Secure smart contract supply chains

Abstract

The concepts of information assurance and information warfare are often framed around digital artefacts. The fabrication of these artefacts and their consequent attachment to physical products provide interesting opportunities for assuring the provenance of physical products. We examine a case study where blockchain technology offers an innovative solution for Wine Industry supply chain governance, especially in regard to the identification of counterfeit product. This paper proposes a prototype solution to directly link the advantages of blockchain technology with the requirements of the Wine Industry. The results indicate that although blockchain-based supply chains are feasible, issues around authentication, verification and protection of digital assets persist. Our contribution was to investigate the opportunities offered by blockchain and smart contracting technology to provide greater product assurance than is currently offered in the wine industry.