NFT Heroes #6: Gaspard Broustine from Ledger

Gaspard Broustine, NFT Project Manager at Ledger.

Besancia: Hello Gaspard and thank you for your time! As part of our series on the key players in the ecosystem, I wanted to ask you a few questions. Let’s start with the first one, can you introduce yourself?

Gaspard: I’m a collector of NFTs, that’s how I got into the world of Web3, Crypto and Digital Art. It was in 2019 that I realized, during my readings, it was possible to collect Digital Art.

The certificate of authenticity of an artwork is the most important element in traditional art. We can view original works of art with carbon 14 or thanks to the DNA contained in the canvas. But if there is no certificate of authenticity it can be almost impossible to sell.

The blockchain, by its technology, solves this problem in particular thanks to NFTs… and when I realized it, I started collecting them.

How did you get to Ledger and what is your role?

Gaspard: When the world of NFTs exploded in the traditional sector, I told myself that I was going to spend my full time in my passion, and so I applied to Ledger.

My mission, these recent months, has been to upgrade all the features of Ledger products for NFTs. The problem we want to solve at Ledger is around the safety of users. In the Ledger Live software, it is possible to interact directly with your hardware wallet and since recently, it is especially possible to interact with NFTs.

Either receiving or sending them..it seems like nothing but making everything work on Ledger Live is not always easy: NFTs are the fusion of Web2 and Web3. The images metadata are still hosted on servers (web2).

So we try to make sure that we only depend on one entity to be able to retrieve and display NFT metadata. As much as possible, we want to be able to retrieve as much metadata as possible on our side so that we can be totally independent.

Regarding the sending of NFTs, one of the current concerns is the “blind signing” which, as its name suggests, does not say what you sign when you send an NFT. This means that the user can sign just about anything (such as authorizing token spending without the user being aware of it) .

My role as a NFT Project Manager is therefore, on the one hand, to find secure solutions for the display of NFTs in Ledger Live and, on the other hand, to make possible a visible and understandable reading of the outgoing information on the Ledger screen.

What do you think is the biggest obstacle to the “mass adoption” of NFTs by the general public?

Gaspard: The biggest difficulty to NFT mass adoption is the ease of use. Especially for Ledger because we are a security solution so it requires additional steps to set up your wallet the first time. It takes time to educate new users or artists on what a blockchain is… as it is a new technology, it is not obvious. However, it is necessary to understand the basic principles before you can use it, even if it is complicated. Cryptography is mathematics, public key/private keys… The ramp to cryptos and NFTs is therefore a bit rough!

Even if hot wallets like Metamask facilitate access to crypto, they still give only an illusion of control. Indeed, the user is more vulnerable to attacks than a hardware wallet owner like a Ledger.

Another limitation for the adoption of NFTs is, in my opinion, that we are still too much dependent on web2 technologies.

Besancia: You mean it would be easier for you to manage on-chain NFTs?

Gaspard: Of course! But with the technical limitations of Ethereum, it’s extremely difficult to have completely on-chain images. Fortunately there are Layer 2s coming.

How do you see the NFT ecosystem in 5 years?

Gaspard: I think art and culture will continue to adopt NFTs massively. Cinema, digital art, brands will also offer NFTs to their customers in the future. I really think that the wallet will be the equivalent of a digital identity in the future. This will first affect art but then many other sectors.

Besancia: rather bullish then?

Gaspard: Completely bullish!

Conclusion

As the adoption of digital assets continues to grow, it’ sawesome to have the opportunity to meet the people who are shaping the technology around this ecosystem. Many thanks to Gaspard and we look forward to bringing you more interviews taken during our time at NFT Lisbon! 

Illustration of the article: Portrait of Gaspard Broustine taken at the NonFungible Conference on April 4th 2022 in Lisbon, photo credit: Camille Dufresne