There was never a good knife made of bad steel.
~Ben Franklin
Being a Bladesmith is tough, yet extremely rewarding. There is nothing in my opinion quite like taking a regular piece of steel, some wood, and a bit of leather, and making something that is beautiful yet tough and functional. A blade is to be made use of, enjoyed, and possibly passed down for generations, with that blade inevitably attached is your name, your reputation, and your legacy. Learn how you can protect yourself and the importance of combating counterfeit blades with blockchain technology.
Name and reputation are extremely important to most Bladesmiths, word of mouth about the blades they produce often accounts for the majority of sales and of course the all important building of reputation. Bladesmiths who are at a high level and renowned for exceptional blades are susceptible to counterfeiters, as are smaller less well known Bladesmiths. The damage a few counterfeit blades can do to a smiths reputation can be devastating. These counterfeit blades most definitely will be of a lower quality, under-perform, and quite possibly fail.
The damage is double, not only does the Bladesmith who is an unknowing victim suffer, but the buyer suffers as well. Now you may be thinking “Well it’s just some money right?”. Yes and possibly no. Many people rely heavily on their blades and a good blade has saved many a persons life in all different types of scenarios, so it may well cost somebody more that some money.
Combating Counterfeit Blades With Blockchain Technology
Raptoreum can help with this, in fact this is an exceptional use case for it. Raptoreum features an asset platform that quickly and easily allows anybody to tokenize an item which can be used to verify an item belongs to somebody and where it came from. Here is a quick example using one of my favorite Bladesmiths, J. Neilson who is an ABS mastersmith and quite well known for his high quality blades and of course being a judge on Forged In Fire.
Somebody looking for one of J’s daggers lands on his website here: https://www.mountainhollow.net/knife-dagger.php and decides to buy one of the bamboo daggers. The regular flow for this specific site is to contact J, get a price, and arrange payment, send payment, and knife ships on X date. Modified flow for tokenizing the knife and giving customer option to receive that token:
1.) J has already created token called MOUNTAIN_HOLLOW and now creates a sub-token unique to only this blade, something like MOUNTAIN_HOLLOW/BAMBOO321.
2.) On shipping J sends an additional email about this token, what it represents, and how to claim it.
— This step can be quite simple. Lets say J has already made a page on his site explaining what these tokens are, how they work, and why they are important. This email links to that page. All that is really required at this point is for the customer to install the either the Raptoreum mobile wallet or wallet for their PC, and generate a receiving address, send that address to J and he sends the token.
Video On How To Register A Blade On Raptoreums Blockchain
Benefits Of Registering Blades On The Blockchain As Assets (Tokens)
- Tokens are immutable. They cannot be tampered with, changed, or forged.
- Immune to accidental destruction. A paper / plastic bill or certificate can be lost or destroyed easily through something like a house fire, flood, or even an accidental run through the washing machine or dryer.
- Undeniable proof of ownership and authenticity.
- Every blade has a story that wants to be told. Easily attach files to its token such as video or pictures of its forging and finishing process. These files are attached forever and stored on IPFS which is a high availability distributed file store.
The Effect
Now this knife owner can undeniably prove that they own this blade which is from Js company Mountain Hollow through ownership of the token tied to that knife. If they sell the knife in the future or gift it they can send the token to the new owner so they can also verify they are an owner. This also can in large eliminate the chances of people selling counterfeit Mountain Hollow blades. Once general knowledge of the fact that Mountain Hollow uses this system spreads the tokens attached to each knife would quickly become a requirement for sales to happen of real Mountain Hollow knives.
Obstacles
Acceptance, and ease of use are two of the biggest obstacles to making something like this happen and go mainstream. Blockchain is gaining traction and exposure quickly but we are still not quite to the point of being common knowledge.
Acceptance: Much of the public still consider Blockchain a fad, not real money, or some type of scam. Only time and increased use of Blockchain can cure this, many of the household name corporations that people know are using Blockchain, investing it, and or developing it for their own use. So it is only a matter of time before mass adoption comes.
Ease of use: With Raptoreum token creation is extremely easy, but in order to create a token you need some Raptoreum coins. These can be obtained by mining or buying them on an exchange. Both things for the average business owner can be daunting and enough to stop them from using it. We are creating https://weusertm.com to help mitigate this and drive adoption. With WeUseRTM you can create a token with a few clicks and pay for it easily with a Credit Card, this eliminates one major hurdle. Also WeUseRTM is also a fully functional Vendor marketplace where anybody can signup and sell their products on the WeUseRTM website.
This comes with some excellent benefits and is free of charge with the exception of purchasing the traceability tokens:
1.) Leverage WeUseRTM traffic and sell your products, accepting multiple Cryptocurrencies as a payment. This eliminates fraud, charge-backs, and lost money due to fees.
2.) Easily attach traceability tokens to your products. When a customer purchases one of your products they create an account on WeUseRTM, the WeUseRTM platform will automatically send the token attached to your product to their account.
3.) A similar system could be put in place on any Vendors website, and we will release code in the future to make that process easier.
Closing
It would take just a few Bladesmiths to adopt this method of protecting their reputation, and customers for to pick it up, these would be great steps for not only the Blockchain space but small companies and Artisans in general to protect themselves and their brand. Are you a Bladesmith or other small business owner interested in using Raptoreum in this way? If so and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly at [email protected]. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.