The US Patent Office has today issued sportswear brand Nike’s patent for its blockchain-compatible sneakers dubbed “CrpytoKicks.”
The patent describes a system that allows blockchain to be used to attach digital assets cryptographically secure to physical products, such as a shoe.
Nike’s platform may also track ownership and verify the authenticity of sneakers via the blockchain-based system.
You will also receive a digital asset that can be used to identify the shoe when you purchase a pair of “CryptoKicks”. The digital assets are in short supply due to their connection to real sneakers.
The patent states that a digital representation of a show can be generated when a consumer purchases genuine shoes. It may also link with the consumer and assign a cryptographic token. Together, the cryptographic token and digital shoe collectively represent a “CryptoKick”.
If sneakers are sold to another person, ownership can be transferred through the trading of both the real shoes and associated digital assets. These digital assets can be stored in a “Digital Locker”, a type of app that stores cryptocurrency wallets.
There’s more. There’s more. It appears that someone at Nike is playing CryptoKitties. “CryptoKicks” owners will be able “intermingle or breed the digital shoe with another shoe to create’ shoe offspring’ and have the offspring make a new pair of shoes.”
Some of these details are not surprising since the original patent application was filed in April.
Nevertheless, the US Patent Office has granted a patent to CryptoKicks. We might see them in the wild in the near future. Although there has been no mention of a launch yet.