Nike Patents Blockchain-Based System For Tokenizing Shoes

Nike patents blockchain-based system that will tokenize shoes as a non-fungible token on the Ethereum blockchain dubbed CryptoKicks so in our blockchain news today, we find out more.

The footwear giant Nike patents the new solution and the patent is described as a digital asset for footwear and ways to use it. One such implementation of the technology that was described in the document as Ethereum ERC721 is used to authenticate and transact a physical shoe. The token will get unlocked with the purchase of a corresponding physical shoe that will be linked to a 10-digit shoe identification code with the owner identification code. The system hopes to provide a way to ensure that the authenticity of the goods is on a high level as described in the patent:

 “Prospective and current owners […] may buy and sell digital assets through one or more blockchain ledgers operating on the decentralized computing system. […] By way of example, and not limitation, a user may buy a new pair of highly sought after sneakers from a verified vendor who may provide authenticated provenance records for the sneakers. […] After receiving the shoe box containing the purchased sneakers, the user scans the box UPC with a barcode scan feature in a sneakers app operating on the user’s smartphone.”

What is also interesting is that Nike also suggests that token creation could be linked to shoe sales which will allow for the verification of the scarcity of the shoes in circulation. The patent reads further:

 “When a consumer buys a genuine pair of shoes a digital representation of a show may be generated, linked with the consumer, and assigned a cryptographic token, where the digital shoe and cryptographic token collectively represent a ‘CryptoKick.’”

Once the footwear is sold, the ownership of the digital token can be further passed along the physical product and the property of the tokens will be managed in a dedicated app looking to improve the brand engagement. The patent also borrows ideas from the popular blockchain collectible cats game Cryptokitties and it suggests that the shoes can be bred:

 “Using the digital asset, the buyer is enabled to securely trade or sell the tangible pair of shoes, trade or sell the digital shoe, store the digital shoe in a cryptocurrency wallet or other digital blockchain locker, intermingle or “breed” the digital shoe with another digital shoe to create “shoe offspring,” and, based on rules of acceptable shoe manufacturability, have the newly bred shoe offspring custom made as a new, tangible pair of shoes.”