Bitcoin Daily: Shopify Plugin Uses Blockchain For Authentication, SportsCastr Launches Its Own Crypto

A startup in San Francisco called the Real Items Foundation has developed a plugin for Shopify that will use blockchain technology to make sure items being sold on the site are authentic, according to a report by Cointelegraph.

The plugin is powered by blockchain and a cloud application called TAM. It lets brands create their own non-fungible tokens (NFT) that are tied to actual physical items.

When a customer buys an item, they can scan it if it has an NFT to make sure of its authenticity.

David Menard, CEO and founder of Real Items Foundation, said a number of companies are beta testing the plugin, and it will be officially released this year.

In other news, a sports live streaming company called SportsCastr has launched its own cryptocurrency to reward customers for viewing as well as to encourage interactions, according to CoinDesk.

The company is backed by the NFL Players Association, and it collaborated with FanWide on the token. It’s going to be called the FanChain (FANZ) token, and it will be available on FanWide, a company that helps fans find watch parties for games. The token will be given to people checking in to events.

The token can be earned at “thousands of sports bars” and will be redeemable for cash.

“FanWide has promoted over 1.5 million watch parties and is the official fan club network of teams in the NFL, LaLiga, Ruby League and others,” said SportsCastr CEO Kevin April. “This rollout represents one of the largest real-world deployments of blockchain in fandom, and we’re just getting started.”

Finally, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken action against Opporty, a blockchain-based B2B marketplace.

CoinDesk reported that the owner of Opporty, Sergii Grybniak, made a fraudulent sale of OPP Tokens and raised about $600,000 from 200 investors.

The tokens were not registered with the SEC, and the regulator said the initial coin offering was a securities offering.

The SEC also alleged that Grybniak lied to investors, “making material misrepresentations and omissions to investors and engaging in other deceptive conduct during the offering.”