What is Seal?
Today marks the launch of blockchain powered product authentication and services platform Seal. This Amsterdam startup enables anyone to check if a product is genuine or fake. Bart & Joris share:“We come from a family of creators. Our mother frequently saw her products get imitated, so we know firsthand how devastating the impact of counterfeiting is. Our family suffered from it.” Seal combines NFC chips, which are embedded into physical products, the Seal app, and the Seal Network to provide a fast, simple, and secure way to provide products authenticity and other services.
By facilitating a secure tokenized version of a physical product, Seal allows product-specific services to operate such as transferring ownership, theft prevention, product recalls, brand activation campaigns, product analytics and custom integration with third-party software, like the brands’ own app or e-commerce sites. In addition to solving the counterfeiting conundrum, Seal also lets brands deal with parallel trade and midnight
shifting once and for all.
Counterfeiting Fuels Organized Crime
Seal Network was founded by Bart and Joris Verschoor, two brothers who spent a lifetime developing products and technology. Bart shares: “Our family suffered from it, but the real impact is far more insidious. Counterfeiting fuels organized crime on a massive scale. It’s the single biggest source of funding for crime rings, terrorism, and cartels. Buying knockoffs are perceived an innocuous crime, but that Michael Kors wallet from your local street market or that fake iPhone charger from Alibaba might be funding the next attack like the London Subway or 9/11.”
Disrupting the Counterfeit Economy
Seal Network is designed for adoption by brands. Its business model allows brands to charge fees for services. For the first time in history, brands can earn money from items sold through the secondhand trade, while simultaneously protecting their markets from counterfeiters. Every time products change hands, the brand earns a fee, turning their products into revenue streams. This offsets the costs of equipping the products with
NFC-chips while providing a lucrative revenue stream where brand monetizes their authenticity. By using the power of the blockchain, authenticity can be checked and ownership can be transferred decades from now, even if the product itself is discontinued, as long as people contribute to the decentralized Seal network.
The Blockchain Revolution in the Palm of your Hands
Whether products are sold in stores or on the secondhand market, people can purchase goods with confidence again. Seal brings all the benefits of the blockchain revolution into the physical world. It puts the power of the blockchain into the hands of people. When asked what the vision for Seal is, Bart explained: “The ultimate ambition of Seal? To become the currency of authenticity, where products can be paid in full with Seal. Using
Seal to pay for products provides both buyer and seller a guaranteed exchange of goods that are simply impossible with FIAT currencies. The powerful properties of Seal and its functionality as a medium of exchange are a giant leap forward because it is optimized to securely settle the exchange of physical goods.”
The startup is a tribute to all the creators in the world, who work incredibly hard to make the products we all love so much. They’ve dedicated their lives to improve those all around the world. Now it’s time to return the favor. Seal aspires to ignite a renewed appreciation for the world’s most beloved and worthwhile brands. Out of love for creation.
About Seal:
Seal enables anyone to verify the authenticity of their favorite products. Seal wants to bring back confidence to consumers and allow for brands to interact with their most heavily vested customers in the most direct way the internet has ever seen. They are building a better world in which consumers appreciate the creative work of makers and stop feeding the counterfeit economy and its disastrous effects on the world.