NFT certificates of authenticity for art

A certificate of authenticity states who made a piece of art and what it is. A ChainChum NFT certificate does the same, and adds two things a paper certificate can't: a public record that can't be edited, and an ownership history that follows the piece.

Every work on ChainChum has one: originals, numbered prints, handmade goods and digital downloads. Originals and numbered prints are certified when they are published, handmade goods and downloads when each one sells. The seller's one-time $1 certificate fee comes out of the work's first sale, and every later sale, resale or inheritance through ChainChum is added to it for free.

#What the NFT certificate records

• The artwork's title, medium, size and edition number, such as 3 of 25.
• The artist and their shop.
• The issue date and a unique certificate ID.
• A content hash: a fingerprint of the details and photos at the time of sale.
• Each change of owner: the sale, any ChainChum resale, an inheritance.

The buyer also gets a PDF certificate by email, a QR code on the packing slip and a public verify page at chainchum.app/c/<id>.

#Paper certificate vs. NFT certificate

	Paper certificate	ChainChum NFT certificate
Can be forged or altered	Yes, with a printer	No; the record and its fingerprint are public
Can be lost	Yes	No; it lives on the blockchain and in your account
Shows later owners	No	Yes, every ChainChum resale and transfer
Anyone can check it	Only by asking the issuer	Yes, by scanning the QR code
Cost	Often $1–5 per piece, or a monthly tool	One fee per work, paid once by the seller; later updates free

Want something to frame? At checkout you can add a premium printed certificate on cotton stock with a foil border, and tamper-evident holographic stickers carrying the certificate's QR code.

#Why the artist's royalty is safer here

Many NFT marketplaces treat creator royalties as optional. On ChainChum, the royalty on a resale is paid through the checkout itself, so the artist is paid on every ChainChum resale, whatever the token standard says.

#What a certificate does not prove

The NFT certificate proves the record of a piece: who made it and who owns it on ChainChum. It does not replace insurance or a professional appraisal, and holding the token is not the same as holding the physical piece.

ChainChum keeps each token in a wallet it maintains for the owner. You can export it to a wallet you control and, from there, trade it on other NFT marketplaces; ChainChum itself never buys, sells or trades tokens, and certificates are never for sale here.

Learn how to verify a certificate or read the certificates help guide.

#Questions

#What does the NFT certificate cost?

The seller pays a one-time $1 certificate fee per work, taken from its first sale. Buyers pay nothing extra, and later sales and transfers through ChainChum are recorded for free. Printed certificates and stickers are planned as optional extras.

#Who issues the certificate?

ChainChum mints it when the seller publishes and certifies the work, using the details the artist listed and the photos that passed screening. It transfers to the buyer when the piece sells.

#What happens to the certificate if I resell the piece?

The same NFT is transferred to the new owner and the resale is added to its history, free. The original artist earns a royalty on ChainChum resales. If you export the token to your own wallet and move it elsewhere, the verify page shows that transfer as off-platform.