NFTs enable platformless media— where media isn’t tied to any one single entity. While marketplaces and platforms will exist, users will be given the optionality of where to take their NFTs. - Kinjal Shah, When Consumer Meets Crypto

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are amazing because they are not bound to any platform. They are platformless because they exist on a decentralized ledger. This creates interesting possibilities around ownership and access.

In the decentralized web, interactions are captured as publicly available data associated with a blockchain address.

By making data portability virtually frictionless, Web3 has provided the technological foundation to chip away at the moats many large internet businesses rely on today. - Reed McGinley Stempel, Web3 and the Future of Data Portability

Content stored on the decentralized web is platformless and public. This introduces privacy concerns as we now have a fully accessible online world. Since this content is stored publicly, we need a way to keep information private. How do we keep publicly searchable content private? Through encryption!

We can think about this encrypted information as unlockable content. Through unlockable content, NFTs become dynamic assets that are keys to additional experiences. What might that additional content look like?

• Token gated access to a DAO
• Physical copy or print of an artwork
• Off-chain link to a Google Drive, Dropbox, or other databases
• WAV stems for a song

Currently, there are a few platforms that support NFTs with unlockable content. Generally, content that is unlockable is only unlockable on the platform it was created on. What is unlockable on OpenSea is not unlockable on Zora.

Using Lit Protocol, it's possible to provision decryption keys so any content can be decentralized and private, essentially encrypted and unlockable. Imagine a future where an NFT that is unlockable on OpenSea is unlockable on SolSea. Additionally, Lit Protocol makes it possible to have unlockable content accessible outside of traditional NFT platforms. One example is token gating items in a Shopify store.

Decentralize Unlockable Content With Lit Protocol

Lit Protocol is a decentralized network that is capable of provisioning a blockchain user access to resources based on on-chain data, like an NFT.

Lit Protocol can:

• Encrypt and lock static content (images, videos, music, etc) behind on-chain conditions (for example, possession of an NFT).
• Decrypt static content that was locked behind an on-chain condition.
• Authorize network signatures that provide access to dynamic content (for example, a server or network resource) behind an on-chain condition.
• Request a network signed JWT that provisions access and authorization to dynamic content behind an on-chain condition.