VI
The Structure


To truly last forever, a structure must be simple, flexible, and robust. This is especially so digitally.

Thinking in the extreme long term, we must be sensitive to tail risks: things with a small possibility of happening, but with disastrous consequences if they do happen. A significant tail risk in designing cryptographic art is blockchain risk: the risk that a blockchain stops functioning completely. If we observe two periods of euphoric highs in the crypto markets, 2017 and 2021, we see that the most popular blockchains changed drastically in the interim. No blockchain has existed for even 15 years, and thus we cannot consider them reliable platforms on which to build works intended to last for decades. While this technology is immature, we can nevertheless take advantage of those features which are culturally beneficial, while leaving those we do not need.

To this end, Superchain is designed as a blockchain “free agent”, able to be stored and accessed in multiple ways, and to switch between dominant public blockchains as they come and go.

The Superchain digital signature provides the verification of the contents of each Bloc. The structure of the Bloc and the information contained verify the artwork, the artist(s), the title, the number, the date, and every previous Bloc. By doing so, we have achieved immutability outside of a public blockchain.

Because Blocs are files, they can be stored anywhere. At the time of writing, each Bloc is uploaded to IPFS. Because every Bloc contains the hash value of every previous Bloc file, the chain remains intact even if a file is deleted or a whole file storage server/blockchain becomes inaccessible. Blockchain storage is currently costly, and this allows us to create works without file size limits with storage anywhere. As blockchain storage capacity increases, Blocs could be moved onto public blockchains to enhance immutability. As designed, however, Superchain maintains the permanent storage of every creation even without a public blockchain.

The design of the medium achieves immutability and permanent storage outside of a public blockchain, to avoid blockchain risk. Even if there is a global internet outage, new Blocs could still be produced. The design of the medium also achieves simplicity, each file containing digital content in its simplest form, arranged basically, and created to be human- as well as machine-readable. Allowing for any file type also allows for maximum flexibility as digital creation tools continue to develop.

We remove the art and cultural work itself from the limitations and risks of public blockchains. It exists outside, and thus can genuinely be said to be created to last forever. Doing so, we leave the least risky, and most adaptable, function to public blockchains: ownership and exchange. An ownership token is created for every Bloc; at the time of writing, on the Ethereum blockchain. Ownership will hold no matter how the Superchain is represented on blockchain, but as the technology matures the expression of ownership and what it enables can be expanded.

Ownership of a Bloc can also be linked to other benefits, such as higher-resolution files or physical representations. Advice to buyers: do not sell.

Because the Superchain can be found in many places, the numbering system allows for a work to be found no matter how the viewer is engaging. The Superchain logo, “喜”, is appended before every number, so the first Bloc is 喜1 and this whitepaper is 喜887. This creates a unique serial number for every Bloc that can be searched for online, on a public blockchain, or wherever else the chain is hosted.

Blocs are created at extremely high fidelity. Current infrastructure is unsuited to displaying works at full quality, so downloading a Bloc is the best way to view files in highest resolution. Nevertheless, every Superchain Bloc is displayed online at the Superchain website, along with information on ownership/purchase: 

supercha.in

Any Bloc can be found at its number by URL superchain.art/(number) e.g. 

superchain.art/888 > 喜888.

The Bloc number can also be turned into a URL, useful where a Bloc reference is found somewhere without hotlinking. To do so insert “.co/” after the 喜 symbol. For example:

喜404 > 喜.co/404