Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Prada to Use Bespoke Blockchain to Tackle Counterfeit Goods

A trio of high-end luxury companies are coming together to tackle counterfeit goods through a blockchain-based seal of authenticity.

Louis Vuitton parent firm LVMH, Prada and Richemont-owned Cartier unveiled the Aura Blockchain Consortium on Tuesday.

The collective effort aims to give shoppers a level of assurance that the pricy products being purchased are authentic.

As reported by CoinDesk in March 2019, LVMH enlisted a full-time blockchain team under the Aura codename to develop a cryptographic provenance platform for the luxury market. The team worked closely with Ethereum design studio ConsenSys on a project that finally appears to be coming to fruition.

The firms told Bloomberg that although blockchain technology is being used to prove the authenticity of luxury products, the brands have no plans to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment.

"Among LVMH Maisons, Hublot, Bvlgari and Louis Vuitton are already active on the platform," LVMH said in a lavishly worded press release. "Hublot, for example, has launched a digital e-warranty, which is stored in the Aura infrastructure and allows customers to verify the authenticity of their watch via a simple photo taken with a mobile phone."

According to the latest statistics released by the consulting firm Bain & Company, the luxury market remains lucrative with online sales reaching $58.9 billion in 2020, up from $39.7 billion in 2019.

This is not the first time opulent products have been tracked using blockchain to tackle fraud. Everything from Breitling watches to Scottish whisky has been ported onto a digital ledger.