Swiss company Authena hopes to save companies billions in counterfeiting and product fakes with IoT sensor-based blockchain technology using the tap of a smartphone.

The provider of NFT ownership certificates and phygital authentication at the single SKU level announced M3TA at this week’s CES in Las Vegas.

QR codes, holograms and barcodes can be copied; product fakes and counterfeiting cost industries hundreds of billions in lost revenue and put human lives at risk by fostering exploitive forced labour that diminishes global ESG goals.

“In the past all objects were physical, but the explosion of cryptocurrency, avatars and digital art has brought with it an explosion of digital objects,” said Matteo Panzavolta, CEO of Authena. “In the future, all objects will have a physical soul and a digital identity, creating the new phygital universe. But these phygital objects are vulnerable to attacks, leaving consumers exposed to counterfeit physical products and unknowingly purchasing fake NFTs, rendering them useless. Authena solves this for the consumer with the tap of a smartphone.”

Using sensor-based, IoT blockchain technology, Authena Shield, Authena L1VE and the newly-announced M3TA puts the power of product authentication at the single SKU level in the consumer’s hands with the tap of a smartphone.

Authena allows companies to track every touchpoint in the supply chain, including environmental conditions, geo-tracking, border crossings and rough handling, and offers NFT authentication with metaverse portability in multiple vertical industries.

“We started by protecting the authenticity of physical goods in the pharma, food and luxury markets,” Panzavolta said. “M3TA is the next evolution of Authena’s commitment to provide the authenticity connection for manufacturers and producers to secure the bridge between their physical products and digital twins.”

Using M3TA, Authena recently worked with Adidas and FIBA’s Serbian Red Stars team to exploit the full potential of Web3 by providing fans with NFTs for access to exclusive events, video content and photos. At the upcoming EuroLeague game against Real Madrid on January 10, NFT owners will be invited to assist at the match and, at the end, players will personally hand them over their authentic signed jersey.

Authena L1VE is claimed to be the smallest rechargeable tracker at the single SKU level and monitors in real time in 185 countries. Brands track their products using an AI-enabled dashboard with embedded alerts and analytics. Sensors deployed via blockchain detect:

• Temperature changes and multi-environmental conditions
• Real-time location monitoring and capability for brands to steer supply chains across country borders, even with poor connectivity
• Self-detection of diversion attempts, percussion detection or rough handling

M3TA provides authenticity and ownership certificates via NFTs associated with their physical twin. In a world of counterfeiting with the explosion of NFTs, companies can guarantee secure phygital, and product safety with authenticity and ownership certificates and experiential benefits including portability to metaverse worlds.

Authena Shield is an end-to-end authenticity platform integrated with physical digital-seals that provide security and authenticity for physical products, making counterfeiting difficult and unprofitable at scale. Using multiple layers of encryption, Authena Shield enables direct alerts from the manufacturer to the consumer related to product tampering or damage at every point in the supply chain, from initial sealing to the receipt and opening of the product by the consumer.