Crypto is digital. When will physical assets be brought on chain?

[rjefferson]

It’s been an interesting 2 years for NFTs. With the wave of art (and now physical art), I’m wondering what the next use case is for crypto. I see the future of crypto as one that is interchangeable—where physical goods can be brought on chain. Think: being able to digitally verify/authenticate that you own your Rolex. And even broader, people that seek luxury goods are able to authenticate the goods that they product.

This is essentially a whole ecosystem. There are some companies working on this but they all seem to be very centralized. The only company I’ve come across that aims to be decentralized is 4K. Has anyone heard of any other ones aside from big web2 companies like StockX and Louis Vuitton?

Reference: https://mirror.xyz/4kprotocol.eth/Ud8fP2pzv6-bb3dubcjjTBkko3qp4DsqKv5vVn5yOL8

[jhanson]

I think physical assets will be brought on chain more rapidly in the next 2 years. Watch companies like Breitling are already authenticating with blockchain. I imagine it’s hard for them to do it at scale though

[Disruptivas]

We already have physical assets on-chain. I think the most common cases are for ''natural'' assets, such as gold, forests, carbon and garbage. There are several projects that back gold, NFTs backed by forest areas for protection and projects that are well known in the sector when it comes to tokenized carbon credits. Not to mention the real state tokenization, done for example by SolidBlock.

They're not in the top 50-100 yet, but maybe soon. These are super cool use cases for crypto/blockchain.

[Yaunfitda]

Just to reiterate though, StockX has been sued by Nike regarding their NFT project, so I will stay away from them.

This is the official document: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/movanoemmpa/IP%20NIKE%20STOCKX%20amendclean.pdf

So I guess there are loopholes that needed to be patch before we can finally see big web2 companies. The whole luxury good authentication + NFT might take years before we can finally buy goods thru physical on-chains with no problems (items are real and genuine).

[Binary20191oz]

have some physical silver with bitcoin for sale.

2019 Binary bull Soll Noctis silver coin 999 AG wits 0.01 BTC value

message me

[Andrik Viate]

I think Security Token Can Pivotal Role Here, As In Security Token You Can Tokenize Physical Asset. Security Token with abides government regulation so its easy for investor to trust. It helps company to easy liquidize their asset like real asset. It also helps you to raise fund.

Apart from that any individual can raise fund and liquidate their asset by tokenizing physical asset e.g ART, Music etc...

[noorman0]

The physical assets brought on chain only represent their value, in order to obtain tangible benefits along with their functions at will you must have real physical possessions.

-snip-
This is essentially a whole ecosystem. There are some companies working on this but they all seem to be very centralized.

If the physical asset is here as a backup, then it is guaranteed that it is centralized regardless of what blockchain technology is used. Because basically the developer has access to the backup assets.

[hugeblack]

What do you mean by physical assets? Do you mean to represent the traditional assets in a physical form? If this is the case then many assets have digital encoding and you can create this as the example of gold.
But if you mean scanning physical objects and selling them digitally, it is possible, but we take advantage of the value of physical objects.

In general, the concept of NFT tokens in itself is controversial and will open a lot of these discussions if it succeeds.

[uneng]

Startups are already working with blockchain to provide solutions against counterfeiting:

Startups provide their own solutions to the problem

Arianee, rated by Early Metrics in 2019, has made a name for itself in this space. The startup develops a blockchain platform for luxury brands to authenticate their products digitally. Each luxury item gets its own digital certificate with encrypted records that capture all of the product’s details. These include the acquisition dates, insurance, materials and more. Product owners can register their items on the startup’s app, which are then. reviewed by the startup or a third party for validation

The startup’s advisors include executives from Richemont International and Balenciaga. It also bolstered its position on the market by landing several reputable clients. Arianee recently announced that Vacheron Constantin will be delivering all its watches with the startup’s blockchain-based certificates by 2021. Other clients include BREITLING, Audemars Piguet, Roger Dubuis and Mugler.

Shanghai-based VeChain also develops a blockchain platform aimed among other things at fighting counterfeiting. The startup placed in the top 1% of Early Metrics’ rated startups and has secured clients such as LVMH and Givenchy. Chainvine is another example of an up-and-coming rated startup providing bespoke blockchain services. One of its main services is the integration counterfeit prevention in the supply chain of wine producers and other food and beverage players.

Luxury brands using blockchain to fight counterfeiting

This is just  the first step. Once brands themselves adopt blockchain to certificate the origin of their goods to customers we will have the assurance the world is moving ahead in blockchain adoption. It's easy to fake a paper, a seal or package, but you it's not possible to fake blockchain data which can be accessed by anyone in real time. A very smart usage for blockchain, indeed.