making the art market and investment decisions transparent. Online sales of art are growing, with $3.75 billion in 2016 - an 8.5% share of the overall market (up 15% from the year before). Blockchain could be a game changer for the valuation and authenticity of art.

HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (TSX-V:HIVE.V) (OTC:HVBTF) recently announced the closing of its acquisition of Kolos Norway AS ("Kolos") and its 64-Hectare property in Ballangen, Norway (the "Norway Acquisition") as previously announced in the Company's news release dated March 26, 2018 . The acquisition of the property supports HIVE's ongoing strategy of acquiring and developing assets with access to low-cost power in cold climates and supplies the Company with extensive flexibility to expand the business. The Company currently operates cryptocurrency mining facilities in Iceland and Sweden with 24.2 megawatts ("MW") of energy consumption and is fully funded for an expansion of an additional 20 MW of SHA-256 ASIC mining capacity in Sweden to be completed by September 2018. "I am extremely pleased by the completion of the acquisition of Kolos which provides HIVE the capability to rapidly expand our footprint in the Nordic region and maintains HIVE's position as a leading blockchain and cryptocurrency infrastructure company," said Harry Pokrandt , CEO and Director of HIVE.

Seven Stars Cloud Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SSC) recently announced that private and pre-sales of its Digital Oil Asset Index ("DOAI") tokens in the Greater China Region, which were created through super intelligent dynamic ontology analysis, commenced on May 18, 2018 and will conclude around the end of June. General sales (once the private and pre-sale window has closed) will then continue until the end of September. This first sales are taking place in the Greater China Region only. Moving forward, Seven Stars Cloud, as the digital asset holder, is currently planning a build out to expand its sales scalability and capabilities, with various partners in other regions including the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Korea, Japan, Europe and eventually North America. These DOAI tokens are built atop Ethereum, the smart contracts platform powered by ether. Tokens are securely stored and tradable on the blockchain in multi-signature custodian wallets that allow for the settlement of tokens and fiat currency on the Digital Asset Issuance and Trading Platform.

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