Arkive

Arkive is a Santa Monica-based company building what it describes as the first decentralized physical museum. It is structured as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) in which members, rather than a professional curatorial board alone, decide which artworks and historical artifacts the organization acquires. Members register cryptocurrency wallets in an online space the company calls the "atrium," review background material provided by artists, galleries or prior collectors, and then vote on-chain for the item they want Arkive to buy. A staff team of curators shortlists candidate items around a rotating theme; the theme at launch was "When Technology Was a Game Changer."

Acquired physical items are intended to be loaned to museums or galleries for public display, with members influencing placement so that objects sit in locations of cultural relevance to them. Company statements cited placing the ENIAC patent at the Computer History Museum in San Mateo as an illustrative example. Arkive's stated rationale for using blockchain technology is fractional ownership, unambiguous records of ownership and custody, and on-chain voting; NFTs are used to hold provenance, authentication, quality and condition metadata for each item rather than as standalone digital collectibles.

The company frames its mission as widening access to an asset class historically controlled by institutions and private collectors, noting that a large majority of collection items are never publicly displayed, and as letting non-professional enthusiasts with deep subject knowledge participate in defining historical significance.

Founding story

Founder and CEO Thomas (Tom) McLeod traced the idea to his prior company, Omni, a physical storage business that was acquired by Coinbase in 2019. Valuable and unusual items — sneaker collections, vintage posters, records and comic books — arrived alongside utility goods such as bikes and tents and had to be stored in separate rooms that, McLeod said, increasingly resembled small galleries. Omni's operations also required tracking temporary ownership and chain of custody, which shaped his interest in on-chain ownership records. He combined that with the observation that enthusiasts on the internet hold deep knowledge about niche subjects but often lack the capital to acquire the objects they care about.

Business model

Arkive pools capital to acquire physical artifacts and artworks selected by its member community, tokenizing ownership and provenance records on-chain and lending items to museums and galleries for display. Membership was free at the time of launch coverage, with the company indicating that would likely change.

Traction

As of August 2022 Arkive reported around 300 active users with hundreds more on a waiting list, two completed acquisitions, three further acquisitions lined up over the next three months, and a stated goal of acquiring two pieces per month.

Latest developments

The most recent sourced coverage is from August 2022, when Arkive described plans for additional acquisitions, expansion of its team using seed proceeds, and its first public exhibition at Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2022.