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Ask HN: Please Review this Startup Idea

2 points by hammadn 4y ago

NFC tag linked with NFT of the product & tagged along with it in order to ensure the authenticity of the product thus making the brand even more unique & reliable. Please let me know if you think brands would see any value in this.

PaulHoule 4y ago
I think many brands find that one mention of "NFT" causes customers to run. The smarter ones observe it happening to other brands and they don't learn it the hard way. https://www.eurogamer.net/sega-stalls-nft-plans-following-negative-reactions-from-players https://www.eurogamer.net/sega-stalls-nft-plans-following-ne...
verdverm 4y ago
There is value in supply chain transparency and bringing trust, however we don't need to create 3rd party markets for creating or trading these identifiers. So it depends on what the NFTs are for in this situation. Are you planning to use a public, permissionless ledger like Ethereum, or a private, permissioned ledger like Hyperledger Fabric? (The first is bad, the latter maybe ok) While the consumer may find value in this, will the company prefer to put this transparency off as long as possible because of their dirty laundry they are hiding?
samsamlh 4y ago
https://te-food.com/ https://te-food.com/ This is blockchain usage for food traceability - used by big companies in Europe (Auchan). Take a look this might give you inspiration, I think the idea can go beyond food
- m33k44 4y ago
  A noob question, but why Blockchain is required for this? Why can't this be done with normal databases?
  - samsamlh 4y ago
    Blockchain has public write rules and most of the time data is written once and is trustworthy due to decentralized nodes, you can also find who wrote and when. This is like a database but much more transparent by nature. When it comes to find where your food has grown, and how it came to your shop, this is useful
Someone 4y ago
I don’t understand how a NFC tag linked with a NFT of the product ensures authenticity of the product. Let’s say it’s for a designer bag. If that bag wears down, and I move the tag to a bag that looks the same but wasn’t sold by the manufacturer, how do the tag or the NFT help discover that the bag isn’t authentic?
notahacker 4y ago
If the brand wants to market itself to crypto-bros, it'd be a good publicity stunt But otherwise I don't see this offering anything that an NFC tag linked to a regular database maintained by the brand doesn't. "Authentically made by this entity" doesn't sound like a use case for trustlessness...
altdataseller 4y ago
How would a normal Joe/soccer mom even know how to verify it via the NFT? This sounds like a horrible idea, to be honest.
dangarbri3 4y ago
NFTs are digital, not physical. So you need to make sure you can associate the NFT with the product. An NFC tag isn't enough, because like others mentioned, you can move the tag to a different bag so it doesn't actually prove authenticity. But NFTs are more collectibles, so arguably you could sell the bag WITH an NFT as a bonus (not as proof of authenticity) and I think people into NFTs would like it. Or make sure the NFT metadata has something to associate it to the physical product so you can prove that it hasn't been tampered with.

2 points by hammadn 4y ago

PaulHoule 4y ago

I think many brands find that one mention of "NFT" causes customers to run. The smarter ones observe it happening to other brands and they don't learn it the hard way. https://www.eurogamer.net/sega-stalls-nft-plans-following-negative-reactions-from-players https://www.eurogamer.net/sega-stalls-nft-plans-following-ne...

verdverm 4y ago

There is value in supply chain transparency and bringing trust, however we don't need to create 3rd party markets for creating or trading these identifiers. So it depends on what the NFTs are for in this situation. Are you planning to use a public, permissionless ledger like Ethereum, or a private, permissioned ledger like Hyperledger Fabric? (The first is bad, the latter maybe ok) While the consumer may find value in this, will the company prefer to put this transparency off as long as possible because of their dirty laundry they are hiding?

samsamlh 4y ago

https://te-food.com/ https://te-food.com/ This is blockchain usage for food traceability - used by big companies in Europe (Auchan). Take a look this might give you inspiration, I think the idea can go beyond food

m33k44 4y ago
A noob question, but why Blockchain is required for this? Why can't this be done with normal databases?
- samsamlh 4y ago
  Blockchain has public write rules and most of the time data is written once and is trustworthy due to decentralized nodes, you can also find who wrote and when. This is like a database but much more transparent by nature. When it comes to find where your food has grown, and how it came to your shop, this is useful

Someone 4y ago

I don’t understand how a NFC tag linked with a NFT of the product ensures authenticity of the product. Let’s say it’s for a designer bag. If that bag wears down, and I move the tag to a bag that looks the same but wasn’t sold by the manufacturer, how do the tag or the NFT help discover that the bag isn’t authentic?

notahacker 4y ago

If the brand wants to market itself to crypto-bros, it'd be a good publicity stunt But otherwise I don't see this offering anything that an NFC tag linked to a regular database maintained by the brand doesn't. "Authentically made by this entity" doesn't sound like a use case for trustlessness...

altdataseller 4y ago

How would a normal Joe/soccer mom even know how to verify it via the NFT? This sounds like a horrible idea, to be honest.

dangarbri3 4y ago

NFTs are digital, not physical. So you need to make sure you can associate the NFT with the product. An NFC tag isn't enough, because like others mentioned, you can move the tag to a different bag so it doesn't actually prove authenticity. But NFTs are more collectibles, so arguably you could sell the bag WITH an NFT as a bonus (not as proof of authenticity) and I think people into NFTs would like it. Or make sure the NFT metadata has something to associate it to the physical product so you can prove that it hasn't been tampered with.