Blockchain a possible key to the future of asset preservation

Blockchain is widening its scope within the IT and business climates, with companies now looking for even more innovative ways to branch out and make a difference using the method.

Dubai based startup Stonses has utilised blockchain technology to make a platform that creates unique digital identities with real-world objects, allowing families and businesses alike to connect and preserve valuable personal assets and memories together.

In partnership with a blockchain-powered asset management and non-fungible token (NFT) platform from UAE-based Verofax, Stonses is taking memories and assets from the past and bringing permanence to them through digital replicas of real-world objects linked to NFTs created by family, friends and colleagues.

Stonses CEO Miha Balek says that the giftware market alone will be worth USD $43.3 billion by 2027, and Stonses will be the first in the market to harness the potential of blockchain-related technology like this.

"Our memorial platform is the first to help preserve and exchange personal belongings across generations with technology, treasured assets to be transferred with ownership based on smart contracts," he says.

Verofax CEO Wassim Merheby explains the system as a multi-functional platform, allowing for a range of opportunities and innovations to progress.

"The ability to interface stakeholders securely and enable easy asset transfer and content access opens up new possibilities for organisations like Stonses, which is leveraging the direct-to-consumer interface to consolidate memories and assets of significant value," he says.

The system works by replicating or digitally combining certified content to create an NFT, then utilising blockchain to establish ownership and help make safe conditional transfers. Merheby says that although this process and system is the key aspect of Stonses memorial platform, it can be leveraged across a variety of industries.

Retailers are using the system to render digital identities to their products along with information around origin, composition, and environmental sustainability. There is also work being done by the company to introduce an AI component to the tech, with automation and decentralisation being part of Stonses key outline. Verofax also support other services such as supply chain management, consumer goods and customer experience needs.

While still mainly a business venture within a large growing market, Merheby says he believes there is a distinctly human side to the work involved, and a large amount of personal sentiment and meaning at the forefront of the idea.

"Stonses business model adds value to our personal lives, value that goes beyond the realm of monetary measures and efficiencies, to that of meaningfulness."

Stonses will be having a launch event at the Burj Khalifa, Dubai on December 21, 2021, where they will showcase their new technology and introduce the rollout.