Question 1

Is a Phygital Passport the same as an NFT ?

Accepted Answer

No. A phygital passport includes a digital NFT minted on Polygon or Ethereum, but it is so much more. It also includes a free 100MB cloud storage account for every item, a free digital wallet for all your NFTs and crypto, and most importantly it includes compatibility with the SCAN-HASH-VERIFY protocol on the Phygital App which connects to our 3FA Verification Library. Only a physical item minted with a Decentryk Phygital Passport can be verified via our patent pending 3FA verification protocol or sold on an approved Phygital NFT marketplace.

Note that it is possible to sell the digital NFT for your physical item independently from the physical product. This may be done on any NFT marketplace compatible with Polygon or Ethereum. However you are only selling one of 3 QR codes for the product, as the NFT is permanently linked to the items digital QR code. Moreover, by selling the digital NFT and QR code separately from the physical product you are effectively destroying your ability to verify ownership of both the physical item and phygital passport. In effect you are burning the phygital passport for that item. Although you will still own the physical item it cannot be verified or authenticated via the 3FA Library without the digital NFT.

Question 2

How do you stop counterfeiters from using a LaserMinter on fake products ?

Accepted Answer

We use our own authentication technology on our own products. Each LaserMinter comes with its own Phygital Passport that can be de-activated by us if used for non-approved activities such as counterfeiting. If we receive reports of a LaserMinter being used to add phygital passports to counterfeit, fake or unlicensed product we can suspend or remove access to the 3FA verification library for that LaserMinter unit. That way they cannot mint a phygital passport with the 3rd phygital QR code stored on the 3FA Library. Furthermore, we have the ability to deactivate individual fake items who we identify as having been minted with a LaserMinter under non-approved conditions. In other words, we can not only deactivate the counterfeiting LaserMinter source but we can also deactivate any fake end user product minted via that source.

In addition, we will be employing AI analysis of 3FA Library records and NFT marketplace sales to identify unusual or suspect minting, listing and sales behaviors (eg: repeat selling of products at too low a price). In these cases we will suspend use of the specific LaserMinter until the owner or user can verify that they are selling authentic and / or licensed products.

Finally, when purchasing a LaserMinter we ask for a significant amount of personal and company details to satisfy our KYC / AML / Anti-Counterfeiting requirements in most countries. We reserve the right to refuse to accept a product order based on unsuitable submissions for personal or company details that do not pass our KYC / AML / Anti-Counterfeiting verification process.

Question 3

How many Phygital Passports can a LaserMinter create?

Accepted Answer

Virtually unlimited - technically the LaserMinter product can mint as many phygital passports with NFTs as permitted by the expected lifetime of the laser hardware and electronics. The laser hardware has a lifetime of at 5000 -10,000 operational hours which, depending on the duration of the average laser mark,  should mint at least 2 million passports with NFTs in this operational period. However, it will be technically impossible for a customer to mint over 1 million passports within either the 1 year standard warranty or 2 year extended warranty period for the product.

Note there is no software block or limit on operating the LaserMinter as long as you have an authorized and verified Creator or Pro account. However if we receive a report about the use of a LaserMinter for counterfeit products, or we detect unusual minting and listing behavior on your account, we may choose to either temporarily or permanently block your Creator or Pro account.

Question 4

What is the smallest engraving or marking area possible?

Accepted Answer

This depends on both the laser type or wavelength, and the magnification limit and quality of the QR code scanner application on the users phone or device.

The LaserMinter IR can mark hi-resolution QR codes down to 5mm by 5mm areas. The LaserMinter Blue can mark down to 10mm x 10mm areas while the LaserMinter UV can mark down to 3mm x 3mm area. In truth the smallest potential marking area may be even less that those quoted here.

However it is typically not the laser engraving resolution but the resolution of the optical scanner in a typical phone device that is the real limit to minimum QR code size. A QR code has to be easily scannable to be effective.

Decentryk plans to add a hi-magnification and resolution QR code scanner function internally to the Phygital App by the end of 2023 to ensure easy scanning of QR codes down to the 3mm x 3mm area possible with the LaserMinter UV.

Question 5

What is the largest engraving or marking area possible?

Accepted Answer

For all LaserMinter IR, Blue and UV models the largest marking area possible is a 70mm x 70m square area. There are few applications where such a large area would be required but marking on exotic or classic cars may be one of them. More typically such a large marking area would be used when a logo or text is added to the QR code to be marked.

Question 6

Can the LaserMinter mark QR codes on gold, silver, platinum or stainless steel ?

Accepted Answer

Yes - the LaserMinter IR can mark QR codes on stainless steel, gold, silver, platinum or any other rare metal or alloy surface. Note the LaserMinter UV can also mark on all rare metals and metal alloys with even greater resolution but at a higher cost. The LaserMinter Blue cannot mark well on any rare metal or metal alloy.

Question 7

Why is the LaserMinter UV Pro the only product that can mark on glass surfaces?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The LaserMinter UV has ultraviolet laser output at a 355m wavelength which is readily absorbed by either clear or colored glass at the focal point of the laser. It can also readily mark with high precision on any metal surface just as with the LaserMinter IR bundles. The LaserMinter IR and LaserMinter Blue versions cannot mark on glass surfaces because the infrared (1064nm) or visible (450nm) wavelengths are not easily absorbed by most glasses. However they are both much cheaper that the LaserMinter UV Pro bundle.

Question 8

Which LaserMinter product is best to mark on wood, ceramics and stone?

Accepted Answer

The LaserMinter Blue bundles are the ideal product to use on any wood, ceramic or stone surface as it uses thermal absorption (or heat) to produce the mark. The LaserMinter blue is also the only product to be able to mark on bare wood, natural leather and many clothing fabrics. While the LaserMinter IR which uses a cold laser ablation process can mark on lacquered wood, faux leather, painted ceramic and stone surfaces, the results with the LaserMinter Blue are generally better and clearer with more contrast.

Question 9

When will the free Phygital App be available to download onto my phone?

Accepted Answer

The free Phygital App will be available for download in October 2023 once the first pre-orders of LaserMinters start to ship to customers. In addition the online 3FA Library that the App communicates with to verify ownership will be simultaneously launched in August. When the app is launched it will be downloadable from the URL thephygital.app .

Question 10

Where can I find the Phygital Club marketplace?

Accepted Answer

The Phygital Club marketplace for listing and selling products via Phygital NFTs has not been launched yet. It will be launched in September 2023 once the first pre-orders of LaserMinters start to ship to customers and the minting of Phygital Passports by our customers starts. In addition the white label software suite will be simultaneously launched with the Phygital Club marketplace in September. When the phygital club is launched it will be found at the URL thephygital.club .

Question 11

How much will it cost to list and sell my physical product on online NFT marketplaces?

Accepted Answer

You will only be able to sell physical products minted with a phygital passport on either Decentryk's NFT marketplace called the Phygital Club, or approved vendor branded NFT marketplaces that have been integrated with our 3FA verification library using our white-label software suite.

Decentryk does not charge to list products on either the Phygital Club or vendor branded white label marketplaces. However the Phygital Club will charge all sellers a 2% - 3% platform fee for verifying and processes sales on our marketplace (depending on initial creator royalty setup). Decentryk also charges vendors using our white label software a 1.5% - 2.5% platform fee for verifying and processing sales on their own phygital NFT marketplace (depending on vendor account type).

Question 12

Can I buy or sell minted physical products in a physical bricks-and-mortar store or directly from an individual without a store?

Accepted Answer

Yes you can buy a minted phygital product in a physical store or directly from an individual without a store. If the vendor chooses to sell via a bricks and mortar store in addition to his white label NFT marketplace, then he has in his digital wallet an NFT for every physical product. When selling to a customer he essentially just transfers the NFT to the customer via the Phygital App, with the customer confirming on his app that he has taken delivery of the product. The same process applies when purchasing from any individual without an online store, except with a vendor registration process for the seller and Decentryk charging a 2% - 3% platform fee as with online NFT sales.

Question 13

Are there NFT minting costs for creating a Phygital Passport with a LaserMinter?

Accepted Answer

Yes there are NFT minting costs for creating the digital NFT and uploading the QR code to the blockchain. The LaserMinter generates 3 unique QR codes and mints a digital NFT using either the Polygon blockchain network or the Ethereum blockchain network. The LaserMinter control software can be integrated with the vendors digital wallet so that they can pay for minting costs and be issued their NFT. This minting process is typically less than US$1 per NFT for the Polygon network or up to $5-10 per NFT for the Ethereum network. Hence we recommend the Polygon network that uses MATIC or CTK tokens.

Note that minting fees for the Polygon network can be paid in either MATIC (Polygon Tokens) or CTK (Cryptyk Tokens). Minting fees for the Ethereum network can be paid in either ETH (ERC20 Tokens) or CTK (Cryptyk Tokens). Cryptyk is a strategic partner of Decentryk (see cryptyk.com and cryptyk.io) and is supplying some of our Web3 infrastructure and initial CTK token reserves for minting.

Note also that every LaserMinter bundle will come with the first US$100 worth of CTK tokens free when delivered. This will ensure that the first 100 or so phygital passports minted by a LaserMinter on the Polygon network will be free to the LaserMinter customer.

Question 14

Can I get a cloud storage upgrade above 100MB per physical product?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Our standard user account offers 2GB free Web3 cloud storage for up to 20 different physical items with 100MB of cloud storage per item. Users can choose to upgrade to monthly paid accounts to increase their total user cloud storage capacity, number of items and cloud storage per item.

Question 15

Why isn't the Phygital App and Phygital Club marketplace available yet?

Accepted Answer

We are in the process of final software development, product integration and testing of all 5 different software components for our phygital passport ecosystem. This includes the LaserMinter control software, the Phygital App, the 3FA Verification Library, the Phygital Club marketplace and White-label software tools. There is obviously no point launching our 5 component software suite to vendors and customers until we can deliver and deploy the LaserMinter hardware to customers to mint and list physical products with phygital passports.

Consequently we have timed the initial delivery of our hardware to customers to coincide with the planned launch dates of our software products in October 2023. Our initial manufacturing supply chain for the first 50 LaserMinters is expected to result in a 3-4 month average delivery time. Therefore we are now accepting pre-orders for the first 50 LaserMinter devices in May 2023 to be deployed in October 2023. After this initial delivery of 50 units we anticipate that product delivery times will shorten to 1-2 months ARO as we scale our manufacturing capabilities and supply-chain logistics.

Note that the product roll-out schedule given in the Technology section of this website will be updated if there are any schedule changes.

Question 16

What if my laser engraved physical QR code gets damaged ?

Accepted Answer

Although it is near impossible to unintentionally damage the laser engraved QR code on the metal, plastic, wood, stone or glass surface of your product, it is remotely possible. For this reason we recommend you choose the option of marking the same QR code twice. Once on the actual physical item and once on a metal business card as a physical QR code back-up (100 metal cards supplied with LaserMinter).

Question 17

What if I want to sell my physical item but I am currently not where the item is located ?

Accepted Answer

We recommend you choose the option of marking the same physical QR code twice. Once on the actual physical item and once on a metal business card as a physical QR code back-up (100 metal cards supplied with LaserMinter). That way you can carry the physical QR code for your item with you in a wallet when you travel.

Question 18

What if I don't want to laser engrave my physical item ? Can I still mint a Phygital Passport for it?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Some products are undesirable for laser engraving as it may be considered damaging to mark a valuable item with a permanent non-removable laser engraved code (eg: antique painting or item). In this case we recommend that you do not mark the item and instead mark the physical QR code on a metal business card, label or tag that belongs with the item (100 metal cards supplied with LaserMinter). That way you can attach it to the item in a non-damaging or non-permanent manner (eg: on the frame of a painting) or just keep it filed away for all your minted physical items. Moreover, you may want to engrave 2 metal cards so you have a back-up physical QR code that is portable and allows you to sell the physical item from a different remote location.

Question 19

Can I set up LaserMinters to work in a production environment?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Decentryk is working with customers to provide software automation tools that integrate with existing production line components and expect to launch these in early 2024.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions