TE-FOOD launches BlockSeal, a new product for certificate issuers to create secure, authentic, and easy-to-share certificates on blockchain.

Paper based certifications are vulnerable

As we have been working with supply chains, we learned that they face several hurdles regarding certificates. Both the unified management, and the authenticity of the certificates are constant problems for food producers and retailers. We solved the unified certificate management within TE-FOOD, but when we analysed the authenticity problem, we learned that it affects a lot of different industries as well.

In the supply chain, the suppliers provide certifications about their company (ISO, GlobalG.A.P, etc.), their products (Organic, Halal, Kosher, etc.), or their batches (test lab results). As consumer behaviors force food producers and retailers to chase cheaper product options, they often source their products from companies (often intermediaries) they don’t know if they get better deals. In these cases, they often face problems with fake certifications.

The same authenticity problem exists in the area of university degrees, accreditations, profession-wide certifications as well.

There are several certificate mills around the world, which create fake documents to anyone for a fee. One of the most well-known examples is the Pakistan based scandal, where a company sold $140 million value of fake university degrees.

New technologies have a significant role to solve certificate counterfeiting, and modernizing the issuance of certifications.

Just like any paper based document, certificates are vulnerable to counterfeiting, damage and loss. Beside this, they are difficult to share in a digital world.

The BlockSeal solution

Blockchain is an excellent technology for use cases, where the trust problem exists. When a supplier provides an ISO certification, or someone posts a degree when applying to a job, you can’t be sure if the certificate is genuine or fake.

Certificates stored on blockchain are immutable, and can prove authenticity of a paper based document, while they are easy to share online.

This is what BlockSeal provides for issuers: authentic, easy to share certificates.