What is blockchain
The blockchain is a large database placed on the network, accessible to a huge number of users. By the users’ consent, all data are entered into the database. Once recorded, no data can be changed or deleted. This system allows for the safe storage of money and vital documents, the tracing of deals and operations, and the completion of financial transactions single-handedly with no middlemen involved.
Transparent Safe, Eternal Book, Next-gen Recorder… These are simply different names for the same system. The blockchain is a safe way to store data for deals, contracts, transactions — for everything that you may need to record and review. The data is not stored in just one location, it is distributed in a network of hundreds of PCs. Each user of this network can see newly-entered data. However, only the data host can change or delete the data.
Did you ever do puzzles as a kid? One piece interlocks with the other and eventually you create a complete picture. We can draw an analogy between this game and the blockchain’s (or a chain of blocks) working pattern. The block consists of data that we want to save; each new block connects to the preceding one by using complex mathematical algorithms, which then allows us to further interlock the algorithms until the end of time. It is not possible to delete or change any block. And therefore, each user of the network can see all the data stored in the blockchain. As if you were piecing together a puzzle online before a multi-million audience.
How to protect your products against counterfeiting using Blockchain
Let us imagine the following situation: you walk into, say, a luxury watch shop, buy an item that caught your fancy, go home elated, only to open the prized box and, lo and behold, find that the timepiece for which you paid good money… is a knock-off!
Ring a bell? Who’s to blame and what can be done? You can feel your confidence in the watch manufacturer come crashing down. But is he really to blame when someone else rips him off? A debatable point, it would seem. Whatever the case may have been, however, it is clear that counterfeits cause immense loss of goodwill and damages to licensed manufacturers.
The use of EMC DPO and the Emercoin blockchain may solve this type of situation.
How it could work:
Imagine that you walk into the same luxury watch shop and select your timepiece. However, this time, before buying it you spot a captioned QR-code on the box that says something like ‘Scan me to make sure I am not a counterfeit’. You scan the QR-code that sends you to the producer’s website where you can directly read the data as to whether the product with this serial number exists or not, and whether it was purchased earlier by anyone else:
as well as a brief description of the product and its manufacturer:
You can also see whether a given product was already purchased earlier and activated (and in our hypothetical case, you can unmistakably infer that the product on sale in the shop was either in use or is counterfeited):
And so, let’s assume you make sure in the shop that the timepiece was not a knock-off and was not in use before. You buy it and go home. Now, while unpacking it, you spot another QR-code inside the box, hidden behind the opaque protective film, captioned with something like ‘Scan me to activate the product’. You unwrap the film, scan the QR-code, and press ‘Activate the product’:
you then enter your name (optional) and feedback on the product as well as set a password (with which you will later be able to change your feedback on the product, but only once):
After about 10 minutes, the data on purchase of this product will go public, both on the manufacturer’s website and the Emercoin blockchain, where anyone interested will be able to browse it:
{ “name”: “dpo:Your Company:DEMO-1001:0”, “value”: “Item=Name of your product\nDescription=The description of your product\nPhoto=http://www.blockchainengine.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Smart4.png\nOTP=bb680a8bcae3e5be23f3c9ed4d3d0e97d42cebe561f53a5a7502e2d150a937fb\nOwner=Garrett\nSecret=3aff84a0afcd7201b112652b8692975bcfdeb0060de5efbdaeb16d806f62848d\nComment=Cool !\nUpdated=1”, “txid”: “ee1ed730e16c41c7a42b3b87bf5bd5936b2e69a6448f510e08dd70d40bf57c1e”, “address”: “ERGPQNKpmJNaXeaq6ZDYwgghQDMBQGVema”, “expires_in”: 255036, “expires_at”: 471574, “time”: 1488110346 }
You may say: ‘What does the blockchain have to do with all this? The manufacturer of the product can easily organize the same thing centrally!’ And indeed, this is true. However, using such a de-centralized storage system such as the blockchain guarantees complete transparency of the manufacturer’s operations. As a result, no one will get away with churning out undeclared ‘off-the-books’ products — everything will be made public and transparent. If the manufacturer makes a point of being transparent and honest, they will inevitably choose the Emercoin -based EMC DPO system.
Other materials:
Emercoin - 2017 results