The Blockchain as a Reliquary? Non-Fungible Tokens, Digital Art, and the New Frontiers of Cultural Heritage Preservation

Abstract

The rapid ascent of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) has fundamentally disrupted the art market and the broader visual culture landscape. While much scholarly and popular attention has been focused on their economic impact and speculative nature, this article explores a less examined dimension: the potential of blockchain technology, as manifested in NFTs, to redefine the paradigms of digital heritage preservation. Digital art and born-digital cultural artifacts face an existential threat from technological obsolescence, format degradation, and the inherent fragility of digital media. Traditional preservation institutions, such as museums and archives, have struggled to develop scalable, sustainable models for conserving these ephemeral works. This article argues that NFTs, through their core properties of decentralized ownership verification, immutability of provenance, and programmable permanence, offer a novel, albeit complex, framework for safeguarding our collective digital visual heritage. By analyzing the technical architecture of NFTs, the challenges of preserving the digital asset separate from its token, and the emergent models of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and community-led preservation, this paper posits that we are witnessing the nascent stages of a new preservation ecology. This study synthesizes literature from digital humanities, media studies, conservation science, and computer science to critically assess both the promises and perils of this convergence. It concludes that while NFTs are not a panacea, they introduce powerful tools that, if ethically and thoughtfully integrated, can significantly bolster the resilience and longevity of digital visual culture for future generations.