DFZ Labs, the creators of the Ethereum NFT project Deadfellaz, will launch a new asset verification tool that allows users to connect online and offline assets without signing blind transactions or smart contract approvals.
Coldlink, now in beta, enables blockchain users to connect their blockchain address to any asset in Web2, Web3, or real life without incurring the security risk of blind signing or smart contract approvals, DFZ Labs said.
“To ‘Coldlink’ something is to connect any digital asset safely to anything else without granting permissions to the wallet holding the asset,” DFZ Labs pseudonymous CEO Betty told Decrypt.
“Among many other features, it allows digital asset ownership to be acknowledged and rewarded in real life without any complicated Web3 infrastructure or dev work,” they added.
The solution has been in the works since 2022 when DFZ Labs began seeking a way for its community to safely and securely gain access to gaming developments without putting their assets at risk.
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Unlocking use cases
With Coldlink, users will be able to unlock a variety of new blockchain and real-world connections.
For example, they could connect a blockchain address to a PO box in order to receive a physical item without revealing their identity or connect a digital music collectible to a physical concert ticket number in order to gain rewards from an event organizer.
While other products like Delegate.xyz have provided users a way to secure on-chain assets by linking together wallets, Betty told Decrypt that Coldlink is more than delegation, and works very differently.
“There is no smart contract interaction, no blind signing—creating a safer, quicker, cheaper, and more interoperable solution that can be plugged into existing infrastructure to solve many problems,” she said.
Instead, Coldlink uses unique transaction markers paired with database entries to link the assets.
“Coldlink verification essentially works by pairing a serialized unique tracer transaction with a serialized unique database entry for each Coldlink submission,” she continued, adding that the technology has been feasible for a long time–but DFZ labs is the first to handle it in this particular way.
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For the DFZ Labs CEO, Coldlink is especially useful for participants of communities with rare or expensive digital items—like CryptoPunks, which previously may have been reluctant to connect their wallets or sign transactions to verify ownership of an NFT.
“You can immediately activate communities that have so far been unable to casually participate in anything that requires digital ownership," Betty said. "This is especially useful if you own rare or expensive items such as Punks.”
“Many web3 activations, no matter how valuable or entertaining, saw huge participation fall off with collectors simply being unwilling to connect their wallet to anything or use the current delegation options,” they added.
Coldlink will start with a public load test that allows anyone with a Solana or Ethereum address to create links to another Solana or Ethereum address at Coldlink.xyz. Because creating a Coldlink requires a transaction to verify an address, users can only create links from addresses they own. However, a coldlink creator can connect it to any other asset.
“This means while nobody can create links from your wallet, they can create links to your wallet, essentially gifting you access,” said the Coldlink CEO. “This allows for actions like giving your friend access to your Ape for a party you can’t attend.”
New blockchains, applications, and link types, including those to offline assets, are expected to be rolled out and unveiled weekly while more than 150 top projects like PunksDAO, NFC Lisbon, and others are expected to test the product’s advanced custom integrations.
“Digital asset ownership (both on and off-chain) has increased exponentially in recent years, with online spending on digital assets projected to continue to increase, especially in gaming and fashion,” Betty said.
“Before Coldlink there wasn’t a universally wallet agnostic, blockchain agnostic way of moving across all of the spaces we inhabit with the digital assets we own safely," they added.
Editor's note: This article was updated for clarity.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
