Eliminating fraud and ensuring the authenticity of fine wine throughout the supply chain

Eliminating fraud and ensuring the authenticity of fine wine throughout the supply chain

Article about Wine authenticity first appeared on Symbol platform

Even the most traditional businesses, such as vineyards and distilleries, can use Symbol blockchain to modernize their operations. 

Symbol from NEM has been developed as an Enterprise-friendly blockchain that is designed to work in critical load situations – i.e. networks that require very high speeds and a large number of transactions per second, such as product traceability applications and production or supply chains.

The make up of Symbol also includes PoS+ consensus mechanism, Harvesting, and Aggregate Transactions, which allow for the processing of a variety of transactions involving multiple signers, facilitating trustless, multi-party asset exchanges and deals.

For Enterprises operating in areas where the consistent verification of information and data is key to success – such as wine – can now confidently produce, optimise and distribute their product around the world without fear of interference.

Exploring Symbol at work – authenticity from grape to glass

Logistics and fine wine has been open to exploitation for some time. There are multiple examples of wine tampering, theft, counterfeiting and passing that all undermine confidence in both the supply and demand of fine wine as an asset class around the world, costing producers millions of dollars in lost revenue.

A recent Forbes article described wine fraud as an ‘epidemic’, with claims that over 50% of all wine exceeding $35 per bottle sold in China as being counterfeit. An estimated 30,000 fake bottles of wine are sold each hour in China alone.

Symbol helps wine growers and producers keep track of what’s happening with their raw materials and products at every stage of production and distribution, by using blockchain to track and verify the product as it leaves the vineyard, with all key information publicly available to reinforce the wine’s authenticity.

This can include general itinerary or product information, and each bottle, box, crate or  pallet of wine can be tracked via an inscribed serial number linked to the  grape, year or vineyard, whose details are recorded on the blockchain. This helps to ensure that the wine leaving dispatch grounds is authentic and hasn’t been tampered with at any stage of the transportation process.

Due to the number of parties involved, and the importance of keeping key data confidential, a hybrid blockchain solution allows supply chain partners to share sensitive data via a private network.  Symbol incorporates easy to implement disposable smart contracts, using “if / then” parameters to ensure that processes remain reliant on the verification and completion of key steps and requirements for all parties – buyers, distributors and sellers.

Distributing wine involves transporting large quantities across countries and continents, it is common for shipments to be tampered with before arriving at their final destination. Growers can set up disposable smart contracts that rely on the verification and confirmation of the authenticity and quality of the wine being transported before payments are sent out to the transport partner.

This places a further onus on all partners involved in the supply chain to maintain the highest standards, and Symbol allows the verification process to involve scanning a truck or pallet number, or each bottle of wine in a large shipment if necessary, to ensure that everything is in order. This process also seriously hinders the possibility for cheap “knock-offs” or counterfeit versions of wine to enter into wider distribution as each stakeholder has been armed with the ability to independently verify the authenticity of each product they interact with themselves.

Symbol enables the swift processing of a vast number of micro transactions while the aggregate transaction functionality allows for the batching of group transactions containing multiple parties. This allows the producer or grower to engage in comprehensive blockchain backed financial agreements, and make use of staggered payments using multi-signature accounts, while being supported by a state of the art blockchain that can provide verification results in real time.

Integrating all participants into the extended Symbol ecosystem  

The verification process can be extended to retailers and consumers, allowing for the highest levels of transparency across the whole supply chain.

This approach can also benefit the end user at point of sale, where community developed DApps can help extend the authenticity and verification of the wine for the consumer.

A simple, yet efficient KYC DApp developed by a third-party developer would provide further verification to members of the public that purchase the wine and give ultimate confidence and trust in the end product – closing the loop from grape to glass.

Symbol ensures security and sustainability in supply chain

The supply chain industry already contains a number of forward thinking companies and organizations that are in the process of incorporating blockchain technology. Projects in agriculture, manufacturing, pharmaceutical development, and food production are all making use of the blockchain to modernize their daily operations and improve their ability to verify and maintain product authenticity.

Symbol from NEM builds upon the technological and innovation already pioneered by the NEM ecosystem.  This allows Symbol to act as a solid base for developing sustainable blockchain supported businesses. Symbol possesses a combination of functionality, security, and ease of use that creates a World of possibilities for enterprise. Symbol helps to solve real business issues,  reducing cost and complexity and helping to overcome operational challenges to how they do business.

 

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