Beyond Blockchain: Cryptographic Value Mechanisms in Centralized Generative Art Platforms

Blockchain-based NFTs dominate discussions of digital art value creation, with limited exploration of alternative cryptographic approaches. This paper presents ARTE, a centralized generative art platform implementing three value mechanisms—scarcity, unique identifiability, and deterministic reproducibility—without blockchain infrastructure. We compare ARTE’s cryptographic implementation (AES-256 encryption, SHA-256 integrity verification, SFC32 seeded PRNG) against blockchain NFT platforms across six dimensions: trust model, transaction costs, accessibility, environmental impact, regeneration capability, and edition enforcement. Technical validation of 400,000 generated tokens demonstrates collision rates below 0.015% and perfect cross-session reproducibility. We propose a Trust-Accessibility Framework positioning different digital art systems along two axes, identifying an underexplored design space for centralized cryptographic approaches. Our technical validation demonstrates that centralized cryptographic systems can achieve functional equivalence to blockchain mechanisms, with trade-offs favoring accessibility and lower costs over trustlessness. This challenges the assumption that blockchain is necessary for digital art value creation, though user preference studies remain future work.