The first entirely purpose-built NFT blockchain emerges from stealth
Pastel Network, a first-of-its kind decentralized platform and native blockchain project, announces a seed raise of $5 million led by Innovating Capital and other undisclosed strategic investors. The funding aids in furthering the development of its purpose-built NFT blockchain, launching the Pastel marketplace, and releasing developer tools for enterprises and collaborative platforms to build bespoke applications directly on top of the Pastel Network.
Founded in 2018, prior to the mainstream spread of NFTs, Pastel is grounded in the principles of decentralization and democratization for creators and collectors alike. Pastel eliminates the middleman in both collecting and trading rare digital assets, while avoiding high fees as all transactions live entirely on the native blockchain and leverage the deflationary mechanics of Pastel’s native utility token, PSL. Its mission is to empower users globally by offering trustless registration, storage, and trading options for provably rare NFTs.
“As NFT popularity grows at an immeasurable pace and demand follows, it is imperative that infrastructure develops at the same rate,” said Anthony Georgiades, Co-Founder of Pastel. “We put the user first, and thanks to this seed round, Pastel will launch a sustainable environment that guarantees the NFT industry’s long-term success.”
Emerging from stealth in early 2021, Pastel solves tedious yet common issues plaguing the NFT ecosystem such as authenticity, storage, and scalability. Through it’s unrivaled duplicate detection system powered by deep-learning models, Pastel is the only project that can assess the independent rareness as measured against existing NFTs across other platforms and open databases on the entire internet. Inherently built to protect both creators and collectors, this functionality not only validates the level of rarity, but simultaneously safeguards original pieces from bad actors and copyright infringement. Furthermore, through the use of advanced technology such as RaptorQ fountain codes and the Kademlia protocol, Pastel natively distributes and stores files directly on the network. This proprietary storage solution avoids external dependencies and ensures accurate and secure data provenance, shielding users from rug-pulls or loss of data.
In addition to its creator and collector audiences, Pastel welcomes builders and third party developers by providing them with open-source tools and documentation. Collaborators are encouraged to launch their own white label applications or marketplaces built directly on the Pastel Network. They can also make use of one-off features in their existing platforms such as the near-duplicate detection system or NSFW validation. The capital raised will further the optimization of Pastel’s open-design and all the features that make it highly suitable for developers without sacrificing scalability or functionality.
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The seed round was funded by Innovating Capital alongside like-minded investors in the disruptive technology industry. Innovating Capital is a forward-thinking, deep-technology focused venture capital firm with a long record of funding digital assets, B2B and B2C technology companies that have a transformative impact on society.
“Pastel brings a revolutionary solution to the NFT marketplace where creators have full control of their work,” said Pen King, Jr., General Partner of Innovating Capital. “We are proud to assist in catalyzing Pastel’s vision to create a globally accessible ecosystem that promotes decentralization and the long-term sustainability of the crypto-based digital art industry.”
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