RECIKA and Japan Import System (JIS) have announced UniCask, a blockchain-based service for managing barrels of spirits.

On January 7, RECIKA and Japan Import System announced UniCask, a service that uses blockchain technology to make it easy to buy, sell, hold, and manage barrels of spirits with a single smartphone.

UniCask is scheduled to be released in the spring of 2021. From the time of release, UniCask will handle whiskey barrels made by Japanese distilleries.As UniCask expands its service, it will partner with distilleries throughout Japan.

The spirits market is expected to exceed 10 trillion yen in annual global whiskey sales by 2023. The spirits market is a growing market, but buying, selling, and holding spirits in barrels (a condition that increases their value as they age) is currently only done by small communities of people who know each other or in limited areas, making it very difficult and practically impossible for ordinary collectors and drinkers to buy and sell spirits in barrels.

In addition, the existing analog method of document management is complicated to manage the storage in the distillery and to verify the ownership of the barrels. As a result, it is difficult to keep track of who owns the barrels of distilled spirits produced and the history of sales and purchases, and almost no foreign collectors or drinkers purchase barrels from Japanese distilleries.

RECIKA and Japan Import System have developed UniCask to solve these problems. UniCask makes it easier to certify and register the transfer of ownership of barrels, which has been a cumbersome process, and to manage transaction history online.

RECIKA and Japan Import System have jointly established UniCask Corporation to operate UniCask.

(images:iStock/Igor-Korchak・Lazy_Bear)