Vaulted platform Americansupported by the popular Open sea NFT Marketplace has launched its Concierge Vault, which allows collectors to store, display and sell both physical and digital assets.
On July 21, Americana announced that the vaults are now open to the public.
According to the website, the platform is now accepting requests with up to three of “your favorite collectibles.”
The first year of pommel horse, Americana said, is free.
In a podcast, founder and CEO Jake Frey described this “gate opening” of beta to the other collectors as a “huge” step the company has been working on for a long time.
Frey explained that,
“You work directly with a fine art handler — we work with some of the best fine art handlers in the world — no matter what your item is, you get white glove service. And then we take it to our vault: high-security, temperature-controlled, tax-exempt state vault where we store the thing, but digitize it first.”
The company, which launched last year, has its own platform that digitizes items and provides a detailed, “in-depth” view of each of those items.
The valuables, regardless of size, can then be kept in a safe or offered for sale. “The offers are bound to roll in, so you can always shop around and consider selling,” Frey said.
Even if sold, the physical item does not need to be moved – it can remain vaulted while ownership changes hands.
Therefore, the platform now serves as a single stop for various related services: it provides its users with a physical vault, transportation process of the goods to the facility, digitization of each piece, owner authentication through the blockchain, condition reporting, and an online marketplace for buying and selling these blockchain-verified physical assets.
Digital and physical works are secured with one Americana Digital Title. That way, “collectors can acquire them together as the creator intended.”
Americana says its vaults are guarded 24/7 by state-of-the-art security under storage experts Crozier Fine Arts management.
Collectors will consult with the team to create a plan and complete the authentication process before a digital certificate of authenticity can be issued.
The company is also supported by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six VC firm, which raised $6.9 million in seed funding in early May 2022.
In partnership with OpenSea and rapper Future, Americana released 10,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs), dubbed “Something Token,” each of which serves as “Membership to Americana” and grants holders exclusive access and discounts.
Americana also says it is “committed to creator royalties: 10% on every sale.”