- Non-fungible token:
- An asset on a blockchain which is unique and cannot be replaced by another. In our case it is the digital representation of a calibration certificate stored on the blockchain, which at the end of day is data stored in a blockchain (distributed ledger). The token is unique and cannot be replaced with an identical copy. Hence, unlike Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ether, where one 1 BTC is the same as another BTC, no 2 NFTs are the same.
FAQs
- Sensors are the link between the physical and electronic world. NFTs can bridge between the electronic and digital world. Combining these technologies, we can represent our physical surrounding in a digitized world. While blockchain technologies in the industrial environment are still in an exploratory stage, we as Sensirion want to be on the forefront to explore these technologies and enable our customers to explore blockchain-based opportunities and contribute to the ecosystem building.
- Our NFTs reflect unique sensors which are linked one physical product.
- Furthermore, as the NFT represents a unique sensor, it can serve as an access key to linked documents, such as calibration certificates as PDFs, or in the future Certificates of Conformity, Reach/RoHS analyses, etc.
- The NFT can easily be transferred to another interested party, which enables customers without direct contact to Sensirion to access all relevant information, ultimately creating trust between unknown partners.
- A blockchain pointer to an external data source, for example a PDF stored in the cloud or on a decentral storage solution, would always require the users to access and parse an additional data source. Storing the calibration data on-chain has the benefit that it can be directly accessed, contributing to the development of trusted processes within blockchain ecosystems without knowing the end customer.
- NFTs will not replace PDFs in the near future, as they are a human readable format widely known and available cross-platform. We consider NFTs as an additional layer which can be used in an ecosystem, allowing creators to bring trusted data into a blockchain ecosystem.
- Once claimed, you can transfer your NFT to whatever wallet you like. However, since a transaction on the Blockchain requires fees (“Gas”), we have place enough gas fee for one transaction in the initial wallet. For any later transfers, you would need to pay gas fees yourself. Of course you can trade the SensNFT with whomever you like.
- For us it is a technology to gap the physical to the electrical to the digital world. We do not consider them collectibles nor advocate that the NFT alone has value; it is the combination of calibration proof and sensor data in an ecosystem which creates the true value.
- Since we built the SensNFT as part of a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) you cannot buy sensors with NFT yet. We did mint 30'000 certificates as NFT, which we are happy to distribute to our sensor customers at no cost for PoC projects.
- For the PoC, we did not add any recovery option. As the data is still available, you would still be able to verify the certificate-data, but you will not be able to transfer or write data (e.g., via device identifier). If we scale the solution, we consider adding a recovery mechanism.
- For the PoC, it was important to us to use a technology where everyone can access the data and costs are reasonable. Therefore, we selected a blockchain (Polygon), where wallet implementations are easily and freely available.
- The technology will always be dependent on the ecosystems being built around blockchain technologies. We do not know which one will prevail resp. we believe that ecosystems in which our technology will become relevant will be on multiple chains, including consortia-based technologies. If you are working on a project, get in touch with us to discuss the options of integrating our trusted data into your network.
- We differentiate device ID and sensors ID, where the latter is the unique ID of the Sensirion sensor, while the former is the ID of a device, built by our customer, which incorporates the Sensirion sensor. Typically, an end-user only knows or sees the device ID, while the sensor ID remains hidden. To link both, we offer the option to write the device ID corresponding to the built-in sensor into the sensor NFT.
- PDFs have the advantage that they are human readable. Having the hash stored on the blockchain ensures, that the PDF being accessed was not changed and that the data in the PDF can be trusted. By allowing access to the data via NFT and via PDF, trustless ecosystems can be built, and the data can also be consumed in a well-known format by end-users.