WiV, a trading platform for fine wines, has confirmed that it will be ready for launch in mid-2019. It is already offering pre-launch services to producers, merchants, distributors and investors across Europe and has ambitions to move into Asia early in 2019. 

WiV’s bespoke trading technology will enable owners of investment grade wine to create a unique token for their individual bottles and then trade them across WiV’s network. Blockchain technology ensures that the provenance of the wine is far more difficult to tamper with in comparison with current paper-based certificates. It also means that there is no central set of servers which could put information at risk from hacking.

The WiV platform makes it simple to execute, clear and settle fine wine trades quickly, transparently and securely. By making trades online, transactions are also significantly quicker and costs lower than traditional trades. Token management is carried out by a leading Independent Auditor. 

As part of the agreement within the trades is that all wines will be held one of WiV’s global network of secure, third-party bonded and professionally insured storage facilities, minimising physical movement of bottles between trades. This will help ensure that they are maintained in peak condition.

A wine’s unique history affects it value, and counterfeiting of wine and forgery of documentation is a constant problem. Wine with a verifiable history of ownership and storage through bona-fide parties will typically sell at a premium compared to wines of uncertain heritage. WiV improves market confidence and enhances asset values by digitally storing information about a bottle’s transaction history, including origin, ownership and storage. This information can be collected, verified and viewed by all market participants, and once this data is on the blockchain it becomes very difficult to change, fake or manipulate.

“There is a massive global demand for fine wine but there are some real issues with the way that it is currently traded,” observes Tommy Nordam Jensen, CEO at WiV. “What we have set out to do with WiV is create a platform that complements existing business models, whether you are a producer, buyer or seller. We also wanted to create globally accepted for a wine’s provenance that will bring confidence for all sides in a trade and attract new investors to the sector that might previously have been put off by high fees and interminable trades. Fine wine has proved itself to be a solid investment over the last two decades. We want to help bring more people to the sector so that everyone can enjoy higher revenues.”

WiV is being offered as a white-label solution that integrates with vineyards’, merchants’ and distributors’ existing systems. This will reduce development and maintenance costs as well as potentially enhance functionality and ease of use.