Leveraging MOM to Validate Product Authenticity
Wearing a Cartier watch, carrying a Chanel bag, or driving a Rolls Royce is a sign of status, opulence, and a clear indication that one loves the finer things in life.
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with any of it, assuming that the luxury item in question is genuine and was acquired by legal means. Hence the crux of the issue. Luxury products cost a lot of money, money that not everyone can afford to spend. But everyone would like to own some of these stuff, which presents a golden opportunity to the criminal community to target these would-be owners of luxury brands with counterfeit products.
As of 2016 for example, trade of counterfeit, pirate, and otherwise fake products accounted for €460 Billion or about 3.3% of the world trade. That is a huge number, and the trend is only set to continue.
Using counterfeit products is not just a question of loss of prestige or money. It can be quite deadly too. There are numerous reports of cheap electric products causing fires, for example, and internet-sold medicines causing negative side effects, including death.
Stamping out counterfeit items in healthcare, electronics, high fashion, and luxury goods industries is therefore, a priority.
Blockchain Speaks the Truth, and Nothing but the Truth
A luxury item’s best asset is exclusivity. Luxury brands want their products to make customers feel unique and proud. And customers must know with absolute certainty that whatever product they have chosen is genuine.
Blockchain has recently emerged as the leading technology to ascertain a product’s history, from the point of manufacture to the date of sale, service history, ownership history and the places the product has been through.
Creators of luxury goods are increasingly turning to blockchain to ensure that their products are recorded transparently and immutably, so the person who buys it at a store or online can do so with an absolute peace of mind, knowing that the product’s full history is visible.
Blockchain, in short, is a teller of truth.
How does Blockchain Authenticate Products?
Two simple words: Transparency and immutability.
From rather niche beginnings in the cryptocurrency world, blockchain has evolved to become a pivotal asset for many industries, precisely because of its transparency and immutability traits.
All data (block) added to the chain is verified by and visible to the entire network, so there is no question about its validity. This is a key consideration for most industries, more so for luxury brands that fight tooth and nail against individuals or organisations counterfeiting their products.
Peace of Mind through Digital Identity
Purchasing a luxury item requires a significant monetary investment. So as a buyer, you want to be sure that what you are acquiring is legitimate, especially if it is second hand.
So far, there has been no real way of telling if a luxury second-hand item is real or fake. Forgeries can be very sophisticated, after all. The motto, “buyers beware” certainly applies in this situation.
But now, blockchain does offer the perfect solution to verify the legitimacy and authenticity of any product, including luxury items.
The MOM marketplace DApp (“MOM”) enables the creation of a blockchain identity that is associated with the item at the point of manufacture. This cryptographic token of authenticity is recorded on the blockchain, and follows the item through its lifecycle, from intial sale, and as it changes ownership. It can be viewed and verified by a buyer anytime, thus removing the uncertainty that hitherto surrounded the purchase of a second-hand luxury product.
Think of this token as a ‘passport’ that accompanies the product throughout its life.
MOM as the Platform of Legitimacy par Excellence
MOM is the world’s marketplace, decentralised on the Ethereum blockchain.
MOM enables you to buy and sell phones, computers, servers, routers, TVs, video games, cars, and very soon luxury products, on a peer-to-peer basis, affordably. The platform is powered solely by smart contracts and one global medium-of-exchange token, the Multicoin (MTCN).
MOM offers a unique, ready-made, live blockchain-powered solution that operates on the principles of fairness, transparency and legitimacy, using blockchain’s inherent traits.
As a seller, whether you’re an individual, a large organisation, or a manufacturer of luxury goods, all you need to do to sell your products is to open your own personalised store on the MOM — which should take no more than 3 minutes. And as a buyer, you enjoy the peace of mind that products you buy on MOM have digital identities and history footprints that can be checked and verified easily.
Hence, there is no possibility of purchasing a counterfeit item as it often happens on technologically inferior Internet-layer marketplaces like Amazon, Alibaba etc.
About MOM
MOM is the world’s most advanced open marketplace on the blockchain. It is live on the Ethereum mainnet and is accessible at www.mom.market
— Fernando Sanchez, Writer Extraordinaire
