BlockBar: Creating A Marketplace For Drinks Brand NFTs
May 4, 2022In the not-so-distant past, luxury spirits investors made their purchases through auction houses, in travel retail shops, or at select high-end retailers. While those avenues remain highly relevant, new platforms are seeking a slice of the luxury spirits pie. BlockBar is one such company, offering a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace for luxury wine and spirits producers that has upended traditional models.
Launched last year, BlockBar offers asset-backed NFTs directly from brand owners. Each NFT corresponds to a physical bottle, and customers have the ability to exchange the digital version for the physical version. In simple terms, the buyer owns the physical bottle, BlockBar stores it for them, and the digital version serves as proof of authenticity, verification of ownership, and the right to have the physical bottles delivered.
Thus far, the platform has attracted rare, luxury bottles from Glenfiddich, Patrón, The Dalmore, Royal Salute, and other spirits brands, as well as Penfolds wines. BlockBar has sold only spirits and wine since its inception.
BlockBar was founded by Dov and Sam Falic of The Falic Group, the owners of Duty-Free Americas and founders of Paneco, the largest e-commerce liquor platform in both Israel and Singapore. “Our family has been in the spirits industry for many years, so we came into this new business with a huge amount of industry knowledge, and great relationships with brands we’ve worked with over the years,” says Sam Falic, co-founder and president of BlockBar.
Falic says the concept’s inspiration came from witnessing challenges faced by investors. “Luxury wine and spirit sales have been booming for some time now, but we noticed several issues faced by consumers and brands when it came to purchasing and selling, particularly concerning storage and authenticity,” he says. “We were aware of NFTs and then in doing some more research, we realized how efficient NFTs are at proving authenticity and verifying ownership, both of which are issues consumers and brands typically face in the wine and spirits industry.”
BlockBar authenticates each bottle and a purchase on the Ethereum blockchain allows consumers to track ownership back to the distillery or production facility. The physical bottles are insured and stored by BlockBar in a secure facility, but purchasers can trade the NFTs attached to those bottles at any time on the BlockBar marketplace. Customers can also “burn their NFT,” meaning the bottle will be removed from storage and shipped directly to the owner for consumption.
Falic says that BlockBar is “introducing the younger demographic to luxury spirits and the older demographic to NFTs.” More specifically, he says BlockBar targets four consumer groups. First is the collector who doesn’t have a place to store their high-end wine and spirits collection. Second, a person looking to diversify their investment portfolio. Third, the “crypto skeptic,” or person who wants to explore investing in crypto but feels safer having a physical asset backing their purchase, and fourth, the “crypto expert” who has made money through crypto and is looking for interesting ways to spend it. Market Watch has the full story.—Carol Ward
Subscribe to Shanken News Daily’s Email Newsletter, delivered to your inbox each morning.Tagged : BlockBar, Glenfiddich, Patrón, Penfolds, Royal Salute, The Dalmore
