Titanic explorer joins blockchain startup PO8

Gallo is a 30-year oceanography veteran and formerly the Director of Special Projects at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, USA. His career includes serving as the co-expedition leader to create the first detailed and comprehensive map of the RMS Titanic and the successful international effort to locate the wreck site of Air France flight 447.

“To me PO8 is the most exciting project to come along in decades,” he says. “It encourages the development of new technologies and techniques for undersea exploration and visualisation. In doing so PO8 will accelerate the ability to locate, document, and protect the precious artifacts of Bahamian undersea cultural resources.”

The venture has developed the Non Fungible Token or NFT and its PAZAR marketplace. NFTs are created by using ERC-721 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain and represent digital ownership of physical assets like the underwater artifacts PO8 will be recovering. Each distinguishable NFT has a smart contract containing unique asset data cryptographically certified, confirming ownership of the physical asset.

NFTs will allow for the majority of PO8 artifacts to live on the blockchain and physically remain in the custody of the PO8 Foundation for continued studies by the archaeology community and to be exhibited in various museums worldwide, while the ownership of the asset can be from anyone around the world. NFTs will be tradable on the PAZAR marketplace, set to roll-out later in the year. PAZAR users will be able to buy, sell, auction, lease, trade and leverage their NFTs on the platform.

PO8 is currently in the middle of a token sale. It is raising funds by selling utility tokens for future use of the aforementioned marketplace.