Blockchain is the core technology behind bitcoin. At its heart is a
distributed data store. Anyone who participates in this network has
their own data store that stores all of the transactions that ever
happened on the network (this is also known as the distributed
ledger). Entries are stored within a cryptographic chain of blocks.
At every stage, the network of participants must agree about the
latest block of transactions. Agreement is reached through a process
of majority consensus, eliminating duplicate entries, double
spending etc. This process and the cryptographic layering of the
blocks makes the agreed blockchain irreversible and immutable. The
‘history’ of events within this technology cannot be modified by any
one of the participants without majority consensus from the group.
Private blockchains are deployed either within an organization or shared among a known group of participants. They can be limited to a predefined set of participants. In this case, no one else can access them or the data residing in them. They can be secured in a similar way to securing other integrated enterprise applications (e.g. firewalls, VPN etc).
A Smart Contract is code that is deployed to the blockchain. Each
smart contract contains code that can have a predefined set of
inputs. Smart contracts can also store data. Following the
distributed model of the blockchain, smart contracts run on every
node in this technology, and each contract’s data is stored in every
node.
This data can be queried at any time. Smart Contracts can also call
other smart contracts, enforce permissions, run workflow logic,
perform calculations etc. Smart contract code is executed within a
transaction – so the data stored as a result of running the smart
contract (i.e. the state) is part of the blockchain’s immutable
ledger.
Ethereum is a group of incredibly smart individuals who have developed the next generation of cryptocurrency. The Ethereum project involves a large single network (much like Bitcoin), and runs on a cryptocurrency that can be mined (Ether). We are looking at deploying private networks of the Ethereum (or similar) within organisations, or across small predetermined groups of organisations.
Mining is used a proof of work for participants in the blockchain. Whenever a block of transactions is to be agreed, every participating node attempts to ‘mine’ the block (a mathematical algorithmic process that requires extensive CPU capacity). In public blockchains successful mining is rewarded with a cryptocurrency token.
When you purchase a Ulysse Nardin watch, we want to provide you with
proof that your watch is genuine. To this end, we produce a
certificate of authenticity in your name, protected by blockchain
technology.
This certificate may be useful in the event that you need to contact
the after sales service, a dealer, or anyone you want to give the
watch to, whether that is in the context of a gift, or a resale.
With this digital certificate, you will no longer need to use the
physical guarantee card provided with the watch, eliminating the
risk of losing or forgetting it.
Blockchain technology is used to create digital uniqueness. In this
way, a digital document – in our case a certificate – becomes
impossible to forge when it is protected on the blockchain.
The blockchain makes it possible to create time-stamped attestations
as proof that you purchased a genuine watch. The advantage of
blockchain technology is that these attestations are digital; they
can therefore be shared and stored online. How can I check that a
certificate is genuine?
We provide a certificate checker on our site. Simply dropping the
document into the web page will allow you to verify that the
certificate is genuine. The following section is intended for anyone
curious or with more advanced knowledge of blockchain.
Blockchain technology is used for storing information extremely
securely. Thanks to the blockchain, data can be both public and
forgery-proof, which represents a formidable tool for building trust
in relationships between people. The blockchain was invented in 2008
by an anonymous person using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto when
they invented the peer-to-peer digital currency known as Bitcoin.
Blockchain was originally used as a public transaction ledger
allowing people using pseudonyms to trade with complete confidence.
That’s how the Bitcoin blockchain arose and still endures today. The
term blockchain is used to describe both the data and the protocol
that stores this data. The term comes from the fact that data is
organised in blocks linked to each sequentially using cryptography.
We use the Bitcoin public blockchain. It is the longest-standing and most reliable thus far. It has been around for 10 years already and at this moment in time has never been hacked; it’s therefore the most secure. Other blockchains for protecting our certificates may have been less costly and faster , but we preferred the safest and most widely recognised solution. Furthermore, we make use of “scaling” thanks to the Balance Wallet startup, which fits with our attitude towards environmental protection.
There are various advantages to using a public blockchain:
It is thanks to the combination of these two elements that trust is created and our certificates are forgery-proof. All our certificates can be verified externally by us or by our provider Woleet , checking the Bitcoin blockchain itself (see section below on this matter). We strictly apply the blockchain principles of “decentralization” and “true ownership” to the basis of the revolution of trust provided by this new technology.
We use a standard format for the proof, known as Chainpoint
Yes, they are protected by various mechanisms. Firstly, only the hash for the certificate is sent to our provider, Balance Wallet , so it cannot access the intelligible data. It is therefore technically impossible to read the data contained in the certificate from the blockchain.
A hash is a cryptographic means of representing numeric data in a
unique way The hash for numeric data is said to be the equivalent of
a digital thumbprint for a human. To obtain a hash from some data,
we apply a hash function to the data.
Example Data to hash: “Hello world!”
Hash of the data:
“c0535e4be2b79ffd93291305436bf889314e4a3faec05ecffcbb7df31ad9e51a”
This feature has various advantages, it allows: