E-cigarette and vaping goods maker PuffBar will use the Vechain blockchain to combat counterfeit products and will also start accepting BCH and ETH for payments.
PuffBar is controlled by Cool Clouds Distribution, founded in 2019 and registered in Los Angeles. Cool Clouds stopped marketing its products in the United States after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the sale of flavored e-cigarettes.
The reason was that these products became popular among children and adolescents. The PuffBar management reported that in July 2020, the company removed the vaping from the sale, and now fakes have flooded almost the entire market. Despite warnings to stop people following links to sites that sell fake products, scammers are hard to stop.
The firm came to the conclusion that blockchain would be the only way out to “save the situation”. The manufacturer will use Vechain technology so that shoppers can verify the authenticity of the vapes when they return to store shelves. PuffBar will also partner with French firm Cypheme to combat counterfeiting. Cypheme will make custom ink labels to stick to the product.
All product information will be stored on the blockchain. When purchasing a product, the customer can take a photo of the sticker using a mobile phone. Vechain technology will allow you to catch any microdefects on the sticker that are invisible to the naked eye within 5 seconds. This is how the authenticity of the products will be verified. PuffBar said it will begin rolling out this initiative in the US in the next few weeks.
“Using the blockchain will save us money – we are losing profits because people buy fakes. Blockchain will also help prove our innocence in the event of lawsuits from affected users. ”
Blockchain is increasingly being used to validate the quality and authenticity of goods. For example, last year, US retailer Walmart began using IBM technology to track the supply chain of Indian shrimp, and retail giant Carrefour began using blockchain to track milk.