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.