PRüF and VeChain can both be used to monitor supply chain logistics, but the similarity ends there.
There are some superficial similarities between PRüF and VeChain, so comparisons are a natural thing to expect. By detailing both their overlap and distinguishing features, I will show how PRüF transcends the supply chain-paradigm, delivering lasting value to users and empowering private commerce.
VeChain is primarily a supply chain solution, with its own blockchain, and for that, its RFID tag functionality is a pretty good fit. VEChain allows business users to publicly verify the history of materials and goods as they move through the supply chain.
VEChain relies upon these materials and products running through official channels where they will be checked, which is a good fit for many industrial applications, and ultimately can protect consumers in many important cases
Data from VEchain is publicly verifiable, which is great for transparency… and this is where PRüF begins to diverge substantially in its product provenance role.
Pruf’s Systems are designed to offer transparency or privacy, depending on the application, and continue to serve the user long after the sale by helping them to secure and manage their possessions in a way that is as public or private as the user decides.
In its authenticity verification role, PRüF is designed primarily as a provenance solution for the people that will buy and use the item. We allow the end-user to check if an item has a duplicate somewhere and if that specific item was authorized by the designer or manufacturer.
Since this is an end-user facing solution, this needs to work with a cellphone camera, not an RFID scanner, and is primarily concerned with verifying that A: the data on the tag refers to a unique record authorized by the relevant ACNode — which in this case would be the manufacturer; and B: the token corresponding to the record in question is not held by another user, so the item in question is not likely one of a group of counterfeits all masquerading as the same record.
You could add to this a cryptographically secure RFID tag for high-value items, as an absolute assurance of uniqueness, but for commodity items, this is not only redundant and expensive, it is also a huge potential privacy issue. To be clear, the PRüF protocol can utilize RFID or NFC tags if needed, but they are not a requirement. PRüF crowdsources counterfeit detection using optical QR-Codes — and by doing that provides protection for the end user without creating a tracking privacy risk.
When an end-user purchases an item, they then can privately tokenize that item in their wallet, and from then on they can control the disposition and transfer of that item and its corresponding title. PRüF does not store the user’s private data by default, so someone looking up that particular item could only know that was owned, the ownership status that the owner sets (owned, for sale, stolen, discarded, etc), as well as any public documentation that the owner has decided to make explicitly available if any.
As far as provenance goes, the key takeaways are that VeChain is focused on transparency in the supply chain. VEChain delivers value to industry through assuring quality, authenticity, and logistical consistency throughout the supply infrastructure.
At its core, PRüF is a privacy focused asset tokenization and management platform. Provenance is just a part of a much bigger picture.
PRüF-Verified and PRüF-Private-Provenance are customer-focused solutions designed to assure authenticity and secure private ownership and commerce after the sale. PRüF continues to offer value to users through verifiable-but-private asset management and protection throughout the product lifecycle, and alerts consumers to potentially counterfeit products before purchase.
PRüF provides value to businesses through reporting counterfeit activity and ongoing customer engagement. Engagement of both first and subsequent owners provides opportunities for brand education, accessory sales, and other value-generating interactions.
As an open source ecosystem, PRüF is extensible by the community by adding ACNodes and custom business logic, so it is possible that the most important uses of PRüF haven’t even been developed yet.
