Envision the likelihood of effectively following or purchasing apparels, from the material that was utilized to make it, to its purchase in a store or online. Simply consider what it would mean if buyers could just use their cell phones to check a tag on a shirt, jeans, shoes or any other piece of attire, and in seconds read the true story of where and how it was made. Authenticity and traceability could be outlined into the generation and conveyance of attire. Maintainability could be demonstrated. Customers could pick what to purchase with new certainty and trust.
That is the guarantee of blockchain, an idea that is now changing the basic fundamentals of businesses in inventory network and different segments. Blockchain first began just about ten years back, as the innovation supporting the advanced money of bitcoin. Recently Bitcoin has attracted a lot of exposure. Ventures have realised that blockchain could offer favourable circumstances that went long ways past a solitary digital currency.
What Is Blockchain?
It is “an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way”. A blockchain(originally ‘block chain’), is a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography. Each block typically contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. By design, a blockchain is resistant to modification of the data. For use as a distributed ledger, a blockchain is typically managed by a peer-to-peer network collectively adhering to a protocol for inter-node communication and validating new blocks. Once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without alteration of all subsequent blocks, which requires collusion of the network majority(which is improbable).
Blockchain was instrumented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 to serve as the public transaction ledger of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Invention of the blockchain for bitcoin made it the first digital currency to solve the double-spending problem without the need of a trusted authority or central server. Bitcoin by is transparent design and complete decentralization has inspired a lot of other applications.
Blockchain And Apparels
Blockchain and attire supply chains fit well together. Decentralized database and publicly available transaction records builds trust of customers about attire’s authenticity. Rather than storing the originality of the product information in its own framework, the records are kept on a focal, advanced stage, which is replicated for every member and every member has equal jurisdiction over this storage. Attire’s owners will be writing about the product’s genuineness on this distributed ledger and customers can verify it’s credibility in seconds.
The favourable circumstances for the clothing and design industry are not restricted to expanded effectiveness.
The authenticity of the apparel is not restricted to the apparel itself. Where the shirt was made? What were the materials used? How was the cutting and sewing done? How was it shipped and handled? All these question can be answered through data from the blockchain. Fake merchandise would be easily found as only the original owners have the right to mark their product as credible. Making blockchain data instantly accessible to shoppers gives the attire a chance to prove it’s truthfulness rather than a “Made by… “ name.
Introducing OWN
Exbitrade leveraging blockchain technology wants to solve above stated problems by providing an infrastructure for brands, organizations, institutes or individuals to track and tag their products. In return the users or customers have a higher recognition of trust in sellers and a sense of authenticity.
Own is a set of guidelines/framework to define ownership and authenticity of goods, products (electronic as well as non-electronic) or in essence any tangible item.
With Own you can:
- verify ownership of your rightfully owned products
- check if a new/refurbished item you are buying has not been flagged as stolen
- transfer ownership to the intended
- flag your mobile phone as stolen or missing
- brand verification
Own will work by storing all the information on publicly available blockchain of Ethereum in encrypted format. When buying a new item from store/online, you can verify its authenticity simply by tapping your mobile phone against the NFC Tag present on it. These NFC Tags will be pre-coded with unique identification number present on blockchain with its supplementary data. NFC Tags are passive (depends on power from the reading device) devices, thus are cheap. Organizations who are buying electronic items in bulk can easily verify their purchase, vastly reducing chances of counterfeit products.
All in all, with OWN, you can really “own thy world”.
*References — Wikepedia, CGSINC
