Nike secures patent for blockchain-enabled “CryptoKicks”

Leading sportswear brand Nike has been awarded a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for using blockchain technology to assign unique digital ID to shoes.

The company had filed the application earlier this year. The USPTO has issued the patent on Dec. 10, The Next Web reported.

The patent describes how Nike envisions introducing “CryptoKicks”. It involves a method of generating cryptographic digital assets for footwear using blockchain technology:

“When a consumer buys a genuine pair of shoes--colloquially known as ‘kicks’--a digital representation of a shoe may be generated, linked with the consumer, and assigned a cryptographic token, where the digital shoe and cryptographic token collectively represent a ‘CryptoKick’.”

The digital representation of the shoe may include a “computer-generated avatar of the shoe or a limited-edition artist rendition of the shoe,” it added.

This digital asset also enables the buyer to trade or sell the tangible pair of shoes as well as the digital shoe in a secure manner. They can also store the digital shoe in a cryptocurrency wallet or other digital blockchain locker, the patent reads.

Using the digital asset, buyers can also “intermingle or "breed" the digital shoe with another digital shoe to create "shoe offspring," and, based on rules of acceptable shoe manufacturability, have the newly bred shoe offspring custom made as a new, tangible pair of shoes.”

The patent also describes the use of smart contracts for authenticating ownership and tracking future transactions of the digital asset.

“During the creation of a CryptoKick, a smart contract may be generated to authenticate ownership and to track future transaction of the CryptoKick,” it said.

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