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Mastercard takes on counterfeiters with blockchain tech

Mastercard is to use blockchain technology to track the provenance of limited edition fashion items as part of a showcase of collections from leading women designers and artists.

Conducted in collaboration with retailer Fred Segal Sunset and fashion platform Made, the first collection from the partnership features a demonstration of Mastercard’s blockchain-based Provenance solution, which offers visibility into product journeys.

Using the technology, customers at Fred Segal will be able to scan the labels of designer items with a QR code that will trace each step of the product journey and verify authenticity.

The Global Brand Counterfeiting Report 2018 estimates that the losses suffered due to global online counterfeiting has amounted to $323 billion in 2017, with luxury brands incurring a loss of $30.3 billion through internet sales.

Mastercard says it plans on using Provenance with other partners to provide a clear record of traceability and authenticity of high value designer products.

Related Companies

Mastercard

Channels

Retail banking Payments

Keywords

Blockchain Cards

Editorial | what does this mean?

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

Comments: (1)

Bill Trueman - Riskskill.com - London 08 August, 2019, 11:15

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THere is so little detail her to be able to understand what is going to happen, how this will protect the provenance, how checks will actually be made, how the policing with work and how/when the fashion items will be subsequently checks (or why).

One would imagine, that one should by the items from a legitimate store: and know that the provenance is good. Then this is the end of the story.

When one buys the goods in a market / side of the street, one knows that the provenance will NOT be good, and equally, the purchaser then has no way of checking the provenance.

Accordingly, everyone knows what they have.

If goods get seized in transit, the authorities doing the seizing will not have the knowledge or tools to validate the goods provenance there and then, and probably will no more care that there is a'blockchain' ledger: as they will simply do as they always have done.

The main questions here must be:

- Why is this being done apart from the publicity

- Why is Mastercard involved.

There simply is no detail here and nothing particularly informative or interesting with the absence of any detail.