RWA SegMints podcast: From connected distilleries to digital deeds

What groundbreaking work is taking place in the digitalisation of the spirits industry? That’s the topic for this latest podcast from RWA SegMints who host a weekly discussion on tokenised real-world assets (RWAs) and their innovative use cases.

Segmint have covered a variety of RWA topics so far, like the ‘future of luxury watch ownership’ and ‘the concept of tokenising property’, all of which are also well worth a listen.

And who better to discuss the state of play of digitalising the spirits world than our co-founder and CTO, Nim and CEO, Rob?

Thanks to the host Steven Schill for making this such a great conversation. You can catch the 

. But, before diving in, here’s a quick summary.

How a business comes to be often makes for an interesting story. And that’s where we begin with the launch of Metacask in 2021, Proofworks’ sister brand. As the world’s first NFT spirits marketplace, Metacask was created to enable the ‘everyday’ guy and gal’ to get into whisky collecting by purchasing an NFT that is backed by a physical asset, in this case a physical cask.

Every product on the marketplace is a digital representation of a physical product, usually a Scotch or Irish whisk(e)y, tequila or bourbon cask or barrel, and carries a digital deed with an associated non-fungible token (NFT). Collectors on the marketplace can then easily own and trade their collections, confident in their authenticity and provenance.

Rob explains how things started, “Metacask is out there in the wild, in action today, with people buying, selling and trading amazing casks which have heaps of heritage and stories behind them, all of which can now be shared easily. When the marketplace launched it very quickly set a world record for the most expensive whisky cask ever sold, which was incredible for us. It was a rare 1991 Macallan and sold for just over $2.3 million.

“Through Metacask, we realised early on that everything that goes on prior to us authenticating and digitalising a cask is pretty analogue. The production process, all of these casks born analogue, if you like.

We could see a world where actually they could all be born digital. And that's really where Proof 8 comes in. We've built a platform which is helping producers, distilleries and warehouses to digitalise their assets at origination, and authenticate them on the blockchain, so that we can track them all the way through - from grain to bottle.”

Adding to this, Nim explains where the opportunity lay at the beginning, “The current mechanisms of ownership for casks is very traditional, it’s all paper-based. That was one of the reasons why we started this back in 2021, because we wanted to transition the industry from unreliable paper-based ownership to digital ownership.

“We are now getting to the stage where you have watches and trainers and all these other things with digital twins and identities. For a lot of these collectibles, it makes sense that there is digital ownership, because actually, they're also held in storage somewhere.”

How fast is the tokenisation of real world assets impacting consumers?

Rob explains, “Well, what we definitely know is everything's happening faster than we can predict. Whatever we think is going to happen, seems to happen at double the rate. One of the things we definitely talk about a lot is around connected consumers. Consumers are massively connected, as we know. And products and services are increasingly becoming connected. And this all ties to tokenisation. Consumers expect to be able to tap a bottle, tap a cask, tap their trainers or sneakers and see its history and heritage as well as its environmental impact.

“This is all part of digitalisation - connectivity, internet of things and tokenisation. I think it all wraps up into what's going to be the consumer demand in the future.”

What benefits do brands and distilleries get from tokenisation?

Nim says, “If I'm a brand, I can prove emphatically that this is my product, and also negate the possibility of there being fakes or counterfeit products. That's one of the benefits of having a digital token on the blockchain, it's publicly verifiable, and that's the real power behind it.”

The conversation goes on to cover other topics:

• The power of consumer insights: What drives consumer interest in purchasing casks and other key takeaways on consumer behaviour that is fueling the market for collecting and trading spirits

• The need for digitalisation in spirits: Why is authenticity and traceability important and how does digitalisation help tell the story behind brands and their liquid

• Market impact: Insights into the global market for spirits are revealed, especially whisky and bourbon, along with how digital innovation is optimising supply chains and improving consumer experiences.

Check out the full podcast - it’s a good one.

 is a self-custody, digital collectibles management platform that specializes in security and shared ownership. They're revolutionizes digital ownership through fractionalization and making it possible for everyone to own a piece of their favorite NFTs without compromising on ownership or authenticity.



“Everything that goes on prior to us authenticating and digitalising a cask is mostly analogue - the production process, storage and ownership.
We see a world where every cask could be born digital"

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Marketplace

Connected Products Coming soon

About

Team

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Proof 8, guests on the Segmint Podcast

Proof 8, guests on the Segmint Podcast

More from Proof 8

Platform

Marketplace

Connected Products Coming soon

About

Team

Careers

Proof 8, guests on the Segmint Podcast

More from Proof 8

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