VeChain, the cryptocurrency tackling everything from counterfeit baby formula to utilizing automobile data, has been promising big things for some time now, and investors recently got a chance to see it in action. VeChain Ecosystem Ambassador Dimitrios Neocleous posted a video on Twitter of him using the VeChain app to scan a product bought from a shop in London, a development that delighted supporters of the project.
Real World Use
In a tweet posted Friday, Neocleous is seen purchasing a hat from Arket on London’s Regent Street, taking it home and scanning a tag on the hat with the VeChain app via NFC. The app recognizes the tag and displayed a wealth of information on the product, verifying that it is indeed an official Arket product, as well as its composition and manufacturing details, among other information.
Some were quick to discover that Arket is owned by the H&M group, a collection of enterprises that together bring in over $25 billion in revenue, which further excited VeChain’s following. Although, no official tie-in with Arket or H&M has since followed. Given that lack of real-world applications is one of the main criticisms of the hype surrounding blockchain and the associated projects, to see a blockchain-based project working in the real world represents a response to doubters.
Tip of the Iceberg
VeChain has long touted its partnerships with the likes of PwC, DNV GL, and BMW as evidence of its ambitious plans to dominate a number of areas of commerce with its technology. Blockchain is a great tool to help crack down on counterfeiting, and the sight of a customer being able to verify the validity of a product quickly and easily might have got other brands interested in the technology.
VeChain already has a working partnership with Givenchy, and VeChain head Sunny Lu is former CIO of Louis Vuitton in China, so the possibility of further developments within the luxury may not be far away. Chinese state TV announced in June that blockchain is “…ten times more valuable than the web”, and with VeChain known to be a favored project among the Chinese government, blockchain technology may finally have a use case it can shout about.
