Dubai — New Delhi — On-chain

Art is the oldest store of value. BTC is the newest.

Asif Kamal in front of a large abstract painting

Art connoisseur and technology entrepreneur. Fifteen years between modern & contemporary fine art and new-age technology.

Founder of Alturaash Art and Artfi. Author of the ART-20 (Asset Reference Token) standard on Sui. Believer in Bitcoin and decentralised finance.

What's cooking Featured in

§ 01 — Profile

A gallerist who learned to put culture on-chain.

Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Asif Kamal opened Alturaash Art in 2011, while still studying for his MBA, as a gallery promoting art from India. In 2014 he moved to Dubai and has been building there ever since, turning a gallery into an international house for auctions, advisory and investment. Along the way he became one of the Indian art market's most outspoken voices on authentication.

In 2021 he began building what he describes as the world's first tokenisation platform for fine art, which became the Artfi ecosystem. He authored the ART-20 (Asset Reference Token) standard on Sui, brought Salman Khan's art on-chain, and today works on art advisory, art-and-Bitcoin asset management and DeFi infrastructure.

He has also taught entrepreneurship to children in Delhi government schools under the city's Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum.

Education: MBA, Marketing & Operations
Based in: Dubai, UAE · since 2014
Focus: Fine art · RWA tokenisation · Bitcoin · DeFi

§ 02 — Companies & protocols

What I've built

Four verticals, from a gallery in India to a protocol for real-world assets.

Asif Kamal guiding guests through a sculpture exhibition

Company · 2011 → · New Delhi & Dubai

Alturaash Art

Began as a gallery promoting art from India; grew into an international house for auctions, advisory and investment, and in 2021 began accepting cryptocurrency at auction.

Asif Kamal presenting Artfi at TOKEN2049 Singapore

Ecosystem · 2021 → · Dubai

Artfi Ecosystem

A tokenisation platform and ecosystem for fine art, with fractional ownership of works by M.F. Husain, V.S. Gaitonde, Ram Kumar, Krishen Khanna, Sacha Jafri and Salman Khan, plus Artipedia, a video platform for cultural knowledge.

artfi.world →

Protocol · Sui

Artinals Protocol / ART-20

ART-20 (Asset Reference Token) is the standard Asif authored on Sui for tokenising real-world assets, starting with fine art.

Asif Kamal with students and teachers in a Delhi government school classroom

Non-profit · 2019 → · India

Asif Kamal Foundation

Rural healthcare, education and relief, including art-led fundraising for the 2020 Bihar floods and entrepreneurship classes in Delhi government schools.

§ 03 — In the kitchen

What's Cooking

What is on the stove right now: an advisory firm already working, and three products in build.

Ongoing
Modern Art Alliance

Independent art advisory helping governments, institutions, companies and private collectors acquire, plan and care for culturally significant art. modernartalliance.com
Art advisory
ArtBit
In build
ArtBit

An institutional scarcity asset manager pairing museum-grade fine art with Bitcoin in one allocation framework, from Abu Dhabi Global Market. artbit.capital
Art × Bitcoin
In build
ObjeX

The capital formation layer: a new financial primitive for a decentralised economy. objex.world
DeFi · Trading
In build
TrustCircle

Riba-free fintech that digitises community savings circles for the UAE and GCC, with a Trust Score at its core. trustcircleuae.com
Fintech · GCC

§ 04 — Thoughts initiated

Ideas I put into the world

Fine art belongs on-chain

Real-world-asset tokenisation lets a masterpiece be owned by thousands, not one. Initiated with Artfi and codified in ART-20.

II.

Authenticity is non-negotiable

A market built on trust needs people willing to question provenance publicly, even at the world's biggest auction houses.

III.

Art and Bitcoin are two scarcities

One physical, one digital. Held together, they form a new kind of reserve, which is the thinking behind ArtBit.

IV.

Cultural icons open the door

Bringing Salman Khan's paintings on-chain showed that celebrity art can bring retail audiences into art ownership.

DeFi is community finance, rebuilt

Savings circles, credit and markets that run on code and community trust rather than gatekeepers.

VI.

Entrepreneurship can be taught

The next founders are sitting in government classrooms today. Giving them the mindset early changes what they believe is possible.

§ 05 — Awards & recognition

Honours

2024

35 Under 35, Class of 2024

Entrepreneur India · profiled as "The Democratic Art Connoisseur"

2023

Web3 Fine Art Startup of the Year

Entrepreneur · W3 Summit, Hilton Bengaluru · awarded to Artfi

Asif Kamal receiving the Gulf News Editor's Choice Award in Dubai

2022

Editor's Choice — Best Fine Art NFT

Gulf News · Web3 DeCode, Dubai · awarded to Artfi

2019

Art Connoisseur of the Year

Global Leaders Awards 2019 · Enterprise Edition

In the classroom · 2019

Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum, Delhi

Selected under the Delhi government initiative to teach entrepreneurial thinking to children from underprivileged backgrounds in Delhi government schools.

Asif Kamal taking a selfie with a cheering class of students

Asif Kamal with students and teachers in a Delhi government school

§ 06 — Timeline

Fifteen years, three acts

Act I · 2011–2015

The gallery years

2011Opens Alturaash Art as a gallery promoting art from India, while studying for an MBA in Marketing & Operations.
2014Moves to Dubai. The Alturaash Art Fund and art-backed lending make The Times of India and Business Standard.
2015Cover of Art & Deal (March). Publicly questions the authenticity of lots at a Christie's sale.

Act II · 2016–2020

Dubai & the market

2016Featured in India Legal's investigation into fakes in the Indian art market.
2019Cover of Indian Creative Minds (Jul–Aug) · Art Connoisseur of the Year · Asif Kamal Foundation established · teaches under Delhi's Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum.
2020New gallery launch in Delhi · exhibition with sculptor Ram V. Sutar · pandemic relief in rural India · art-sale fundraiser for Bihar flood victims.

Act III · 2021–now

On-chain

2021Alturaash auctions accept cryptocurrency · starts building the world's first tokenisation platform for fine art, Artfi.
2022Artfi raises $3.26M · Artfi exhibition in New Delhi · Gulf News Editor's Choice award · writes for The Times of India and The Economic Times.
2023Web3 Fine Art Startup of the Year, Bengaluru · Sacha Jafri onboarded · keynote at TOKEN2049 Singapore · talk at Bybit HQ, Dubai.
2024Entrepreneur 35 Under 35 · panellist at E-Summit, E-Cell IIT Bombay · Artfi presents Raihan R Vadra in Dubai · Salman Khan partners with Artfi; "Unity One" sells for $300k · Artfi valued at $100M.
2025Speaks at Sui Basecamp · launches Artipedia, a global video platform for cultural knowledge.
2026Building ArtBit, Modern Art Alliance and DeFi infrastructure · ART-20 (Asset Reference Token) standard on Sui.