ArcVelvet Provenance — Decentralized AI Art Ownership Records on Filecoin

Proposal Category: Storage

Individual or Entity Name: Individual — Patrick Casino

Open source agreement: Yes

Project Summary:

AI-generated art is being created at unprecedented scale with no reliable provenance infrastructure. Existing solutions — C2PA metadata, pixel watermarking — can be stripped from files during distribution, leaving creators with no verifiable proof of ownership.

ArcVelvet generates transaction-level provenance records on every sale. When a buyer purchases rights to an AI-generated work, the system automatically produces a certificate of authenticity, embedded creator mark, license agreement, and permanent public verification page — all tied to an immutable ledger record. The first provenance-backed AI art sale completed this week.

Currently ArcVelvet stores provenance records on Firebase — a centralized database dependent on a single company's continued operation. This proposal funds migration of ArcVelvet's provenance ledger to Filecoin, making every certificate and verification record permanently stored, censorship-resistant, and truly decentralized. A provenance record stored on Filecoin cannot be deleted, altered, or lost — even if ArcVelvet ceases to exist.

Impact:

The NTIA, US Copyright Office, and EU AI Act have all identified AI content provenance as critical missing infrastructure. Europol projects 90% of online content will be AI-generated by 2026. Without a decentralized provenance layer, creator attribution for AI art becomes impossible at scale.

For the Filecoin ecosystem this project demonstrates a high-value real-world use case: permanent provenance records for creative works. Every sale on ArcVelvet becomes a Filecoin storage deal. As ArcVelvet scales, that represents meaningful sustained data onboarding and real-world validation of Filecoin as provenance infrastructure.

Outcomes:

• Filecoin storage integration — every sale record stored as a Filecoin deal


• Verify page updated to resolve provenance from Filecoin network


• Open source Filecoin provenance module for other creator platforms


• 100+ provenance records stored on Filecoin at completion

Success metrics: Every new sale generates a Filecoin storage deal. Verify page resolves from Filecoin within 3 seconds. Module adopted by 2+ platforms within 6 months.

Data Onboarding:

• Month 1: 10-50 records


• Month 3: 100-500 records


• Month 6: 500-2000 records


• Month 12: 2000-10000 records

Each record: certificate PNG (~300KB) + metadata JSON (~5KB).

Adoption, Reach, and Growth Strategies:

Target: 15M+ AI art creators globally. Currently engaging MIT researchers, NTIA, C2PA steering committee, and Copyright Office. First 10 users already on platform with one completed sale. Growth via Midjourney/Stable Diffusion Discord communities (2M+ combined), Reddit r/artificial (1.2M members), Product Hunt launch.

Development Roadmap:

Milestone 1 — Filecoin Integration (Weeks 1-4) — $15,000
Integrate web3.storage or Lighthouse SDK. Every sale generates Filecoin CID stored alongside Firebase record.

Milestone 2 — Verify Page Update (Weeks 5-7) — $10,000
Verify page resolves from Filecoin CID. Filecoin storage proof displayed publicly.

Milestone 3 — Open Source Module (Weeks 8-10) — $10,000
Extract integration as standalone npm package with documentation for other platforms.

Milestone 4 — Historical Migration (Weeks 11-12) — $5,000
Migrate all existing records to Filecoin. 100% coverage verified.

Total Budget:

Maintenance: Filecoin integration maintained as core infrastructure. Open source module updated as protocols evolve. Long term goal: fully decentralized provenance with no single-company dependency.

Team: Patrick Casino — solo full-stack developer. Built ArcVelvet end-to-end on Firebase, React, TypeScript, Cloud Functions. Designed complete provenance system: certificate generation, QR delivery, signed image embedding, license PDF, permanent verification. First AI art provenance sale completed April 2026. Active engagement with NTIA, Copyright Office, C2PA, MIT researchers.

Website: https://arcvelvetos.web.app

Email: arcvelvet@arcvelvet.com

Proposal Category: Storage
Individual or Entity Name: Individual — Patrick Casino
Open source agreement: Yes

Project Summary:
AI-generated art is being created at unprecedented scale with no reliable provenance infrastructure. Existing solutions — C2PA metadata, pixel watermarking — can be stripped from files during distribution, leaving creators with no verifiable proof of ownership.
ArcVelvet generates transaction-level provenance records on every sale. When a buyer purchases rights to an AI-generated work, the system automatically produces a certificate of authenticity, embedded creator mark, license agreement, and permanent public verification page — all tied to an immutable ledger record. The first provenance-backed AI art sale completed this week.
Currently ArcVelvet stores provenance records on Firebase — a centralized database dependent on a single company's continued operation. This proposal funds migration of ArcVelvet's provenance ledger to Filecoin, making every certificate and verification record permanently stored, censorship-resistant, and truly decentralized. A provenance record stored on Filecoin cannot be deleted, altered, or lost — even if ArcVelvet ceases to exist.

Impact:
The NTIA, US Copyright Office, and EU AI Act have all identified AI content provenance as critical missing infrastructure. Europol projects 90% of online content will be AI-generated by 2026. Without a decentralized provenance layer, creator attribution for AI art becomes impossible at scale.
For the Filecoin ecosystem this project demonstrates a high-value real-world use case: permanent provenance records for creative works. Every sale on ArcVelvet becomes a Filecoin storage deal. As ArcVelvet scales, that represents meaningful sustained data onboarding and real-world validation of Filecoin as provenance infrastructure.

Outcomes:

Filecoin storage integration — every sale record stored as a Filecoin deal
Verify page updated to resolve provenance from Filecoin network
Open source Filecoin provenance module for other creator platforms
100+ provenance records stored on Filecoin at completion

Success metrics: Every new sale generates a Filecoin storage deal. Verify page resolves from Filecoin within 3 seconds. Module adopted by 2+ platforms within 6 months.

Data Onboarding:

Month 1: 10-50 records
Month 3: 100-500 records
Month 6: 500-2000 records
Month 12: 2000-10000 records

Each record: certificate PNG (~300KB) + metadata JSON (~5KB).

Adoption, Reach, and Growth Strategies:
Target: 15M+ AI art creators globally. Currently engaging MIT researchers, NTIA, C2PA steering committee, and Copyright Office. First 10 users already on platform with one completed sale. Growth via Midjourney/Stable Diffusion Discord communities (2M+ combined), Reddit r/artificial (1.2M members), Product Hunt launch.

Development Roadmap:
Milestone 1 — Filecoin Integration (Weeks 1-4) — $15,000
Integrate web3.storage or Lighthouse SDK. Every sale generates Filecoin CID stored alongside Firebase record.
Milestone 2 — Verify Page Update (Weeks 5-7) — $10,000
Verify page resolves from Filecoin CID. Filecoin storage proof displayed publicly.
Milestone 3 — Open Source Module (Weeks 8-10) — $10,000
Extract integration as standalone npm package with documentation for other platforms.
Milestone 4 — Historical Migration (Weeks 11-12) — $5,000
Migrate all existing records to Filecoin. 100% coverage verified.

Total Budget:
MilestoneDescriptionDeliverablesDateFunding1Filecoin IntegrationEvery sale generates CIDWeek 4$15,0002Verify PageFilecoin proof liveWeek 7$10,0003OSS Modulenpm package publishedWeek 10$10,0004MigrationAll records on FilecoinWeek 12$5,000Total$40,000

Maintenance: Filecoin integration maintained as core infrastructure. Open source module updated as protocols evolve. Long term goal: fully decentralized provenance with no single-company dependency.

Team: Patrick Casino — solo full-stack developer. Built ArcVelvet end-to-end on Firebase, React, TypeScript, Cloud Functions. Designed complete provenance system: certificate generation, QR delivery, signed image embedding, license PDF, permanent verification. First AI art provenance sale completed April 2026. Active engagement with NTIA, Copyright Office, C2PA, MIT researchers.
Website: https://arcvelvetos.web.app/
Email: [arcvelvet@arcvelvet.com](mailto:arcvelvet@arcvelvet.com)