Brands are fighting back.
As AI makes it easier to fabricate convincing digital and physical replicas, technologies that enable independent verification are becoming more important.
Luxury brands were early adopters, introducing digital product identities secured by blockchain technology. For customers, this means trust is no longer based solely on brand reputation. Brand authenticity becomes something that can be digitally verified.
In 2021, several luxury groups, including LVMH, Prada Group and Richemont launched the Aura Blockchain Consortium to give luxury products a permanent digital identity.
Rather than each brand building its own system, the consortium created a shared blockchain infrastructure for the industry. The platform allows products such as handbags, watches and jewellery to carry a secure digital certificate linked to the item.
Using a mobile phone, customers can scan a product tag or QR code and view a secure record confirming the product’s provenance.
How customers will use it
The behaviour is simple. Customers scan to verify.
Scan before buying a resale handbag. Scan a sneaker before purchasing from a marketplace seller. Scan food in a supermarket to see where it came from.
Blockchain sits quietly behind these interactions, recording the product lifecycle from first purchase through to resale and transfer of ownership.
This changes the experience of ownership. Products begin to carry their own history. Customers can confirm authenticity, provenance and ownership in seconds.
Three customer benefits are emerging:
- Verification before purchase
- Trusted resale between individuals
- Ongoing lifecycle engagement with the product
As resale economies expand across fashion, electronics, vehicles and collectibles, blockchain may become the infrastructure that enables trusted ownership transfer between strangers.
Benefits for brands
For brands, blockchain helps solve three persistent problems: counterfeiting, loss of control in resale markets and lack of product traceability.
By giving each product a secure digital identity, brands can verify authenticity, protect intellectual property and maintain the integrity of their products across both primary and secondary markets.
This reduces fraud, strengthens brand credibility and enables new services such as verified resale, warranties and product authentication.
The scale of the issue is significant. According to the OECD, counterfeit goods represent more than US$460 billion in global trade.
Blockchain provides a tamper-proof digital certificate attached to each product, making it far harder for fake goods to circulate undetected.
Where digital product identities are emerging
The idea is expanding beyond luxury.
In automotive, blockchain could create a digital vehicle passport, allowing customers to verify service history, ownership transfers and mileage when buying used cars.
In fashion and sneakers, brands such as Nike and Adidas have experimented with blockchain authentication for limited-edition products in resale markets.
In electronics, digital ownership certificates could simplify warranties, prevent resale of stolen devices and increase trust in refurbished products.
A new layer of customer trust
For brand leaders, the implication is clear. Trust will increasingly be built on verifiable transparency.
Products will carry their own history. Customers will be able to confirm authenticity, provenance and ownership in seconds.
In a world where almost anything can be fabricated, the next layer of customer trust may not come from what brands say. It will come from what customers can verify.