Authentication and Registration
Chai Vault is the registry of authenticity and provenance for fine wine and spirits. Each certified bottle carries a discreet chip and a permanent, tamper-evident record that buyers can check before they purchase.
From Maureen Downey and Chai Consulting
The problem
Between producer and collector, a bottle may change hands many times: importers, distributors, brokers, auction houses, private cellars. Every trade is a chance for it to be stolen, altered or substituted, and for its history to be lost. Some of the counterfeits Chai Consulting finds came through the primary market and reputable vendors. Fakes are entering legitimate supply chains.
Sources: EUIPO, World Health Organization, Euromonitor International (report via TRACIT).
The supply chain
01
Producer
Consumer
The path from producer to consumer is opaque, with many chances for a bottle to be stolen, altered or replaced with a counterfeit.
Oversight of the supply chain protects each bottle’s integrity and authenticity.
02
Producer
Consumer
Bottles trade often, and sellers can conceal or misrepresent their provenance. The result is risky purchases and lost investment.
Provable provenance protects each bottle’s integrity, authenticity and value.
Producers can see, reach and engage directly with each bottle’s consumer.
The solution
Chai Vault is a layered, discreet Web3 solution: a permanent, tamper-evident digital record for each bottle, from producer to consumer.
Multi-layered anti-fraud security, today and for decades to come.
Registration and provenance tracking reinforce trust in producers and vendors.
Less liability and counterfeiting risk, through supply-chain oversight and informed buying and selling of certified bottles.
Bottle-level tracking with UHF RFID, integrated with the supply chain and carried into secondary markets.
Real-time detection of leakage, grey-market activity and “bottle flippers”.
Buyers check authenticity and provenance online before they buy.
Collectors and consumers receive bottles assured authentic, with provenance they can prove.
Certified bottles are more valuable.
Producers engage consumers directly, and collecting and consumption data support bespoke sales and events.
Layered Timeless Immutable Transferable Track & Trace Authenticity Provenance
Certification
At production, a proprietary chip goes into the capsule, under the wax or onto the cork: discreet security that leaves the producer’s design intact.
Importers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers with proof of direct provenance cap bottles with the Chai Vault caplet before first sale.
Any authentic, healthy bottle can be certified after inspection by a TCM® Authenticator. Collectors, auction houses, resellers and restaurants certify to increase value and selling price, or for insurance and risk mitigation.
How it works
Chai Vault is the technology arm of Chai Consulting, built on the work of Maureen Downey, DipWSET, CWE, a world-renowned expert on wine fraud and authentication.
At the bottling line
In the warehouse
The ledger
Every certified bottle has its own online Ledger of Authenticity & Provenance. The record cannot be altered, and it moves with the bottle.
The bottle itself, never a stock photo, imaged on the bottling line, by warehouse hardware or by a TCM® Authenticator.
Logos link to the producer, distributor, vendor or authenticator. An NFT can be layered onto the ledger.
Updated at the time of sale by a licensed vendor.
Every change of ownership. Owners choose whether their name and city are shown; the purchase date, vendor, and auction and lot are always visible. Prices are never recorded.
The individual responsible for creating the ledger, by name.
Certified bottles appear on retailer and aggregator sites with a link to their Chai Vault Ledger of Authenticity & Provenance, so buyers can check authenticity and provenance before they purchase.
Chai Vault certified · View ledgerChai Vault certified · View ledger$3M
Zachys Auctions sale of Chai Vault certified bottles, December 2019
Proven in the secondary market
The Zachys sale was Chai Vault’s proof of concept in the secondary market. Every bottle in every lot appeared in the online catalogue with its Ledger of Authenticity & Provenance, so bidders knew what they were buying before the hammer fell.
TCM® Certified Authenticators in San Francisco, Connecticut, Florida, Brazil, the UK, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.
A cellar, a catalogue or a bottling line: we’ll recommend the right way to certify.
