A consortium of major art museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate Modern, and the Centre Pompidou, has launched a joint NFT platform dedicated to preserving and exhibiting digital art. The platform, called ArtChain Heritage, uses a custom blockchain built on Ethereum to create permanent records of digital artworks and their provenance.
Unlike commercial NFT marketplaces, ArtChain Heritage is designed as a non-profit cultural preservation tool. Artists and estates can mint NFTs that serve as certificates of authenticity, while museums can use the platform to catalog and share digital exhibitions across institutions worldwide.
The initiative represents a significant shift in how major cultural institutions view blockchain technology, moving beyond speculative trading toward practical applications in art history and preservation. The platform launched with over 500 digital works from 120 artists spanning three decades of digital art practice.
