Today’s AR experiences are siloed in closed‑garden apps (Niantic, Snap, Meta), limiting discoverability, interoperability, and ownership of location‑based digital content. Creators can’t port AR assets between platforms, audiences can’t verify provenance, and community‑driven city‑wide or global AR layers never persist when an app disappears. As a result, AR remains a walled‑garden novelty rather than a persistent, community‑owned medium.

Build ARChain, an on‑chain layer for publishing, discovering, and monetizing geolocated AR content—fully decentralized, permissionless, and interoperable:

1. Geo‑Anchored AR NFTs (xNFTs)
   • Artists mint AR assets as compressed NFTs with embedded 3D models, audio clips, or interactive scripts.
   • Each xNFT includes geo‑coordinates, orientation, scale, and optional time‑windows.
2. Location Index & Discovery
   • A Solana program maintains a spatial index of AR xNFTs.
   • Mobile/Web3 apps query this index to render AR overlays as users move.
3. Creator & Viewer Tokens
   • $ARX rewards creators for community ratings, view counts, and on‑chain “checks‑in.”
   • Viewers earn $ARX for first‑time scans, sharing experiences, or reporting asset health.
4. Marketplace & Royalties
   • Integrates with Metaplex for primary sales and built‑in royalty enforcement on secondary trades.
   • Gate certain AR layers behind staking (e.g., unlock a hidden AR scavenger hunt).
5. Open SDK & Wallet Integration
   • Provide an open‑source SDK (Anchor + WebGPU) for building ARChain‑compatible apps on iOS/Android/Saga.
   • Out‑of‑the‑box support for Phantom Mobile’s AR view component.
6. Governance & Community Curation
   • A DAO treasury funds public‑good AR projects (historical tours, art installations).
   • Token‑weighted votes decide featured AR trails and curation guidelines.