(CCN) - Wine ages like fine… wine. Some of the rarest bottles fetch well over $100,000 USD. Collectors of ancient libations have six-figures worth of reasons in proving the bottles integrity. Verifying a wine’s provenance means tracing a bottle’s history as far back as possible – hopefully to the original vineyard.

A verified wine can greatly increase in value. This chain of custody isn’t just a history lesson. It gives buyers an expectation of the quality given the past caretakers. However, most importantly, it helps buyers reduce fraud. Just like an Ebay seller, wines rely on a reputation system. Therein is the problem – trust. Bitcoin’s solution to trust in the financial market is the same problem Vinfolio hopes to solve for wine.

Bitcoin Hits the Bottle

Vinfolio points out that wine provenance is expensive and time consuming:

The fine wine industry has a problem. There is a lot of forged wine in circulation, and there is a lot of wine that is not properly cared for as it travels the world. The answer to these problems is to verify the provenance of the wine. The hard thing about verifying provenance is that there is no central database or standardized industry practices that one can leverage. Each wine must be evaluated by an expert for signs of authenticity, and each person selling wine is evaluated on their clout within the wine industry.