EY Japan to follow sake on blockchain

To fight more effectively against counterfeit, the Japanese arm of the international audit firm EY will launch a traceability system based on the blockchain for the sake.

The sake is a rice-based alcoholic drink much appreciated in Japan but also strongly affected by the counterfeit.

According to the daily NikkeiAsianReview, EY Japan will soon launch a solution to track the japanese sake on the blockchain to help brewers and producers differentiate their products from the many counterfeits circulating on this market.

Thanks to QR code present on sake bottles, consumers will be able to access different smartphones information such as ingredients, brewing location, and quality control data, including temperature readings.

Being able to tell the story of production and origin will help differentiate them from counterfeit products, "said Hideaki Kajiura, partner of EY.

The Japanese sake exports are on the rise today but according to Kajiura, abroad, many products are still not preserved and distributed optimally.

The best temperature to keep the sake in good condition would be 5 degrees. But when the sake is distributed in other countries, most carriers, restaurants and retailers do not know how to handle the product, "he said.

EY then plans to deploy the system " SAKE Blockchain "Across the wholeAsia and in particular in Singapore and Hong Kong. The financial audit firm specifies, however, to wait until the epidemic of coronavirus be mastered before considering a large-scale deployment.

Early March, EY and the Ethereum studio ConsenSys, in partnership with the multinational Microsoft, announced the creation of Baseline Protocol, a solution aimed at making the Ethereum public network “safe and efficient” for businesses.