ENHANCING COPYRIGHT PROTECTION AND PROVENANCE IN NFTS WITH BLOCKCHAIN-INTEGRATED FREQUENCY-DOMAIN WATERMARKING

Abstract

The rapid expansion of the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) market has underscored
significant challenges in copyright protection and ownership authentication. While
blockchain technology ensures the immutability and transparency of token transactions, the
off-chain storage of metadata and original content remains a critical vulnerability, exposing
NFTs to risks such as data loss, manipulation, and copyright disputes. In response to these
challenges, this study proposes a blockchain-integrated watermarking framework that
embeds resilient copyright information into digital assets via a general frequency-domain
approach. The watermark is stored off-chain within the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS),
while its associated Content Identifier (CID) is anchored in a smart contract, ensuring
traceability of provenance and verification of authenticity. Comparative experiments with
the Least Significant Bit (LSB) method demonstrate the superior robustness of the proposed
frequency-domain technique against various attacks, including compression, noise, and
image manipulation. The proposed framework significantly enhances copyright protection,
facilitates transparent NFT provenance, and provides a scalable foundation for secure digital
asset management within blockchain-based ecosystems.