Cardano is jumping into the retail game with the launch of a blockchain test pilot for footwear giant New Balance.
Developed by IOHK, the company behind the decentralized public blockchain Cardano, the pilot program is designed to track the authenticity of the brand’s newest basketball shoe.
Cardano, a leading blockchain, will allow customers and retailers to verify the provenance of each pair of New Balance OMN1S shoes. With each purchase, customers will receive a “Realchain” card with an embedded identity and security chip.
Using the New Balance app, customers can scan a Quick Response code on the card. They’ll then be prompted to scan the chip inside the card to authenticate the shoes on the Cardano blockchain.
The New Balance Realchain launches today along with the release of the OMN1S shoes. Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson tweeted the merch and its blockchain-based card to his 113,700 followers on Twitter.
Oh yeah! pic.twitter.com/alVUhPz9fq
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) October 18, 2019
According to the announcement,
“NB Realchain lets each customer log their purchase on the Cardano blockchain. Verification on the system means that all goods sold, even those coming from a third party, can be digitally proven to be authentic.
…
IOHK’s collaboration with New Balance is the first commercial deployment of its blockchain. A successful pilot for NB Realchain shows how the global retail industry can make use of distributed systems.”
The designers at New Balance say the footwear was three years in the making.
“The OMN1S was hyper-engineered and hand-crafted to be all things at all times for every player.”
The new shoes will be released globally starting October 23rd with a pop-up shop dropping in Los Angele on October 18-20.
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